“She likes to pretend she doesn’t.”
“You two don’t get along?”
“We’ve hit a rough patch,” he admitted.“I’m not fond of her life choices.”
“Which ones?”
Wade tossed aside the ice pack again.Daisy started licking the condensation off it.“She collects useless things.Junk, pets, people.”
“Pets aren’t useless.”
He glanced at Daisy, his brow arched in silent disagreement.“She also drinks too much and doesn’t take care of herself.”
Meredith couldn’t dispute these hard truths, so she remained quiet.
“Every time I visit, she has a new entourage of animals and enablers.”
“How often do you visit?”
“Not often enough to make a difference, but now I’m here to stay.”
She drew in a shaky breath.Wade didn’t approve of anyone his mother associated with, including her.She couldn’t blame him.Even so, Meredith didn’t need his stamp of approval.Wynona was her own woman.She wouldn’t ask Meredith to leave.
“Your mother hired me to help her,” Meredith said.
“She pays you?”
“Yes.Since she lost her license, she can’t drive—”
“She lost her license?”He muttered a curse, shifting his weight.Chico didn’t budge from his cuddle spot.
“I run errands for her and do the work she can’t handle.”
“She can’t handleanywork.”
Meredith shrugged, because Wynona was a free spirit and a dreamer.She did creative projects, socialized, and collected garage sale items.Meredith handled all of the housework and ranch labor, but who was she to criticize?Nolan Ranch was a perfect sanctuary for her.
Wade’s phone buzzed with a new notification.He glanced at the screen again.“The warning’s been lifted.The tornado cut a swath through Hill County.It caused significant destruction in the Rocksprings and Lakeside areas.”
Meredith had become familiar with the surrounding area in the months she’d lived here.Rocksprings was a tiny town at the edge of the county, sparsely populated with small and midsize ranches.Lakeside was about five miles away, with clusters of neighborhoods that included a trailer park.
Tornadoes were a part of life in the Midwest, where she’d grown up, so she knew that twisters and trailer parks were a bad mix.Depending on the strength of the storm, there could be fatalities.
“They’re creating an evacuation center at Lost Lake High,” Wade continued.“Emergency services personnel and able-bodied volunteers are asked to report there.”
When Wade stood, wincing a little, Meredith rose with him.She ordered the dogs to stay and followed him upstairs.King parked himself on the blanket.Chico didn’t normally obey, but he was too small to climb stairs.Daisy barked a protest as Meredith shut the door.Wade grabbed his Stetson and went outside, where he began to unload the back of his pickup truck.The power was still out, so Meredith moved some perishables from the fridge to the freezer.Then she decided she might as well use the lunch meat to make sandwiches.She emerged from the kitchen with two sack lunches.
Wade had stacked his belongings on the front porch.He had luggage, about a dozen cardboard boxes, a set of weights, some fishing gear, and an expensive-looking mountain bike, all piled haphazardly.
She handed him a lunch.
“Thank you,” he said, sounding genuine.
“Why don’t you let me drive you to town?Even a minor bump on the head can cause vision problems.”
He squinted into the distance.“I can drive myself.”
“Okay.I’ll follow you in Wynona’s car.”
