Page 56 of That Last Carolina Summer

“When environmental changes predict an incoming storm, birds are able to take early action to stay safe. Some will feed frantically, fueling up for energy to leave the area. For those who remain, they will seek shelter until the storm passes. To a certain extent, humans share this trait of preparing for storms. Unfortunately for us, we lack the keen sense of awareness that birds have that warns them of impending danger. If we did, maybe we could avoid life’s pitfalls that we can’t see coming until it’s too late. ”

Excerpt from the blog The Thing with Feathers

Phoebe

AN UNFAMILIAR RINGTONE jarred me awake. The room was pitch-dark, the bed beside me warm but empty. Despite my abrupt awakening, I knew where I was. Liam’s scent was still on my skin, my limbs heavy with an unfamiliar satiety.

I sat up, realizing that the phone had stopped ringing and that Liam was speaking quietly from the other side of the bed, his voice barely audible over the slashing sound of rain against the windows.

I could barely see him, which meant it was still in the middle of the night or the electricity had gone out. Or both.

I was only half-awake when Liam’s warm fingers touched my bare shoulder, and I became aware of the urgency in his voice as he spoke into the phone.

“She’s here. We’ll leave right now. Stay where you are, and we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

The word we’ll had erased any thought that the call had been about a patient, and I was immediately thrust back in time to another late-night call letting me know my father was dying. Nothing good ever came in a late-night phone call.

I was already scrambling off the side of the bed, fumbling for the lamp switch in the dark. “Was that Addie? Is Mother all right?”

“No. That was Will.” I listened as he searched for discarded clothing while I turned the knob on the lamp to no effect. “He woke up and discovered that he’s alone in the house.”

I turned toward him. Blinked at the darkness. “But he can’t be. Ophelia and Mother are there. And Addie. She would have called me.”

“Will said an old Camaro came and picked up Addie around midnight. She’s not there. But he doesn’t know where Ophelia and your mother are, just that they’re not inside the house.”

“No,” I said. “Addie wouldn’t do that. She’s so much better now.” I knew I was rambling, trying to make sense of the nonsensical, and Liam let me. “I’m sure she called me. I just need to find my phone.”

I reached toward the nightstand but only felt cold, smooth wood. “Where’s my phone?” I could hear the rising panic in my voice.

I felt Liam’s hands on my shoulders. “It’s in your purse, which I think I left on the sofa. I’ll go get it while you get dressed. Here.” He turned on his phone’s flashlight and put it in my hand. “Use this. I know my way around.”

I nodded even though he’d already turned to leave, my body beginning to shake despite the rising temperature inside the house. I found my clothes on the floor and threw them on. I was struggling to reach the zipper in the back when Liam returned.

“I’ll get that,” he said as he handed me my purse.

I pulled out my phone, letting the purse drop on the floor, and I stared at my incoming texts. “No,” I said, scrolling up and down, searching for a text that should be there.

“Check your voice mail,” Liam suggested. His voice remained calm despite my rising panic.

Even though I knew that Addie would never leave a voice mail, I clicked on the icon anyway, desperate for an explanation or a reason as to why Will would have awakened in the house all by himself in the middle of the night.

“No,” I said again, embarrassed at the sob in the back of my throat. I quickly dialed her number, and when it went to voice mail, I dialed the landline, which rang and rang with no answer. “Why isn’t Will picking up?”

“He probably doesn’t recognize the sound, or he stepped outside to wait for us.”

“But—”

“Phoebe.” He turned me around to face him, his fingers lifting my chin. “I’m here with you. It’s going to be okay.”

I wanted to argue, to tell him that there was no way he could know that, but my jaw was clenched tight to keep my teeth from chattering.

Another thought sent my panic into overdrive. “Did you ask him if my mother’s car is in the driveway?”

“It is, so at least that means your mother didn’t drive off with Ophelia.”

Our eyes met, the implication of where they could be too horrible to say out loud.

He grabbed his phone from the bed where I’d left it and shone the light toward the doorway. “Let’s go,” he said, gently taking my hand. “We’ll take my truck.”

I followed barefoot, not having had the time to find Addie’s shoes.

I barely comprehended his words but was reassured by his voice.

He led me through a kitchen before opening a door to a garage where his truck was parked.

He manually lifted the heavy door, the opening bringing in a rush of rain and wind.

Liam turned to me. “You ready?”

“Yes,” I said, before kissing him on the lips and running with him toward the truck.

The relentless rain pounded the windshield as the wipers futilely whipped across the glass.

I kept dialing Addie’s cell number over and over, hanging up at the sound of her voice mail picking up and dialing again.

I didn’t allow my thoughts to go where they shouldn’t and instead tried to focus on the here and now.

I jumped as lightning arced across the sky like divine fingers, illuminating the rainswept streets scattered with blowing debris.

I shut my eyes then forced them open again.

I had a good reason to be terrified of summer storms, but that didn’t stop me from being embarrassed to show my fear.

I’d chosen to restart my life in the Pacific Northwest because they receive the least number of thunderstorms per year.

But grown women weren’t supposed to be afraid of thunder and lightning.

Except now as we raced across town toward the house and family I had so carelessly discarded, I understood that there were much bigger things of which to be afraid.

Liam’s headlights fanned over the house as he pulled into our street.

Will ran out onto the front porch just as I spotted my mother’s car parked in the driveway.

As soon as Liam stopped the truck, I slid out of the passenger seat, my bare feet hitting the pebbled driveway as rain pelted my face.

I ran in the direction of the shed, cutting my foot on something sharp.

Despite the pain I kept running until I’d reached the shed.

Another flash of light illuminated the side yard and the open door of the small structure.

I stepped inside and held up my phone to shine light into the dark space inside.

I immediately saw the empty spot on the wall where we’d always kept the jonboat.

“Phoebe!” Liam’s voice came from outside somewhere, his voice snatched away by the wind.

I ran back toward the driveway, nearly colliding with him. “The jonboat’s gone,” I shouted. I watched as his eyes widened. “Come on.” He grabbed my hand, and we sprinted up the porch steps.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Will said, his voice showing the strain of trying to be brave and not cry.

I hugged him despite my sodden hair and clothes. “You did the right thing by calling your dad, okay?”

He nodded, his lips trembling as he struggled to hold in the tears. “Addie came home. Right before you got here. I told her about Mrs. Manigault and Ophelia not being here, and she ran outside without telling me where she was going.”

Liam put his hand on Will’s shoulder. “You did everything right, Will. Right now, I need you to help by staying here, and keep your phone handy in case I need you, okay? If your phone service goes out, use the landline in the kitchen. And if you see anyone, call me immediately. We’re counting on you. Got it?”

Will gave his father a solid nod. “Yes, sir.”

I ran into the dining room and pulled out a box of matches and a handful of tapered candles and brought them back for Will.

“If you lose phone service, we will, too. Use a candle to communicate with us from the back porch. We’ll be able to spot it from anywhere in the back of the house.

Wave it side to side if you see someone. ”

“Yes, ma’am.”

To me, Liam said, “Go around the side of the house where the camellias are, and I’ll check out the other side. We’ll meet up at the back porch.”

“Okay,” I said before following him back out the front door just as another flash of lightning lit up the sky like a celestial light bulb. One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Miss—

A crash of thunder rattled my teeth before I’d finished the third Mississippi . The storm was close and getting closer.

Moving quickly down the side of the house, I kept my phone sheltered from the driving rain with the folds of my dress as I used the flashlight to guide my way and to search the ground.

If Ophelia and my mother were in the yard, we would have found them by now.

The thought raised my anxiety even higher.

Calm down, calm down, calm down became my litany, occupying my mind so I couldn’t dwell on all the reasons why I wasn’t.

I met up with Liam at the screened-in porch, and I shone my light into the space to be sure, finding only empty chairs and a dog-eared book lying facedown on the swing.

After a similarly futile sweep of the empty backyard, the hope that they hadn’t taken the boat into the water evaporated.

As if he could read my mind, Liam took my elbow and began leading me down the slippery slope toward the dock.

While Liam moved toward the end of the dock, I stayed behind, training my eyes on the water, looking for the glint of reflection off the side of the aluminum jonboat and saw none. I moved the light to the other side, refusing to consider the alternative if I didn’t see it in the water.