He caught her arm as she escorted his mom toward the door.
“You’re not sending us away,” Mrs. Laughton said, stepping up. “Let’s go make sure everyone is okay.”
CHAPTER10
Just as Espy suspected, the people setting up cots and tables of food in the gym were all women. She reported for duty to a redhead with a clipboard.
“Poppy,” Lupe said to the young woman. “Javi sent us over to help.”
Poppy nodded, though she gave Espy a curious glance. “Okay, so we need every cot set up a few feet apart with blankets and pillows.” She motioned to a caged-off area where the supplies seemed to be stacked. “They’re pretty easy to put up, just watch your fingers. We’re expecting at least fifty people, so far. Your trailer, Mrs. Saldivar?”
Lupe shook her head, and Espy could see she was fighting tears. “Javi said it’s a mess. He said there’s no way to even get to the trailers right now, even if they’re okay.”
Poppy bent over and hugged the tiny woman. “It’s going to be okay. We’re all here for you. You know that. We love you and Javi.”
Lupe nodded jerkily, and the tears started to flow.
“You know,” Espy said, taking a step back. “I’m going to go help with the rescue.”
“Oh.” Lupe pulled back from Poppy and looked up at Espy. “Javi wanted you to come here?”
First of all, Espy wasn’t used to someone looking up at her. “It’s not my first storm. I can help. I just—he sent me over because I wasn’t dressed right. It won’t take me any time to change into jeans.”
“Where did Javi go?” Poppy asked.
“I’ll find him.” Espy backed toward the door. “That’s what I do. I’m sorry. I just—I think I can help.”
She ran out and ran down the street to the square, pushed open the door to her motel room to see her sister whirl around to face her.
“Where have you been?” Angelica demanded. “Are you okay?”
“I was…I went out to the trailer park, but turned out it had been evacuated, so I went over to the shelter at the school. But I’m going to go out and help.” She crossed to her bag on the end of the bed and dragged out the jeans she was glad she had thought to pack. She unlaced her boots, changed into the jeans, then bent to lace her boots back up, standing as soon as the last loop was made.
“Wait, when are we leaving?”
“Well, not tonight, obviously. We already have the rooms.” Espy gestured.
“Right, but I thought we’d leave in the morning. I just wanted you to be prepared, not out all night.”
Espy squinted. “Is there another storm we’re out chasing?”
Angelica shook her head. “I don’t know. I haven’t looked. Kind of recovering from today’s adventure. And we have two days to get them back to Oklahoma.”
“We can do that in six hours. We don’t even need a whole day.”
“They’re not going to want to stay in a damaged town. Hell, they’re not going to want to stay in this town anyway. There are three restaurants, and only two are open in the evening, and one wasn’t even open tonight because of the storms. We need to get these people back to civilization.
Espy didn’t know why she was offended by that comment, but she was offended on behalf of the people who called this place home, the people who were distraught by the storm affecting their town.
“You can take them back tomorrow. I’ll wait here for the other van to be ready, and I’ll leave once that’s done.” She hadn’t checked to see if Tommy’s had been affected by the storm. But she was pretty sure even if it hadn’t been, Tommy was still going to drop the priority of her vehicle.
Her sister’s mouth tightened. “I don’t want to leave you here. And the group will barely all fit in the van, with their luggage. It will be a long and uncomfortable ride.”
“Well, we can’t go until the second van is fixed anyway, so you make your decision. Ask if anyone wants to stay behind with me.” She didn’t know why, but she suspected the Laughtons might. They had sort of bonded yesterday. “At the very least, they can leave their luggage with me.”
Angelica rolled her eyes. “No one is going to want to stay.”
Espy did. “Just ask them. They might not have a choice. Look, I don’t want to argue with you right now. I need to get out and help.”
