Why can’t I sleep in when I have the day off?”

Any other day when Boone needed to be up early, he never wanted to wake up. Probably some cosmic bullshit working against him. Might as well get in the shower. As he emerged from his room, loud music bellowed up the staircase.

“Dammit Pearson, really?” No point trying to yell at him from the staircase. His brother would never hear anything through that racket. Besides, he’d have some shady ass logical comment that Boone would struggle to argue with anyway. He grabbed a towel out of the linen closet in the hall and went in the bathroom, flipping the light on as he entered.

“Are you kidding me?” This is exactly why he lived alone and liked it.

Boone left the bathroom and went downstairs in search of Pearson, counting to ten so he wouldn’t kill his brother. He found him in the kitchen, in a wake of eggshells covering the entire counter, egg whites dripping onto the floor.

“What in the hell are you doing to my kitchen?”

“Oh hey, bout time you got out of bed sleepy head. I’m making breakfast. Waffles?” He raised a plate full of blueberry waffles toward Boone. As he grabbed the plate before Pearson dropped it, his hand stuck in a glob of syrup dripping off the side of the plate.

“You are cleaning up this kitchen when you’re done, got it?”

“Hey man, of course I will, you know me?”

“Yes, I do know you, that’s exactly why I made that statement Pearson. If it’s the same way you cleaned up the bathroom after you used it, we’re all in trouble.”

“What’s wrong with the bathroom?” Good god, did he have to ask? Is he like multiple personality challenged and doesn’t remember what his alter did?

“You’re kidding, right? You left the tub full of water and the carpet is soaked. If I hadn’t seen your towel on the floor, I would have guessed you didn’t use one. Or did you just splash half of the water out? You aren’t supposed to swim in the tub.”

“Maybe you should get a maid to help you around here.” His brother changed the subject like he hadn’t even heard Boone talking.

“Were you even listening to me? I don’t need a stranger cleaning my house. You need to find your own place to live.” And it won’t be in my house.

“Glad I haven’t redone the upstairs yet, I’m sure that water soaked right into the floor boards.”

“When are you going to fix up this place? It could use a lot work?” Pearson flipped sausage links out of a pan onto Boones plate, oblivious to his growing anger.

“Pearson, when are you leaving?”

“You tired of me already big brother? I thought maybe I could hang around awhile. You know, sibling bonding? Plus, I could be your cook, I’m pretty good in the kitchen if you didn’t notice.”

“Wait, awhile? What’s your idea of a while?”

“Oh, I don’t know, a few weeks maybe.” He clanked the pans together and swung them toward the sink, knocking the measuring cup to the floor. “Good thing that’s Pyrex.”

When Boone graduated high school, and moved out of his parents’ house, that was all the permission he needed to not have to live with any of his family again, and that included his brother. Boone really liked living on his own.

“Why aren’t you staying with mom and dad?”

Pearson shrugged his shoulders. “I was but mom kicked me out.”

He knew his mother was a smart woman.

“She suggested I come to your place so here I am.”

Lovely.

He could guarantee that’s why his mom wanted to see him. She would play the mom card and convince him that he was doing them all a favor by helping and it wasn’t like he didn’t have plenty of room. Shit.

“Okay, if you’re going to stay here, there will be rules and you will be working for your room and board.”

“Sure thing bro. I don’t mind cooking all day.” He was sure his younger brother was living in an alternate reality.

“No, when I say work, I mean hard, hands-on labor. You’ll be working on this house every day and we’ll get you started in the bathroom upstairs, after you make this kitchen spotless.”

After Pearson stopped gawking at Boone, he looked around at the mess like he’d only just now noticed it was there, then threw the towel onto the counter.

“Okay little brother, I’m going over to see mom. When I get back this room better look like a kitchen again.”

Boone laughed as he went out the front door, screen door slamming in his wake.

* * *

Kelsey stood in the open doorway of the tiny bathroom, looking out at the surprisingly comfortable bed in the motel she’s found in the wee hours of the morning. Even the coffee wasn’t working so when she saw a sign for soft beds and hot breakfast, she knew she’d reached her limit. When she checked in, there were free road maps available and requested a late check out so she could make a plan once she was on the road again. She had no clue where she was headed but after two days of driving, she’d needed break. She hadn’t showered in two days either so after soaking up all the hot water she could before her body would look like one large prune, she wrapped her hair in the towel and flipped on the television before grabbing her clothes.

“I hate storms.” But all she saw on every channel was a large system heading right for Waylin. “I wonder how close that is to where I am? I should probably get moving before it comes this way, I hate driving in the rain.”

After dressing, Kelsey used the hair dryer mounted to the bathroom wall, in turn not allowing her to hear the emergency weather alert blaring from the television. When her hair was styled, she repacked her Thirty-One duffle and grabbed her purse. The paper check-out slip had appeared under her door in the early morning hours and she’d already shoved in into her check book so she’d remember to balance it in later. Leaving the key on the side table as stated, she pulled the heavy door shut behind her and started for her car.

Once out of the shelter provided by the building, her hair took flight. The wind was strong and steady, so much so that it pushed her entire body along quicker than she could walk. Kelsey hurried back to the building out of the wind and dug in her purse for hair ties.

“Good lord, where did that come from?” She’d never felt winds that strong except when she’s gone out to the ocean and she was sure she was in the wrong part of the country for water front property.

“Hey, miss, you really need to find some place to hunker down, we got an intense storm coming and you don’t wanna be outside for it.”

“Thanks, but I’m not sticking around town so I’ll just drive away from it.”

The man mumbled something she couldn’t understand as he rushed away.

“Okay then, let’s try this.” Kelsey secured her bag on her shoulder, and with her purse in her left hand and keys in the right, she ran to her car, clicking the unlock button as she got closer. When she opened the door, it swung out of her hands. She threw her belongings across the car into the passenger seat, grabbed the door and climbed in.

“Holy crap, that’s horrible.” Getting out of town seemed the best option for her. “I’ll just get on the highway and head west, away from the storm.

What Kelsey didn’t know is that she would be driving right into it.