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He pointed to the radar screen and her face paled. “Fucking hell,” she mumbled. Then she growled. “It wasn’t that bad when I was in charge. What the hell are you doin’ to the world?”
He shot her a glare and ignored the person he was talking to on the phone. “Like I did this,” he said to her. “We need to run the CMXL.”
I didn’t know what that was, but she did what he asked, and then, like one single being with four arms, the two of them worked that panel together.
My hopes of takin’ Jeremiah home for a night of smoking hot sex were dashed, but I didn’t even mind too much. ’Cause it sure was amazing to see him at work.
Life-threatening Category 5 tropical cyclones, aside.
He was a pro. He was in charge, doing everything all at once. Takin’ phone calls, makin’ calls, directing information and data.
I helped where I could. I ordered them pizza for dinner. I played with Bruce. I took him out to see the storm roll in as the sun went down. And at about ten, everything had died down enough for them to stop.
“What do we do now?” I asked.
“Now we wait,” Jeremiah said. “And we watch.”
Doreen stretched her back. “Now we go home. You ain’t gonna be sleeping much this week. Get some shuteye tonight. See ya back at six.”
“You don’t need to come back,” Jeremiah said, standing up. “I respect your decision to retire, and quite frankly you deserve a break. You’ve managed this place forever on your own, and I—”
“Son, you’ve gotta Cat 5 on your hands. I said I’ll be here at six.” She whacked him on the shoulder again and he fell onto the control panel. By the time he’d collected himself, Doreen and Bruce were gone out the door.
He rubbed his arm and made a face. “Right, then.”
Chuckling, I cupped his face. “Let’s get you home. You’ve had a big day.”
He nodded with a sigh. “Yes, okay.”
He did what he needed to do to the control panel, we locked everything up, and went home. He was quiet on the drive, though I noticed his blinks were getting longer and slower. “Almost home,” I said, taking his hand.
“Thank you for today. For the pizza. For staying with me.”
“You don’t need to thank me. It’s what boyfriends do.”
He snorted and shook his head. “I forgot about that.”
I gasped, faking my horror. “How could you forget?”
“Had a busy evening.”
He sure had.
“Do you think it’ll hit us?”
His eyes cut to mine and he gave a nod. “Unfortunately, it looks that way. There’s just nothing to pull it up. In fact, the path it’s on will only make it stronger.”
“Then all we can do is be prepared,” I said, trying to cheer him up. “You’ve sent out every alert you can, you’re trackin’ it, satellites are monitoring for every little thing.” I squeezed his hand. “Darwin learned a lot after Cyclone Tracy. New constructions all have to comply to cyclone building standards. We’ll fare much better this time.”
“What about the remote communities?” The corner of his mouth turned down. “What about them?”
“There’ll be evacuations and they’ll be moved to safer locations.” I gave his hand a bit of a shake. “Jeremiah, that’s not your responsibility. You’ve issued the alerts as soon as you could. You gave them the most notice possible. That’s your responsibility, and you’ve done it well.”
“I’ve never...” He sighed, then started again. “I’ve never had to issue alerts for a cyclone before. I’ve never been in charge before.”
I slowed down for my driveway and waited for the garage door to open. “Babe, you’ll do great. You’ve already done great. And Doreen’s stickin’ around. She’s been through this before. You two will be the best team for the job.”
I drove in, and he still hadn’t said anything, so I got out and walked around to his door. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
