“Oh, I think you’ve done enough for this town.” She swirled around and walked inside, leaving him standing on her porch.
Chapter 7
Cliff stood on Beverly’s porch, staring at the closed door. Same old Beverly. Same old town. No one wanted his help. Not even when he genuinely offered it, with no strings attached.
He turned and walked to his car as irritation surged through him. Why did she always insist on handling everything herself? It was just like dealing with his mother all over again. Another stubborn Magnolia Key woman pushing him away when all he wanted to do was help.
He slipped into his car to head over to his mother’s house. She always treated evacuation orders like optional suggestions, no matter how serious the warning. He’d call to check on her, but she never answered her cell phone. Said she didn’t need it since everyone knew where to find her.
He parked his car and got out. Winston greeted him with a lazy wag of his tail as he climbed the porch steps. He lifted the brass door knocker and let it go, hearing it echo through the hallway.
His mother’s deliberate footsteps sounded through the door before she opened it and stood there, her back straight and a disapproving look on her face. “Cliff, I thought you’d be off the island by now.”
“I just wanted to check on you. Make sure you heard about the mandatory evacuation. When are you leaving?” He eyed her suspiciously. “You are leaving, right?”
“I’m aware of the evacuation orders and I’m perfectly capable of making my own decision about leaving my home—or not.”
“Mother, you can’t stay here during a hurricane.”
“It’s only going to be a category two, maybe three at most. Winston and I will be fine.”
“You’re leaving.” He stepped into the foyer. “Remember that category three we rode out? The one where you insisted we should stay? The one where half the roof came off? And the hurricane shutters tore off the big window and rain poured in?”
“That was different. And the house has new hurricane windows now. Well, at least upstairs.” She paused and looked at him sharply. “We’ve been through storms before, and we’ll weather this one.” She spoke as if that ended the entire discussion. As if she could control a hurricane through sheer Whitmore stubbornness.
Jonah appeared behind her, nodding a greeting, a look of relief briefly crossing his features. “I was just trying to convince Ellie we need to head to the mainland.” Jonah shook his head. “She hasn’t exactly been cooperative.”
“I’m more than cooperative,” she protested sharply. “I just see no point in panicking. The forecast keeps shifting back and forth—first it’s a two, then maybe a three, then back to a two. Those weather reporters haven’t got a clue. We’ve lived through worse. Cliff, you know that well enough.”
He met her gaze. “Mother, I know you take pride in being stubborn. But there’s a fine line between stubborn and reckless. Will you really risk your safety—all because you refuse to listen to common sense?”
“I won’t have you lecturing me on common sense. Common sense says that you’d realize your ridiculous development is a poor idea for the town.”
He let out a long sigh. It always came back to him screwing things up as far as his mother was concerned.
“And both of you can stop treating me like I’m some helpless old woman. I’ve lived through plenty of storms. This is my home. You two feel free to leave if you’re concerned. But I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m not leaving you, Ellie.” Jonah put a hand on her shoulder.
“Your home will still be here when you get back.” At least he hoped it would. You never knew with these hurricanes.
Jonah turned and looked patiently at his mother. With way more patience than he had for her. “Ellie, we really don’t want to put any rescue workers at risk if we stay here and need help, do we?”
She stared at Jonah for a moment. “Fine. But only because you already made arrangements at a nice hotel a bit inland.” She pointed her finger at Cliff. “Not because you told me to. We’ll leave in the morning. No use wasting money on a hotel room tonight.”
Relief swept through him. She’d finally listened to reason. “Do you need help getting your things together?”
“No, I’m perfectly capable of packing.” She waved her hand at him. “You can go now.”
“Mother—”
She turned and headed for the stairs. “I’m sure you have other things to do. Development plans to work on. Buildings to design that will ruin our town.”
“Ellie,” Jonah said softly. “Now is not the time…”
She paused on the third step. “You’re right. I need to pack.” She continued up the stairs without looking back.
He stood there, feeling like that teenage boy who could never do anything right.
