“I can go to a hotel in Bonham,” she sniffled.

“Oh, no, you will not.” Cody shook his head. “After a shock like this, you need family around you.”

Yes, you do. Her mother’s voice was back in her head. Don’t worry about stuff. It can be replaced.

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

I don’t think I would be electrocuted,” Stevie argued as she followed him out to the truck. “The water that washed out over us didn’t shock us.”

Cody glanced down at their wet jeans. “We should go back out to the ranch and get into dry clothes and bring rubber boots before we tackle this. Leave the door open so the guys can get in there and start pumping the water out.”

“You are probably right,” she agreed. “I’m afraid the house is going to be like your truck, Cody. Completely totaled.”

“How’s that?” He led her to his truck and helped her inside, where it was still warm. “It might take a while, but if the foundation is still good, it could be gutted and new drywall…”

“It’s more than sixty years old.” Stevie’s voice sounded hollow in her own ears. “And as much as I hate to admit it, the floors have begun to slope a little. I can’t bear to lose it, though. It belonged to my grandmother and then my parents, and it’s the only house I ever lived in. I stayed in the dorms the whole time I was in college, and I lived in a small apartment when I worked at the clinic in Oklahoma City.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” He started the engine, backed out of the driveway, and headed back to the ranch.

“Looks to me like we’ve got a lot of bridges to cross.” She groaned when she thought about the garage. “Do you think the water would have gotten into the garage? It’s attached, but it’s on a slab instead of a pier-and-beam foundation. Mama’s got boxes and boxes stored out there, and her car is parked out there. I haven’t even started it up and driven it since she died.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Cody answered. “And, Stevie, life is full of bridges. Some we burn. Some we cross over with help from a loved one. Some we detour around. This could be a detour. You might just have to live at the ranch until it’s all fixed up again. The upside is that you can make it all yours, and maybe that will be some sort of closure about your mother’s death.”

She sighed and wondered how many bridges she would detour around in the future. For now, she could live at the ranch, which was a blessing, but that was beginning to feel like charity.