earlier. Right after the ‘God, Jake.’”
“Of course you’re keeping track.”
“You bet I am. Three of my favorite words when they’re in that particular order.”
“Such an ass,” she muttered. But she leaned forward and put her hands on his shoulders.
His hands went to her waist, and he swung her down from the tree. But he didn’t put her on the ground.
Pressed tightly to his body, his hands on her hips, she most definitely felt more inclined to say another please or so.
With a knowing grin, Jake swung her legs so that he was holding her behind her back and under her knees, cradled against his chest.
“You ready to do this?”
She knew he was talking about checking out the damage, but her mind didn’t go there immediately. Fortunately, she didn’t say what she was thinking out loud.
“I guess.” Which would have been her answer even if he had been talking about what she was thinking.
He headed around the corner of the building, and Avery found herself squeezing her eyes shut.
She’d deal with whatever it was. She’d do her typical calm, cool, collected, amazing job.
In a minute.
“Oh, boy.”
Jake’s comment, and that he’d stopped walking, made her eyes open. Which she regretted instantly.
Oh, boy was a pretty good summary.
CHAPTER THREE
There were tree branches of varying sizes everywhere. There were cars that looked perfectly normal, while others had smashed windows and were spun facing the opposite way from which they’d been parked. There was one that had not previously been a convertible that was now missing its top. There was stuff that didn’t belong there, lying all over—trash cans, the trash that had previously been inside the cans, plastic bags, a few lawn chairs, a big, plastic multicolored square that little kids climbed on in their backyard, and—amazingly—a barbecue grill.
Then there was the car that had smashed into the side of the shed, causing the dent and the inability to open the door.
And finally, the thing that made her heart nearly stop and tears threaten—the gaping hole in the side of the school. The side where the gymnasium was. The gymnasium that had been decorated for the reunion, full of their friends and former classmates.
“We were having sex in the shed,” she whispered.
Jake’s hands gripped her harder. “Yeah.”
“We’re bad people.”
“Maybe a little,” he agreed.
“Well, there’s one more thing we have in common—great sex and incredible guilt.”
“Av—”
“Goddammit! I don’t believe this!” Whatever Jake had been about to say was interrupted by the arrival of Frank Harvey.
Jake turned, still holding her. “Mr. Mayor.”
Avery closed her eyes again briefly, wishing she could disappear. But Frank didn’t seem to register or care about her strange clothing or that Jake still held her in his arms.
“Three years!” Frank’s face was red, his tie loosened from its knot at his neck, and he was sweating. “Three fucking years in a row. The vultures will be descending any minute.”
Avery wondered if she needed to call Dr. Wagner. Frank was in his early fifties, and although he jogged every morning, he also had a penchant for beer and fried cheese.
“Vultures?” Jake asked.
“The media. They’re going to have a fucking field day with this. An EF4. Three years in a goddamn row.”
Frank Harvey had been mayor for the past eight years. He had been a city councilman for ten years before getting elected mayor, and a small-town business owner before that. He’d been a resident of Chance his entire life. His boys had grown up here, too, and all three lived in town. Frank was a good guy, incredibly passionate about Chance, and could BS with anyone about anything. He was a great small-town mayor.
He also had a voice that could carry across a football field. Or a parking lot.
Especially when he was excited or upset, as he was now.
“Is everyone all right?” Avery asked. They could worry about the media later. She knew that the EF4 status couldn’t have been officially confirmed already, but they could make a very educated guess based on the damage done. Frank knew tornadoes. Everyone in Chance did. “Where else were we hit?” she asked. “Is everyone in the school accounted for? There were at least twenty people in there earlier.”
Frank nodded. “Everyone from here has been accounted for. They headed for the locker rooms as soon as the siren went off. The gym has the most damage, along with a couple of classrooms.”
The locker rooms were easily the safest place in the school—center of the building, no windows, and thick concrete walls. Avery felt some of the