Dream

Chapter 22

When Lucy rounded the front of the house and caught up with Thomas he was already surrounded by the crew which meant Lucy couldn't talk to him alone.

"The storm has changed track, it's expected to land anywhere from Texas to Alabama which puts us in the center of the cone." Thomas looked over at Lucy and Zeb as he spoke. Lucy guessed that was why he had come looking for her. "We need to start preparing for a direct hit. I don't want to leave it until the last minute because I know you all have your personal property to see to as well. We'll get as much done as we can today, and if we don't finish today we'll finish tomorrow morning. The projection is that they will start voluntary evacuations tomorrow evening with mandatory, if needed, the following day."

Lucy felt her stomach heave a little at the news that the storm had changed course, she had lived through plenty of storms and hurricanes, and she dreaded every one of them.

Thomas was starting to break everyone into teams and handing out assigned areas of work. After everyone had dispersed Lucy walked over to Thomas, seeing her chance to talk to him.

"Thomas," she said softly as he turned towards the sound of her feet on the gravel.

"Are you staying to help?" he asked, looking over her shoulder at Zeb, and Lucy noted something that passed between them, but she wasn't sure what it was. "I wasn't sure if you had anything that needed to be taken care of in New Orleans."

"I'll stay here and help," Zeb said.

"Lucy, do you and Etta want to go with Hope and me when we leave tomorrow?" Thomas asked. It was evident that he wasn't going to talk about the kiss that he had witnessed between her and Zeb.

"No, I doubt that Etta will leave, and I'll have to stay." Lucy shook her head, knowing that if her grandmother had yet to be beaten by a storm there was no way she would leave.

"This is a massive storm Lucy, she can't stay, they are forecasting a CAT three at the very least!" Thomas's voice was full of frustration.

"I know, but she has never left for a storm before, so she won't now, but we both know a lot can change with a hurricane in three days. We'll have to hope for the best." Lucy looked at the beautiful sky above her. The thing about hurricanes was that they pulled all the bad weather into their system which gave one a sense of false security; for how could there be a monster storm just off shore when the weather was so beautiful?

"The stubborn old woman," Thomas muttered under his breath.

"You're preaching to the choir Thomas. I'll try to get her to leave, just like I try every time, but I doubt she will go." Lucy shrugged. "Thomas, about what you saw-"

"Lucy, it's none of my business," Thomas assured, her turning to leave.

"I agree, but I told you a few weeks ago that there was nothing between Zeb and I-"

"The Zeb in that statement would suggest otherwise, but again, none of my business." He started to walk away with Lucy walked next to him, and thankfully Zeb didn't follow.

"I didn't lie, not then," she promised.

"And now?" he asked, stopping to look down at her.

Lucy looked over her shoulder at Zeb, who leaning against Thomas's truck, watching them.

"I don't know, he believes in me, he trusts me when I tell him stuff." She shrugged, turning back towards Thomas. "I like him a lot and I had a vision..."

"A vision?" Thomas's voice was sharp. "What of?"

"Of him and me," her voice was so soft.

"I thought you never had visions that involved yourself?" He frowned.

"I never have before, but..." Lucy looked over her shoulder at the powerful man behind her, "but, Etta also told me something my aunt said when I was born, 'Her life will be blessed, and she will be content when the name which begins with the ending and ends with the beginning arrives.'"

"I don't get it?" Thomas said, "And what was your vision?"

"His initials are Z.A., the end and the beginning of the alphabet. In my vision I saw him in the house with two beautiful little girls and me. We were putting the girls to bed and-" she swallowed.

"And?"

"I was pregnant." As she said the words aloud her heart started to race at the image. The thought of her and Zeb, their lives being that interconnected made her almost giddy. She took a steadying breath. "I want it to be true Thomas, but I'm guarding my heart against it."

"Why?"

"Because what if its not, what if he's using me, what if I saw it wrong?" She felt like crying but she didn't. She didn't say that she was also lonely, or that she wanted to love and be loved. He had Hope, and he had never had trouble dating, or having relationships. He had never led the lonely life of an outcast.

"That's a whole lot of if's Lucy," Thomas said softly.

Lucy also didn't say that Zeb wasn't offering a relationship only an affair.

"I wanted you to know that I didn't lie," she repeated her earlier statement.

"Lucy, I worry about you, and I don't think that he is the type of man who sticks around very long. I hope I'm wrong and that your visions are true, you deserve to be happy. I only ask that you be careful."

Lucy nodded. "I will be Thomas, but I think I'm too far down the path to turn around."

Thomas nodded. "Let me know if you talk some sense into Etta," he said. Having said his peace, he wasn't going to discuss it anymore." Then he turned and walked towards the back of the house.

It only took a second for Zeb to join her. "Is the trust still there?" Zeb asked softly.

"I think so, I hope so,"

"You love him." It was a statement not a question.

"Yes, he's the only real friend I have ever had, the only one, besides my grandmother, who believed in me," she turned to look at him, "until now."

Zeb must have read something in her eyes that he didn't want to because he closed his and sighed. "I'm afraid I've already hurt you Lucy. I didn't want to but you're so...there's something..."

Lucy was amused to see a hesitant Zeb once again, she didn't think that it was something that happened often and now she had witnessed it twice.

"Innocent, yes I know, you've said it before." She nodded, watching something flare in his eyes at her words.

"No, I was thinking intoxicating, alluring, bewitching, there's something about you that overrules my ability to think rationally." He stared at her wide eyes and blushing cheeks. "See, if I were thinking rationally I never would never had said those things." His hand pulsed by his side

Lucy had never wanted anyone to kiss her as much as she wanted him to kiss her in that moment. He stood so close to her, looking down into her eyes as he tried to guess what she was thinking.

She felt she should say something to acknowledged what he had said, but she wasn't sure what that might be, and after a few more moments of silence he stepped away from her and the mood was broken.

"Do you think you could talk Etta into weathering out the storm here at my house instead of yours? At least it wouldn't be on the water and there aren't as many trees around."

Lucy swallowed hard, touched by his offer. "Thank you, I'll ask her."

Zeb nodded, giving her a bit of a lopsided grin before walking away.

Everything in her heart said to run after him, but she wasn't sure what the point would be.