whistle as Jed strolled into the barn looking more relaxed than she'd ever seen him after a morning of working chores and checking fence line for damage from the storm.
Mackenzie didn't stop the horse, but she did smile and wave as she called out, "Daddy!"
"Looking good there, Mack."
Clarissa's heart did a little flip flop as Jed moved closer to her side to watch his daughter. Goodness, the man looked like he'd stepped off the pages of a Stetson cologne magazine ad. The way he smiled at her left her breathless.
"I'm surprised she didn't get you on Blue."
"She tried. I resisted," Clarissa said, and then she focused her eyes on Mack and her pony, told herself not to look at him because what she was feeling was too confusing.
It ended up not mattering too much since Jed turned to his dad to talk about the minimal problems they'd found. Fortunately, they'd moved the trees out before the tornado. Insurance would hopefully take care of any losses.
His words made the gulf between their worlds that much more obvious. The Dillons were wealthy, they were a family that took care of one another, they were people who worked the land. Clarissa didn’t know anything about that kind of life.
"You going to be ready to head back to town soon?" Jed’s question interrupted her thoughts.
Clarissa wasn't sure she was ready to face the loss, to see how bad things were. Seeing it might make the decision she teetered back and forth on very real.
"I guess I don't have a lot of options."
"You're welcome to stay here with us as long as you need to," Jed's father said, and Clarissa smiled at his kindness, surprised by the sincerity of his words.
"Can I go, Daddy? Pretty please. My hair bow's still in, and I'm not too dirty." Mackenzie pulled the horse to a stop in front of them.
"Not today, Champ. It's too dangerous in town.”
Mack scowled, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she turned to Clarissa and spoke with the innocence of a five-year-old. “I’m gonna pick you some flowers, Clarissa. You’re my bestest friend, and I love you.”
Clarissa didn’t say I love you back, even though she was tempted.
It was terrible. For some reason, Clarissa had thought having so little would make finding its utter destruction easier. She was wrong. Standing in the middle of torn lumber, she searched for small items. All she could find was her toothbrush, which was just so strange.
"It's all gone." Clarissa said the words while standing in a pile of rubble, torn clothes and the broken light that had graced her living room. Even her beat up alarm clock was gone. She'd lost everything.
"I'm real sorry, Miss Dye," the sheriff walked up and patted her lightly on the shoulder. "The FEMA people will be here to help out tomorrow. If you need a place to stay, the church has set up shelter, and the Angel Food Ministry is working with the food bank in Shawnee to help out."
She wanted to reply, to say it was going to be all right, but she couldn't seem to make her voice work. And then she found a torn corner of paper with Mack’s name on it. The Lemmalu picture.
She picked it up, inexplicably smoothing it like doing so would make everything better. And then she started crying big, silent tears of regret and loss and desperation.
"She's going to be staying out with us on the Triple Eight," Jed said, touching her shoulder to give her comfort. But she couldn’t accept that from him. She stepped away, thought about telling him he was wrong. Stearns, Oklahoma might've felt like a stopping place, but it wasn't. And this time, whatever fate controlled the universe had made sure she knew that truth.
Pete stepped up then, a little hitch in his walk. He'd been working for hours on the cleanup, and it was evident in the tired lines on his face. But there was something else. Something that didn't make a whole lot of sense.
Hope.
"Darkest nights bring brightest mornings," Pete said when he saw her tears. And all she could think in answer to that was she sure should be seeing some amazing mornings in the near future.
Around her people from all over town were helping the cleanup at Pete's. The man with the small children whose wife was in the Shawnee hospital saw her and walked to her side.
"I can't thank you enough for helping last night," he said.
He had a reason to cry. But he