The woman had the good sense to be embarrassed. “I told you we shouldn’t have walked in.”

“You live here?” the husband asked.

“I do. And you’re welcome.” She smiled, despite the irritation she felt.

The wife pulled the husband away.

Parker saw another gawking bystander, marched up, and was less kind.

With the trespassers dealt with, Parker walked off the property and over to her neighbors’. Deliveries of straw bales from a local feed store were stacked up along the fences. Friends, neighbors, and a crew of firefighter explorers were working together to prepare the homes in danger as much as they could.

Parker pulled her work gloves out of her back pocket and went to work.

While all emergency crews were on her property, she spent the entire day helping others. As tired as she was, she smiled when Austin, Mallory, and Jase grabbed shovels and helped.

“We’re either going to laugh or cry,” Tracy said.

“I can’t believe the storm is named Lucifer,” Mallory said.

“Better than being taken out by a storm named Betty Ann.” Austin’s wit always came through.

“He has a point.”

Parker looked over to find that Erin had joined them. She wore an oversize jacket and a baseball cap on her head.

Parker walked over to where she was helping fill sandbags. Media buzzed around filming all the chaos. “You don’t have to—”

“I couldn’t sit around and do nothing.” She glanced at a news van.

Parker smiled, waved her to the back of the house away from the spotlight.

Two local sheriffs walked over to each set of people working. “Who lives at this house?”

Mr. Sutter lifted a hand.

“Evacuations are being advised after nine o’clock tonight,” one of them said.

“We’ve already made arrangements to leave,” Mr. Sutter told them.

Parker couldn’t blame them. Of all the houses not along the wash, theirs was at the biggest risk of being buried. Which was why they were surrounding the place with plywood and straw bales.

The officer then asked who lived in each of the other homes, writing down names.

The De Lucas weren’t going to leave. Neither were Parker and her household. Even the sheriff agreed that her home wasn’t at risk. When he informed her that the wash might be impassable, she laughed. If that was a reason to evacuate, she’d have left in December and not come back until May.

The police didn’t argue, they just advised and made a note of who was staying and who was going.

“You realize it may be impossible for rescue crews to come in to save you.”

“We wouldn’t expect that you do. There is no one in my home in poor health. We have food, water, and gas for the generator,” Parker told them. “Most of us in this part of the neighborhood do.”

The officer she was talking to smiled. “Good luck, everyone. We’ll see you in a couple days when it’s all over.”

“Thank you, Officer.”

A handful of them watched the police leave, then went right back to work.

“You think it’s going to be that bad?” Austin asked.

“I have a deep and unwavering respect for Mother Nature these days.”

“So that’s a yes.”

Parker started to laugh. “Yes, Austin. I think it’s going to be that bad. How bad? I couldn’t tell you. I’m amazed we still have a gate to even close.” She waved at the dump trucks that were lined up and moving through their property. “They have less than three inches on both sides, and not one of them has so much as tapped the rock pillars. The driveway is hammered. Every time they unbury the crossing through the wash, I don’t think it’s going to be there. The structure is undermined everywhere. Our sprinkler system is already shot, half the Malibu lighting died with the fire, and the rest was taken out with the first flood. We don’t have running water. I don’t want to tempt fate, but for us, there isn’t much more that can happen.” She took a breath. “So when it stops raining, Colin will bring his crew in and dig us out. And I’ll call the insurance company. No amount of home repairs is going to fix all this.”

She turned to look at the Sutters’ home. “We don’t have to worry about losing our home. The Sutters do.”

“Let’s get back to it, then.”

She gave her brother a half hug and picked up a sandbag.

“I can’t believe how much debris you guys cleaned out of there in one day.”

Colin stood beside Parker on the high spot overlooking the basins. Pride in his crew was a smile on his face. “They were in rare form today.”

It was dusk and the crews had parked their equipment out of the known danger zones for the night.

“I wish you’d reconsider and bring everyone over to my house tonight.” He was going to be out with his crew throughout the night keeping watch, so he couldn’t stay on the house side of the wash to be with her.

“You know I’m not going to do that.”

“Miss Stubborn.”

She leaned into him. “I like Miss Oakley better.”

“She was stubborn, too.”

“You of all people know we’re safe inside the house. If it takes a week to dig me out, we’re good.”

“It won’t take a week. Even if the bridge completely washes away, I’ll find a flatbed off a truck, get it in there, and give you access.”

“Won’t your boss be unhappy with that?”

He laughed. “He can be as unhappy as he wants. The homeowner had the brains to put it in writing that we make sure she can get in and out of her land. Ed can’t say shit.”

“Smart homeowner.”

They started back toward the house. “Mallory is home tonight?”

“Yeah. She didn’t want to leave with all the crazy going on. We’re all going to watch movies and bet on how many inches we get tonight. Then probably go to bed early.”

“You’ve got to be exhausted.”

“I’m running on fumes.”

He took her hand and kept her steady on the slope of the hill. Once they were back at his truck, he pulled her into his arms. “This weather can’t last forever.”

“I know.”

Colin lowered his lips to hers, enjoyed the feel of her for a little while longer. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Be safe tonight,” she told him.

He stepped over the garden hose water line she was back to using and around to the driver’s side door.

As he drove down the street, several homes were already dark. Gates were open for emergency crews to come in, or to avoid mudflow and rocks accumulating behind them.

The sheriffs were on a constant rotation. Only residents were being allowed in the canyon. Which made the jobs of all the first responders easier.

He really hoped the storm was all hype. The kind of thing forecasters screamed about and then skirted over with a whimper.

Either way, he felt good about the project. He wanted to give his entire crew a raise. Overtime . . . a bonus, something.

Colin first went to his house to shower, then headed out to his parents’ for dinner. Matt was working, so it would just be his parents and Grace . . . but he welcomed the company since he couldn’t spend it with Parker.