Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86841 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86841 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Singing along to “You Look Like You Love Me” while taking price tags off bras put me in a decent mood until someone touched my arm and I dropped the scissors and screamed.
“Saylor, it’s me!” Father Jude shouted over the music, which might have been too loud.
I placed a hand on my racing heart. “Computer, turn music off!” I called out.
“Come on!” he ordered.
Still holding my arm, he began pulling me behind him as his much longer legs took off toward…I had no idea where.
“Let go of me!” I tried to jerk free, remembering I was mad at him.
“Stop it! Did you not hear the sirens?” he barked, then swung open the small closet, where we had paper products and some odds and ends inside. He went inside and began forcing me to come with him.
“What?”
“There are two tornadoes on the ground, less than a mile from here. The sirens have been going off for the past ten minutes.”
Tornadoes!
I rushed inside the tiny space, and he slammed the door closed behind me.
“Why didn’t my phone go off? Or you could have called me.”
He sighed. There wasn’t any light in here, and I was glad. I didn’t want to see him.
“I did. By the third try, I was racing out the door to get down here to you. My guess is, your phone did go off, but the volume level of that music you were playing would have drowned out a nuclear missile.”
“Oh,” I replied.
My heart was hammering so hard that I could hear it. I didn’t like storms. I didn’t like thunder. But tornadoes? Those terrified me.
“You good?” he asked.
I was shaking. No, I was not okay. I wanted my daddy. Right now.
I shook my head and realized he couldn’t see me.
“I don’t like tornadoes,” I whispered as if the tornado might hear me and come after me.
His hand touched my upper arm. I knew he could feel my terror even if he couldn’t see it. “Hey, Dimples. It’s fine. We are safe in here. The building is brick. We are away from all windows and doors.”
My panic attack took a brief pause. Had he just called me Dimples?
“Come here.” He said the two words as if he wished he didn’t have to, but had no choice. Then, his arms wrapped around me from behind, and he pulled me back to his chest.
“You don’t have to touch me.” I tried to sound pissed, but my voice cracked. I sounded like I was about to cry because I was.
His arms tightened. That did help some.
“You know touching you isn’t something I don’t want to do. It’s something I am not supposed to do.”
I rolled my eyes and started to tell him just what I thought about that when the sound of a train stopped me. The rails that ran through this town weren’t that close to us.
“What is that?” I whispered as my eyes burned and fear gripped my windpipe, making it hard to breathe.
“I am going to slide down this wall to the ground and take you with me. Okay?” Jude’s deep voice helped a little. His breath smelled like mint.
I nodded.
He lowered us to the ground until my butt was on the concrete and I was sitting between his legs.
“Now, bend forward and tuck your head down,” he said.
The sound outside was louder, and bringing my knees up to curl into a ball sounded like an excellent idea. When I did, Jude tightened his legs around me and arched over the back of me until I was in a Father Jude cocoon.
I winced and whimpered as I heard things begin to hit the outside of the building. The sounds were so loud that I could no longer hear my heart pounding or our breathing.
“Shh.” Jude’s voice was in my ear. “I got you. It’s okay.”
I wanted to believe that. I really did. But with every loud bang outside, rattling the walls and vibrating the ground, I didn’t know if I could. My chest shuddered as I began to sob. We were going to die.
“It’s okay, baby. I swear I won’t let anything hurt you.” Jude’s words, along with his thumbs rubbing against my arms, where he held me, didn’t necessarily take away my fear, but I did feel a measure of reassurance. “It’s almost over. It’s moving away.”
I listened as the roar lessened. Another sob broke free, but this time, it was because we were alive. We’d made it.
“It’s going. Listen. You’re safe.”
I nodded, reaching up to wipe my tear-soaked face. His hold on me eased, but he didn’t let go of me. I wasn’t complaining because now that death was no longer at our door, his scent was all I could smell, along with his minty breath, and his muscles were all I could feel, bulging from his biceps that I didn’t need light to see. They were impressive enough that I could feel them. Then, there were his hard thighs, which were apparently equally as impressive as they encased me.