“I did,” she said cautiously.
“And we both know you didn’t come over here for sugar, Gayle. If you hadn’t come over here, I’m not sure what this night would’ve done to me. I’d already started to go to some bad places before you showed up. But you knew just how to distract me over the last few hours. Now I think maybe you’re right and I need to face this head-on…so I can move forward.”
Crap. Yeah, she had said that. But she’d been thinking more the baby-steps approach. A couple of smaller chases with rope tornadoes out in open fields. Hell, she’d actually been hoping to take him on a few of the many, many busts they went on. Let him see for himself that every time she headed out, she didn’t lasso a tornado and ride cowboy style on its destructive back. Most of the time, they didn’t even see a drop of rain, let alone an event. The damn driving was more of a danger—some of the amateurs out chasing were downright reckless on the road.
The system today, however, had the potential to spawn powerful wedge tornadoes, which meant they were going to see more real action. While predicting the precise location where a twister might touch down wasn’t exact, the intense storms they’d encounter would be much worse than the ones he’d experienced so far this week. He hadn’t had a great reaction to those. Something bigger might push him right over the edge.
“Mac.” She inhaled, then blew it out between her lips. “I don’t think this chase is right for you.”
“Why not?”
How did she say this without it sounding like she was calling him a coward? She wasn’t. Not in the least. The anger was worrisome, though. Mac being trapped inside the small confines of an SUV with multiple storms surrounding him was the equivalent of tiptoeing through a minefield.
“This is a giant trough. We’ll be following it through a few states. We’re going to be gone for days.”
“Lance won’t mind. In fact, I’m pretty certain he would encourage it. I can check with him, though, if you want me to.”
Ugh. Okay. Different approach. “We spend a lot of time in the SUV. And with a huge system like this, we’re seriously looking at fifteen, maybe eighteen hour days. Wouldn’t you rather go on one closer to home, so you’re not bored out of your mind?”
“I’ll take a book. I wanted to get in some reading while I was here, anyway.”
All right. Upfront and honest it was. “Mac. This is a dangerous system. A high-risk front, with the potential to form high-precipitation supercells.”
“I don’t know what any of that means.”
“Supercells are what make the tornadoes. Which means that all that”—she swept her hand to the window and the storm still raging outside—”is nothing compared to what could possibly happen with the huge storms the front could breed. I… I don’t think you’re ready for that.”
Grimacing, she waited for him to get angry, but he calmly studied her as if he was really considering her words, and, boy, she hoped he was.
“I understand.” He nodded, but her relief was short-lived. “I’d still like to go.”
She suppressed a groan and slapped her hands on her thighs. She’d tried. “Okay. You’re a grown man. You can make decisions for yourself. But there is one rule, Mac.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m the boss. You do what I tell you to do. And if you throw one piece of my equipment, I don’t care how big and strong you are, I’m going to throw you. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Oh. And pack light.”
Chapter Eight
Mac sat in the backseat of the SUV, watching a small Oklahoma town speed by as they raced to the western corner of the state.
The skies were clear with nary a cloud.
Hard to believe they were only an hour away from where a system was supposed to wreak havoc on the land.
Maybe this had been a bad idea.
A really bad idea.
The longer they drove, the more his gut started to clench with doubt. Earlier this morning, after Gayle had hung up the phone, it’d seemed like the logical choice. His nightmare had been disturbingly vivid as he’d tossed aside the rubble and found Ally’s lifeless body. For the hundredth time in four years.
When Gayle had received a call from Rick at that exact moment, Mac took it as a sign from the universe. Lance had all but shoved him out the door, telling Mac not to worry about him, just go and heal. So the decision had been set in stone.
But now he wasn’t so sure this was the right method to go about it. What if facing this shit fucked him up worse than he already was?