Page 106 of Phoenix

“I mean, when you put it that way...”

“There’s no other way to put it. You’re scared of loving and losing, because you loved and lost your parents. Sweetie, it’s time to take your life back. Stop living with the fear of what happened to them repeating itself. Live for the now.”

“When did you become so wise?”

“Decades of bullshit helps you learn a thing or two.”

Her eyes move from my face to a television screen in the waiting room that’s just off the nurses’ station, and then she speaks again. “Looks like you got out of there just in time.”

“What? What do you mean?” I spin around in my chair and let my eyes settle on the news broadcast playing out before us on the Weather Channel.

Case

The rain came fast.

Quicker than I could have ever imagined it would. We stood on the shore on Tybee Island and watched the wall of rain roll in.

A Category 3 hurricane is going to decimate this small city with its one hundred and twenty mile per hour winds and immense amounts of flooding.

The last fact sends a chill up my spine.

Tybee has been evacuated, so Grayson, Amelia, and Cadence are staying at his parent’s place, which is one less worry for the personal side of my brain.

The professional side, however, is kicked into high gear and unable to focus on anything except my job.

The preparation for the storm came at a time I needed it. Not that I ever wish natural disasters on my home, but I welcomed the distraction. Busywork to keep me from dwelling on one simple fact.

I love Nora Masen and she left me because of it.

A call blaring through the radio attached to my shoulder snaps me from my thoughts.

It’s not for me, but I pay attention anyway. In these situations, you need to always be aware of everything happening around you.

Our captain stationed us at different points around the city to ensure everyone was remaining safe, and if there was an emergency, there was also someone to respond in just a few moments.

So here I sit, at the corner of Bay Street, just a block from the river, and I can see the water beginning to rise and run over the cobblestone, pooling around the already full storm drains.

The rain is falling in long sheets, so thick and opaque you can barely see out of my cruiser windows. Arya is pacing back and forth in the back seat, anxious and bored.

“I know, girl, but as long as we are in here, that means nothing is wrong. I’ll take it.” I reach back and give her a scratch on the head.

My eyes move back and forth across the street as my windshield wipers try in vain to keep the glass clear. I silently send a thank you up to whichever divine being exists above the clouds that everyone has listened and is staying off the streets.

We, without a doubt, always have that one asshole who thinks he can take on a storm Lieutenant Dan style, which obviously never works, and ends in a mountain of bullshit for all parties involved.

But not tonight.

Tonight, it’s empty on these streets. We’ve adjusted the stoplights so there is just a stream of flashing red lights at each intersection, illuminating my car in tandem. It’s nearly hypnotizing.

The storm itself isn’t as bad as predicted. It was lowered to a Cat 2 storm.

The winds are significantly slower than they expected, but the rain is monstrous. The flooding, even worse.

I pull my cell from its place in the center console of my cruiser to check the time.

2:15 a.m.

Eleven fifteen in California. Eleven fifteen for Nora.

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