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I stood at the counter, feeling the solid weight of the new phone in my pocket that Ethan had slid to me before we left the house. I was rolling silverware after the lunch rush and staring out at the pounding rain. Grace walked up next to me and placed a tall milkshake down in front of me. She gestured to the storm outside.
“I’m afraid it’s just going to get worse today. Mark has the radio running back in the kitchen and says they have just announced that we are on a tornado watch.”
I whipped my head around to look at her. I was sure my face showed every bit of fear that suddenly cascaded into my belly. “Tornado?” I looked back at the rain, trying to see through it to the clouds as if a funnel cloud was about to form any second right over the street.
She pushed the glass closer to me. Needing a distraction, I picked it up and drew hard on the straw to pull the thick goodness into my mouth without taking my eyes away from the weather.
“Tornado watch. Right now, that just means the conditions are favorable to create a tornado. When it switches to a warning, then we will worry.”
“What happens if it turns into a warning?” We didn’t exactly get tornados on the California coast. I was more used to earthquakes and had felt my share of them. Tornadoes were new to me, and all I could picture was destruction, houses torn to bits with people inside. Trees uprooted, and cars tossed around like discarded toys.
“We have a basement under the diner large enough to keep everyone safe. Thank goodness we have never needed it, but it feels good to know that all our staff and customers would be able to wait it out if we needed to. If a warning hits, we close down. No sense in keeping everyone in danger working when they could get home safe instead. Of course, we will keep our doors open for anyone that doesn’t have a safe place to go.”
“And that’s never happened before?” It was a relief to know that they hadn’t had a tornado here before. But that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen, though. Right? I chewed my bottom lip.
“Well,” she hedged, seeing my nervousness. “We have had plenty of warnings, so we learned to keep the basement stocked with bottles of water and things like candles. But we have not had an actual tornado yet.”
“Yet?” I squeaked out.
She chuckled and patted my arm. “I just mean it can never be completely ruled out. It’s better to be safe than sorry in any case. It will be okay, Casey. Once you have lived through a couple of decent storms, you’ll be an expert.”
“I don’t think so,” I mumbled before sticking the straw back in my mouth and indulging in the comfort the milkshake offered.
“I’m guessing where you are from, you don’t get many storms?” She eyed me with curiosity. I shook my head.
“No, but we have had a few small earthquakes.”
She raised an eyebrow, and I sighed internally. I hadn’t meant for that to slip out. The fewer people that knew who I really was and where I came from, the better for me and the less likely it could get revealed where I was. I could just picture someone writing on social media that they had seen Casey Rivers, the girl that escaped a serial killer. Just one post would be enough to set the killer on my path.
“So you are from California? Or somewhere close to there?”
I nodded but gave her a pleading look to not go further with her questions. Thankfully, she caught on and gave me one of her sweet smiles. “Okay, sweetheart. No pushing.”
“Thank you.” My grateful words and her pat on my arm were interrupted by a woman stepping in with two young children, both around the age of seven or so. She folded up a large umbrella and leaned it against the wall next to the door, then she took her daughters by the hand and walked to an open table.
“Do you want this table, or do you want me to get it?”
I grinned at Grace’s question. “I think I can do it.”
She nodded. “I know you can. I’ll get their waters. Why don’t you take them their menus?”
I grabbed a laminated menu from the holder next to us and reached under the counter for two paper kids’ menus and two sets of crayons. I paused before heading over to the table the woman had taken. “Grace?”
“Yes, Casey?”
“Thank you.” I hurried away, leaving Grace to stare at my back with a look of sympathy on her face I didn’t really want to see.
I set the menus down, making sure to push the small boxes of crayons over to each child with a smile. “Welcome to the Hardgrove Diner. What can I get you to drink?”
The woman looked up at me. Her smile was small, and there were dark circles under her eyes, but she looked happy. “I’ll just have a water with lemon. The kids will each have a lemonade, if you have it?” I nodded.
“Of course. I’ll be right back with the lemonades and a bowl of lemons for you.” Grace walked up and placed the glass of water in front of the woman as I backed away from the table. Grace walked back with me and watched as I got two kids’ cups out from under the counter and started to fill them with the lemonade. I could tell she had something on her mind, and I was sure I didn’t want to hear it. Before she could come out with it, the door opened again, but the woman who stepped in didn’t look happy to be there.
She was soaking wet from the rain, looking around at the mostly empty room. Her eyes landed on the woman with her two kids and narrowed dangerously. Grace tutted under her breath as she stepped back around the counter. Before Grace could say anything or intercept, she marched directly for their table and slammed her palms down on the tabletop, making the glass of water slosh over the top with the force.
Grace turned to look at me, a serious look on her face, her voice calm but firm. “Call Ethan, sweetheart.”
I nodded, my eyes wide at the spectacle the woman was already making, just as she started to scream. I pulled my new phone out of my pocket and looked down at it in my hand, bobbling it for a second before finally opening up the call list. As I pressed Ethan’s name, I could hear the woman asking where her son was as the young mother shrank back in her seat, and the kids started crying loudly.
