Twist of Fate

by Parker, Syd

  “Hi, Bonneville.” Remy knelt down beside her. “Fancy running into you.”

  Sarah glanced at Parker and Carmen, and satisfied they were occupied with each other, handed Remy the jack. “Help me please. Evan always…” She stopped. She didn’t need to say that Evan had been the one to change flats if they got them. Trying to forget her was going to be impossible if she couldn’t even stop talking about her.

  Remy rested a hand on her shoulder and squeezed her gently. “It’s okay, you know, if you need to talk about it.”

  “No, right now I just need to get the tire changed so I can get back on the road.”

  “Okay, but I’m here if you need…”

  “I said it’s okay.” Sarah let the jack fall to the ground with a loud clang.

  Remy nodded her head towards Parker. “So, how come your sidekick isn’t helping?”

  “Are you kidding?” Sarah snorted. “For all her boasts of being a total dude, she couldn’t change a tire if her life depended on it.”

  “God, I hope for Carmen’s sake, she’s better with her hands in other areas.”

  “Oh gross, that’s my cousin.” Sarah groaned. “I do not need to know that.”

  Remy chuckled softly and wedged her foot against the jack. “Yeah, I guess not.” She pulled on one end and felt the tire iron give just enough that she knew the nut would come loose. “So, how was Oklahoma?”

  She heard Sarah gulp. “Bad, Remy. The devastation was horrible. And two sisters…well, they didn’t make it. Their trailer was destroyed. Parker hasn’t gotten over that.”

  “I know how she feels.” Remy tugged on the tire iron, loosening the second nut. “Hey, can you get that?” She flicked her eyes towards her forehead. “This heat is insane.”

  Sarah reached over and wiped the errant bead of sweat before it rolled into Remy’s eye. She felt a flutter in her stomach and her hand stilled. Her face flushed at the momentary contact, and she struggled to put it in its place. She jerked her hand away and stared at the ground, hoping Remy hadn’t heard the pounding of her heart.

  “Thanks.” Remy shook her head, willing the haze to clear. She hadn’t heard Sarah’s heart, but only because her own was beating so erratically. Jesus, Tate. Get a freaking grip. Willing her voice not to quiver, she steered the conversation back to Parker. “I remember my first time. You know…seeing a dead body. It was a tornado that ripped through the town I grew up in. It came through during the night and there was no time for a warning to be issued. Even if they had known it was coming, the people in the trailer park never would have heard the sirens. It trashed the entire thing. Three hundred trailers and there were thirty—five left.”

  “You didn’t…lose anyone, did you?” Sarah voice was heavy with concern.

  “No, but I might as well have.” Remy undid the last nut and pulled the flat tire off. She glanced up at Carmen. “Hey Vega, why don’t you make yourself useful and hand me the spare?”

  Sarah waited till she had the tire mounted before she made her finish the story. “So, what happened?”

  “I was an EMT at the time and one of the first responders. I’d been called to accidents before, but nothing could have prepared me for what happened that night. When I stumbled on the first body, God, I wanted to run. Get away from there as fast as I could and never look back. I was twenty years old. What the fuck did I know about death?”

  Remy’s raspy voice chipped away at Sarah’s defenses. All the years she had just assumed Remy was an insensitive prick and to find out she was anything but insensitive tested her resolve to keep her at arm’s length. She squeezed Remy’s shoulder. “It’s something no one should have to see.”

  “You’re right. But I had to figure out a way to steel myself to it at least for that night. I figured out a way to shut it inside until I was in a place where I could deal with it. We ended up finding twenty—five bodies. I didn’t sleep for weeks after. Just kept seeing those vacant, hollow eyes. They haunted me. That’s why I decided to be a chaser. There wasn’t anything I could do for those people, but maybe, just maybe, I could help in the future.”

  “Wow.” Sarah studied Remy’s face. It was a mix of sadness and determination. She knew deep inside that Remy had dedicated her life to a cause, and she would do whatever she could to help the next hundred towns. Her respect for Remy jumped monumentally in that moment. “You are a better person than I am. I think I would have buried myself in something that was so far from this, so that eventually I would struggle to even remember the details.”

  Remy shook her head. “This you couldn’t forget, no matter how hard you tried.”

  Sarah thought back to the fateful day that her brother had been killed on a routine hunting trip. Remy was right, she didn’t forget. She would always remember his last breaths, gasping for air and begging her to help him. She could see the brief moment of peace right before he died and the glassy, faraway look before she closed his eyes for the last time. No, there wasn’t a day she didn’t think about that and her heart didn’t break again.

  “What about you?” Remy asked as she stood up, the tire successfully changed. “Why are you here?”

  “Honestly?” Sarah looked at the ground. Her reason was nowhere near as noble. “You.”

  Remy was momentarily stunned. “Me? What on earth did I have to do with it?”

  “That first day interviewing you. Hearing you talk about chasing storms, seeing the passion in your eyes. You got inside me. After talking to you, nothing else seemed good enough anymore.”

  “Oh.” Remy couldn’t think of anything else to say. She rubbed her palms on her jeans, the awkwardness of the shared moment making her a bit uncomfortable. “You never said anything.”

  “What could I say?” Sarah leaned her hip against the car. “I couldn’t stop thinking about what you said. I left the life I knew to follow some crazy pipe dream and here I am eight years later stopped on the side of the road having to beg for help changing my tire. Or, that just listening to you talk sparked something deep inside me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t forget it. Until this yearning built inside me that I couldn’t deny.”

  “Well, that’s one way of putting it.” Remy teased. “I didn’t know.”

  “How could you? We never really talked after that…well after that night.”

  “I’m sorry about that, you know.” Remy said sincerely. “I mean not sorry for that night, it was amazing.” She stopped when she saw Sarah’s eyebrows narrow slightly. “I am sorry I just disappeared after that.”

  Sarah sighed. “I guess I didn’t give you much choice. I did kick you out of the room.”

  “True.” Remy rubbed the back of her neck. “I should have made you sit down and talk to me.”

  “Don’t apologize. We were young and stupid.” Sarah shuffled her feet. “Listen, don’t worry about it. It was a long time ago. You asked how I got started and the answer was you. I didn’t mean to open up the past.”

  Remy noticed her tone of dismissal and she swallowed back a sudden feeling of loneliness. “Yeah, okay. Listen we should go.” She turned and furrowed her eyebrows. Carmen was so close to Parker it looked like they were about to lock lips. “Seriously, Vega?”

  Carmen jerked back, remembering they had company, her face turning bright red. “Settle, Chica. I’m just regaling Parker with stories from our glory days.”

  Sarah snorted loudly and Remy turned to glare at her. “Not helping.”

  Parker and Carmen’s snickers broke into loud laughter as Remy stomped back to their car.

  “Hey, Remy.” Sarah shouted. “Thank you…for changing my tire.”

  Chapter 6

  Remy’s mind played the conversation over and over. Sarah’s words still haunted her. You got inside me. Had she? Had thoughts of Remy danced inside Sarah’s head all these years? Had she carried the memories of that day and maybe that night with her? Remy would probably never know. She knew Sarah well enough to know she didn’t open herself up completely to people
. She may share bits and pieces, divulge morsels of herself. Just enough to draw a person in, get them hooked without them even knowing then quietly sneak away without so much as a trace.

  It wasn’t normal for her to spend so much time obsessing over a past conquest and wasn’t that all Sarah was? Someone that she had hooked up with. Remy didn’t let herself get involved beyond meaningless relationships. Lately though, she was questioning everything that made up who she was. Somehow, the shallow, meaningless trysts she had grown accustomed to weren’t enough anymore. Suddenly, she craved more and the thought awed her and unnerved her at the same time.

  Seeing Sarah stirred up memories and feelings that she struggled to process. Remy always categorized her past encounters, but Sarah wouldn’t fit in the box she had made for her. Her tidy world was veering off course and it unsettled her. She couldn’t remember a time she had ever been so confused. She glanced over at Carmen who was still wearing a goofy—ass grin and rolled her eyes. Not the person she could talk this through with. That left her alone with her thoughts and figuring out why all of a sudden someone mattered.

  “Know what Parker told me?” Carmen’s voice broke into her thoughts.

  “Huh? No, what?”

  “She says that apparently Sarah is different lately. Pre—occupied somehow.” There was a suggestive tone to Carmen’s voice as if she were telling Remy something she should have already known.

  “So?”

  “So, Parker thinks it’s you.”

  Remy’s stomach twisted in knots. She could pretend she didn’t know what Carmen meant, but she would only be fooling herself. Still, she couldn’t share her private thoughts with Carmen, so she played dumb. “Me, what?”

  “Parker thinks that you and Sarah had something in the past, and Sarah hasn’t been able to let it go.”

  Remy choked. “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “Is it?”

  Carmen’s gaze burned into Remy’s profile till she could stand it no longer.

  “What?” Remy said with exasperation.

  “I think it makes total sense.” Carmen opined. “Parker says that Sarah is different lately and especially when you’re around.”

  “Oh and Parker is the expert on people now?”

  “I’m not saying that.” Carmen said defensively. “But, they are cousins, and she spends every day with Sarah. So, she would have a pretty good idea of what’s up. Plus, there is you.”

  Remy looked at her askance. “There is me, what?”

  “Well, you are different too. More serious. Introspective. And, you’re nice to Sarah.”

  “I’m nice to everyone.”

  “Not exactly, Chica. I’ve seen you in action with women for years now. With any other one, all you care about is getting them into bed. You don’t give a rat’s ass about her feelings. But Sarah, she’s different. You care.”

  Remy threw up her hands. “I thought we were supposed to be chasing today, not deconstructing my behavior.”

  “Whoa there, Tate.” Carmen’s tone was serious and Remy knew she was in trouble. When Carmen called her Tate, it was usually followed by a lecture.

  “Listen, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.” She rubbed her eyes. “I’m just tired and worn out. It’s not you, okay?”

  “But, maybe it is me.” Serious Carmen was out and on the prowl now. “Maybe I hit the nail on the head and it bothers you that you finally met someone you care about. Ms. Untouchable Bad Ass Tate isn’t as heartless and detached as she wants us to think she is. You’re human, you’re an emotional creature just like the rest of the world.”

  “That’s not it at all. Tell Parker to sell her romance theory elsewhere. I’ve been around Sarah too. She isn’t any more interested in me than I am in her.”

  Her words might as well have fallen on deaf ears. For all her bravado, she didn’t believe them anymore than Carmen did. Her loud snort was enough to let Remy know that her words of protestation meant nothing.

  “So, can we get back to the storm?” Remy nodded out the windshield at the darkening sky. “Let’s not forget why we’re here.”

  “Oh, I haven’t forgotten. I can’t, not with you beside me. I’ve known you a long time and this is the job. You live the job. You are so focused all the time on this that you miss what’s going on around you. I guess it’s nice to finally see you showing some emotion.”

  “I’m not show…” Remy clapped her mouth shut. “Do you mean that? You think I’m all about the job and nothing else?”

  “Yeah, I do. Don’t get me wrong. That’s good, especially out here. You have to focus because we get in life or death situations, but off the clock, you don’t let loose. You’re untouchable. If you stopped giving me a hard time, you would see that I actually really like Parker.”

  “You do?” Remy studied Carmen’s face, trying to gauge her feelings. “You really like her, huh?”

  “All you see is the player looking to score. This time, I think it could be serious.” Carmen confessed. “She’s different, Rem. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Don’t get me wrong, I want to do the horizontal mambo with her for sure, but this time I’d kind of like her to stick around after.”

  “Wow.” Remy ran a hand through her messy hair. “I didn’t realize. I mean, you just met and all.”

  “I know, it’s crazy. But there’s something there with this one, and I’m going to explore where it goes.” Carmen blushed, which was almost imperceptible under her brown skin. “This girl may finally be ready to settle down.”

  “I’m speechless.” Remy made several noises to herself. “I did not see that coming. The hot—blooded Latina, who set out to sleep with as many American women as possible, is looking to play house with just one girl.”

  “I can hardly believe it myself.” Carmen chuckled. “I guess I just found the right Gringo.”

  Remy chuckled more to herself than at Carmen’s comment. She’d known Carmen more years than she could count and no one, no matter how wonderful they had been, had gotten to her. Parker must be different. It shouldn’t have surprised her. Sarah was becoming more special than Remy would have ever imagined, so why wouldn’t her cousin be the same? They were cut from the same cloth.

  “Mierda!” Carmen shouted in her family’s native Spanish. Remy followed her finger and saw the large mesocyclone looming in front of them. Shit was quite appropriate, although the closer they drove she thought holy fuck might work just as well. She slowed considerably, eyeing the massive storm. She could see quickening rotation in the wall cloud and knew it would probably be dropping a tornado any minute now.

  Remy thought about the small town they had just passed and given the storm’s current direction, she knew it stood right in the path of a potentially horrific storm. She picked up her cell and dialed quickly. When the tinny voice answered on the other end, she identified herself and let them know that the supercell heading towards the town looked like it was going to drop at least one twister right over the town. “Shit, shit. Change that, funnel spotted.” She checked the mile marker and shouted over the increasing din of the wind. “Tornado down, twelve miles southwest of Yazoo City.”

  She pulled over, parked the car and grabbed her video camera. “Vega, camera. Let’s go!” Her words were pointless. Carmen was out of the car almost before it stopped. She set up a tripod and pointed the camera towards the massive tornado, now over a quarter of a mile wide. “Oh shit, Rem. She’s huge!”

  Remy barely heard her over the roar barreling down on them. She thought she had pulled far enough out of the way, but the tornado had shifted and was coming straight towards them and fast.

  “We gotta go! We gotta move!” Carmen was already in, but Remy stood there, tucked behind the car to block the dust and debris that was blowing directly towards her at over eighty miles an hour. She didn’t want to move, she needed to see the massive storm up close, feel its maddening, reckless fury.

  “Come on, Rem! Shit, don’t be stupid.” Carmen shouted
over the wind, and her words were carried away seemingly unheard. Her pulse was beating erratically. The twister was close, too close, and Remy wasn’t budging.

  The first drops of rain splattered randomly on the windshield and soon, tiny bits of ice pinged on the hood. Remy pulled her hood over her head and put her hand over the camera to protect the lens. She couldn’t move, didn’t want to move. Somehow the storm was a part of her, every tumultuous, haphazard rotation mirrored her life. Unsettled at every turn, chaos instead of order.

  A tennis ball sized chunk of hail hit the hood near her and the impact finally woke her up. She looked through the windshield and saw the frightened eyes of her partner and knew she’d gone too far. She straightened up and a strong gust of wind blew her off her feet, upending her in a shallow, water filled ditch. “Fuck!” The water soaked her clothes immediately, and as she struggled to right herself, the closeness of the tornado caught her off guard. She grabbed the camera, which, miraculously, had fallen clear of the water, and locked herself in the safety of the truck. “I’m sorry.”

  “You can apologize later, Chica. Just get me the fuck out of here!” Carmen shouted.

  Remy maneuvered the truck in a tight u—turn and gunned the engine. The tires slipped on the wet, debris—filled road, so she let off the engine, allowing the tires to take hold then put the pedal to the floor. She watched the now half—mile wide wedge out the passenger window and prayed the people of Yazoo City had been warned. The truck had a hemi, but with thousands of pounds of steel attached to it, the engine struggled to generate the speed needed to outrun the storm. Her next words came in a whisper. “Oh shit.”

  The edges of the tornado had overtaken them. Her only choice was to keep going and pray Thor’s weight kept them on the ground.

  Carmen’s eyes were closed and her hands were clasped so tightly, they were completely white. Her lips moved in a silent prayer.