Page 62 of Derecho

Lainey moved to the edge of the sofa and I got up, taking her hands to help her stand. Her belly bumped into me, but she almost immediately took a step to the side as I tried to stabilize her.

“Thank you. For that, and for the lamp. And for everything else today. It was such a jam packed day, I’m sure I’ll sleep right through it all.”

“I hope you do.”

Clearing her throat, Lainey nodded as she disappeared up the stairs.

An alarm blared from my phone, jolting me wide awake from my sleep. I tossed my half-numb arm over to the night stand, banging it around until my hand slapped against the cool glass of the screen.

The light blinded me as I turned the screen on, my eyes taking forever to adjust. But as soon as they did, I was up from my bed, trying to get to Lainey.

I didn’t bother knocking on her door. She was asleep, and I needed to get her up and moving downstairs. Fast. At least, I expected her to be asleep.

Instead, when I rushed in, I found her sitting on the edge of her bed, her face pulled tight as her hand rubbed over her belly. The storm lamp I’d left for her was on full blast, casting harsh shadows around the room.

“Hey, I’m glad you’re up. We have to go.”

“I know,” she whispered. Of course she did. She would have gotten the same alert I did.

“Good. You need a hand?”

“Yes, I think…”

She grabbed onto my hand, squeezing tightly as a sharp gasp filled the room.

Oh fuck.

One look at the pain etched across her face and I knew she wasn’t talking about the storm notification.

My eyes dropped to her belly, where she was now grasping onto tightly.

“Trouble? What’s going on?”

“Oh, you know…thought I’d just add to the chaos and have my baby tonight.”

“You…” I felt every last drop of blood drain out of my face as her words washed over me.

“I’m so sorry. Everyone knew.” Her voice caught. “And I was selfish, because I wanted to stay here. But I think…I’m so sorry, I think I’m in labor. We have to call Birdie. I have to go…”

Of course. Of course the universe was going to do this to her. She was going into labor, and she was stuck in the middle of a fucking tornado warning with me.

“Shit,” I groaned. “No, we can't go anywhere. Other than downstairs. Right now. There’s a tornado warning. Confirmed touchdown just this side of Silver Springs proper, more could be spawning in the storm. Even if they don’t, this storm is a beast. We need to get to the bathroom where it’s safe.”

Her eyes went wide, and in the harsh glow of the little lamp on the bedside table, I could see all the color draining from her face.

“Oh…okay. I think…um…maybe we should grab some blankets, or um, towels…My phone and the bag over there. At least bring it downstairs if an ambulance can get out here?”

“I’ll get anything we need after I know you’re in a safe spot. Let’s go.”

I wrapped my arm around Lainey’s back, hating the fact that I couldn’t scoop her up in my arms and carry her downstairs.

Lainey stopped on the bottom step, turning back to look at me.

“Keep going. The bathroom down here is the safest spot for us to be.”

“That’s convenient.”

“Why?”