Page 141 of Paper Hearts

Reacting quicker than I expect, he tosses money on the table, and we barely have enough time to run to the truck before it’s a complete downpour on us. It’s like a solid wall of water, lightning, thunder, the works. Eddie is hysterical by the time Ender gets her into the back seat. She’s kicking, screaming, hands over her ears and crying.

He handles it way better than I expect. I can tell he’s fazed by his scowl and intensity trying to buckle the seat and failing at it. I turn around and reach over the seat to adjust the straps on her seat. “I got it. Get inside.”

Ender lets go of the belts, closes the door, and runs over to the driver side of the truck. When he gets in, he starts laughing. “Holy shit.” He wipes his hands over his face, his hair matted down and dripping wet.

Eddie’s still holding her ears tight, eyes wide like we’re all going to die of thunder, but Ender and I both start laughing. We’re soaked. Completely. He looks over at me, smiling, and then his focus dips to my chest. Yep. My nipples are showing.

I pull at the front of my dress, shaking my head. “Awkward.”

He winks. “Not for me.” Ender runs his hand through his hair and it stands on end. “This is crazy.”

Just as he starts the truck, his phone goes off with a local weather alert and we hear the tornado sirens.

“What’s the alert say?” Water drips from his hair and down his face like he’s crying. “What county?”

I pick up his phone sitting in the cup holder. “Baldwine and Escambia.”

I notice his screen saver. It’s a selfie of him and Eddie. They must have taken it when they were by the lake that one day collecting rocks. It’s the cutest picture I’ve ever seen.

“That’s close.” Ender cranes his neck forward. He peers out the windshield as a bolt of lightning skitters across the sky and the wind blows wildly, rocking the truck. “Um, we gotta get out of here.” He slams the truck into gear and then jumps the curb and onto the street in front of the restaurant as other cars do the same.

My heart is practically beating out of my chest. “Do you live in those counties?”

“We’re in Mobile county. But Baldwine is the next county over.”

“Oh.”

Ender speeds up the road and Eddie doesn’t stop screaming.

“You’re okay, kid,” Ender soothes, reaching back to rub her leg. Lightning streaks again and a boom of thunder follows, rattling the windows.

“Gets me out of here!” Eddie cries, covering her face with her hands.

I glance at Ender who’s maneuvering through traffic like a pro. “We went through a hurricane once when she was three. She’s been terrified of storms ever since.”

“Well, you’re about to experience a tornado if we stay here,” he tells me, his words muffled by the rain hitting the roof of the truck.

“What?” I gasp, and he points east of us to the funnel cloud in the sky.

Thankfully, we’re going the opposite direction.

Eddie doesn’t stop crying the entire ten-minute drive, and by the time we make it back to Ender’s apartment, my ears are ringing, and the power is out in most of Mobile and surrounding counties.

Ender carries Eddie from the truck in the rain, while I run behind them. We’re drenched, water beading off us like we stood in the shower fully clothed. Ender fumbles with his keys but manages to open the door.

Once inside, Ender sets Eddie down, but she won’t let go of him. His shoes squeak against the tile floors as he kicks them off and almost slips trying to get her off him.

I take her in my arms as another round of thunder booms in the sky.

Ender pulls his phone out of his pocket and checks it. The screen lights up his face in the dark room. “Looks like the band of storms is north of us now.”

“You’re okay,” I soothe Eddie, rubbing her back in the darkness as she buries her face in my shoulder. Her clothes are completely drenched but the heat coming off her is unreal. Probably because she worked herself up. “You’re safe here.”

Ender lights a candle near his stove, and then hands the lighter to Eddie. “Do you want to light the candle for us?”

I’m not sure she knows what he’s talking about, but he could ask her to jump off a cliff with him and she would. I remember that feeling. I was the same way. Still am when it comes to Ender.

“What I do?” Eddie stares at the lighter, her cries slowing as Ender holds the candle in his hand closer.

---