Page 6 of Wait For Me
Emily turned to smile at her older brother, happy he was home and proud to have some inside knowledge about the changing world that he didn’t yet understand. “Don’t worry. It will be okay. But it’s better if you don’t look.”
The drive home took over an hour. Tessa avoided the main streets as much as possible, taking the long route along the mountain side that wrapped back under the freeway. She’d cursed Old Blue more times than she cared to admit over the years, but when she needed the four-wheel drive to climb the sandy hill on the backside of the weigh station and get around the stalled semi-truck that had no business being on that road, she lovingly caressed the steering wheel and whispered, “Thanks.”
The Suburban was still blocking Turner Street but the blond driver was nowhere in sight. She slowed down, scanning the houses of her neighbors in the subdivision and tried to see if she could find out where the woman might be. No one stepped from their doors or peeked from their windows and there were no kids playing on the lawns so she eased Old Blue onto the sidewalk and continued up the hill. Mason and Emily were still cracking up about the bumpy ride when she pulled into the garage and turned the key.
“Stay here for just a second.” She smiled at them.
Mason stopped laughing and arched his eyebrow, looking so much like Landon that it hurt to breathe. “Is there a surprise we aren’t supposed to see?”
“Something like that.” Tessa shut the door and crouched down with her back pressed against the truck until she was lower than the window. Tremors racked her body and she clutched her hands over her mouth to muffle the wordless scream. It had only been a couple of hours and the world already looked like this. What was going to happen a few days from now if they didn’t get the power back on? How can I protect them? She rubbed her hands over her eyes, wiping away the tears. You don’t have another choice. The power would be back on soon. They just needed to pass the time. She inhaled deeply and nodded once to confirm.
“Alright guys.” She opened the door, sweeping her arm in a grand gesture as her children waited in anticipation for the big surprise to come. “Who wants hot dogs and smores over the campfire for dinner tonight?”
Moose came racing through the house to greet his humans with his nails clacking across the tile floor and his bushy tail wagging in the air. Mason shrugged off his backpack and dropped to one knee to get a sloppy lick as Emily ran to the living room to grab the remote. Tessa went to the pantry and then to the cupboard, scanning each package of food and mentally calculating how long the dried goods would last and how many meals she could make out of it all.
After the hurricane warnings in North Carolina, she’d made it a habit to keep a few weeks’ worth of food on hand just in case. Then there were Landon’s favorites. She’d hit the grocery stores yesterday to stock up for his homecoming so they wouldn’t have to go shopping on his precious few days of post-deployment leave. There were good steaks in the freezer and the beer fridge in the garage was full. All the essentials were accounted for.
The sink gurgled and Tessa turned in panic, rushing over to rip the stopper from Mason’s hand and shove it back into place.
“What?” Mason asked, with his head cocked to the side. “The water is just sitting there.”
“We need it.” She turned on the faucet and a steady stream poured out. “Actually, go do me a favor and grab some buckets from the garage.”
“But it’s dark in there,” Mason whined. Tessa rummaged through the junk drawer and pulled out a couple of flashlights, handing one to him with a smile. “Fine,” he mumbled as he flicked on the beam. “But you promised we were having smores.”
With the buckets and every available jug to hold water filled and the faucet still running, the tension in her shoulders eased a little. She opened the pantry to pull out the peanut butter and graham crackers. Moose huffed as he settled into his usual place on the rug in front of the sink to guard the stove.
“Sorry buddy.” She pulled the hotdogs from the fridge and quickly shut the door. “No cooking scraps tonight.”
The kids were out back playing on their swing set and waiting for Tessa to start the fire. She switched on the flashlight. The beam wavered as she aimed it into the garage and she hit the plastic side against the palm of her hand to steady the light. She’d have to round up batteries in the morning if the power still wasn’t on. At least the beer fridge was cold. All the bottles perfectly lined up to fill the shelves. She grabbed one and twisted off the top. Landon wouldn’t mind. She needed it today.
“Finally.” Mason launched himself off the swing and landed on two feet in the dirt. “I’m so hungry I could eat a whole cow.”
“Yeah, well I’m so hungry I could eat a whole… whole,” Emily’s voice trailed off as she looked around the fenced backyard, “house!”
Tessa set down the food and beer on the glass patio table. Mason had already dragged a stack of wood over to the fire pit.
“And I’m so hungry that I could eat two little kids.” She turned to growl and they both screamed as they darted out of reach.
“Again, Mommy!”
Dusk arrived slowly and with it came tendrils of red and bright orange cloudlike whisps that were nowhere near the setting sun. The light danced over the mountains in the distance where the sky should already be turning dark blue. Tessa stared at the sun and wished it would go away already. It’d done enough damage for the day.
As darkness continued to fall, the trails of light burned brighter casting an angry glow over the night and blocking out the stars of the never-ending desert sky. She’d seen glimpses of the aurora borealis growing up in Idaho winding above the tree branches, but never this ominous and unforgiving. It wasn’t soft in the way light should be. It was harsh and dangerous and loud. The smoke from the fire drifted lazily towards the sky as she stoked the embers.
“This is crazy.” Mason stole glances at the light show above them as he reached for the marshmallow bag with sticky fingers and a smear of chocolate across his cheek. “Can I have one more?”
“Last one.”
Emily’s breathing grew steady and even as she dozed on Tessa’s lap. Tessa moved slowly so as not to wake her, smearing the peanut butter onto a graham cracker and breaking off a piece of chocolate to nestle into the spread. Mason blew at the flaming ball of marshmallow.
“Dad always makes them golden.” Mason frowned at the charred mess.
“I like them a little burnt.” Tessa used the top cracker to ease the marshmallow onto the sandwich and then handed it to him. “But he’ll be home soon and can show you how to get them just right.”
“You think it looks like this everywhere? Is Dad seeing the same thing?” Mason chewed thoughtfully as he stared at the sky. The warm orange glow shining off his face had nothing to do with the fire. It was strange to look at him in this light. He was still a little boy, but his baby chub was long gone and he acted older when he wanted to. He’s just like Landon.
“I don’t know, sweetheart. Guess we’ll ask him when he gets here. But hurry up and finish so we can go wash your face and get you both into bed.”