Made For Us by Samantha Chase Page A

case he can’t go out.”
    Zoe frowned. “I thought you said you didn’t think it was going to be that bad?”
    “Well, bad enough to evacuate, no. Bad enough that I’m not going to want to walk around outside, yes.” She chuckled. “I’m getting a little too old to be walking around in the wind and the rain. And Baron is a mama’s boy and he prefers that I walk him.” She shook her head and laughed. “That makes Fred very happy!”
    “I’ll bet,” Zoe said, joining in the laughter. The line was moving quickly and before she knew it, she was loading her groceries onto the belt. She turned and looked at Julia. “Do you think there’s anything else I need to do to be prepared?”
    Julia looked at the food Zoe was unloading. “I think you’re going to be fine with the food. You might want to tape the windows,” she said with a shrug. “Sometimes we do; sometimes we don’t. If you’d like, I’ll send Fred over tomorrow to take a look at things.”
    “That would be wonderful. Thank you so much,” she said as she sagged with relief. “It’s my first hurricane.”
    Julia smiled. “A good storm can be exciting, that’s for sure. But living on the coast, it can get tiresome…fast.”
    “What do you mean?”
    She shrugged again. “If it’s an active hurricane season, it’s not unusual to find yourself standing in line like this more and more often. It can get expensive.”
    “Because of the damage?”
    “Because of the food shopping!” Julia laughed. “Fred says he’s the most well fed during an active storm season.”
    Zoe couldn’t help but laugh with her. Her food was all on the belt and currently being rung up. She helped the cashier bag everything up, paid, and wished both Julia and the cashier a good night.
    By the time she got home, it was nearing eleven and she was exhausted. Once the groceries were all put away, she changed into a pair of yoga pants and an oversized sweatshirt and walked down to the beach. The wind was pretty powerful and the waves were bigger than anything she’d ever seen before.
    “I wish you could feel this, Mom,” she said quietly, looking up at the starless sky. “The wind feels amazing and the waves look and sound pretty fierce.” She stood and let the wind whip around her. She thought about her conversation with her neighbor and looked at the houses that lined the beach. There hadn’t been time for her to meet a lot of people, but she vowed to change that. Back in Arizona, she’d known everyone in her small town and had had a wonderful support system around her, even in her darkest times.
    But the home that had once been her comfort now only carried painful memories. Everywhere she turned reminded her of her mother. The decision to move hadn’t been easy, but Zoe had needed a change. The only thing she knew was that she wanted to live on the coast; it didn’t matter which one. Some online job hunting eventually brought her to North Carolina and even now, with the threat of somewhat dangerous weather, she wasn’t sorry about being there instead of back west.
    “I’m sorry about that too, Mom,” she said with a heavy sigh. “I’m not there. I haven’t been to visit you and you have to know that it kills me. I know we discussed this a long time ago and this is where you wanted me to be but…I feel like I’m not being a very good daughter. I’m here, living my life, and you’re…” She swallowed hard. “You’re all by yourself.”
    She couldn’t have said another word even if she wanted to. Her heart was too heavy.
    Zoe’s walk down the shore and back was shorter than normal because the wind was whipping and it really was getting late. Back at the house, she locked up and closed the blinds and got ready for bed. There was a level of restlessness she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Maybe it was the impending storm. Or maybe it was Aidan. She hadn’t allowed herself to think about him. Much. She knew that dating a coworker or client was