Chapter 3 - THE PEOPLE WHO RAN TO HIM.
The first person to reach Ryan with a towel was a man who had ignored Frank when he needed a chair.
Emily noticed that.
She wished she hadn't.
There were bigger problems now.
The parking lot was flooding.
Cars were moving.
Rain beat so hard against the canopy roof that people had to raise their voices.
Sophie was crying.
Frank was still standing near moving water.
Yet some small, ugly part of Emily's mind still kept track.
Who got helped first.
Who got believed first.
Who was treated like somebody worth saving.
Ryan sat on a folding chair near the church entrance while three people surrounded him.
One crouched in front.
One stood behind.
One pressed a dry towel into his hands.
"Can you feel your fingers?"
"I'm fine."
"You hit anything?"
"No."
"Your head?"
"No."
"Ryan, look at me."
"I'm fine."
The man speaking to him was one of the same church members who had earlier asked Frank to move out of the way of the electrical cord.
Emily watched from twelve feet away.
No one had asked whether she was fine.
Maybe that was unfair.
Linda had helped her.
Others were trying to secure the church.
Still, the imbalance was impossible to ignore.
Ryan had reached safety alone.
Emily was holding their newborn.
And the room had somehow decided that Ryan was the emergency.
Frank waded back toward the shallower section.
Water poured off his shirt.
"Emily!"
"I'm here!"
"Get inside!"
She looked toward the church doors.
People were moving into the fellowship hall now.
Linda touched her elbow.
"Come on."
Emily took two steps.
Then Ryan called her name.
"Em."
She stopped.
Ryan pushed himself upright.
"You okay?"
The question should have comforted her.
Instead, it came too late.
She looked down at Sophie.
Ryan followed her gaze.
Finally.
His eyes landed on his daughter.
"She's okay?"
Emily stared at him.
"She's in my arms."
"I can see that."
Linda looked away.
Frank reached them.
He was breathing hard.
His grey-white hair was plastered against his forehead.
"Everybody inside," he said.
Ryan stood.
"Don't order me around."
Frank looked at him as if he had spoken in another language.
"What?"
"I said I'm fine."
"I didn't ask."
Ryan's face reddened.
Frank pointed toward the church.
"Your wife. Your baby. Inside."
People were listening.
Ryan noticed.
His shoulders shifted.
There was that social instinct again.
He lowered his voice.
"Can we not do this right now?"
Frank stepped closer.
"Right now is exactly when."
Emily moved between them.
"Dad."
Frank stopped immediately.
That, too, she noticed.
One word from her, and her father stopped.
Ryan almost never did.
Frank looked at her.
"You hurt?"
"No."
"The baby?"
"She's okay."
"Cold?"
"The blanket's dry."
Frank nodded.
He checked Sophie's face without touching her.
"Good."
Then he looked at Ryan.
Ryan looked away.
Linda opened the church door.
"Inside. All of you."
A volunteer shouted from the parking lot that another vehicle was starting to float.
Frank turned.
Emily grabbed him.
"No."
He looked at her.
"Your car seat."
She blinked.
"What?"
"The seat's still in the SUV."
"Leave it."
Frank looked toward the flooded vehicle.
"I know."
Something in his voice made her suspicious.
"Dad."
He did not answer.
Linda spoke.
"Frank, don't go back out."
He looked at her.
"Not planning to."
Ryan gave a bitter little laugh.
"Good."
Frank's eyes moved to him.
Ryan immediately regretted it.
Emily saw that.
Frank said nothing.
That was worse.
They moved inside.
The fellowship hall smelled of wet clothing, coffee, and the hot electrical dust of portable fans.
Church volunteers passed out towels.
Someone had found emergency blankets.
Children cried.
Adults spoke over each other.
Phones buzzed with weather alerts.
People who had been arranging centerpieces twenty minutes earlier were now stacking chairs against doors and moving equipment away from the floor.
The social hierarchy should have disappeared.
It didn't.
Emily watched one woman guide Ryan toward the pastor's office because it was "quieter."
Frank was handed a roll of paper towels and asked if he could help with the leak near the east door.
He took them.
Of course he did.
Emily almost shouted.
"Dad."
Frank turned.
"Sit down."
"I'm good."
"Sit."
He smiled.
"Bossy."
"You taught me."
He sat.
Emily placed Sophie against her shoulder.
The baby quieted.
Ryan stood ten feet away talking to two men about insurance.
Insurance.
His first full conversation after reaching safety was about the vehicle.
Emily heard words like comprehensive.
Deductible.
Flood exclusion.
Replacement.
She tried not to judge him.
People talked about practical things when scared.
Frank checked her face.
"Don't."
She looked at him.
"Don't what?"
"Make excuses before anybody asks you to."
Emily stiffened.
"I wasn't."
Frank raised an eyebrow.
She hated that eyebrow.
He had used it since she was twelve.
She looked toward Ryan.
"He's shaken up."
Frank nodded.
"Probably."
"He could've been swept away."
"Could've."
"He panicked."
"Maybe."
"Then don't look at me like that."
Frank rubbed water from his beard.
"Like what?"
"Like you already decided what this means."
"I haven't."
"Yes, you have."
He was silent.
Emily lowered her voice.
"Just say it."
Frank looked at Sophie.
Then at Ryan.
"No."
That surprised her.
"You always say it."
"No, I don't."
"You absolutely do."
"I say things when they're mine to say."
"And this isn't?"
Frank looked back at her.
"You're married to him."
The words were gentle.
That made them harder.
"What does that mean?"
"It means what you see matters more than what I think."
Emily looked toward Ryan again.
He was describing how fast the SUV had shifted.
His hands moved as he talked.
He was animated now.
Almost energized.
The frightened man she had seen in the water had been replaced by the man who knew how to tell a story.
One of the listeners put a hand on his shoulder.
"You're lucky."
Ryan nodded.
"I know."
Emily waited.
Maybe he would add something.
My wife was out there.
My daughter was out there.
Frank went after us.
Anything.
He didn't.
He said, "That thing came out of nowhere."
Frank heard.
His mouth flattened.
Linda Carter stood by the doorway, distributing towels.
She heard too.
Emily knew because Linda's hands stopped moving.
Only for a second.
Then she passed a towel to an older woman.
The pastor entered from a side hall.
"Everyone okay?"
Several people answered at once.
Someone pointed toward Ryan.
"He almost got swept."
The pastor crossed immediately.
"Ryan."
Ryan stood to shake his hand.
Of course he did.
Emily watched them.
Then Pastor Daniel looked past Ryan and finally noticed her.
"Emily. The baby."
"We're okay."
"You were out there too?"
Ryan answered for her.
"She didn't go as far as I did."
Frank stood.
Emily saw it happen.
His whole body changed.
Not much.
Just enough.
"Dad."
He stopped.
Ryan continued.
"I was trying to get the SUV before it went under."
The pastor looked concerned.
"Where was Emily?"
Ryan glanced toward her.
"Near the lot."
Frank spoke.
"With the baby."
Ryan looked at him.
"I know."
Frank's voice was quiet.
"Do you?"
Emily felt the room tighten.
The pastor looked between them.
Ryan's cheeks reddened.
"This isn't helpful."
Frank took one step.
Emily reached out and caught his wrist.
He stopped again.
"Please," she whispered.
Frank looked at her hand.
Then at her face.
He sat.
Ryan turned back toward the pastor.
"Like I said, everything happened fast."
Linda Carter stepped closer.
"Very fast."
Ryan smiled at her.
Grateful for what he assumed was agreement.
"It did."
Linda nodded.
"It did."
Nothing else.
But Emily heard something underneath it.
So did Frank.
Ryan didn't.
The rain intensified.
Someone near the window shouted that the west side of the lot was completely covered now.
The pastor went to help.
Ryan moved with him.
Frank leaned toward Emily.
"You need dry clothes."
"I'm okay."
"You're shaking."
"I'm cold."
"Same thing right now."
She looked down.
He was right.
Her hands were trembling.
Not Sophie's.
Hers.
Frank stood.
"I've got a sweatshirt in my truck."
"No."
"It's up front."
"No more parking lot."
"Front row's high."
"Dad."
He smiled slightly.
"See? Bossy."
Emily almost laughed.
Then someone opened the fellowship hall door and shouted.
"Who owns the dark SUV?"
Ryan turned.
"I do."
The man looked pale.
"You need to come see this."
Ryan moved instantly.
Emily remained seated.
Frank stayed beside her.
Linda walked to the doorway.
Outside, the SUV had shifted again.
This time it was no longer sitting squarely in its parking space.
Its rear end had swung toward the drainage ditch.
And through the open rear window, half submerged in muddy water, Emily could see the edge of Sophie's car seat.
Frank saw it too.
Emily grabbed his sleeve.
"Don't."
Frank stared at the seat.
Then at the water.
"I'm not."
She searched his face.
"Promise."
May you like
Frank didn't answer quickly enough.
And that frightened her more than the flood.
