“Yeah.” He shifted in his seat and faced forward.
She wished she had Maxine with her, but Maxine was riding with Dale. It would take hours to get back to the ferry. Hours with Cliff sitting next to her. She gripped the steering wheel.
“We’re going to be stuck in traffic for hours,” she mumbled.
He didn’t reply.
The entrance ramp to I-75 was already backed up. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. She crept along, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel.
She glanced over at Cliff, who was staring straight ahead. He had a slight frown on his face, his jaw set.
Miss Eleanor interrupted the silent treatment. “Beverly, I hope Coastal Coffee didn’t get too much damage.”
She knew what Miss Eleanor was doing. Making conversation. Trying to get her and Cliff to play nice. “I don’t know, Miss Eleanor. I sure hope so.”
“A lot of people are going to need coffee once we get back,” Jonah said.
Good old Jonah. Playing along.
“We’ll get them all fixed up. And I have plenty of coffee beans. I hope.” She hadn’t really had time to run a full inventory before leaving. And that was if they had electricity or if her generator would work. Or… if there wasn’t a lot of damage.
Silence descended again. They inched along. The sun blazed down.
Miss Eleanor tapped Cliff on his shoulder. “And if the island sustained a lot of damage, are you still going ahead with your development?”
“Mother, that’s not an appropriate topic of conversation right now.”
Oh, here we go. Round number… one hundred? Or however many times the townspeople had argued over the development.
“I just don’t think it’s appropriate to put that big building there. And at the end of the boardwalk. And the boardwalk that might not even still be there, you know.”
Good job, Miss Eleanor. Convince Cliff to abandon the development and then disappear from the island.
She decided to help Miss Eleanor out. “And now that there is all that damage to the bridge they were building, that would impact the build too, wouldn’t it? Won’t be easy for guests to get to the island. The ferry deters a lot of people.
Cliff gave her a quick look and just shook his head before staring out the windshield again.
They sat in silence again. Minutes ticked past. Maybe hours. They inched along. She took another look at Cliff. He had his elbow on the armrest and his eyes closed. Was he asleep? How could anyone possibly sleep when they didn’t know what they would find on the island? There had only been a few photos of it that she could find online.
He opened his eyes, but he still hadn’t looked over at her. He really was going to ignore her. Fine. She could just as easily ignore him.
The traffic lightened up just a little, and they got up to maybe forty miles an hour. And then slowed again. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. A familiar pattern now.
“We took my boat from the island to the mainland to evacuate, but we’ll take the ferry back to the island today. It will give me time to check out my boat before taking her out again.” Jonah broke the silence.
No one answered him.
“This is going to be a long ride home,” Jonah tried again.
Miss Eleanor sighed. “How long do you think it will be?”
“Until we get there? Hard to say. But my traffic app shows it’s still a mess out there,” she answered.
She concentrated on the road. And not on Cliff. How was she supposed to act around him? Ignore him? But they were in confined quarters. It was so awkward. The tension crackled between them.
Cliff surprised her when he finally spoke to her. “Do you want me to drive for a while?”
“No.” She gripped the wheel a little harder. She didn’t want him driving her car.
