Page 21 of Wild Texas Wind
She choked, and part of her machacado fell out the other end of her tortilla. She scraped it back in like a pro. “Oh, it’s impossible. Usually we are able to do a better job, honestly. But this time, add our usual difficulties a person who just really doesn’t want to be here, and doesn’t stop telling people he doesn’t want to be here. It makes for a tense situation.”
“The teenager?”
She blinked a minute, then glanced over at the tables. “Gavin? Oh, no, this trip was his idea. He wants to be a storm chaser when he grows up. He’s also a terrific videographer. He showed me some of the stuff he’s done for social platforms and it is professional looking stuff. I think his parents are just as happy to indulge him as anything else. No. Mr. Laughton thinks this is a ridiculous waste of money for a week, well, five days. And he doesn’t hesitate to tell us. He’s kind of making everyone else miserable too, so I told Angelica he can ride with us. Which he will hate, because the seats in the van are custom made, and have arm rests and stuff. But he and his wife will be our only passengers. Will kind of give everyone else a break from them.”
He grimaced, but he understood. “That will leave seven in the other van?”
“Yes, but it will be seven people who are having fun.”
“Great.”
She laughed at his expression as he stabbed his plastic fork into the plastic container. “I also need to get into the grocery store for some bottled waters and other essentials before we hit the road. I mean, we have some snacks and stuff, but I’d rather freshen it up, to keep people as happy as possible. Grab some fruits too. We probably won’t get a chance to stop for lunch, and maybe not even for dinner, depending on the timing of the storms. And, I hate to say, toilet paper.”
He lifted his brows. “Toilet paper?”
“When you gotta go, you gotta go,” she said with a shrug, and took another bite of her taco. “If I’m honest, that is my least favorite part about driving around in the middle of nowhere. But I’d rather encounter a tornado there than heading for a town. Did you get the warning out to the people around here?”
“We’ve got some people on it,” he said, pleased she was concerned about his townsfolk.
“Good. Angelica is fairly certain it won’t come this far, but just to be on the safe side. What about your mom? Did you convince her to move for the day?”
He rolled his eyes. “I have never met a more stubborn woman. But if you say the storm won’t reach here—“
“That’s Angelica’s prediction, which is why we’re traveling northwest to meet it.”
He nodded. “Then I won’t worry about it,” he lied, because he would, until the skies were cleared and Esperanza and Angelica had moved on with their tour. “So once you spot a tornado, is the tour done?”
“Not unless there are no more storms forming. They pay for five days, we take them out for five days. Some days, like this one, are slow starts. Some are just sightseeing, if we’re waiting for a system to build.”
“But every tour sees a tornado?”
She twisted her lips to the side. “We’ve had a couple that have just had bad timing where we had big storms before and after the tour started, but most of the tours have had a sighting.” She wadded up her foil and gulped down the last of her water. “I’m going to head over to the grocery store now. Did you want anything?”
He shoveled the last of his eggs into his mouth and capped the container with the plastic lid, rising as she did. “I’ll go with you.” When she gave him a look, he lifted a shoulder. “Help you carry stuff.”
Her expression told him she didn’t need his stinking help, but he was going to go anyway. He held out his hand for her wadded foil, tossed their trash in one of the barrels, and fell into step beside her on the way across the street to the grocery store.
Mrs. Lopez, who owned the store, wasn’t his biggest fan, since he had started asking her to carry particular items that only he bought. He had paid her marked-up price until he was able to get them shipped to him cheaper, and she hadn’t forgiven him for that betrayal. So he came in as little as possible to avoid interactions with the woman, who knew how to carry a grudge.
And of course she was the only one inside the store when they entered.
“Javier,” she greeted coolly, her attention completely on Esperanza.
He resisted the urge to introduce them. If Mrs. Lopez could hold a grudge, he could ignore his good manners. Esperanza chose a small cart and started it down the cross aisle.
“I always love looking at grocery stores in small towns,” she said. “You never know what you’re going to find.”
“My grocery store is very well-stocked,” Mrs. Lopez asserted.
“Yes, ma’am, I see, but I am still fascinated by independent grocery stores, what they carry that the big chains don’t, and vice versa.” She turned the cart down an aisle and stepped around it to heft a case of water into it. She scanned the shelves as she did, and added a few bags of chips in as well. “How often do you get deliveries?”
Mrs. Lopez stepped out from behind the register and stood at the end of the aisle, arms folded across her chest. “Three times a week.”
Esperanza nodded, as if that was acceptable to her. She drove the cart up and down every aisle, adding snacks to it, then landing in the produce, where Javi waited.
“What did you pick out?”
“I have to be careful of the sugars in fruit, so I got some berries. Bananas aren’t the best, but for a day, I think it will be all right. And nuts are good too.”
