Eruption by Roland Smith

her own good, but that didn’t make him feel better about lying to her.
    She popped the pills into her mouth and washed them down.
    â€œYou say you’re a friend of my sister’s?”
    â€œWe came down to look for you after we heard about the earthquake.”
    Leah’s eyes went wide. “Nicole’s here?”
    â€œNot here, but she’s … uh … close.” Chase had no idea where Nicole was. If they hadn’t heard about the Rossis being in Lago, they were probably in Puebla by now.
    â€œI must be dreaming,” Leah said.
    Chase tried to explain, but it was difficult because he didn’t want to tell her about the hurricane and losing herhome. She had enough to worry about. When he finished his abridged story, she asked for another drink of water and seemed to be thinking about what he had told her. She turned her head and looked at her mother.
    â€œHow is she?”
    â€œShe’s … uh … sedated.”
    Leah nodded. “We need to get her to a hospital. What are the chances of us getting out of here?”
    â€œNot real good at the moment. There’s only one road in and it’s impassable.”
    â€œThen how did you get here?”
    â€œI climbed over the trucks jammed in the gap. I wouldn’t want to do that again.”
    â€œI bet. So your friend Tomás is from here, and you two split up.”
    â€œRight. We ran into a landslide, and I went ahead on a quad to find a way around the slide.” He hadn’t mentioned that he had gotten hit in the head and had everything stolen, including the quad. “Tomás is Arturo’s brother.”
    â€œOur Arturo?”
    Chase nodded.
    â€œAnd Nicole is with your dad on the way to Puebla.”
    â€œOr on their way back here if they got word that you and your mother are in Lago.” He hadn’t mentioned Cindy and Mark. That was way too complicated, and he wasn’t sure he understood why they were here himself.
    â€œI’m still confused,” Leah said. “Actually I’m shocked. It’s not like my dad or my grandmother to let Nicole miss schooland her swimming. Weekends are out too. She’s a lifeguard at the local pool.”
    Chase hadn’t known Nicole was a lifeguard, but he wasn’t surprised. He wished he’d never started this conversation. His mother would have called it a trie — not quite the truth, but not exactly a lie. Nice trie , she used to tell him.
    â€œI know most of Nicole’s friends,” Leah continued. “I don’t think I’ve ever met you.”
    Here we go , Chase thought. “I just moved to Palm Breeze.”
    â€œWhy would your dad drop everything and come down here to help us?”
    â€œActually he came down here to help Tomás and his family. It just turned out you were down here too. I guess it was fate.”
    â€œFate, huh?”
    Chase shrugged.
    â€œWhat does your dad do for a living?”
    â€œHe …” Chase hesitated. “He rescues people.”
    â€œThat’s a job?”
    â€œHe used to be a Navy SEAL.” Chase wasn’t even sure this was true. “Look, your dad said you’d be shocked when Nicole showed up down here. He said to tell you that Momma Rossi was convinced that Nicole had to come with us or bad things would happen.”
    Leah smiled for the first time. “You should have started with that,” she said. “What else did Momma Rossi have to say?”
    â€œNot much,” Chase answered, relieved, and wanting badly to keep the smile on Leah’s face. “She was a little distracted because of Pet’s calf.”
    â€œPet had her baby! Tell me about it!”
    Chase described the birth, leaving out anything having to do with the hurricane. Leah’s smile broadened with each detail.
    â€œDad must have been frantic!”
    Chase was certain Marco Rossi had been beyond frantic, considering he’d been trying to