The panic subsided, but Lizzie could see the tension in Sarah’s shoulders. Could see the way she kept checking her phone, watching the radar.
This wasn’t just weather. This was a hundred people trapped in an unfinished house during a storm that wasn’t supposed to be here.
And they were stuck until morning.
Chapter 16
Sarah
“Status?” Sarah looked at Carlos once the storm had knocked out the lights, four hours after their arrival. The guests were still upstairs, sleeping, but the kitchen staff had been in the middle of making breakfast.
“Generator’s good to go. We should try to preserve fuel though.”
“Food?”
The head caterer, a woman named Maria, consulted her phone. “We managed to bring everything from the beach into the house, but some snacks might be good.”
“We’ve got emergency supplies in the shed out back,” Sarah said. “Candy, peanut butter, whatever they want.”
“Good think you planned ahead.” Carlos patted her arm. “This is why you’re GM and Derek will never be.”
“From your lips…” Maria said and headed back to the kitchen to put the finishing touches on breakfast.
The house groaned. Everyone went quiet. The storm was getting worse.
Sarah pulled up the weather app on her phone for the hundredth time. The tropical system sat right on top of them, a swirling mass of green and yellow on the radar.
She’d called the harbor master an hour ago. The ferries were grounded until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Maybe longer if the wind didn’t die down.
She already knew that Peter, Derek and several board members would try to blame this on her. Even though she had been the one advocating for a postponement or even cancellation of the event. She’d argued they could have it elsewhere. But no. They’d been sure it would be fine. They’d told her they were locals, born and bred in Key West and knew more than she. Someone who’d been there but a few years and from a totally different climate.
She might have spent much of her adult life first in San Francisco and then in Aspen, but she knew the Florida weather by now.
“Sarah?” Lizzie was watching her.
“What?”
“You okay?”
“Fine. Just thinking.” Sarah straightened. When had Lizzie arrived? She hadn’t even seen her come into the kitchen. “We have everything we need for now. We’ll be ok.”
“For how long though?” Rita looked worried. “These kids are going to get restless. Scared. We need to keep them occupied.”
“Occupied how?” Carlos asked.
Lizzie cleared her throat. “People have doomsday parties.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What?” Sarah asked.
“Doomsday parties. Like when there’s a blizzard or a blackout. You make it fun instead of scary.” Lizzie pulled out her phone. “We’ve got the food. We could set up the spa room downstairs. Rita, you brought your supplies, right?”
The woman nodded. “Most of them, anyway. We couldn’t carry everything. I brought my manicure kit. It’s my livelihood. I wasn’t going to leave it in the tent.”
“Good, so we can still have people do their nails. And your colleague does massages, right?”
Rita nodded. “So we have nail service and massages. And there’s music,” Lizzie continued.
