Page 122 of The Only Seconds that Matter
“But—”
“We ain’t talkin’ about this right now,” Johnny snapped, jerking a finger at Taylor.
Taylor shrugged, face buried in her knees.Victor saw a few new tears form at the corners of her eyes before she vigorously wiped them away.Johnny had his arms crossed tightly over his chest, jaw set, staring resolutely forward.
Finally the thunder and rain faded, so Johnny stood up and opened the storm shelter door.The sky had turned to light gray, and rain was only sprinkling now.Johnny and Victor helped the dogs out of the shelter first, then Taylor.When Victor saw that his barn was still standing, he let out a long breath he’d been holding.However, it looked like part of the roof over the arena had been ripped off, and pieces of fence, metal siding, and tree branches were strewn across his driveway.One of the trees on the other side of his house had been torn in two and flung twenty feet.Another had split and landed on his roof, though it seemed the roof was still intact.Two windows had shattered, and his bushes were a mess, but overall, the house escaped mostly unscathed.The real victim of the storm was the outdoor arena—part of the wooden fence along the far side now sat in obliterated pieces across the barnyard.Beyond it, a line of trees that marked a drainage ditch were equally reduced to slivers, marking the perimeter of where the tornado had passed.
“You really were on the edge of it,” Johnny said, observing the damage.
“What about your place?”
“I’ve been so worried about Taylor I haven’t thought about it.But it is a straight shot from my place to yours…” Johnny frowned.“Guess I should head home and check.”
“You taking Taylor with you?”
“I can.I’ll drop her off on the way.”
“I don’t want to go home,” Taylor muttered from several feet away, kneeling to pet Piper.
“Ain’t got another choice, kid.”
Taylor wrapped both arms around Piper, hiding her face in her fur.Victor hated to see her like this.
“What are you going to do about Taylor?”Victor asked, lowering his voice so he wouldn’t be overheard.
“Fuck if I know.”Johnny lifted a hand to scratch the back of his neck.“Lemme figure it out.You worry about cleaning this place up.You’ll probably wanna check on your horses.”
“Yeah.”The horse pastures were on the opposite side of the property as the arena, so he was hopeful they all weathered it, but the debris was a concern.Who knew what the storm dumped into the pasture or pelted a horse with?“But once you check your place and take Taylor home, can you please come back here so we can talk?”
Johnny shifted from foot to foot, clearly not loving the idea.“Yeah, alright.”
“Not just about us, but about the Taylor situation.”
“Can’t blame her for bein’ a little crazy.If I’d had a dirtbike at her age…” Johnny sighed.“I’m gonna get goin’.I’ll be back in a few hours.”
Johnny took a step away, but Victor grabbed his hand and pulled him back.
“What?”Johnny asked.
Victor dragged him close enough that Victor could lift Johnny’s hand to his mouth, kiss his knuckles, and squeeze before releasing him.“Stay safe.”
Johnny’s face turned red, and he twisted away before he nodded.“Alright.”
It hurt to let go of his hand, but Victor didn’t have any other choice.
CHAPTER 34
Victor’s first course of action was to check the horses.He found most of them huddled at the far end of their paddocks, dripping wet and nervous but otherwise unscathed.That was one fear off the table.Now he had to take care of everything else.He headed back to the barn and looked through the hole caused by the tornado peeling back the metal sheeting like the foil on a Pringles can.That could be fixed well enough, and though the wind had really swept through the place, nothing else seemed to be damaged enough to be dangerous.The arena was a total loss; the vinyl strips that connected each post had been shredded, with some of the posts leaning or torn out of the ground entirely.The far stream that ran an acre east of the arena had spilled over its banks, carrying mud, shattered branches, and trash.
It’d take a few days to clean the place up, maybe a day more to fix the roof of the barn.He’d also have to have the outdoor arena fence re-built.But overall, he was glad that his house and barn were still standing and that no one, neither human nor equine, was injured.
Victor spent the next two hours driving around and checking in on neighbors in the area.The tornado had skirted around the town limits, so most of the damage was done to farm fields and other outlying homes.The neighbor to his east had a tree fall on and destroy her garage, but she otherwise seemed okay.Victor offered to go back to his house and get his chainsaw to remove the worst of the branches so that she could get into her house, and that took a while.She was very grateful to him, thanking him profusely and offering him her leftover baked goods.Victor was on his way back home with a few cookies in his pocket when the truck picked up a phone call from Johnny.
“Well,” was all Johnny said, but Victor could sense in his voice it was serious.
“What is it?”Victor asked.
“My house is gone.”
