Chapter 29
"Cor!" Rory yelled, having woken in the worst possible way, with a sudden jolt, feeling like the roof was coming down on top of her.
There was dust in the air, causing her to cough. Plaster on her bed, the skin on her arms was covered in debris, and chunks of wood, bits of glass, roof shingles and other materials she couldn't quite place around the rest of the room. The roof hadn't come down on her, thankfully, but the gigantic hole in her wall and part of the ceiling was proof pine tree branches were also a new addition. Her bedroom was exposed to the elements, as was she, feeling the wind, the rain and every flash of lightning with every cell in her body.
Her brain was thinking about her daughter first and foremost, not really thinking about her own wellbeing. Ever since Corinne had been a baby, she'd been afraid of storms, and this event was prime proof of why one should be. All her mind could carry at the moment was how terrified her daughter must be in these few short minutes of total chaos and that Corinne would always be that frightened little girl to her in some ways.
"Mom! What was that!?" Rory heard a familiar yet panicked voice from across the hall, through the closed door. Clearly, she was not the only one to be woken.
That was enough for her to know her daughter's physical health was apparently unaffected by the tree crashing into their summer home. Instead of getting out of there, however, Rory's irrational brain began to pull towels out of her cupboard, attempting to mop up the rain water that seemed to cover her floor in the matter of seconds. The action was futile, since the rain was pouring in regardless of her actions, now even more since a part of the roof was still hanging in a way that was causing it to act as a downspout.
But Rory was not a person who enjoyed feeling out of control, and doing something - anything - was how she functioned.
"A tree, Cor. Just a tree!" Rory called out, not realizing how ridiculous that sounded. "Ah, crap," she cursed to herself the next second, having by accident stepped on a piece of glass.
"Oh my god, mom!" Corinne exclaimed, having stepped into her room, and seeing the bottom of her mother's foot all bloody and her skin covered in debris in the hallway light. She wouldn't have recognized the room had she not known it was her mom's.
"You okay, hon?" Rory asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. "You?" Corinne asked, referring to the plaster.
"Uh-huh?" Rory barely managed to hear, the next moment realizing how there were already footsteps making their way up to the second floor. She was thankfully not really registering much pain in the moment with the adrenaline rushing into her bloodstream.
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"Rory!" Rory recognized Logan's voice underneath all that urgency. He never spoke this loudly; hence she was surprised to hear him call out from what seemed to be inside her house.
"Logan?" Rory reacted. It took her a second to realize that he must've used the key she hid under the turtle to get in.
Corinne cast a curious look at her, but didn't say anything.
"Are you okay?" Logan said, reaching her bedroom. He could find the room blinded if needed by now, having been up there many times, sometimes in the middle of the night, but clearly that was not as common knowledge to Corinne.
Logan turned to look at Corinne and back to Rory, not wanting his concern to show only for the girl's mother.
"I am," Rory shrugged, adrenaline pumping through her veins. "The house - not so much," she added, looking helplessly around the room.
"But you're hurt!" Logan worried, not understanding her words.
To Rory the situation was almost funny by now, the fact that she could've died not really registering with her. Rather, she remembered the way Logan had sprinted over to help her with the spider that one time. Now this was an actual reason to come help, but she wasn't really sure how to react. Her body reacted with laughter, unstoppable laughter.
"What?" Logan inquired.
"She does that sometimes," Corinne commented, having seen her mother like this before.
Rory continued to laugh.
"I just… I don't know how to stop," Rory explained.
"Nervous reaction," Corinne commented, feeling pretty shaken up herself.
"Come on, let's get you out of here. We don't know if this place is stable," Logan commented, insisting the two follow him. He could see through the hole that another branch was near its breaking point as well.
Rory hopped back into her room to grab her phone, but the rest stayed as it was for now. She was in too much of a shock to really think about anything other than putting one step in front of the other while Logan was already making calls. It didn't even really register to her as who he might be calling.
"What's going on?" Theo asked, the crash having woken him too, from the upstairs mezzanine of the Huntzberger house. Now with the bang of the door and an odd burst of laughter that had followed, he came to investigate as Rory was still struggling to get herself in check.
"Yeah, Antonio… yeah, there's a big hole in the roof. 6 ft by, I don't know - another 6 ft?" Logan said, continuing to speak on the phone.
Rory's arm was over her shoulder as she was hopping along, one sneaker on her other foot and another in her hand, her robe hanging loose around her body. Logan helped her onto the couch, while he went to get the first aid kit.
"A tree crashed into my mom's room," Corinne explained, reluctantly.
"You two, okay?" Theo asked.
Corinne shrugged, clearly not eager to talk to him.
As her laughter finally began to subside, Rory looked at her phone, trying to think if she would need to call anyone. Insurance, for sure - but right now or in the morning? She struggled to think straight. It was only then as she let her phone fall back into her lap, she realized how her nightgown was a little too revealing to have just stepped into a house with two teenage boys. Her nipples showed through the thin fabric and the hem was also a little on the short side. She gathered up the lapels of her robe urgently to better cover herself.
"Theo, can you go check whether your aunt's room has new sheets?" Logan told Theo, not bothering to ask Rory or Corinne, nor his son for the matter, for their opinion.
"Show me the leg," Logan instructed.
Rory put the leg up onto the coffee table upon his request, only now realizing as her heel touched the hard surface how badly it hurt.
"Ah…," she hissed, winching slightly.
"Do you want something to eat or drink? You look pretty shaken up," Logan commented to Corinne, gesturing towards the kitchen with his chin.
Corinne shook her head.
"I still can't believe… that actually happened," Rory exhaled, the bits of the last five or ten minutes beginning to make sense.
"I have a guy coming over with a tarp or something. You'll call the insurance in the morning. It'll be fine. What's important is that you're okay. It's good your bed was not on the other end of the room," Logan discussed, his mind being in action mode. He wasn't much of a 'get his hands dirty-type' but he was very much the run into the fire type of guy, even if he'd never actually ran into a fire before. He was a risk-taker, however, and at this moment he hadn't hesitated for a second that he needed to go get them before making any calls. In some scenarios, it might not have been the wise thing, but thankfully his instincts had been right, even if no lives had technically been in danger.
"Oh, wow…," Rory said, surprised by his resourcefulness. "Thank you," Rory replied, observing him attend to her cut, while fighting the pain herself. There was no glass in there, thankfully, and essentially all he had to do was clean the debris away, disinfect it and bandage it up.
"You can take a seat, you know?" Logan suggested to Corinne, still seeing her stand around awkwardly.
"Um… yeah, okay," Corinne replied, feeling more shocked than she liked to admit.
"You can stay for as long as you need," Logan said, despite knowing it might probably not be to Corinne's liking.
"I should probably give dad a call," Corinne mumbled.
"Don't!" Rory said urgently.
Both Logan and Corinne observed her sharp reaction.
"I mean, not now. There's nothing he can do now. We'll call him in the morning or something," Rory said, shrugging her shoulders, knowing that Tucker had a tendency to overreact sometimes.
"Yeah, I guess," Corinne agreed.
"Here, all done," Logan declared, finishing up Rory's bandage.
"Thanks," Rory said, having enjoyed his attentive touch a little too much.
"The room's fine," Theo announced from the mezzanine, looking like he was a little too alert to just go back to bed.
"What's going on?" Liam asked, emerging from his room.
"A tree crashed into the house next door," Theo began to explain the events in short to his brother.
"Oh, cool. I got to see that," Liam said, and began to make his way downstairs in a hurry, filled with youthful excitement.
Theo followed him.
Seeing his sons were about to go outside to explore, Logan felt the need to caution them. "Just for a sec, don't want you getting struck by lightning," Logan said, even though he realized that the thundercloud had moved by now, with the rumble of the sky having grown more distant.
"Oh, hi," Liam said, having not realized they had visitors until reaching the first floor as his room was on the other side of the house compared to the mezzanine.
"Hi," Rory said, smilingly, not knowing how to reply. She felt she really ought to get back to her place to get some clothes.
The guys slipped outside from the porch door, letting in a gust of wind. But they seemed to be enjoying the craziness of the weather nonetheless.
"I can show you to Honor's room, or maybe a drink, or some tea or cocoa before?" Logan offered, feeling too energized to even consider going to bed. In this moment he didn't feel like there was any point to complicate things by thinking of any other room divisions or whether or not Rory might sleep with him in his bed.
"Cor?" Rory asked, wanting her to feel free to express herself.
"Tea, yeah, maybe.," Corinne said.
"Something stronger for you?" Logan asked, knowing Rory appreciated a good drink.
"I wouldn't say no to a scotch," Rory replied.
Logan went to fix them some drinks, while Rory invited Corinne to come sit next to her, and cuddled her up under her arm, kissing her temple. They were both still pretty shaken up.
They could hear the guys' voices outside, commenting on the damage before returning inside.
"That's pretty wild," Liam commented, the two brothers needing to dry themselves up a little with some paper towels from the kitchen.
"Yeah, lucky they weren't hurt," Logan commented, returning with Rory's scotch while the water boiled. He brought another for him, being a little shaken up himself. It had been Rory who had been in real danger, and honestly, he didn't know what he would've done, had the crash and injuries been more serious.
"I really should get back there and try to pack a few things," Rory said, feeling silly sitting still like this.
"It might not be safe. Antonio will be here in 10, he'll look it over first. He used to be a first responder, so he's two in one," Logan explained. "Hey, Liam - go get one of your sister's robes for Corinne, would you?" Logan suggested, seeing the girl was probably a little chilly, having not brought anything along other than her phone.
"I can't believe El is sleeping through this," Liam commented, rolling his eyes, referring to his sister, as he marched upstairs.
It was Theo who took over making the tea, which to Rory, who noticed, seemed like a sweet gesture. He truly seemed like a sweet guy and Rory didn't find it hard to understand why Corinne liked him.
Theo brought the tea to Corinne, who mouthed a small 'thank you' in return. But it was clear things were not well between them, the two avoiding direct eye contact, whilst still remaining near each other. If he had no intention of expressing his regret, Rory couldn't imagine why he'd want to stick around for this.
It was an odd night, with two out of Logan's three kids, hanging out in the living room with Rory and Corinne, whilst Logan went to show Antonio around. Nobody said much, but they hung out for support, everyone feeling too jolted to really even consider sleeping. It was an odd sense of support Rory felt. Maybe even acceptance?
Eventually Rory did fall asleep, closer to morning, holding her daughter in her arms in Honor's bed, waking slightly at every sound of thunder, secretly wishing it could be Logan who was holding her instead. It was a selfish thought, but she had every right to those, didn't she?