Page 22 of Through the Storms

Definitely a good sign. “A ten on the EF scale.” She’d used the Enhanced Fujita scale many times in her game since it was the measure for tornadoes, but she’d never said a ten.

“It only goes to five.”

“See, that’s how much I love you. It breaks the EF scale.”

Lana laughed. “You’re such an idiot.”

“I know.”

“I love you, too,” Lana said. “But I gotta go.”

Oakley sat with a grin on her face long after the phone went dead. No way would she lose Lana.

CHAPTER 11

Chloe twirled the penbetween her fingers. They’d been called back into the conference room but had been waiting for nearly half an hour. She leaned over to Riley. “Do you think something’s wrong?”

Riley shook her head. “Nah. Britt said they were waiting on Oakley to finish up. They probably just got their wires crossed.”

“What if they found something? A big storm cell.” Chloe tried to keep the nervousness from her voice.

Riley laughed. “Isn’t that why we’re here?”

Chloe smiled. “Good point.”

“I wasn’t making fun of you.” Riley put her hand on Chloe’s arm. “You know that, don’t you?”

“I do.” Something about Riley made her want to say more. “I need someone to help me take things less seriously.”

“Wanna hear something strange?” Riley waved her hand. “No, never mind.”

“Oh, no, you don’t.” Chloe playfully swatted Riley on the shoulder. “You don’t open with ‘Wanna hear something strange?’ and then rescind it.”

Riley’s cheeks reddened. “It was stupid. I just met you, so how can I pretend to know anything about you?”

Chloe narrowed her eyes. “Now you have me intrigued. What are you pretending to know?”

The blush in Riley’s cheeks spread. “I keep digging myself deeper.”

“Come on. You don’t need to be embarrassed after my outburst of TMI earlier.”

“It wasn’t TMI. I’m happy you feel comfortable with me.”

“Then prove you feel the same and spill it.” Chloe couldn’t believe her boldness. Maybe the past couple of years from hell stripped away her filters.

“Fine.” Riley threw up her hands, in what Chloe determined was mock exasperation. “My friends tell me I can be too intense sometimes. Okay, all the time, but something about you makes me want to be more easygoing. Relaxed.”

Chloe chuckled. “Probably because I’m such a hot mess of uptightness, you’re trying to balance things out.”

Riley smiled and winked. “You said it, I didn’t.”

“It’s my turn to tell you something strange.” Chloe met Riley’s gaze. “I used to be the opposite—laid back. Now I feel wound tighter than a…um…the core of a baseball.”

“Did you just make a sports analogy?”

“I did. I panicked.”

“Panicked?”