AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Listen to the sound of the storm,” I corrected. “Listen to how everything sounds together. I know it might be scary with your eyes open but when your eyes are closed… you realize it’s just another one of nature’s symphonies. It’s… beautiful.”
“Beautiful? Yeah, right.” Sam scoffed, his eyes still closed. “Although, if we are going to die out here, I’d rather not see it coming…”
“That’s the spirit.” I smirked as I steered around a giant patch of muddy water. “Just keep your eyes closed, okay? I promise it’s going to make all the difference.”
“Okay…,” Sam replied, and I watched as his frame seemed to relax slightly, his anxiety seeping away.
A few moments later and his storm anxiety was all but gone. He’d shifted from uneasy and scared to being as still as a statue, a strange sense of calm emanating from him.
“Sam?” I asked, my voice low. “Are you okay?”
“Actually, I am,” he replied, his words casual. “You were right about the nature’s symphony thing. When you’re not looking right at it… you can hear how it all sounds good together. The rain. Even the thunder.”
“Good. I’m glad you got a chance to appreciate it,” I said, as we finally pulled in front of the cabin. “Because now, we’ll have to make a run right through it.”
“Run right through it?”
“To get in the cabin.” I smiled, parking the car as I reached for the door handle. “Come on. If we move fast enough, maybe we won’t get totally soaked.”
* * *
The storm was still roaring outside, even as Sam and I finished setting his things down in the living room. I was watching from the window as the roads seemed to completely wash out, the rain erasing so much from sight. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time we’d had a storm hit us this bad, my memory trying and failing to come up with something comparable.
Shit.
I was trying my best to hide how bad it really was from Sam, not wanting him to start freaking out again after I’d managed to calm him down earlier. I also didn’t want him thinking that the cabin was a death trap because it wasn’t. We were going to be safe here, even when it got scary outside.
Even through the worst of it, this was still going to be the best place for us.
“Thank you.”
“What?” I turned around to see Sam on the couch, a towel wrapped around his shoulders.
“For calming me down in the car,” he replied. “That was… really kind of you.”
“Just doing my job.” I smiled over at him. “It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t make sure you got the best out of your Wild Woods experience.”
Sam smiled back, even though the expression still seemed sad. “So, do you think we’ll be okay?”
“As long as we stay put, yes,” I answered. “I think problems start to set in when people try to take things into their own hands, including trying to outsmart a storm.”
“Will the car be okay? Out there?”
“Same rules apply to the car. As long as it stays put, it’ll probably be fine.”
“Good.” Sam nodded before he patted the seat beside him on the couch. “Well, if we’re going to be okay… maybe you can stop staring out the window like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re secretly very worried about what’s going to happen to us.” Sam lightly chuckled. “You don’t have to put on a brave face for my sake, by the way. I thrive in uncertain situations.”
“Something tells me that’s not true.” I chuckled now, too, before sinking beside him on the couch. “But thank you for the permission when it comes to my brave face.”
“Anytime.” Sam smiled over at me.
And I couldn’t help but trace the lines of his face with my brain, committing them all to memory, wondering if the crinkle in his eyes was going to look the same if he was tired or—
“I need to go check on something. I’ll be right back.” I suddenly shot up from the couch, needing to distract myself from my Sam-centric thoughts.
