“That’s silly. We’re here. Go run in and see how it fared.”
She tapped her fingers on the armrest while Jonah disappeared into his house.
He was back within a few minutes. “I’m good. Looks like no damage inside. A tree down in the back. And someone’s lost rocking chair is smack in the middle of the yard, acting like it belongs there.” He slid back into the car. “Let’s go check on Ellie’s house.”
He finally pulled onto Seaside Avenue and neared his mother’s home.
“Oh, no.” Her gasp made him slam on the brakes.
The massive live oak that had graced his mother’s front yard for over a century had toppled onto the wraparound porch, crushing the entire east end. Broken roof tiles created a terra cotta pathway across the lawn.
He parked and hurried around to help his mother from the car, but she was already out and walking toward the house. She stopped at the edge of the yard, her hand pressed to her chest.
“That tree survived every hurricane since before I was born.” Her voice wavered slightly. “Lost a huge section years ago, but it’s still been standing.”
“We’ll get it cleared away,” Jonah reassured her. “I’ll make some calls.”
“My mother used to sit under that tree and read to me when I was a little girl.”
She headed toward the porch, and Jonah took her elbow. “Careful there, Ellie.” They picked their way across the lawn, avoiding the broken tiles and smaller branches.
The end of the porch roof was gone. Splintered wood lay scattered across the yard, mingling with broken roof tiles. Chunks of the porch railing were gone. Pieces of it jutted out at odd angles.
They walked carefully up the steps, gingerly at first. He wasn’t sure if the whole porch might give way with too much weight. A large chunk of the roofline had collapsed near the front window, taking out some decorative corbels and a whole section of guttering. He could glimpse a section of exposed roofing.
“Got your key, Ellie?”
She nodded, her attention on the mess of her once-immaculate yard.
Jonah took the key from her outstretched hand and inserted it into the lock. He turned the knob, and they stepped inside. The interior seemed relatively untouched at first.
“I want to look upstairs.” She hurried toward the long staircase that led to the second floor.
He and Jonah followed her up the steps. He glanced up the hallway ceiling. There was no sign of damage there, and the new impact window had held at the end of the hallway.
“Oh, no.” She stood in the doorway of the master bedroom.
He walked up to her and peered inside. Water stains bloomed across the ceiling. A section of the plaster hung down. It seemed the roof damage was worse than he’d anticipated. Water dripped onto the carpet, making a squishing sound when he walked on it.
“Looks like we’ll need to get someone out here to fix the roof,” he said, trying to maintain a neutral tone. No use saying I told you so about the dangers of staying put during a hurricane.
“I’ll take a look around the rest of the upstairs.” He moved down the hallway, checking each room. One of the guest rooms had leaked around the window, and rain had soaked the curtains and pooled on the wooden floor. A section of the ceiling had water stains.
His mother came and stood in the doorway, shaking her head. Jonah appeared beside her. “Lots of repairs needed, Ellie.”
“Well, we’ll get someone started on them right away.”
They headed back toward his mother’s room, and he surveyed the water-damaged ceiling, calculating the extent of repairs needed. One section looked ready to collapse entirely, and he didn’t like the idea of her staying beneath it.
“This is worse than I thought,” he muttered, running his fingers along a crack in the plaster. Water had seeped in along the entire eastern side of the house where the tree had crashed through part of the roof structure.
His mother stood in the doorway, her shoulders slumped slightly as she surveyed the damage to her home. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen her look so… defeated.
“I’ll call someone to tarp the roof right away.” He pulled out his phone. “Shouldn’t be too difficult to get a crew out here quickly.”
Jonah stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Ellie, you can’t stay here. Not with all this damage.”
She straightened her spine. “Of course I can stay here. This is my home.”
