“Pops, I…I don’t know what to say,” she admitted, her voice small and trembly. Tears stung her eyes and she hated the whole situation.
Walking away from Jake after everything they’d shared this summer was hard enough –knowing they weren’t going to see each other again until next summer was almost unbearable. But to hear him talking to Pops yesterday–especially after he had lied about where he was going to be–something had just snapped in her.
And broke.
Yeah, her heart was definitely broken.
But now she had to consider calling Jake and at least hearing his side of the story. There had been about a dozen calls and texts from him and maybe…just maybe…once she was off the phone with Pops she’d call and they could talk this out.
“Sweet pea, you know I love you,” Pops said, interrupting her thoughts, “and I don’t want this to come between us.”
“It won’t, Pops,” she promised. “Nothing could ever come between us.”
“Okay then,” he replied, sounding pleased. “And we’ll talk just like we always do and you’ll come to visit next summer, right?”
Mallory smiled. “Always. You know I’d never miss a chance to come see you.”
“Good. That’s good.” He paused. “You go and get settled in and visit with your mother and brother and we’ll talk soon.”
“You know it,” she replied softly. “Love you, Pops.”
“Love you too.”
Chapter 1
Present Day…
Mallory threw her satchel on the sofa as she kicked off her stilettos. It was good to be home. It had been a really long day, but it was a good one though. Great, even! After two years, she was finally getting the promotion she’d been after and a big fat raise to go with it. It felt so good to have all of her hard work recognized and a week from now, she’d have a brand-new office to go with her new executive position.
Of course, that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to be going out into the field and working on computer systems anymore. It just meant she would be the one overseeing a team and she wouldn’t have to be pulling long hours on jobs that were technically beneath her. It was a great feeling.
There had been a cake and champagne to celebrate her new position and her co-workers all congratulated her, but she turned down their offers to go out and continue the celebration. She just wanted to come home and relax for a bit and then call her family to share the good news.
It was after seven and she was starving. The smart thing to do would have been to stop and pick up some takeout on the way home, but getting home was more of a priority. And now what did she have to show for it?
“Ugh…looks like I’m having a sandwich for dinner,” she murmured, walking toward her kitchen. “Not exactly the celebratory dinner I should be having.” This was becoming the norm lately–not taking enough time for herself and certainly not eating right. “Something’s got to give. I can’t keep living like this.”
Mainly because she wasn’t living–she was working long hours, coming home, sleeping, and repeating.
Definitely not the life she wanted to live.
Although, with her promotion, life should get a bit better. Just another few days and it would all kick in. Come Monday morning, there would be light at the end of the tunnel.
Off in the distance, Mallory heard her cellphone ring and sighed. It would be easy to ignore it, but what if it were something important? Making her way back to the living room, she fished her phone out of her purse and smiled when she saw her mother’s name on the screen.
“Hey, Mom!”
“Hey, sweetheart! Am I catching you at a bad time?”
“Not at all,” she lied. “I was just making some dinner.”
“Oh, you’re busy.”
“No! Really, I’m not, Mom. What’s going on? Everything okay?”
The first response was a sigh. “Well…we’re having to evacuate.”
“What?!” Mallory cried. “When? Why? I thought the hurricane was going to miss you?”
“It’s one of those things…it took a turn to the west and now…” She sighed again. “I’m having a hell of a time with Pops, though. I was hoping you’d talk to him.”
Two years ago, Mallory’s mother had sold the home on Long Island and moved down to North Carolina’s Magnolia Sound to take care of Pops. Susannah Westbrook took her responsibilities and her family seriously and after years of living so far away from her family, she’d finally made the decision to move back to her roots on the Carolina coast.
“Mom, I doubt anything I say will convince him. Surely there’s enough people there who can do it. I mean, Aunt Georgia and Uncle Beau can surely talk to him. They’ve always been the ones to deal with him before, right?”
“In most cases, yes. Believe it or not, he’s never evacuated before.”
“How is that possible? Parker and Peyton have talked about those evacuations a lot over the years,” Mallory argued.
“Well, your cousins–along with your aunt and uncle–always did listen to the warnings and left when they were supposed to. Your great-grandfather, however, has not, and he’s refusing to do so now. Honestly, Mal, I don’t know what to do. Can you talk to him? Please?”
“Of course I will.” Not that it was going to do any good, Mallory already knew this. Her great-grandfather was as stubborn as they came and she knew she could talk and beg and scream and cry until she was blue in the face, but she wasn’t going to change his mind. Nothing would. Still, she never turned down an opportunity to talk to him. Not since…
“Hey, sweet pea,” Pops said, his voice a little weak and raspy, but that had been something she’d been noticing for some time now.
“Hey, Pops! How are you?”
“How am I? I’m fed up with everyone fussing at me! I’ve lived in this house for almost a century and no storm has ever forced me out and this one won’t either!”
Yup. He was stubborn.
“I know you never had to leave, but…how about just this once you do?” she suggested. “I know it would put everyone’s mind at ease and…you know Mom’s never gone through a hurricane there. At least, she hasn’t in a really long time. She’s stressing out about it and I know it would mean a lot if you would go with her.”
When he didn’t respond right away, Mallory was sure she had him and he was going to agree with her. She was ready to high-five herself when…
“No one’s telling her she can’t leave,” Pops said defiantly. “Heck, it would be a lot easier if she’d go with Georgia and Beau and leave me alone! There’s plenty of food here and I have a generator and if I need anything, Jake’s right next door!”
Just the mention of Jake Summerford was enough to make Mallory’s heart squeeze hard in her chest. It had been six years since they’d had their…what? Affair? Summer fling? Whatever it was, she had ruined it by acting immaturely and Jake hadn’t hesitated to remind her of that when she tried to reconcile with him.
She’d given up after three months.
Oh, she’d still gone back to Magnolia Sound to visit Pops and her relatives, but Jake didn’t come home at all during his four years of college. The first time she saw him again was two years ago when he came back to work for Coleman Construction. It had been a shock to her system to see him, but it didn’t take long for her to realize she had never really meant anything to him. He’d gone back to treating her like nothing more than his neighbor’s great-granddaughter.
And it hurt more than anything else ever had in her life.
“…all I’m saying is I’m a grown man who can make his own decisions and I’m tired of everyone treating me like a damn child or some sort of invalid!”
Okay, she’d lost track of the conversation and yet somehow Pops was still carrying on about not evacuating.
“Just…promise me you’ll think about it,” she quickly interrupted before he went on again. “You know we’re all doing this because we love you, so…try not to be so angry, okay?”
; “Hmph…”
“Pops…”
“Fine. I’ll think about it,” he said before quickly adding, “but I’m not going anywhere.”
She laughed softly. “I love you, Pops.”
“Love you too, sweet pea. When are you coming to visit? We missed you for Fourth of July.”
“I know…”
“And you didn’t come in June like you said you would…”
Yeah, life had been hectic and she was working with a company who needed a major system overhaul and she couldn’t get away, so…
“I’m finishing up with a client next week so I’ll look at my calendar and see if I can grab a week to come down. How does that sound?”
“Sounds like you’re making excuses, but that’s just me,” he grumbled.
Okay, so maybe she hadn’t wanted to go and visit because whenever she was there, so was Jake. It was like he was more a part of the family than she was and it was just…awkward. Mallory had considered asking her then-boyfriend Scott if he wanted to go with her for the Fourth of July celebration, but then thought better of it.
Avoidance was way better. The last time she was bold or defiant was that summer with Jake and…
“Here’s your mother,” Pops said, once again interrupting her thoughts. “Distract her with stories about what’s going on with you so she’ll leave me alone. Maybe start talking about whatever computer system you’re working on. I know I find that stuff hard to follow, I’m sure she will too. And with any luck, she’ll forget all about hassling me about leaving my home.”
“I’ll try,” she said with a smile and then he was gone and she could hear him handing the phone back to her mother.
“He’s exhausting, Mallory.”
“I know, but…you have to see things from his point of view. That house is his whole life. It’s his security. Leaving there–even if it’s only for a day or two–is going to stress him out a lot.”
“It’s stressing us all out. Believe me, there’s a lot of work that goes into evacuating. We have to secure the house and make sure we have all essential documents along with sorting through everything and just taking the necessities. I’m telling you, I’m a nervous wreck!”
“Is it really bad that he wants to stay?”
“Sweetheart, I understand why he wants to, but at his age, it’s just not practical.”
“Are you sure no one can stay with him?”
“Jake’s offered and I have to tell you, I’m not feeling good about that either.”
“Why not?”
“This storm is big. Really big. We’re looking at the possibility of a Category 4 hurricane when it makes landfall, and basically landfall is…”
“You,” Mallory said sadly. “Magnolia Sound is the coast so there is no land before you.”
“Exactly,” Susannah said. “Georgia and Beau already have a place for us about forty miles inland. It’s a townhouse they own and rent out but it happens to be vacant so we’re all going there. Well…almost all of us are going.”
“Mom…I really wish there were something I could do, but…”
“I know, I know. I appreciate you even trying. Georgia was here earlier having a fit and all she managed to do was make things worse. He was almost ready to pack a bag and then she came over and carried on and now he’s acting like a petulant child. I tell you, it’s maddening!”
“I know Aunt Georgia is not the best in these situations.”
“She’s not the best in any situation. Honestly, she’s almost as obsessed with this house as Pops is! I think that’s what got him so worked up again. He accused her of wanting him out of the house so she could somehow try and take it from him!”
“No!” Mallory cried with a small laugh. “I mean I know there’s been a lot of heated discussions about her wanting the house, but…how could Pops possibly think that she could use a hurricane evacuation to take it from him?”
“At one point he accused her of being some kind of witch who caused the storm,” Susannah said with a hint of amusement. “Look, Georgia is my cousin and I love her, but I swear I want to strangle her sometimes.”
“As do her kids,” Mallory said with a laugh.
“Oh, that reminds me! Parker’s graduation party has been moved to mid-September. I have the date written down here somewhere. Georgia wants to have the party at the country club, but your cousin desperately wants to celebrate someplace fun and a lot less formal. And if I know Parker, she’s going to want the kind of party that will make her mother crazy.”
“That’s reasonable. It’s her party, right? But…wait. I didn’t realize there was even going to be a party. I thought Parker wanted to go away somewhere rather than have a whole big thing.”
“They’re doing both, but the vacation is coming first. You know your aunt loves to throw a party, even if it’s not the kind of party the guest of honor wants.”
That was the truth. Her aunt was the belle of the ball of Magnolia Sound when it came to throwing parties; she lived for occasions to host one. “I’ll mark my calendar but text me the date when you find it, please.”
“Can do.” She sighed. “Okay, I need to go pack up. We’re heading out in the morning and there’s still so much to do.”
“You’re just packing up the basics, right?”
“That was the plan, but a bunch of us are helping out the local eateries and getting as much food from them as possible to help cut their losses. Some places closed shop already, but Henderson’s Bakery and Café Magnolia put the word out that they had food ready for anyone heading out of town. I’m planning on getting some things for Pops before I go.”
“If he loses power, what good will it be?”
“Baked goods will keep,” Susannah said. “And I just plan on getting sandwiches from the café that can go in a cooler.”
“Where’s Gertie? Did she leave already?”
Gertie had been Pops’ housekeeper for longer than Mallory was alive. She was practically family. “She was out of town visiting her family and when the news first mentioned the storm, we told her to stay put.”
“That was smart of you, but I’m sure she’s worried.”
“She only comes in once a week now,” Susannah said. “I think she’s ready to retire but she doesn’t want to leave Pops.”
That sounded like Gertie, all right.
“Okay, sweetie, I’ll call you once we’re settled.”
“Be safe, Mom. And please keep talking to Pops. Maybe have…have Jake talk to him. I’m sure he’d listen to him before anyone else.”
“Hmm…you may be right. I’ll do that. Have a good night, sweetheart.”
“You too, Mom. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Once they hung up, Mallory’s stomach growled loudly and she went back to the kitchen to make herself a sandwich. She didn’t have much to choose from and ended up with ham and swiss on whole wheat. Not the most inspired dinner, but with her plate in hand, she went back to the sofa and turned on the TV, hoping to catch the weather report.
“And now the latest on the storm that has the mid-Atlantic coast holding its breath. Hurricane Amelia has picked up strength as she seems to be heading directly toward the Carolinas. With the projected path, the storm should make landfall late Thursday night. The first evacuation orders have been issued to all coastal residents up and down the Carolina coast, with mandatory evacuation orders expected to go out within the next twelve hours. Residents on the barrier islands, Outer Banks, and Magnolia Sound areas in North Carolina look to be in the direct path of Amelia. Right now, this is a Category 2 hurricane, but predictions have it hitting Category 3 after midnight tonight with the possibility of hitting Category 4 by the time it makes landfall. And we all know when winds range from 131 to 155 mph, they can cause catastrophic damage to property, humans, and animals. Severe structural damage to frame homes, apartments, and shopping centers should be expected. Category 4 hurricanes often include long-term power outages and water shortages lasting from a few weeks to a
few months, so again, it’s important for any remaining residents to have a significant nonperishable food and water supply at hand.”
Her appetite gone, Mallory tossed her sandwich back onto the plate and grabbed the remote to change the channel. There wasn’t anything she could do from here–last she checked not only was Garden City, New York still eleven hours from Magnolia Sound, but she also had zero ability to stop a hurricane.
“Oh, but if I could,” she murmured, standing and taking her sad dinner back to the kitchen and tossing it into the trash. “Now what do I do?”
Unfortunately, her first thought was to reach out to Jake and beg him to convince Pops to leave in the morning with everyone. It would be a completely legitimate reason for calling, but…
“Screw it. I don’t care about how I feel or how Jake may feel about me calling. This isn’t about us, so…if he doesn’t like it, too bad.”
Sometimes you had to put your own feelings aside and do the uncomfortable things–the things that make your heart ache and make you feel like you’re going to be sick. And as she scrolled through her phone and pulled up his number, she was seriously glad she didn’t take more than a couple of bites of her sandwich because…
“Hello?”
Just the sound of his voice was enough to make her want to pass out.
* * *
Buy Remind Me now!
https://www.chasing-romance.com/remind-me
About the Author
Samantha Chase is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller of contemporary romance. She released her debut novel in 2011 and currently has more than forty titles under her belt! When she’s not working on a new story, she spends her time reading romances, playing way too many games of Scrabble or Solitaire on Facebook, wearing a tiara while playing with her sassy pug Maylene…oh, and spending time with her husband of 25 years and their two sons in North Carolina.
In Case You Didn’t Know Page 22