Page 87 of It Was Always You

She was hoping to maybe get a little time for sightseeing once they had finished the piece and maybe a little shopping too.

Mack and Kyle arrived mid-afternoon and she met them in the lounge area. As they chatted about the piece they were about to start on, one of the staff turned the volume up on the TV that hung on the wall by the bar.

‘Reports are coming in at that Storm Erin has unexpectedly changed course and is now expected to make landfall later today…’ the news reporter was saying with a concerned crumple to his brow.

‘Well, damn, that’s not good,’ Mack said. He wasn’t his usual jovial self; today he was seriousness personified, which set Lily on edge.

Kyle tapped on his phone, looking at various news and weather sites. ‘Shit, it looks like it’s gonna get pretty bad, guys,’ he said, chewing his lip.

‘But surely it can’t be that bad if people are still travelling in?’ Lily said.

‘I’ll go and grab us a couple drinks. We may not be starting today,’ Kyle said as he stood from the table.

‘Aye, I’m gonna go and call the missus quickly. She’ll panic if she sees the news,’ Mack said. He stood and wandered over to a quieter area of the bar.

While she sat there alone, Lily’s mobile phone vibrated, notifying her of a WhatsApp message.

Adam.

Lil, just seen on news that a hurricane is heading for Florida. You shd come home.

She sighed and hit reply.

S’ok Adders, they’re used to this kind of thing here. Stop worrying!

Ten seconds later:

Lil, it sounds bad. Please come home.

She didn’t respond. She had learned that the more she pandered to Adam, the more he worried. It was best to ignore him when he got scared. Eventually, he would calm down when he realised she was on her plane journey home.

Kyle returned and placed a tray of drinks on the table before her. He rubbed his tattooed hand over his face. ‘I was just talking to the guy behind the bar. He says they’re starting to board up windows and remove any freestanding heavy items from the beachfront. It’s looking pretty serious out there.’

Lily gave a nervous laugh. ‘But… I was sitting out on the terrace eating breakfast just this morning in bright sunshine. I mean, people are here on holiday. There are kids all over the place.’

Kyle turned and gave her a warm smile. ‘Yeah, and that’s why the precautions are being taken, honey. Nature doesn’t tend to discriminate by age. As long as we do what we’re asked to do, we’ll be fine.’ Kyle patted her arm in a patronising way that made her blood boil.

She clenched her jaw. ‘We need to get on a plane. There’s no point in staying here when we’re not going to get what we came to film,’ she snapped.

‘Airports are now closed with flights currently en route being diverted and all outward-bound flights are now grounded,’ the TV reporter said. ‘People are being advised not to travel and to secure windows and prepare.’

‘Ah,’ Lily said as a cold shiver travelled her spine.

Mack returned, pale-faced. He sat and took a long drag of his beer but didn’t speak.

Kyle shook his head. ‘The weather front is moving in pretty damn fast. No one expected this. Not even the experts.’ He glanced over to the window. She followed his gaze and saw that the palm trees outside were swaying dramatically, almost doubling over in the increasingly strong tempest.

The previously blue sky was now a dark, ominous shade of grey. A stray piece of newspaper flew towards the window and stuck there for a few seconds before flying off and continuing its frantic journey to an unknown destination.

She gulped and let out a nervous laugh. ‘But they’re used to this kind of thing, aren’t they? I mean… it happens a lot, right?’

The men looked at each other before Kyle cleared his throat. ‘Oh… yeah… sure, sure. We’ll be fine… fine… totally fine.’ His brow was scrunched.

It was not a convincing performance.

The crew agreed to stay put in the resort hotel – not that they had any choice in the matter. Lily went to her room, closed the drapes, and switched on the TV. Every channel in the local area was reporting the devastating effect Hurricane Erin was having on the east coast of the United States. Lives had already been lost. Trees had been ripped up and homes destroyed. Lily stared, open-mouthed, and suddenly felt very, very homesick.

Her phone vibrated in her bag. It was Adam again.