Made For Us (9 page)

The wind whipped up and Zoe shivered. “I really do appreciate you stopping by to check on me, Officer Hannigan.” She held out her hand to shake his.

“Please, call me Bobby. Now that I know you’re working for Aidan, I can see why a hurricane doesn’t seem like such a big deal. Be safe though!”

They laughed and he wished her luck before walking down the beach to the next house. Zoe watched him go and wondered if Officer Hannigan was single, not that she felt any kind of zing of attraction to him—not like she had with Aidan. But still, if she was going to live in the area, she figured she’d have to start dating eventually.

Too bad the only one she wanted to date was a stubborn Irishman by the name of Aidan Shaughnessy.

* * *

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

It was late Monday morning, but since businesses were closed due to the impending storm, Zoe was standing on the beach, wrapped up in an oversized sweater, watching the waves crash and looking up at the clouds swirling in the sky. She didn’t even bother to turn around. “You’re going to have to start thinking of some other way to start your conversations, Aidan. That one’s getting old.”

He stepped in front of her, his face full of fury. “I’m serious, Zoe. Why didn’t you leave like everyone else?”

“Look around, Aidan,” she said loudly. The wind and the waves were nearly deafening. “Plenty of my neighbors have stayed. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Like hell you’re not. Get your things and let’s go,” he demanded.

“I can’t go, Aidan,” she said. She looked at him defiantly for a minute. His blue eyes were nearly black and he looked damn intimidating, but her hair kept whipping around her face. It was hard to look tough and defiant with hair in your mouth. “Why are you even here? Why aren’t you tucked away in a safe zone?”

“Because Bobby Hannigan came around to check on the construction site and told me that my fearless decorator was braving out the storm! I thought he was joking.” Well, first Bobby had mentioned how hot she was and then mentioned she wasn’t going to leave the beach. Aidan wasn’t sure which one had pissed him off more. “I didn’t think you’d be crazy enough to stay here and wait to get hurt,” Aidan said angrily.

“God, do you hear yourself? You’re not responsible for me, Aidan, and I’d be careful about who you go around and call crazy.”

“Okay, that was out of line, I admit it. Now will you please pack up so we can get out of here?”

“No. No
we
can’t. You can. But I’m not.” Ignoring him, Zoe turned and walked in the opposite direction of her house. The air felt thick and heavy, and even though no rain had begun to fall, she knew it was only a matter of time. She had hoped to be safely inside before that happened.

He got in front of her before she was more than a dozen feet away. “I’m asking you nicely,” he said and even did his best not to clench his teeth. “You’re going to take a direct hit here, Zoe. I’m not saying this to make you do things my way; I’m telling you this because I’m concerned for your safety!”

“I know. I saw the updated storm predictions this morning.” She looked around a bit before facing him again. “I was planning on leaving, but my neighbors—Julia and Fred—their dog got away when they were loading the car. They weren’t going to leave either but I guess their daughter convinced them. She lives a couple of hours inland, so it helped that they had somewhere welcoming to go. They’re old and Fred was anxious to get on the road and Julia was near hysterical that Baron had gotten away. I promised her I’d find him and keep him with me. I can’t leave until I do that.”

“You’re not serious, are you?”

Zoe nodded. “That dog means the world to Julia, Aidan. She was crying as Fred drove away. I can’t just leave. Not yet. I’m sure he’ll come back to the house. I just have to keep looking for him, wait him out a bit.”

“Zoe, it’s not your responsibility. You need to leave now with everyone else. Please.”

Her green eyes gazed at him, full of indecision. “I made a promise, Aidan. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing. If it were you who promised a friend, a neighbor, or a family member that you’d do something, wouldn’t you see it through?”

His answer was a muttered curse as he turned his head and began scanning the beach. “Okay, what kind of dog are we looking for?”

It was like a huge weight had been taken off of her shoulders, and she reached out and hugged him before she knew it. “Thank you. Thank you, Aidan.” Pulling back, Zoe looked around the beach. “Okay, he’s an American Eskimo. He’s kind of small, maybe fifteen pounds, all white. His name is Baron.”

They walked together toward the Maddoxes’ home, taking turns calling the dog’s name. Zoe’s tone was worried while Aidan’s was more annoyed. The wind was really whipping now, and the air seemed electro-charged. It was like nothing Zoe had ever experienced in Arizona, and it was a little scary too. They came around the side of the house, and Aidan looked at Zoe. “This is ridiculous,” he finally said. “What if he’s hiding? I mean, how long do you plan to stay out here looking for him?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it. I didn’t think he’d stay away long. Mrs. M. said he’s never done something like this before.”

“Figures,” Aidan muttered.

Zoe stopped in her tracks. “Look, I appreciate you helping me but there’s no plan here, no schedule. I didn’t expect something like this to happen. I promise, once Baron is found, I’ll leave. You can go and do…whatever it is you had planned on doing. You don’t have to stay. I don’t want to keep you from getting home.”

Aidan stopped and reached for her, turning her toward him. “Are you really going to leave, or are you just saying that so I’ll let it go?”

Zoe shrugged. “Honestly? I don’t know. Even if I left, Aidan, where would I go? There probably isn’t an available hotel room within fifty miles of here. And with the traffic backing up the roads, the storm will be here before I could even get to one.” It pained her to have to admit that, but there was no point in arguing anymore.

“Look, please go inside and pack up whatever you need. I do have someplace to go and we can get there without taking most of the evacuation routes. I’ll keep looking for the dog. Please, Zoe.”

She looked over her shoulder at the ocean and sighed. So much for her big adventure. “Fine,” she said quietly and stepped around him and walked up the stairs. He followed closely behind her. “Give me a few minutes to get my things together. But I’m not leaving without Baron.”

He didn’t argue but quickly took off at a jog down the beach, calling the dog’s name as Zoe made her way back to her house. Once on her deck, she stopped and turned and looked out at the deserted beach. She hated the thought of leaving but knew it was for the best. Walking into the house, she called the property management company back and told them of her decision to leave. They promised to send someone over to board up the windows for her. With that taken care of, she quickly threw a couple changes of clothes into a bag and placed it by the door before heading back outside and scanning the beach for Aidan.

Her knees weakened and she almost sobbed with relief when she spotted him jogging her way—with Baron running beside him. “Thank God,” she whispered and made her way down the stairs to meet them. “You found him!” Unable to help herself, she threw her arms around Aidan and hugged him fiercely before taking a step back and crouching down to give Baron a scratch behind the ears. “You really had me scared, boy. No more running away for you!”

Aidan nodded. “He was just strolling back toward the house without a care in the world,” he said with a grimace in the dog’s direction. Still, he bent down to rub his furry little head. He was relieved they’d found the dog too. And now they could get going. “Are you packed?”

“Yes. Sort of.”

“Sort of? What does that mean?”

“I’ve put a bag together with my personal stuff but there’re a few other things I’d like to take.”

“What can I do to help you?”

“I’ve got a ton of food in the refrigerator. I cooked a bunch just in case I lost power. There’s a cooler in the pantry. Also, the Maddoxes gave me a bag full of dog food for Baron, and there’s a leash and some dog toys too. You can help me, if you don’t mind.”

With Aidan’s help, they got everything in Zoe’s house squared away. She locked the door and sighed with resignation. Aidan went to put everything in his truck and Zoe stopped him.

“I can follow you in my car.”

He shook his head. “No. There’s too much traffic out there and there’s a chance we’ll get separated.”

“Aidan, if things happen here like they’re predicting, my car could get washed away. I can’t leave it here!”

He huffed with frustration. “Okay, fine. Let’s take it to the job site and leave it there, but we have to leave now!”

It wasn’t the time to fight with him. He loaded her bags and the dog into his truck, and Zoe followed him in her car on the short drive to the subdivision. Traffic in town was light for once, but only because most everyone was already on the main highways leading out of town. At the construction site, he directed her where to park her car, clear of any real danger. She locked it up and climbed into his truck.

“You might have mentioned the fact that the dog doesn’t like to ride in cars,” he said as she settled in beside him.

“Sorry. Mrs. M. mentioned it, but it kind of slipped my mind. Did he get sick?”

Aidan’s eyes went wide. “No. Not yet. Why? Is that what’s going to happen?”

“I have no idea. She just said that he gets sick on long car rides. I have no idea how he’ll be with us. Are we going far?”

“I have a house I’m building about thirty minutes from here. I finished up the in-law apartment over the garage and it comes in handy for this kind of an emergency.”

“How often does this happen?”

“The Atlantic hurricane season goes from June to November. We get hit with a handful of hurricanes and tropical storms every year. They always evacuate the coast.” He looked at her pointedly. She ignored him. “My place is farther inland, so I don’t use the apartment very often, but when I need to, it saves me from having to find a hotel room when the rest of the population is looking for one.”

“Is it near your family?”

He shook his head. Using his Bluetooth, he quickly made a call. “Hey, it’s me,” he said. “Are you guys going to be okay?” He paused and listened. “No, something’s come up. I’m going to the apartment… Do you have everything? Do you need to come with me? I can turn around and pick you up… Are you sure?”

Zoe figured he was talking to his family and felt bad that he wasn’t with them because he had come looking for her.

“Okay. I’ll check in with you tomorrow morning if we have power. Please be careful.” He said good-bye and hung up, never once looking in Zoe’s direction.

“Is everything okay?” she finally asked.

“What? Oh…yeah. They’re fine.”

“Okay. Good.” She paused for a minute before her curiosity got the better of her. “Who exactly are we talking about?”

“My father and sister. They’re nowhere near the evacuation zone, but I still worry. There are a lot of trees on the property, and I’m always afraid that something’s going to happen in one of these storms. I keep telling my father to cut some of them down, but he won’t listen.”

“Sounds like someone I know,” Zoe muttered.

Aidan lips twitched, but he didn’t say anything, focusing on the road. The wind was pulling at the truck, and Aidan had a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel as they made their way through just about every side street and back road in the area. Baron whined every time they turned.

He felt a little bit guilty about not being with his father and Darcy. He knew they were going to be fine. They always were. The most they’d get was some heavy wind and rain, maybe lose a tree limb or two. In some of the more severe storms, they’d lost power for a couple of days, but his father had a generator.

But still… This was the first time that he wasn’t weathering out the storm with them.

“I’m sorry that you aren’t with them. You really didn’t need to come after me. I’m sure everything would’ve been—”

“It’s okay,” he said.

She opted to focus on soothing the dog for the remainder of the drive.

They pulled off the main road and drove down a long dirt driveway that opened onto a large piece of property with a house on it. Zoe gaped at the house and then at Aidan. “This is your apartment?”

He chuckled. “No. That’s the house. Behind it is a two-story garage. There’s an apartment over it.”

Zoe turned back to the house, completely captivated by it. The afternoon sky was darkened with storm clouds, but it was still light enough to appreciate the view. It was a beautiful house, similar to the others that Aidan’s company was building, using really fine materials and obviously a skillful architect.

They pulled up in front of the garage and parked. It wasn’t until they were walking up the steps that Zoe asked, “So how are you able to come and go from this space? Is the house empty?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t elaborate. Rain was just beginning to fall though, so she decided to let the subject drop while they moved all of their things inside. Aidan worked quickly to get all of the perishables put away and placed Zoe’s suitcase in the one bedroom. Baron paced around nervously for a few minutes before settling in on the chair in the corner.

Sensing that Aidan wanted to work alone, Zoe stood back and inspected the place. It wasn’t big, but it was a functional space—living room, dining room, and kitchen all in one, plus a bedroom and full bathroom.
Perfect
for
a
single
person
, she thought. He hadn’t done much in the decorating department, but she didn’t really think he would have, since it wasn’t a permanent living space for him. She wondered what his permanent living space did look like. He was such a stickler on his sites—would his own home be as nice and carefully decorated? Or was he a little more human after all, one who lived sparsely, like a typical bachelor?

When Aidan finally ran out of things to do, including setting up some paper for the dog, a dish of water and dog food on the kitchen floor, and putting the doggy toys next to the chair that Baron had obviously adopted, he stood a safe distance away from Zoe. Being alone with her here was making him nervous. Maybe it was because of the conversation he had had with his father, or maybe it was that he knew the effect she had on him. Getting her safely away from the coast was most important—he just hadn’t thought through what would actually happen once he convinced her to leave with him.