Things are picking up. Looks like it’ll be a category one, she texted her daughter.

Renee thought of a summer afternoon many years ago, when she and Tansy had gotten caught in a ferocious thunderstorm during a drive home from Portland. She’d pulled her Toyota to the side of the road and dug a battered box of Uno cards from the glove box. They’d played for twenty minutes until the rain eased. And when they spotted a rainbow just as they were pulling onto Seashell Lane, Renee took it as some sort of cosmic sign that she’d done good. She’d been a good mother, staying calm and protecting them both.

Now, with the assurance that Tansy was safe on the West Coast, she could turn her phone off. Smarter to conserve the battery in case the power went out. But first, one last try. She dialed her best friend, her closest confidante. The person who had always made her feel the safest.

“Renee?” Bree answered on the first ring. “Oh my God. This is so scary! Do you have the cottage all boarded up? Do you need help? Are you freaking out? I keep looking out the window wondering if we’re going to end up like SpongeBob, living in some freaking pineapple under the sea.”

“Bree.” Renee had never felt such pleasure, such relief, in saying her sister’s name. “I’m so glad you picked up.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Renee resisted the urge to remind her of how distant and standoffish she’d been.

“Come to my house,” Bree said. “It’s a lot farther from the ocean and up on a hill. We’ll be safer here.”

“I’ll be there!” Renee paused. “Um, Dan is actually on his way over. He’s going to get my cottage all safe and sound. Is it okay if he comes, too?”

“Dan as in Dr. Dan Hanlon?” Bree’s voice lifted.

“The one and only.”

“I want to tease you so badly right now, but I’ll resist since there’s a hurricane coming our way and all.” They both laughed. God, it felt so freaking good to laugh with Bree again. “Don’t spend too much time prepping the cottage, okay? Things can be replaced, people can’t.”

It was a saying their own mother had said repeatedly, often after a toy had broken or a favorite watch or bauble had gone missing.

“I’ll see you soon,” she said.

Dan arrived exactly eight minutes later, just as Renee was taking cherished family photos and artwork off the walls, placing them in higher, more level locations.

“I’m so glad to see you,” Renee said, as Moe practically jumped in her arms.

“Down, boy.” Dan pulled the hound back, but she laughed and scratched him behind the ears.

“Yes, and you too, you big goofball.”