Page 21 of Eye of the Hurricane (Weathering Doves Harbor #2)

Nausea comes and goes in waves but I don’t throw up a single time during my shower. I take that as a win, no matter how small. When I turn off the water and open the curtain, Ares is standing there with a towel spread out waiting for me.

He wraps the towel around me and plants a kiss on the top of my head. Warmth radiates in my chest and I choose to ignore it. Between whatever virus I’ve got and classes starting back up tomorrow, I don’t have time to unpack whatever that was.

“How do you feel?”

“Like garbage. At least I feel like clean garbage now,” I joke. “I’ll get dressed and meet you on the couch.”

I can’t help but laugh when I look at the stack of clothes on the counter. A yellow silk pajama set and matching yellow panties. I’m beginning to think someone likes me in yellow.

When I walk into the living room, Ares is curled up in the corner of the couch holding Bellatrix like a baby. He’s rubbing her belly and she’s purring away.

“You know, she doesn’t usually like people. Or being flipped on her back,” I say, standing behind the couch. His head snaps around to look at me.

“I have a habit of winning over grumpy women,” he says, wearing a cocky smile.

“Oh, shut up.” I give his head a light shove as I walk around the couch to sit next to him.

“So, what was your sick tradition growing up? You know, the thing your parents did every time you were sick?” Ares asks. I think back to the handful of times I was sick as a kid. Thinking of my mom playing the nurturing mother role stings a little.

Before I ever had the chance to disappoint her with dreams of a career, she was my mom. And back then, in some ways, she was even a good one.

“She’d call me off of school, get me comfy in either my own bed or the couch and she’d make me watch the news all day. Because I was out of school, I wasn’t allowed to watch cartoons.”

“What will it be then, Miss Graeves? Cartoons or the news?” he asks, grabbing the remote from the side table .

“Will you judge me if I say the news? It’s kind of a comfort thing now when I’m sick,” I admit.

“No judgment. I’ll just assume it’s the virus eating away at your decision making.”

He turns on the TV and clicks through channel by channel until he lands on the local news channel. The first thing that pops up? The dreaded spaghetti model.

The spaghetti model is the model meteorologists use to show all of the potential tracks of a hurricane. Back in Louisiana I lived far enough from the coast that hurricanes weren’t nearly as dangerous for us as those in the lower half of the state.

Not to mention I was young enough that my parents made it so I didn’t really know what was going on. My parents did all too well of a job of sheltering us from things they didn’t want us to know about. Doves Harbor, however, is right on the coast.

My body goes rigid and I sit up straight. “Is this a thing? There’s going to be a hurricane?” I ask. The sudden movement makes my stomach churn and I regret it immediately.

“This shows it hitting as a category one, those aren’t something you need to worry about. Plus, most of the paths show it hitting all the way up by Myrtle Beach,” he assures me.

“Have you been in a hurricane?” I ask.

“Yeah, lots. We always evacuated for the strong ones but usually twos or threes we stayed for.”

“Back in Louisiana, I didn’t live right on the coast. So, when they’d get hurricanes we mostly just got bad storms, sometimes a tropical depression. I wouldn’t know where to even begin with handling a direct hit from a hurricane,” I sigh.

“You’ll be okay, it looks like it’s missing us. It’s just a tropical storm right now.”

Luna

Did you get home safe?

Luna

Hello?

Luna

Are you alright?

Luna

We’re on our way back to Doves Harbor. I’m coming to check on you.

Luna

Well I successfully scared the shit out of Ares. Sorry, I was worried about you! See you tomorrow?

As soon as I open my eyes, it’s clear I slept the entire day and part of the night away. The entire house is dark and silent. At some point, Ares must have moved me to my bed because that’s where I’m waking up.

I’m in the bed alone and I can’t ignore the disappointment I feel when I realize he left. I can’t blame him, not sure I’d stick around to watch a sick girl sleep.

I sit up and most of the nausea has subsided. Thank God . On my nightstand is a glass of water, an electrolyte packet, and some medicine. Every bone in my body aches, including the throbbing headache I’ve picked up.

I slip out of the bed and slide on a pair of slippers. The only light in the house left on is the dim light over the sink in the kitchen. I open the fridge and it pours yellow light into its corner of the kitchen. I grab an apple in attempt to get something in my system.

Next thing I know, I’m closing the refrigerator door and there’s a shadowy figure of a person standing there. I do the only logical thing and scream at the top of my lungs, launching the apple at the person standing in my kitchen. The stranger yelps as the apple makes contact.

I flip the light on as quickly as I can find it just to realize it was Ares, who is now sporting a darkening-by-the-minute welt on his arm.

“What are you doing here?” I yell. He throws two confused hands in the air.

“I told you I was staying here!” he exclaims.

“I woke up alone! I thought you left.”

“I didn’t want to get in bed with you while you weren’t awake to tell me if you wanted me there, it felt wrong.” That’s the line that finally brings my guard crumbling to the ground.

“I’m sorry I threw an apple at you,” I say.

He cracks a laugh. “I hope if someone ever breaks in here, you have a better defense than chucking apples.” He picks the apple up off the ground and wipes it off on his shirt before handing it to me.

“Figured I should get something in my system after all the throwing up,” I explain.

“Don’t you think you should eat something of substance?” he asks with a laugh.

“Maybe, but what time is it?” I ask, pulling out my phone to check. “It’s two in the morning, Ares. I can’t make a whole meal right now,” I laugh.

“You’re right, I’ll go pick us up something. I’ll hit one of the twenty-four-hour fast food places. Anything sound good?” he asks, grabbing his keys from the counter.

“I’ll come with,” I announce.

“Is Katherine Graeves about to leave the house in pajamas and slippers?” he asks in a dramatic tone. I roll my eyes and push past him on my way out the door.

And, for the first time in my life, I go for one of those middle-of-the-night drives.

The ones you see in every coming-of-age movie that everyone seems to go on in high school.

It’s not until I’m sitting there, watching the street lights blur by, that I realize all the small things I missed out on in pursuit of my big plan.