hellos. Seeing Ryan again was like reuniting with a long-lost family member. He looked the same as he had the last time she’d seen him. Ryan had an actor’s build—short but fit. What he lacked in height, he made up for in charisma and charm. He dressed as if he were auditioning for the role of Indiana Jones, minus the bullwhip. The man loved his khaki and his fedora. Wire-rimmed glasses were a new addition to the ensemble. They were an unfortunate side effect of old age, he complained. Summer rolled her eyes at that. His hair was a little grayer, but he still looked very much like the man she knew as a child.
His wife, Kelly, was the complete opposite of the woman Summer’s mother had been. Grace Raines was born and raised to be a Southern belle. She grew up surrounded by wealth and privilege in Savannah. She went to college for the sole purpose of meeting a husband, or so her parents thought. Grace secretly had a passion for science and nature. When she met Gavin in an environmental science class freshman year, it was love at first sight. They were each other’s missing half.
Kelly, on the other hand, was a Yankee through and through. Business-minded and independent. Ryan had met her when he started working for the Discovery Channel. She was an executive, working out of their Maryland headquarters. It wasn’t love at first sight, but a relationship that grew over time.
As different as she was from Grace, Summer liked Kelly. She was smart and savvy, and always knew what to say and when to say it. That was something Summer never felt she could pull off. Knowing the average rainfall in San Francisco was anything but practical when you lived in Texas.
“When did you guys paint the house?” Kelly asked as they made their way up the walkway to the front porch. She already looked uncomfortable in the Texas heat. Her brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail and her cheeks were flushed. “We were looking for a white house and drove up to this green beauty.”
“Summer and I took that on last fall. We decided just because it was built in 1920 didn’t mean it needed to look like it,” Big D answered.
Ryan ruffled Summer’s hair as he had when she was a child. “Well, aren’t you the good little granddaughter?” She swatted his hand away. She was a good granddaughter, but she was also a twenty-six-year-old woman who had spent a long time getting her hair right this morning.
Inside the bungalow, Mimi brought out a pitcher of lemonade and glasses filled with ice. Big D switched on the ceiling fan and sat down in his faded blue chair. Ryan had loved Gavin Raines like a brother and had nothing but respect and affection for the man’s family. Summer appreciated that he’d never lost touch after her parents died. She also loved listening to him talk. He could tell a story that made her feel as if she were there. The tales he told about storms she herself had witnessed were even more spectacular. Her memory never did them justice.
Ryan and his television crew had been busy documenting the string of tornadoes that had ravaged much of Tornado Alley and some Southern states over the summer. “We spent two weeks in Joplin trying to help. The damage an EF5 can do—” Ryan shook his head. “—you can’t imagine. We could have spent two years there and still had work to do.”
“Six F5 tornadoes in one year. That has to be a record,” Big D said.
“Nope. There were seven in 1974,” Summer said, beating Ryan to the punch.
Ryan smiled. “You don’t even have to think about it, do you? It just pops into your head.”
Summer shrugged. Sometimes it was that easy. Mimi called it another one of her gifts. Certain things she read or saw got filed away in her brain. Then, when she needed them, they appeared. Of course, there were also those times when facts jumped out of their files randomly. It was times like that her gift seemed more like a curse.
After lunch, Big D and Kelly offered to help Mimi clean up so
His wife, Kelly, was the complete opposite of the woman Summer’s mother had been. Grace Raines was born and raised to be a Southern belle. She grew up surrounded by wealth and privilege in Savannah. She went to college for the sole purpose of meeting a husband, or so her parents thought. Grace secretly had a passion for science and nature. When she met Gavin in an environmental science class freshman year, it was love at first sight. They were each other’s missing half.
Kelly, on the other hand, was a Yankee through and through. Business-minded and independent. Ryan had met her when he started working for the Discovery Channel. She was an executive, working out of their Maryland headquarters. It wasn’t love at first sight, but a relationship that grew over time.
As different as she was from Grace, Summer liked Kelly. She was smart and savvy, and always knew what to say and when to say it. That was something Summer never felt she could pull off. Knowing the average rainfall in San Francisco was anything but practical when you lived in Texas.
“When did you guys paint the house?” Kelly asked as they made their way up the walkway to the front porch. She already looked uncomfortable in the Texas heat. Her brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail and her cheeks were flushed. “We were looking for a white house and drove up to this green beauty.”
“Summer and I took that on last fall. We decided just because it was built in 1920 didn’t mean it needed to look like it,” Big D answered.
Ryan ruffled Summer’s hair as he had when she was a child. “Well, aren’t you the good little granddaughter?” She swatted his hand away. She was a good granddaughter, but she was also a twenty-six-year-old woman who had spent a long time getting her hair right this morning.
Inside the bungalow, Mimi brought out a pitcher of lemonade and glasses filled with ice. Big D switched on the ceiling fan and sat down in his faded blue chair. Ryan had loved Gavin Raines like a brother and had nothing but respect and affection for the man’s family. Summer appreciated that he’d never lost touch after her parents died. She also loved listening to him talk. He could tell a story that made her feel as if she were there. The tales he told about storms she herself had witnessed were even more spectacular. Her memory never did them justice.
Ryan and his television crew had been busy documenting the string of tornadoes that had ravaged much of Tornado Alley and some Southern states over the summer. “We spent two weeks in Joplin trying to help. The damage an EF5 can do—” Ryan shook his head. “—you can’t imagine. We could have spent two years there and still had work to do.”
“Six F5 tornadoes in one year. That has to be a record,” Big D said.
“Nope. There were seven in 1974,” Summer said, beating Ryan to the punch.
Ryan smiled. “You don’t even have to think about it, do you? It just pops into your head.”
Summer shrugged. Sometimes it was that easy. Mimi called it another one of her gifts. Certain things she read or saw got filed away in her brain. Then, when she needed them, they appeared. Of course, there were also those times when facts jumped out of their files randomly. It was times like that her gift seemed more like a curse.
After lunch, Big D and Kelly offered to help Mimi clean up so
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