Chapter 2 - THE EXPENSIVE CAR IN THE WRONG WATER.
By the time Emily reached the first row of parked cars, the rain was coming down hard enough to flatten her hair against her cheeks.
Sophie woke.
Not fully.
The baby moved beneath the grey blanket and made a soft protesting sound.
Emily pulled the blanket higher around her.
Ryan was several steps ahead.
"Slow down," Emily called.
He turned without stopping.
"We need to beat the water."
Frank's voice came from behind them.
"Then stop walking toward it."
Ryan kept going.
Emily stopped.
That single decision irritated him more than the warning itself.
He turned fully.
"Emily."
Her father reached them.
His navy shirt was already dark across the shoulders from rain.
Frank pointed toward the church.
"Take Sophie inside."
Ryan shook his head.
"We're not leaving the car."
Frank looked at him.
"That's a machine."
Ryan's face tightened.
"It's a forty-eight-thousand-dollar machine."
Frank blinked once.
There it was.
The sentence hung between them.
Emily felt something inside her sink.
Ryan seemed to hear himself only after he had said it.
"That's not what I meant."
Frank glanced toward the SUV.
"Sounded clear."
"I mean we can't just abandon it."
"Nobody said abandon it."
"It's going to flood."
"Then let it."
Ryan laughed once.
"Easy for you to say."
Emily stared at him.
Frank's expression barely changed.
That was one of the things about her father people misunderstood.
When Frank got truly angry, he got quieter.
"What does that mean?" Emily asked.
Ryan wiped rain from his eyes.
"Nothing."
"You just said it."
"I said he doesn't understand."
Frank looked down at himself.
Old navy shirt.
Dark trousers he'd worn to church because Emily had asked him not to show up in jeans.
Shoes he had resoled twice because he liked them.
Then Frank looked at Ryan's suit.
"Understand what?"
Ryan rubbed a hand over his wet hair.
"Can we not do this right now?"
Emily almost laughed.
There it was again.
Whenever Ryan said something cruel, the problem became the timing of the response.
Water continued spreading across the lot.
A volunteer near the church shouted that everyone needed to come back.
Frank raised one hand.
"We're coming."
Ryan stepped toward the SUV again.
Frank grabbed his forearm.
Not violently.
Enough to stop him.
Ryan looked down at Frank's hand as if touching him were the greater offense.
"Let go."
"You're not taking my daughter and granddaughter through that."
"They're my family too."
"Then act like it."
Ryan pulled his arm free.
Emily saw his face change.
The wound was not fear.
It was humiliation.
Frank had said it where people could hear.
Emily understood immediately.
That was always the line with Ryan.
He could tolerate disagreement.
He could not tolerate being made small.
Especially not by Frank.
Especially not in front of people he wanted to impress.
Ryan turned to Emily.
"Stay here."
She looked at the water.
"Where are you going?"
"To get the car."
"Ryan—"
"I said stay here."
Frank stepped between them.
"No."
Ryan looked past him.
"This is ridiculous."
Another car alarm began blaring.
Then another.
A pickup truck near the rear row tried to move.
Its wheels spun.
The vehicle lurched, stopped, and water pushed against the side.
People under the canopy shouted.
The driver reversed and managed to reach higher pavement.
That should have ended the argument.
It didn't.
Ryan's SUV was parked farther out, but it sat at a slightly higher angle beside a concrete island.
From where they stood, the water around it looked shallow.
That was the trick.
It always looked shallower than it was.
Ryan pointed.
"See? It's fine."
Frank said, "You can't tell how deep that is from here."
"I can see the tires."
"You can't see the current."
Ryan looked at Emily.
His expression said something she knew too well.
Tell him.
Tell him he's overreacting.
Tell him I'm right.
Tell him I'm still the man you chose.
Emily looked at Sophie.
The baby was awake now.
Her small face scrunched under the edge of the blanket.
Emily turned back toward the church.
"I'm going inside."
Ryan froze.
"What?"
"I'm taking her back."
"We're leaving."
"No."
One syllable.
It felt strange coming out of her mouth.
Frank heard it.
So did Ryan.
The rain hammered the pavement.
Ryan stepped closer.
"Emily, don't make this into some kind of statement."
She stared at him.
"I'm holding a newborn in a thunderstorm."
"I know that."
"Then why am I standing here arguing about your car?"
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Behind Frank, Linda Carter was approaching with two church volunteers.
"Everybody inside!" one of them called. "Water's coming over the south entrance!"
Frank nodded toward them.
"You heard him."
Ryan looked toward the church.
Then toward his SUV.
Then at the crowd watching.
Emily knew that look too.
Calculation.
Not about safety.
About how this would appear.
Ryan hated appearing controlled by another man.
Frank turned to Emily.
"Come with me."
Ryan moved first.
He reached for Emily's elbow.
"She's coming with me."
Frank immediately looked at Ryan's hand.
Ryan released her.
Emily stepped back.
"I'll decide."
That landed harder than she expected.
Ryan's face went blank.
Not angry.
Blank.
Emily realized how rarely she had said those words since marrying him.
I'll decide.
She had made choices, of course.
What groceries to buy.
Which pediatrician to call.
Whether to use the cheaper diapers that leaked or the expensive ones that made her feel irresponsible.
But the choices that affected Ryan's image usually came already framed.
His family wanted this.
The church expected that.
People would notice.
It would be awkward.
Don't embarrass me.
Frank put a hand lightly between Emily's shoulder blades.
"Inside."
Then a church member shouted Ryan's name.
"Ryan! Your driver's side is taking water!"
Ryan spun.
The water had climbed higher around the SUV.
He cursed.
Emily had almost never heard him curse at church.
He took off running.
"Ryan!" she yelled.
Frank swore under his breath and followed.
Emily stayed where she was for two seconds.
Maybe three.
Then she saw Ryan reach the first sheet of moving water.
It struck above his ankles.
He staggered.
Frank shouted.
"Stop!"
Ryan kept going.
The current reached mid-shin.
He leaned into it.
Emily's stomach tightened.
Everything in her wanted to go back toward the church.
But Ryan's keys were in his hand.
The SUV contained Sophie's diaper bag, Emily's purse, the stroller base, documents from the pediatrician, and the car seat that had been removed earlier because Sophie had been fussing.
Ordinary things.
Expensive things.
Necessary things.
Things that had somehow become reasons to risk more than they were worth.
Ryan reached the SUV.
Frank stopped at the edge of deeper water.
"Ryan!"
Ryan opened the driver's door.
Water rushed around it.
He climbed in.
Emily heard the engine start.
For one brief second, Ryan looked triumphant.
He had been right.
That expression appeared on his face.
She knew it did because even through the rain, even at that distance, she recognized it.
Then the rear of the SUV shifted.
Just six inches.
Maybe less.
Enough.
Frank shouted something Emily couldn't hear.
The SUV's headlights swung slightly sideways.
Ryan hit the accelerator.
The tires spun.
Brown water sprayed.
The vehicle moved forward.
Then stopped.
Ryan tried again.
The engine revved.
Nothing.
Water climbed against the doors.
Emily's throat closed.
Frank took a step into the water.
A volunteer grabbed his shoulder.
"Don't!"
Frank shook him off.
Ryan opened the driver's door.
The current shoved it closed.
He tried again.
This time he forced it open and climbed partly out.
Then he looked toward the church.
Emily was still standing near the edge of the lot with Sophie in her arms.
Ryan shouted something.
She couldn't hear.
Frank could.
"What did he say?"
Emily asked.
Frank didn't answer.
Ryan waved.
Not toward them.
Toward the SUV.
Then toward the church.
Frank's face changed.
"He's telling us to come to him."
Emily stared.
"He wants me to take the baby through that?"
Frank cupped his hands around his mouth.
"GET OUT!"
Ryan pointed toward the passenger side.
Another surge of water crossed the lot.
The SUV moved again.
Frank didn't wait.
He stepped deeper.
Emily grabbed his sleeve.
"Dad."
He turned.
"Go inside."
"Don't go."
"I'm getting him out."
Ryan was already halfway through the driver's opening.
Frank took another step.
The water reached his knees.
A volunteer brought a length of rope from somewhere near the canopy.
Linda took Sophie’s blanket edge and pulled it tighter around the baby's shoulders.
"Emily," she said calmly, "come backward with me."
Emily did.
One step.
Then another.
She could not take her eyes off Ryan.
He climbed fully onto the side of the SUV.
Rain streamed down his face.
His dark suit clung to him.
His loosened tie whipped against his shirt.
The polished man from the photographs was gone.
Frank shouted directions.
"FACE UPSTREAM!"
Ryan didn't.
"THREE POINTS OF CONTACT!"
Ryan jumped.
He landed badly.
The water caught him.
For half a second, he disappeared to the waist.
People screamed.
He grabbed the roof rack.
Frank moved closer.
A volunteer threw the rope.
It fell short.
Ryan reached again.
Then he let go of the SUV and lunged toward shallower pavement.
Frank swore.
Ryan stumbled.
Recovered.
Stumbled again.
Then came forward.
One violent step after another.
When he finally reached the edge of the deeper current, two men grabbed him.
They dragged him toward the church.
Ryan coughed.
His jaw was clenched.
His expensive suit was ruined.
Someone wrapped a towel around him.
Someone asked whether he was hurt.
Someone else asked if he needed an ambulance.
Linda stood beside Emily.
Emily held Sophie.
Frank remained in the water.
Emily watched Ryan reach the safety of the canopy.
And that was when something strange happened.
Ryan looked at the people around him.
He looked at his soaked jacket.
He looked at the SUV.
He looked at Frank.
He even looked toward Emily.
But he never looked at the baby in her arms.
Not once.
Linda noticed.
So did Emily.
Neither woman said anything.
Not yet.
May you like
Because Frank had turned back toward the water.
And beyond the stalled SUV, something else had begun to move.
