Made For Us by Samantha Chase Page B

never a good decision, but she would have considered it for him.
    And she had a feeling she would have really liked it.
    * * *
    The rest of the weekend was like nothing Zoe had ever experienced before. While a lot of her neighbors had packed up and taken off for parts farther inland, there were a few who were taping up their windows and standing their ground. The property management company had called and gone through a list of things she would need to do to prepare the house, but they would send someone out to board up the windows for her if she was going to leave.
    She had agreed to tape up the windows after letting them know that for the moment, she was staying put. The woman she had spoken to had tried to convince her to leave, but Zoe wasn’t ready to concede just yet. Shrugging it off, Zoe went about cooking her comfort foods, walking on the beach while the tide was out a bit, and talking with the locals about bygone storms. Everyone had a story to tell; some were fairly tame while others scared her. The thought of jumping in her car and finding a hotel was starting to become more and more attractive.
    “No, no, no,” she admonished herself, while walking on the beach on Sunday afternoon. “You can stick it out. It’s not going to be that bad and you’re going to be fine.”
    “Excuse me, miss?” Zoe looked over her shoulder to see a police officer walking toward her carrying a tablet in his hand. “Good afternoon, I’m Officer Robert Hannigan. I’m checking on residents to see who is staying and who is leaving. Is this your house here?” He motioned toward hers and she nodded. He typed into his tablet. “Are you leaving today or tomorrow?”
    “Um…no. I’m planning on staying.” She had meant to say it with confidence, but the stern look he was giving her instilled some concern.
    “You do realize that by deciding to stay, you are putting yourself at risk?”
    Zoe nodded.
    “If the storm worsens and something happens, emergency operations may be delayed in getting to you, do you understand?”
    Again, she nodded.
    He studied her for a long minute. “This must be your first summer here because I don’t remember meeting you before, Miss…?”
    “Dalton,” she said. “Zoe Dalton.”
    “You’re renting, right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Have you ever experienced a hurricane on the coast, Miss Dalton?”
    “No,” she said. “I’ve lived in Arizona my entire life. I only just moved here a little over two months ago, and I really don’t want to have pack up and leave again so soon. I’ve been talking to the locals and they’ve told me what to expect. I’m not going into this unprepared. I’m going to tape up the windows and I have batteries and flashlights and bottled water. I’ve gone over all of the preparedness paperwork.”
    He nodded. “Uh-huh.” He tucked the tablet under his arm. “Can I offer you a bit of advice?”
    “Sure.”
    “Evacuate. Leave now. I know you don’t understand this because you’ve never experienced it, but storms of this magnitude can be unpredictable. You don’t want to take a chance at being stranded or worse.”
    “I think I can handle it.”
    “Miss Dalton, I can’t force you to leave, but just consider… These houses are built on stilts. They’re all old and were built at a time when there were fewer guidelines. You need to think of your safety. You may not find a hotel room tomorrow. You should go now and wait until the storm passes before coming back.”
    “Officer Hannigan, I’m sure you mean well and that you’re only doing your job, but I really don’t want to pack up and leave. I feel one hundred percent safe here. Really. I appreciate your concern and I respect the work that you’re doing. Honestly. But I’m going to stay.”
    He considered her again for a long minute until Zoe started to squirm. He was quite intimidating—over six feet tall and just…huge. She had a feeling he could fling her over his shoulder and force her to