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Chapter 9
With a sick kind of fascination, Colby kept the TV on silently, running hurricane coverage all day long. She had never been through a hurricane and they terrified her. Every time, she went out of town, back to Richmond or evacuated with friends. Last year with Harvey, the biggest one to hit since she’d moved to Houston, she flew to Virginia for two weeks. Much of the time the storms got downgraded and were not much more than tropical storms or depressions by the time they got to Houston. Lots of rain and some wind, but not a big deal. Before going to Rice, she hadn’t realized how close to the beach Houston was. From her college apartment, she and the girls could be on the beach in less than an hour.
The news showed the hurricane’s approach on an endless loop, broken up only by people standing on beaches, watching for the waves to rise, and then videos of store aisles, crowded with people and empty of things like water and bread. The sight made her a little homesick—it was the same way when anyone in Virginia mentioned the idea of snow during winter. She knew she should go to the store, but there was no way she was braving that mob scene. Though she didn’t particularly want to see her mother, she wished that she had found out about Manuel earlier so she could have gotten a plane ticket. She had been too distracted with the whole moving thing, plus running into Nate, and then the app breaking so she couldn’t talk to Napper.
She found herself checking the app every hour, just to see if maybe it was back online. The idea that she might not ever talk to Napper or get to meet him crushed her. The app was so stupid, not giving you information for four weeks. It seemed like a fun idea until now, when she literally had nothing she could do to reach him.
There’s always Nate…
No. Colby kept having to shut down the weak part of her that wanted to give him another chance. Sure, he looked great. Maybe he was still a fun guy. But whatever she thought she knew about him was thrown out the window when he stood her up and disappeared. Even more so when he reappeared and then acted aloof and didn’t mention it at all. She wouldn’t be that girl—the one so desperate that they let some guy jerk them around. She deserved better.
Colby was still drinking coffee in pajamas, watching the hurricane tracking maps, when Liz called.
“Hey, Liz! How’s it going?”
“Oh my gosh, Colby! I can’t believe it about this hurricane. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Honestly, I wasn’t paying attention. I might not have known at all if Debbi hadn’t mentioned it. I don’t really keep up with the weather.”
“It looks bad. They’re even reporting it over here,” Liz said.
“That’s kind of crazy.”
“Not much going on in the news here, I guess. And everyone likes a disaster.” Liz sighed. “Anyway, I wanted to see if you were planning to stay at the house.”
“I thought I’d ask what you want me to do,” Colby said. “Debbi invited me over there, but I don’t really want to be trapped in the house with her family. I mean, she’s got enough to worry about with her kids. Do you want me to do anything to prep the house? I don’t know what to do, but you can tell me, and I’ll do whatever.”
“Well, just so you know, we have that fridge in the garage stocked with enough water that you should be fine if you need it. We’ve got some random food out there too. Do you have paper? I’ll give you a list of things. Some of it you might know, but just in case.”
Colby rolled her eyes, glad that Liz couldn’t see. Liz was very Type A, and Colby tried not to make any kind of sounds as the list of things to do got longer and longer. Some were for Colby’s sake, like moving her car closer to the garage instead of parking near the street. She also let her know where flashlights were, extra batteries, a transistor radio, matches, and candles. Other tasks related to getting the house ready. John didn’t say she had to, but he really hoped she might board up some of the windows in the front and back of the house.
“The big picture windows, if possible,” Liz said.
“Uh huh,” Colby said, writing this down on a pad of paper in the kitchen with a bunch of questions marks behind it. Nervousness began to buzz in the pit of her stomach. Did she need to board up the windows, really? She barely knew how to hold a hammer. And the house was brick! But if she didn’t and the windows blew in… The picture windows on the front and back of the house were huge. Now she was thinking about glass all over the inside.
“I told him you probably wouldn’t be able to, but if you could, we would really appreciate it. Or if you can find a service to do it, we could reimburse you.”
“I can hammer. But I don’t have plywood or whatever. Also, your house is brick. What am I supposed to hammer the boards to, exactly?”
Liz sighed. “I’d ask John, but he’s at work. Maybe I’ll call you back. He said there’s extra plywood in the garage near John’s work bench. But seriously, just don’t worry about it. I mean, I wouldn’t know how to do that. I told him I would tell you, but I didn’t promise him you would do it.”
“I want to take care of your house. You guys were nice enough to let me stay here. The least I can do is some hurricane prep.”
“Whatever. It’s fine. Just do your best and get out if you need to. Remember that if you go into the attic, bring an ax.”
“What?!”
“In case you have to hack your way out. People die trapped in attics all the time. Our house is one-story, so if there’s flooding and you have to go up, you just want to be able to get out so someone can rescue you.”
Colby’s hand was shaking. She put down the pen to grip the counter. She couldn’t handle this. Maybe she should evacuate to… somewhere? In the past one of her friends had always invited her to leave town with them. They all had family around Texas. All flights were probably booked at this point.
Evacuating Houston by car was a terrible idea, even if she found a hotel or something. She’d heard horror stories about one storm that they thought was going to come and everyone evacuated, but the storm didn’t come. People actually died out on the road, trying to get to other cities and running out of gas, food, and water. That sounded worse than a flooded house. It made her think of those zombie apocalypse movies with all the cars abandoned on the highways. She would have to stay and make the best of it. Alone.
When she finally hung up with Liz, she wished again that she could message Napper. What would he do for hurricane prep? Maybe he was smart and had left a few days before. But that was the thing—you never knew if the storm was really going to hit or how hard until pretty close to the time it made landfall. Still, talking to him would make her feel better, like she wasn’t doing this by herself.
She debated about calling Debbi, or even Jane. She got along with Jane better and could handle being stuck with her. But it would be awkward staying with just Jane and her husband for any length of time, like the ultimate third wheel. If it was an emergency, sure. But they still didn’t know how bad this was going to be. It was definitely coming, but there was no telling if this would be more wind-based or if they’d get the dirty side again like Harvey with all the rain.
To keep herself from worrying, she decided to at least try to put up the plywood over the windows. Opening the garage, she dragged a few pieces to the front porch where there was a pretty large window. If it shattered, the glass would go everywhere inside the open-concept house, plus that would leave it open to rain or even to looters. The thought made Colby shudder. She really didn’t want to do this alone.
