Her phone rang, and she was glad to see Mia’s name pop up instead of someone calling about vet services that day. She would have gone out to wherever she was needed, but she wanted a few hours for all this to fully sink in.

“Hello,” she answered.

“How does it feel to be home?” Mia asked.

“Not so good right now.” Stevie’s voice cracked, but she got control of it enough to tell Mia what had happened.

“I’m so sorry, but you can stay right here at the ranch, Stevie. If you’re tired of bunking in with Uncle Cody, you can have my room, and I’ll go stay with Nana and Poppa,” Mia said.

“The bunkhouse is fine, and thank you,” Stevie said. “We got wet when the water rushed out of the house, so we’re on our way back to get into dry clothes.”

“I haven’t gotten the clothes that I loaned you, so there’s stuff there, and I’ll tell Dad that we’re coming to help. He can bring his truck, and I’ll drive Nana’s SUV. We can store what’s salvageable in the corner of the barn,” Mia said.

“Thank you,” Stevie said. “We’re almost home, and as soon as we change, we’re going back to town. Hopefully the electricity will be turned off, and we can get inside.”

“You’ll need rubber boots. I’ve got extras that I’ll bring along,” Mia said. “See you in a little while at your house. Dad does know where you live, right?”

“I’m sure he does, but it’s about a block from the school.  If you get to the house before I do, you’ll probably see the vehicles from the city because they’ll be pumping out as much water as they can,” Stevie told her, “and thank you again.”

“Hey, you don’t have to keep thanking me,” Mia said. “That’s what family is for, and just like Maggie adopted Dixie, we’ve adopted you.”

“You are awesome, girl.” Stevie tried to smile, but it didn’t happen.

“I heard her,” Cody said, “and she’s right.”

“Does that make you my brother?” Stevie asked.

“I hope to hell not.” Cody turned in to the lane leading up to the house.