“Tell your husband to put the kids to bed tonight and take a bath or do something for yourself.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that,” she lies with a smile then shouts her girls’ names along with her husband’s. A few minutes later, the five of them run across the parking lot, trying to avoid getting soaked, and then I watch them squeeze into her tiny car.
As they drive off, I scan the still dark sky then pull my attention away from it when the doors to the dealership ding as they open. The first thing I notice is a blue Grateful Dead T-shirt stretched across a muscular chest, the short sleeves showing off a full arm of tattoos. My eyes travel up, and my heart skips a beat. I’ve seen good-looking men before. I’ve even dated a few of them. But I’ve never had a man make me want to pinch myself to see if I’m dreaming. I don’t know if it’s his sun-kissed skin, dirty-blond hair, chiseled jaw, the dimple in his chin, or his blue eyes, but the man with his gaze locked on mine looks like the kind of man you’d see on the cover of a rock and roll or Harley magazine. He walks toward me slowly, his boots sounding heavy on the tile floor, the sound putting me on edge. I shift uncomfortably as his eyes search mine like I’m somehow familiar.
“Hi, can I help you?” our receptionist Mandy greets him, stepping in front of me.
I blink as our connection is severed and release the breath I didn’t know I was holding. I hear him rumble something, but I can’t make out his words over the sudden sound of the glass windows shaking and the doors banging open. I turn, and my stomach bottoms out as I watch through the haze of windblown rain as a car stopped at the stoplight on the road gets lifted off the ground and slams into a truck next to it.
“Oh my God.” I stand stuck in place as people yell around me to take cover. I try to get my feet to move, but the chaos outside has me frozen. When one of the cars in the parking lot is lifted off the ground, I turn to run, but before I even have a chance to pivot, I’m lifted off the ground, my stomach hitting a shoulder, making my breath come out on a grunt as my body bounces.
I latch onto the waist of the man holding me upside down as what sounds like a waterfall gets louder and my hair whips around me. I hear people yell and scream, and I squeeze my eyes closed. Then a door slams, and I’m dropped to my feet. When I open my eyes, I blink against the dark then whimper as I’m pushed to the ground and crushed under the weight of the man who was holding me.
The building around me groans, and the walls seem to shake as I latch onto my savior and bury my face in his chest. One large hand cradles the back of my head, the other circling my neck, holding me secure. The fear in my chest begins to decrease as the deafening sound dies to a low rumble, but my heart still pounds like it’s attempting to escape the confines of my ribcage.
“It’s over.” The soft words spoken against the side of my head let me know I’m okay, but fear has me unable to move, unable to release my hold on the shirt I’m clinging too. I hear people moving around, and then a moment later, light filters into the dark room when the door is opened. A car from the lot is on its side right outside the door, and the wall beyond it is gone. The man on me gets up and I glance around realizing that we are in the storage room in the middle of the building, one of the few rooms in the dealership without windows.
“Is everyone okay?” My voice shakes as I look around at my coworkers, all of them looking shell-shocked but alive and unharmed.
“Come on.” The man who was holding me urges me to my feet, and then before I can take a step, he picks me up.
Without thinking, I wrap my arms around his neck and hold my breath as he carries me over and around the debris littering the ground. “Thanks,” I say quietly as he places me on my feet in the middle of the sales room, and his large, warm hand finds mine, giving it a squeeze.
I look around, stunned by the destruction surrounding me. Cars are upside down, one whole side of the building is gone, and the recently planted trees and shrubs that surrounded the newly built dealership are uprooted and now lying about, some through car windows, others stuck in the walls like odd pieces of art.
My feet start to move me into action the moment I hear sirens off in the distance, a reminder that others might’ve been hurt. This area of town is bustling with traffic, shoppers and people traveling through to get to the restaurants and stores nearby.
“Hold up.”
I stop when I’m pulled back and look over my shoulder to meet a set of concerned blue eyes. “We need to help.” The words come out harsh because of the tightness in my throat, and his eyes soften on mine.
“All right, but stick close.”
I nod, and he moves with me out the doors that are shattered, then we both head toward the road to check the people in their cars.
The first car I come to has an elderly woman behind the wheel with a gash above her eye. I open her door and quickly strip off the blouse I’m wearing over a tank top. “Ma’am,” I call, my heart pounding. I can see she’s breathing, but she hasn’t even flinched. “Help is coming.” I press the cream material against the wound and start to squat down just outside her open door but freeze when she quickly grabs onto my wrist.
“Please don’t leave me.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I assure her, smoothing her hair away from her pale, wrinkled face, relieved she’s awake.
“Fuck,” I hear the guy still behind me hiss, and I tip my head back toward him. When his eyes meet mine, my heart flutters. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”
“Okay.” I nod, and a moment later, he’s gone. With a shake of my head, I focus on the woman still holding onto me like I might disappear.
“It’s okay. Help is coming,” I say the only thing I can, hoping it will bring her some comfort.
“I don’t want to be alone.” Her words make my heart ache.
“I’m not going anywhere. I promise.” She nods then lets out a tired breath and closes her eye. “What’s your name?”
“Grace.” She opens her uninjured eye to look at me once more. “What’s your name? You don’t sound like you’re from around here,” she says then continues on a mutter, “not that it matters anymore. Nowadays, no one is from around here.”
I smile. “I’m Mia, and you’re right. I’m not from here. I’m actually from Montana.”
“Big Sky Country.”
“Yeah.” I laugh.
“I always wanted to see Montana.”
“It’s not too late.” I blot her chin when blood dribbles down the side of her face.
She laughs, patting my hand and reminding me of my own grandmother. “I’m old, darlin’. It takes me days now to work up the courage to face traffic to go get groceries. I couldn’t handle getting on an airplane.”
“You’re only as old as you feel.”
“Well, I feel old as dirt.” She sighs, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the headrest. Not sure what to do, I tip my head back to look at the sky above me, finding it blue with a few fluffy clouds, like the storm was something I imagined. I bite my lip nervously then look around to see if there is anyone nearby, but no one is close.
“Grace,” I call her name, but she doesn’t respond, and my stomach fills with unease. “Grace?” I grab her hand and squeeze.