The Love Sucks Club (24 page)

“He loves peanut butter,” she says, smiling.

“I apologized to
Esmé
for being an
asshole,” I whisper in her ear.

“Good,” she says.
“Because you really were one.”

Turning from Roxanne, I notice
Esmé
staring at us, but I don’t stop to answer any questions. The door slams open
and Olivia walks in carrying a pet carrier. Oh great. I forgot she has that
little freakish dog. Frank has moved into a sitting position and is eying the
carrier with interest. Thomas runs over to close the door behind Olivia, but before
he can get it closed, the whole floor in front of the door is soaked. Susannah
grabs another towel and throws it on the ground. Before she can wipe up the
water, the door is open again, and Sam comes in, slamming the door shut behind
her. “Damn,” she says, wiping water out of her eyes. “It’s wet out there!”

“Hey, look, the master of the painfully obvious has arrived,” I
laugh, moving forward to hug her.

Susannah starts to tuck one of the towels under the slight space
between the door and the floor, but I ask her to stop. Now that everyone is
here, I can shove some rolled up plastic grocery bags into the space to repel
some of the water. The rolled up towel can go behind that. Sam is vigorously
toweling off her short hair while Olivia opens the carrier and brings out her
little mutt. I’m not sure what kind of dog it is, though I’m pretty sure it has
some Chihuahua and perhaps some rat in it. It’s small and yippy and it shakes
all of the time. Frank is staring down at the dog with disdain. He looks at me
as if to say, “Really?”

“I know.
Right?”
I pat his head as I walk
past, but he turns his back on all of us. Climbing up onto the counter, he
walks over to the wall and lies down facing it.

Olivia’s dog is running around at her feet, whining. The wind is
continuing to pound the rain against the shutters.

Roxanne takes the last of the cookies out of the oven and turns it
off. Sam looks pensive. “Do you think we should disconnect the propane tanks?”

“No, I don’t. They’re sheltered pretty well in their little shed.
And I want to have access to the stove after the storm.”

“Fair enough.”
She drags her cooler across the
floor to set it next to the other coolers. “More ice,” she explains.
“Can’t have too much, in my opinion.”

“Especially in those super solid
cold coolers.”

“Totally.
Should we put this in the
freezer until the power goes out?”

“Without a doubt.”

Thomas and Sam and I load all of the ice into my drop down
freezer. I’ve already frozen several gallons of potable water. I figure we can
use them to cool food and as they melt, we can drink them.

“What else?” Thomas is looking to move around.

“Well, I thought it would be best if we hung out in here. The
windows are solid. I have the radio and the cases of flashlights and portable
lanterns in here. The coolers are here and there isn’t a lot of crap to trip
over. Plus, we’re close to the bathroom. So, maybe we could drag in the couch
and a couple of the chairs from the living room.”

“Solid.” Thomas and Sam head off to start doing that.

“In the meantime, Olivia, pick up your dog and let’s make sure the
doors to the other rooms are all closed. That way when the storm gets going,
we’ll know the animals are in here with us.”

“I’m pretty sure Muffin won’t leave my side,” she says.

Muffin.
Roxanne and I exchange glances
and smile. Olivia and
Esmé
move to close the bedroom
and bathroom doors. Sam smiles as she and Thomas bring the couch in. “Anyone
that has to poop better do so now!”

“Classy, Sam,” Roxanne says.

“All the way, baby.”

The door slams open again, scattering plastic bags everywhere. The
wind whips through the house, carrying water across the counters.

“Close the door,” Roxanne yells, as I scramble for the plastic
bags. Looking up from the floor, I freeze in a squatting position, staring at
the new arrival. “Hey Karen,” I yell over the wind.

She wrestles the door shut as Roxanne comes over with a mop to
soak up some of the water.

Karen is standing in the doorway, soaking wet. I get up from the
floor and drape a towel around her. “What on earth?”

“Rick and I are right on the beach,” she says. “When the news
changed the prediction to a cat three, we figured we better head up here. I
tried to call, but there was no answer.”

“I probably didn’t hear my phone over the rain and wind,” I say.

The doorknob turns and Roxanne opens the door quickly, closing it
as soon as Rick gets in the door. Grabbing a couple extra towels, I toss one to
him, and throw one on the floor. He towels his head, smiling at me. “I’m sorry
for busting in. We brought supplies, though.” He holds up two big reusable
grocery bags. “I’ll take them,” Roxanne says. She places them on the counter
and starts digging through, looking for perishables.

“Do either of you want dry
clothes?”’

“Yes, please,” Karen answers.

Esmé
stands up. “Do you have something
in particular you’re offering them, or just anything in your closet?”

“I have a bunch of extra shorts, t-shirts, and sweatshirts in the
spare bedroom,” I tell her. “Anyone can help themselves.”

“You’re the best hurricane party thrower ever,” Sam chirps as she
drags in another chair. Thomas is right behind her with another.

“It’s just a bunch of stuff that I haven’t gotten around to taking
to the thrift store,” I say, smiling.

Sam notices Rick and Karen moving toward the spare bedroom with
Esmé
. She waves at all of them. When they close themselves
in the spare bedroom, Sam turns to me. “Is it me or is that a little weird?”

“I guess it makes sense. They do live really close to the water
and I’d rather be here than one of the crowded and probably not too clean
temporary shelters.”

“I meant
Esmé
being here.”

“It’s a little weird.”

“I’m sure she must have other friends than you.”

“What does it matter, Sam?” Roxanne is perplexed. “We have plenty
of food and water. Why not offer a safe space to anyone who needs it?”

A loud pounding at the door makes me jump.
“Seriously?
What the fuck?”

Sam walks over to the door and opens it. My ex slides in with
Mandy right behind her. They’re both soaking wet. Standing there dripping water
all over my floor, my ex spreads her arms and shrugs. “We didn’t have anywhere
else to go?”

“You could have gone to The Pit,” I snarl.

“They’re shut down,” Mandy pouts.

Catching movement out of the corner of my eye, I see Roxanne
smiling to herself. I’m so glad someone is getting a kick out of my misery.

The wind roars over the house, slamming what sounds like small
branches and pebbles against the walls. “You still have time to make it down
the hill before the storm starts.”

“Dana,” Jackie pleads. “Your road is already a mud pit. We almost
went over the side of the hill twice on our way up here.”

“How is that my problem? I don’t recall inviting you here!”

Mandy sniffs. “Trust me. I don’t want to be here anymore than you
want me here. Jackie insisted this would be the safest place for us to spend
the storm.”

“Jackie was wrong.” Irritated as I am at their presence, I’m even
more irritated by the fact that I won’t really send them out to die in the
storm.

Roxanne puts her hand on my arm and looks into my eyes. “Dana, I
know you’re upset and you have every right to be. But a compassionate person
cannot send them back out into the storm. What if they drove off the road and
died?”

“I’d send flowers to the funeral home,” I say, though I’m smiling.

“Dana.” Roxanne whispers. “I’d feel horrible for the rest of my
life.”

Still smiling, I put my arms around her.
“Even
if the world would be better without either of them?”

“Even then,” she answers, grinning up at me.

“Fine,” I say, turning to Jackie and Mandy. “Dry off and then
clean up the water you left all over my floor.”

Esmé
comes into the kitchen,
carrying another stack of towels. “I grabbed these from the laundry room.”

“Let’s run a load of towels while we still have power,” I say.
“We’ve already gone through a lot.”

“Should I just put them in the dryer?”

“Yeah, let’s do that. Leave that stack here.
There’s
a few clean ones in the bathroom that we should try to save for use on people,
rather than floors.”

Esmé
gathers up a bunch of wet
towels, nodding to Mandy and smiling at Jackie. Drying off as best they can,
Jackie takes both of their towels and starts trying to mop up the floor with
them. “Just go in the spare bedroom for dry clothes. Take a towel with you.”

“Thanks, Dana,” Jackie says. She sounds almost sincere. Mandy
curls her lip at me as they walk past me to the hallway.

“What a douche,” I mutter just loud enough for her to hear me.

Turning her head, she glares at me over her shoulder before
flouncing off down the hall. Looking at Roxanne, I whisper, “I’m pretty sure
she won’t find anything of mine to fit over that rack.”

“Dana, be nice,” she says.

“Why do I have to be the bigger person?”

“Because you’re just so wonderful,” she smiles.

“Whatever.”

Walking through to the living room, I help Sam and Thomas move the
last of the furniture. Everything is lifted from the floor of this room. If
there’s going to be leakage, I’m pretty sure it will come from underneath the
sliders. I sealed them as best as I could and have shoved towels into the
tracks, so it’s as secure as it’s going to get. I’ll still have to check on it
every so often to see if I need to bring in a mop.

Coming back into the kitchen and dining area, I slide the
partition between the living room and the kitchen closed. I don’t want Frank
running in there in terror. I’d rather have him sitting on my lap in terror. I
don’t think I’ll have to worry about him, though. Roxanne is sitting
cross-legged on one of the arm chairs and Frank is on her lap. He’s licking his
lips and she’s finishing a cookie, so I can only assume they’ve been sharing. I
give her a warning look, but she just smiles back at me.

Olivia and Sam are standing at the kitchen counter, giggling
together. Sam is actually holding Muffin.
Really?
I
mouth “Ass” at her before turning back to the dining area. Rick and Karen have
taken seats at opposite sides of the couch, so I slide into the chair next to
Roxanne.
Esmé
comes back from the laundry and takes
the chair on the other side of me. Standing, I push two of the empty chairs to
the other side of the couch so that Mandy and Jackie will be as far away from
my chair as possible. Roxanne raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything. Speak
of the devil, here they come. Jackie’s just wearing a t-shirt and some sweats
that I got at the thrift store. Mandy has crammed herself into a pair of shorts
and a tank top.

“If she bends over too fast, someone’s
gonna
get a black eye,”
Esmé
whispers in my ear. Snorting
in answer, I direct them to the chairs furthest away from me. Not that I’ll be
sitting all that much.

“What happens when people need to sleep?” Mandy asks.

“There are air mattresses in the living room area, along with some
battery powered pumps. Someone should go ahead and get those filled now so that
when people want to sleep, they don’t have to worry about it.”

“I’ll do it,” Thomas says.

“I’ll help,” my ex offers.

They slide open the partition and disappear into the living room.
Sam follows, closing it behind her.

“If anyone does need to sleep, there is a stack of blankets in the
living room. I didn’t provide sheets. You’ll have to rough it.”

Mandy sniffs.

Turning to glare at her,
Esmé
says, “You
should consider being grateful.”

“What business is it of yours?”
Mandy stands up,
throwing her shoulders back.
Esmé
jumps out of
her chair as well. Stepping in between them, I hold up my hands, trying not to
laugh. “There will be no chick fighting here, no matter how much you piss each
other off.”

“Just as well,”
Esmé
mutters under her
breath. “She’d kill me with one swipe of her boob.”

“There will also be no insulting people based on their
appearance,” Roxanne says, loudly.

Huffing,
Esmé
and Mandy both slam back
into their chairs. Roxanne sighs and Olivia makes a
tutting
sound from the other side of the kitchen.