Once he walked in his parents’ home and kissed his mom and sister, he sat beside his dad, who had the news on.

“Well, Dad . . . what is your leg saying about this storm?”

Emmitt looked at him, grinned. “I hope you have your raincoat with you.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Lucifer came in low and was hitting hard by nine in the evening.

The news became a source of angst, so Parker suggested a board game. As tired as they all were, no one felt like going to bed yet.

They could hear the wash as if it were directly in front of the house. The crossing already impassable. Status quo for this year, Parker found herself thinking.

No one had anywhere to go for a few days, so she’d enjoy the family together time for as long as she could. Who knows . . . maybe she’d look back on this time and smile one day.

One day fifty years from then.

They set up a game of Life, and instead of picking a gender based on who they were, they closed their eyes and pulled a peg from the bag. They gave each other different names and spun the dial.

About halfway through the game, the power popped off.

“Oh, man . . .”

She thought about going out and turning on the generator but hesitated. “Let’s just light some candles and enjoy the quiet.”

Using their cell phone flashlights, they went through the house and gathered candles.

Parker walked out onto the porch to the water heater room to grab a three-hour log to put in the fireplace.

The creek roared.

As she turned to walk back into the house, a high-pitched hissing noise drew her attention. It sounded as if it were coming from the other side of the wash.

She opened the sliding door and called inside. “Hey, guys . . . come here.”

Austin and Mallory rushed over, Erin took her time.

“Do you hear that?”

They all held their breaths while they listened.

“What is it?” Austin asked.

“I have no idea,” she said. “You hear it, though, right?”

Erin shrugged.

“It’s way over there, whatever it is.” Unimpressed, Austin walked back into the house.

Back inside, Parker placed the log in the fireplace and opened the flue. She waited for Mallory to finish lighting a few candles before taking the lighter from her, when her phone rang.

“Hey, Colin . . . how is Armageddon out there?” she teased.

“You’ve got to get out of there.”

Parker lost all levity with his tone.

“What’s going on?”

“Are you by the front door?”

“Yeah.” She moved back to the slider. Austin took the lighter from her and went to the fireplace.

“Do you hear that noise?”

“Yeah, we can. What is it?”

“Jesus, Parker. I knew you should have come home with me.”

Now she was starting to panic. “What is it, Colin?” Her voice grabbed everyone’s attention in the room.

“The gas main between the Sutters’ and the De Lucas’ busted. The noise you hear is gas escaping.”

Parker looked up and saw the lighter in Austin’s hand. “Austin, no!”

She ran over and grabbed it.

“What is it?” Colin asked.

“We were just about to start a fire. The power went out.”

“No fires. No generator. We need to get you out of there.”

Parker took a deep breath, walked over to the candles Mallory had just lit, and blew them out. “Find some flashlights. The noise outside is a gas main break.”

Erin’s eyes widened.

“Oh, shit,” Austin said, his eyes moved to the fireplace.

“Parker, are you listening to me?”

“I hear you, Colin. But we can’t get over the creek. And even if we could, I wouldn’t run toward a gas leak.”

“Gas main explosions take out blocks, Parker.”

She’d watched enough of the news to consider that.

“It’s an all-electric house. No line is connecting us to the break.”

Part of her panicked, but the practical part of her took a deep breath.

“Damn it, Parker. I can’t lose you.”

He was scared to death, she heard it in his voice.

“I don’t need you losing it, Colin.” She put the phone on speaker so she could use her hands and talk at the same time. She started shouting orders. “Close all the shutters like we did for the fire,” she told Mallory and Austin. “Grab a case of water and take it downstairs,” she instructed Erin.

“What are you doing?” Colin asked.

“Remember when I told you the house was built like a bomb shelter? That the basement was completely underground? I’m taking everyone down there until I get an all clear from you that everything is safe.” She walked into her bedroom and pulled the comforter off her bed.

“I don’t like this, Parker.”

“We’re a thousand feet away. I’m not climbing mountains that are washing away to die in a mudslide to avoid a gas main explosion. C’mon, Hudson . . . you’re smarter than that. I’ll text you in ten minutes. Cell phone service downstairs is spotty.” She grabbed cushions from the sectional and started tossing them down the stairs.

“Ten minutes.”

“Let the gas company do their job. Don’t make me worry about you out there.”

“I will. I love you, Parker.”

She stopped what she was doing, looked at her phone. “I love you, too, Colin. Although I didn’t see this as how I was going to tell you that for the first time.”

“God, I hate this.”

“Ten minutes, Colin. I need to get everyone downstairs.”

“Go. Be careful.”

“You, too.”

She hung up the phone, tucked it in her back pocket.

“Blankets and pillows . . . let’s move!”

The police sectioned off the street. They went house by house, pounding on doors and evacuating all who hadn’t already left.

All Colin could do was watch from the side. Rain dripping down his frame.

It gutted him.

Three fire stations, including Matt’s, had their trucks on the street and standing by.

“Did you get ahold of them?”

“They’re safe,” he told his brother.

“All of them? Is Erin with them?”

“Yes. They’re holed up in the basement.”

Matt nodded several times. “Good, okay. Smart.” He spun around. “Son of a bitch . . . When do they think they can get it turned off?”

“I heard a couple of hours.”

“That’s too long.”

“It’s a main, Matt. Not a simple switch.”

For two men who were first to jump in and help, sitting back and watching was no easy task.

Colin channeled Parker’s calm. “They’re going to be okay.”

His phone chimed with a text.

It’s a slumber party in the basement. We’re fine. Don’t worry.

Colin waved his phone at his brother. “Don’t worry. She told me not to worry.”

Matt rolled his eyes and stepped off the street as a squad car rolled by.

They really had no choice but to sit back and wait.