Ryan said, “I’ll call my dad and I’m coming up right now. I’ll call your house. You stay where you are, okay? If it’s safe, I mean. Stay so someone can come get you. Where, exactly? Over.”
“The Mendozas’ old equipment shed. My mom and Jake know where it is. It’s safe, but I’m wet and cold and I’m worried about Avery and I can’t find Cleo anywhere. Over.”
He was still looking for the stray cat?
“Okay, I’m calling your mom, stay there. Over.”
Ryan pulled on his heavy-duty boots and ran back down the stairs, cell phone in hand. “Mom! I’m going out.”
“No, you’re not,” she called from the kitchen.
“Mom, Bobby McKenna is trapped in a barn and they need my help.”
She stepped in the doorway, drying her hands on a rag, giving him the once-over. “Are you lying to me?”
“I wouldn’t lie to you. I’m calling his house now, but he called me because he couldn’t reach anyone. He said that there’s something weird going on at the Mendoza house.” He didn’t want to tell her about the gun, but he knew that if she found out he had withheld information from her, she’d call it lying and ground him for weeks.
“I’m calling your dad. The roads are a mess out there, and Rock Creek has flooded.”
Rock Creekalwaysflooded, but the McKennas didn’t live anywhere near there. “I won’t go near it. But yeah, tell Dad that Bobby says there’s a stranger with a gun at the Mendozas’ house.”
“You are not going there,” she stated.
“No, I’m going to call Jake and help him get to Bobby. Please, Mom, they need help, and you know it’ll take too much time to get a deputy up there with everything else going on with the storm.”
She sighed. “Keep the emergency radio on in your truck, and I swear, you’d better take every precaution on these roads. Don’t go to the Mendozas, I know you want to, but stay away. You keep in touch.”
“If you reach Dad, have him call me and I’ll tell him everything I know, but I need to go, I’m worried about Bobby and I don’t know why he couldn’t reach his family.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” She glanced behind her into the family room where his three younger sisters were doing homework and watching television at the same time.
“No, I don’t know how long it will take.” He gave his mom a quick hug. “I’ll be careful, I promise. I’ll call you.”
And he left before she could think twice about it. He had a lot of autonomy because he didn’t usually get into trouble, so he capitalized on that now. This was an unusual situation, however, and his mom could have stopped him. He was glad she hadn’t.
As soon as he was in his truck, wipers moving full force against the torrent of water, he called the McKenna house.
The phone rang. And rang.
Jake called his mom from the corner of the porch, pulling the long kitchen cord out, as he watched the driveway, willing his brother to show up.
“Hello?” His mother’s voice was clipped, tense.
“Mom, it’s Jake. Bobby’s not home and no one is answering at the Mendoza house. I’m going over there.”
“No, stay put. I’m not far.” The cell reception crackled on her end.
“Where are you?”
“Just about to turn onto Orchard from Ranch. I have to go slow.”
“The creek is high, Mom. You might not get through.”
“I’ll get through.”
“Call me as soon as you know what’s going on. I can look for Bobby.”
“He has to be at the Mendozas,” she said, as if willing it to be true. “I’ll call. And—”
