Serena's Choice - Coastal Romance Series (18 page)

“
It’s getting windy,” she
said later, as she and Jeff lay in bed. She was worried what Nonna
would think about her being out all night. Nonna knew Steven was out
of town. Where did she think Serena was?

“
The hurricane’s coming,”
Jeff said.

“
What hurricane?”

Hurricane Isaac,” Jeff said.
“Haven’t you been following the news?”

Serena had not been following the
news. She had been working and obsessing about Steven. That’s all
she ever did. That’s all she thought about.

“
It’s supposed to hit
sometime tomorrow,” Jeff said.

Serena jumped out of bed. “I’ve
got to get home,” she said. “Nonna will wonder where I am. I’m
embarrassed to have been gone all night like this. She knows Steven
is gone.”

Jeff leaned up on his elbow.
“Just tell her you were safe with me,” he said. “She won’t
mind.”

“
I’m sure you’re right
about that,” she said smiling. She opened the bedroom door and
Rosie walked in and jumped on the bed. “Rosie’s hungry,” she
said as she walked away.

Serena was grateful that Nonna
wasn’t home when she got there. She didn’t feel like facing her
grandmother’s questions. She checked her phone for the first time
since last night, and Nonna had called her and left a voice message.
She had texted her. Serena felt guilty and called Nonna right away.

“
Nonna, I’m sorry I missed
your call and your text,” she said. And before her grandmother
could say anything at all, Serena said, “I was with Jeff. I went up
to look at the paint job and we started listening to music and I just
fell asleep. I’m sorry. I know you were worried.”

“
Yes, I was worried, cara. But
I feel better knowing you were with Jeff.” Serena knew that she
would.

“
I’m sorry, Nonna.”

“
It’s okay. I’ll get over
it. Did you know there’s a hurricane coming?”

“
Yes, Jeff told me. I had no
idea.”

“
I think we’re going to be
closed tomorrow,” Nonna said. “It’s already getting very windy.
I think we need to hunker down.”

“
I agree. I’ll come in later
and do the dinner crowd and then I’ll close it up.”

Serena checked the rest of her
messages. Steven had left two voice messages and several text
messages. He said he was on his way back home. Serena was afraid to
call him back. She worried he might hear something in her voice that
she didn’t want him to hear.

She was very confused.

Serena went to work as usual. She
called Sandy and told him they were closing Rossetti’s after dinner
and he shouldn’t come in. He sounded relieved. “I’m worrying
about the hurricane,” he said. “I want to go inland to my parents
and check on them.”

“
Go ahead,” Serena said. She
spotted Rosie out the back door and opened it to let her in. Rosie
headed for the stairs and Serena went up after her. When she walked
into the parlor, she called Jeff’s name. He came out of his bedroom
and walked down the hallway toward her.

“
Rosie’s here,” she said.
“It’s getting kind of bad outside. We’re going to close after
dinner tonight so you don’t need to come down.”

“
I know,” he said. “Elena
called me. She asked me to come to the cottage to stay with y’all
during the storm.”

“
Oh,” Serena said. “Okay.
I’ll see you later then.”

She walked downstairs and started
working on dinner with Jimmy and Olive. A few customers came in that
night, but everyone was gone by eight. “Let’s close up,” Serena
said. “Let’s all get to our safe places.”

Jeff was waiting on her when she
stepped out of the kitchen. He had Rosie in his arms. “I’ll
follow you home,” he said. It was pouring down rain and Serena
drove very slowly with Jeff behind her. She felt comforted to see his
headlights as she inched home. When they had parked their cars,
Serena went to Jeff’s car and opened the door.

“
Give Rosie to me,” she said.
“So you can get out. I’ll take her inside.”

She ran for the steps cradling
Rosie in her jacket. Jeff followed her and they walked into the
cottage, soaking wet. Rosie meowed and struggled to get out of the
jacket. Serena put her on the floor.

“
Come here, Rosita,” Nonna
said. “I’ve got some cream for you.” Rosie went into the
kitchen with Nonna and began to lap at the cream.

“
We should probably all stay
downstairs tonight,” Nonna said. “Jeff can take the couch. I’ve
set up two air mattresses for Serena and me.”

“
Elena, I insist you take the
couch,” Jeff said. Nonna began to protest, but Jeff held up his
hand and said, “I insist. A mattress will be just fine for me and
Rosie. She’ll like it.”

Nonna didn’t protest any
longer. She was nearly seventy years old and needed the most
comfortable place to sleep. Serena mouthed a silent thank you to
Jeff.

The air mattresses were side by
side in the corner of the living room closest to the stairs. Nonna
didn’t seem to notice that Serena and Jeff would be side by side on
those mattresses. Or maybe she just didn’t care.

“
Do you think we should
evacuate?” Serena asked.

“
We’ve lived through many
hurricanes, cara. This house has stood through them all and so has
Rossetti’s,” Nonna said.

“
We’re going to get a lot of
water,” Jeff said. “We’re already getting it. Does this house
flood?”

“
It’s never flooded,” Nonna
said. “It sits up a little. We’ve had water in the yard, but not
in the house.”

Serena walked into the kitchen
and tried to call Steven. She was worried about him. His phone went
immediately to voice mail. “Steven, there’s a hurricane coming.
I’m sure you know that, but I’m worried about you staying on the
coast. Please call me,” she said into what she thought might be a
dead connection. She texted the same message to him, but had no way
of knowing if it went through.

By the time she walked back in
the living room, Nonna had fallen asleep with Rosie curled at her
side. Serena pulled her blanket up and sat down on the mattress
beside Jeff.

“
I couldn’t get Steven,”
she said. “I’m worried about him. I think I need to go check on
him.”

“
I’m not going to let you do
that, Serena,” Jeff said. “It’s pouring down out there and you
can’t even see the road. It’s too dangerous. I’m sure Steven
knows how to take care of himself.”

Serena lay back on the mattress
and so did Jeff. “When is this going to be over?” she asked.

“
Probably late tomorrow. We can
go check on Steven then if it’s clear enough.”

“
What do you mean ‘we?’”
she asked.

“
We don’t know what to expect
tomorrow. I’m not going to let you go alone. Nonna won’t either.”

Serena continued to fret. Jeff
reached out and took her hand. He brought it to his mouth and kissed
it. Serena turned to look at Jeff. His blue eyes looked back and she
saw nothing but love in them. She leaned over and kissed him.

“
Are you in love with Steven?”
Jeff whispered.

“
I’m very confused right
now,” she answered in a whisper. “Very confused. When Steven
left, I was in love with him. Now, I’m not so sure. But I am
worried about him.”

“
I know,” Jeff said, pulling
her closer to him. The wind whipped and the rain fell all night as
Serena slept in Jeff’s arms. When she woke up, Nonna was standing
over her and Jeff. She didn’t look upset to see Serena in Jeff’s
arms; she looked happy.

“
We’ve got a surge and it’s
raining, but I saw on the news that people are out. I even saw some
sunshine, but it went away. It’s going to hit Louisiana, like
they’ve been predicting.”

Serena pulled her covers back and
got up from the mattress. Jeff stirred and looked up at Serena and
Nonna who stood above him. Serena motioned to him that everything was
okay with Nonna.

“
I need to get back to our
breakfast,” Nonna said. “Come on in the kitchen for some coffee.”

Jeff stood up and put his hands
on Serena’s arms, looking directly at her.

“
Did Elena see us lying there
together? You know, the way we were . . . .”

“
She sure did,” Serena said.
She giggled then and couldn’t seem to stop. It must have been the
stress of the weather and Jeff and Steven. Jeff started laughing,
too.

“
What’s so funny?” Nonna
called from the kitchen. Serena and Jeff looked at each other and
started laughing all over again.

“
Nothing, Nonna,” Serena
finally managed to croak out. She and Jeff went into the kitchen
where Nonna had cups of coffee for them on the table. Serena avoided
Jeff’s eyes so she wouldn’t erupt into gales of laughter again.
She tittered just a little anyway.

Nonna put down plates of
scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast with butter and jam. Serena hadn’t
realized how hungry she was and ate without talking for several
minutes. Jeff did the same.

“
You both look starved,”
Nonna said. “I guess this weather must be having an effect on you.”
Serena caught Jeff’s eye then and nearly lost it. She cleared her
throat, and said, “excuse me,” before leaving the table. She
heard Nonna say, “What’s gotten into her?” She went upstairs,
her body heaving with silent laughter. When she got to her bed, she
lay on it face down and allowed herself to laugh out loud into her
pillow. She laughed so hard tears streamed down her face.

Finally, she turned over on the
bed with just a few chortles left in her. And then she stopped. What
was she doing laughing like this when she was so worried about
Steven? Dammit, her phone was in her purse downstairs. She ran down
the stairs and over to her purse and started rummaging through it for
her phone. She checked it and there was no response from Steven. She
had to go check on him.

“
I’ve got to go check on
Steven,” she said to Nonna and Jeff.

“
I’ll drive you,” Jeff
said.

“
I can drive myself,” she
said, but Jeff was already getting up from the table.

“
Let Jeff drive you, cara. I’ll
worry too much if you go by yourself.”

“
Fine,” Serena said huffily.

She and Jeff got in his car. It
was still raining, but it was drivable. Suddenly, Serena remembered
Angela.

“
I guess Angela picked the
worst place to be during this hurricane,” she said.

“
Oh, I forgot to tell you. She
texted me yesterday and said she was leaving New Orleans to go stay
with some friends in Montgomery.”

“
Oh,” Serena said. “Well,
it’s good she got out of the way.”

They drove in silence toward the
coast. When the water came into view, the waves were high and
violent, but people were out taking photographs. Jeff pulled into
Steven’s driveway and Serena noticed two cars.

“
I wonder who’s here,” she
said half to herself.

“
Maybe somebody who came to
check on him,” Jeff said. He parked the car behind Steven’s.

“
I’ll wait here for you. If
you decide you want to stay, which will break my heart, then I’ll
leave.”

“
Okay,” she said, getting out
of the car. She walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. After
what seemed like a long time, Steven cracked the door open.

“
Hey, Serena,” he said. “Can
I call you in a little while? Someone’s here and I need to get rid
of them.”

“
I just wanted to make sure
you’re all right,” she said. She was about to leave when she
heard another voice from inside Steven’s house.

“
Who is it?” a woman said.
“Has somebody come to visit us?” And the door was flung wide and
a beautiful blond woman stood beside Steven in the doorway. She held
out her hand.

“
Hi, I’m Janet Calloway,”
she said.

Serena took the woman’s hand.
Did Steven have a sister that had come to check on him? She was
confused, which seemed to be her constant state of mind lately. She
looked at Steven, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes.

“
I’m Serena,” she said.

“
Well, come in, Serena,”
Janet said in a phony welcoming voice. There was something wrong with
her voice. It was too high-pitched or something. Definitely a voice
under strain.

And then she asked a dumb
question. Well, at least it seemed dumb in retrospect.

“
Are you Steven’s sister?”
she asked.

Janet laughed longer than was
necessary.

“
I’m Steven’s wife!” she
said. “Are you his girlfriend?”

Serena turned and walked down the
stairs. She was angry. She saw Jeff through the windshield and he
waved. She got in the car and started crying. She covered her eyes
with her hands. Her shoulders heaved. Jeff put his arms around her.

“
What happened?” he said.
“What’s wrong?”

“
Just drive away from here,”
she sobbed. “Please get me away from here.”