Page 54 of Out of the Storm

“Even though you never want to ride with anyone else,” Marsha teased, standing up too. “Except this time maybe?” She looked over at Gary. “Friend of yours?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jeff said. “From Niles.”

Gary held out his hand. “Gary Graham.”

“Nice to meet you Gary,” Ted said, shaking it. “Excited to see some storms this week?”

“Very.” Gary shook Marsha’s hand next. “So, what’s the protocol here?”

“Like, what happens?” Ted asked, and Gary nodded. “Well, we typically have breakfast together, and then we head over to the National Severe Storms Laboratory, figure out the forecast. Sometimes, we’ll be lucky, and there’ll be a storm forecasted for somewhere nearby—only a couple of hours away—but most of the time, we’ll have to head really far, sometimes even to Kansas or something.”

Gary’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow.”

Marsha chimed in. “And if we’rereallyunlucky, blue skies everywhere. For the whole week! One time, a bunch of us caught a plane to Texas instead, so that we could see something on our time off from work.”

“So, it’s a crapshoot,” Gary said.

“Yeah,” Marsha admitted with a shrug. “But we love it.”

Ted said, “It’s worth it to see a storm. Trust me.”

After that, Marsha and Ted started telling Gary some stories of the storms they’d seen over the last couple of years. Meanwhile, Jeff kept thinking about what Gary had said about storm chasing being a crapshoot. It really was a crapshoot to travel such a long way. Coming out to Tornado Alley each year for a vacation had worked out okay for Jeff so far. He had seen a bunch of cool storms and had even witnessed a few funnels. But there wasalwaysa chance that they’d strike out, not even see a single pretty cloud formation. If that happened this year, Gary might end up feeling like this whole trip was a waste of time.

In the middle of the conversation, Gary leaned over to try to catch Jeff’s eye, his forehead etched with concern. He’d probably seen Jeff scowling to himself as he’d worried about whether this would end up being a very pointless and very boring trip for Gary.

“Everything okay?”Gary mouthed.

Worry still coiling in his stomach, Jeff only shrugged in response.

Over the next hour, several other storm enthusiasts trickled in, and then everyone had breakfast and coffee together. Jeff’s stomach was churning too much for him to even eat. At least Gary had managed to eat, inhaling some kind of raspberry-filled pastry. While everyone finished their meal, Jeff sat bouncing his legs and wringing his hands. Hopefully their trip to the NationalSevere Storms Laboratory would reveal the promise of storms in the forecast.

Once breakfast was over, everyone piled into their vehicles and got on the road. Jeff followed the caravan, bracing himself for Gary’s prying. Not because Gary was nosy. But because Gary was Gary. Sure enough, they weren’t on the road for two minutes before Gary reached over and tapped the steering wheel to catch Jeff’s attention.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“Uh-huh. I thought you’d have been bursting with happiness out here. Tornado Alley!”

“Yeah...” Jeff shifted in his seat. “You know, we might not see a storm.”

“So?”

“Won’t it feel like a waste of time?”

“Is that how you’d feel?”

“No, but—”

“Well,Iwouldn’t feel that way either. I’m happy spending time with you,” Gary said, his tone chipper, as usual. Jeff glanced over to see Gary grinning at him, and some of his nervousness eased. Of course Gary wouldn’t be upset. He was way too fucking nice. Jeff focused ahead again as Gary continued, “I mean, wow, I’m so excited to be part of this. It’s special to you, I can tell. And, Jeff, the last few nights... I wish I could put into words what they’ve meant to me.”

Jeff’s cheeks warmed, and fondness bubbled to life inside him, making his heart flutter. After their first night together in the motel in St. Louis, Jeff had spent half of yesterday evening in Gary’s bed as well, and though he hadn’t really beensleepingnext to Gary,the closeness hadmeant a lot to him too. Every night, Jeff seemed to be feeling more comfortable with Gary.

Small miracles.

“They’ve meant a lot to me too, Gare,” he admitted, still keeping his eyes on the road ahead.

“Yeah?”

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