She laid the stapled packet in front of him. "Cots, food, linens, personal-care kits, extra towels, all of it would be covered."
"This is insane," Celeste interjected. "If you haven't noticed, we've been trying to cut back on the budget this summer, not add to it by housing freeloaders."
Rayne flipped to the third page of her research packet and pointed out a highlighted clause. "FEMA will reimburse the fair market value of any room used for the purpose of disaster relief. Our lodge is sitting at thirty percent occupancy as of right now, which means that seventy percent of our rooms are vacant and available for families who desperately need a safe place to wait out the fires."
Cal leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. "And what about the extra hassle for our staff or the wear and tear on our property? I doubt FEMA has a clause that covers that."
"If you'll allow me to work the day shift again, I will personally oversee everything having to do with the shelter."
Cal's face remained firm, a solid rejection lurking in his eyes. "It's not worth the effort."
The smirk on Celeste's face ignited Rayne's blood like a match thrown on a lake of gasoline. But thankfully, she'd come prepared for every possible outcome, including Cal's first instincts. Celeste might know good business tactics, but Rayne knew her uncle. His hard-edged ways. His bottom-line mentality.
"We could film my father's campaign ads while operating as a shelter. It's the perfect opportunity for him to interact with our local community. He'll be seen as a philanthropist and a humanitarian."
As if he'd stumbled upon a pot of gold, a grin stretched wide across Cal's mouth and didn't stop until it reached his eyes. "Now, that is thinking like a Shelby. Well done, Rayne."
She ignored the sickening clench in her gut that betrayed her true motives, but she couldn't ignore a compliment from her uncle. Positive reinforcement in her family was rare.
Whatever it took to serve the families in crisis and bring the lodge back to its roots-its core values of faith, family, and community-she'd do it.
Cal focused on each of the women before he spoke. "Celeste, you will continue to supervise the daily operations of the lodge while Rayne supervises the activities of the shelter."
As if stunned into momentary silence, Celeste waited several beats before forcing a tight smile and gritting out the words, "I will expect a full work-up of the projected costs and reimbursement plan from FEMA on my desk by late afternoon, Rayne."
Her cousin didn't glance back as she exited the study, leaving Rayne alone with her uncle.
Cal studied Rayne for so long she wondered if she'd missed his dismissal cue.
"Call Teddy. You can offer him the night shift back," he said. "We'll need all hands on deck to make this work."
Another victory.
"I will, thank you." A question she'd forgotten to ask her uncle last night popped into her head. "What about pets? Small ones. Like harmless little cats."
He crossed his arms. "I hate pets."
"Yes, but think of the cameras, the coverage . . ." A stretch for sure.
He sighed and flicked at a piece of lint on his black suit coat. "Fine. Small ones only. And they must be in their cages."
Crates, but okay. "Got it."
"And Rayne?"
"Yes?"
"Don't let me down. I don't offer second chances often."
The magical high she'd felt seconds before swooped in for a crash landing.
"I won't."
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE.
Rayne snapped her head upright at the sound of the text chime and searched haphazardly for her phone. She squinted at the too-bright screen and fumbled for her glasses.
10:34 a.m.
Levi: So I offer to help drive an old lady away from potential harm and then get stuck playing cat sitter all night? You play dirty, Rayne Shelby.
She'd gone back to her cabin to start the necessary phone calls and procedures, but somewhere in the last two hours, she'd fallen asleep facedown on her sofa.
Despite her delirious fog, she typed on the tiny phone screen.
Rayne: Sorry, I'll come pick her up ASAP.
Levi: You still at the lodge?
She shielded her eyes from the beacon of digital light and attempted four separate replies to explain what the last twelve hours had entailed.
Finally, she gave up and decided she was better off explaining it to him in person.
Rayne: Is Ford gone?
Levi: Out in the backwoods on the backhoe.
Rayne: I'll be over in ten.
Levi: Good. That will give me plenty of time to get Miss P out of the garden shed.
Rayne: Not funny.
Levi: Not a joke.
Rayne swept her hair into a high ponytail, brushed her teeth, and stepped into her only pair of flip-flops. The morning felt unusually warm, even for mid-July, but even more unusual was the layer of orangey fog that masked her view of the property line. More smoke had settled overnight while she'd been researching away on her laptop.
Her stride was quick until she reached the fence and slid between the open slats like a professional outlaw.
Levi held the fluffy cat out his open doorway. "Not a moment too soon."
Rayne cradled Penelope to her chest. "That isn't very nice. Her owner's been through a lot." She stroked the feline's silky fur and met Levi's probing stare.
"You look like you haven't slept in weeks."
Not weeks, just days. "I'm great."
Concern crimped his brow. "Did you not sleep before your shift last night?"
"I didn't really work last night-well, technically, I worked all night, just not my usual night-shift duties."
His concern morphed into confusion. "You're making so much sense right now." He pointed to his couch. "Sit. I'll make you some coffee."
"I actually can't stay, Levi. I need to compare notes with Celeste and make a game plan for-"
Levi stopped short of the kitchen and retreated his steps. "You either need to start from the beginning or start from the beginning. I'm not following you today, sweets."
"Okay." She took a deep breath and tried to organize her scattered thoughts. "We're turning the lodge into a shelter."
If she hadn't witnessed that same expression earlier this morning, she would have repeated herself. But Levi wasn't hard of hearing; he was simply sifting through the validity of her statement.
"You're turning the lodge into a fire shelter. For evacuees."
With all the enthusiasm she could muster on two hours of sleep, she nodded. The lilt in her laugh seemed to have Levi drawing closer as if to examine her sanity level.
"And your uncle approved this act of community benevolence, why?"
"Because it's the right thing to do. The community needs us right now, Levi. Hundreds of families have been displaced. We have the room and the staff and the-"
"Rayne." He shook his head. "That doesn't answer my question. What's his angle for doing this?"
Penelope climbed up her shirt and propped her plump self on the back of the sofa, swatting Rayne's hair. "Ouch."
Levi bowed. "Welcome to my personal cat hell."
Despite his deadpan tone, she snickered at the mental image of Levi batting away cat paws all night long.
"You'll think it's funny until the thing tries to gouge out your eyeballs," he said.
"Awww . . . is someone afraid of a sweet little kitty cat?" Rayne gathered the animal in her arms and kissed her between the ears.
"Well, right now I'm not nearly as afraid as I am jealous."
Rayne scooted to the edge of the sofa, needing an extra dose of support to push herself into a standing position. "How about I'll call you after I get through my checklist."
"You really won't stay and have a cup of coffee with me?"
Those darn puppy-dog eyes pleaded with her. "Technically my shift has already started."
"Your shift? You moved back to days?"
She struggled to her feet, Penelope's tail curling around her arm like a serpent. "Oh yes, I guess in all the excitement I forgot to mention that part. Teddy is going to start back up tonight. I'm so relieved."
"That's great." But nothing about his body language seemed to agree with his statement. Levi stepped into the kitchen, saying nothing more as he removed two ceramic mugs. A soothingly familiar aroma tinged the air a moment later as coffee brewed into the old-style pot.
"Are you trying to tempt me into staying longer than I should?" she asked with a hint of humor.
He pressed his palms to the counter's edge and hunched his back. "I don't know what I'm trying to do anymore."
"Levi." She pinched her eyebrows together, trying to force her brain to cooperate. "We'll still see each other."
"You keep saying that, and yet here we are again, counting down the minutes before our relationship goes into yet another underground tunnel."
She set the cat onto his couch and moved toward him, the ache in her chest palpable. Wrapping her arms around his middle, she pressed her cheek to his taut back. "I don't want to stop seeing you."
He rotated and pressed his lips to the crown of her head. "I don't want to stop seeing you either."
There was a but coming. She could feel it, even through her exhaustion. She tilted her chin upward and nearly buckled under the sincerity of his gaze.
"Let me help you with the shelter."
She pushed back, but he refused her efforts. "That's impossible."
"Why?" He repositioned his grip on her waist. "What if there's an opportunity for us in all of this-in the fires and the evacuations? We can join forces, become a united front. Cal couldn't deny us in such a public position."
"Levi, be serious-"
"I am. When that lodge transforms into a shelter, the doors are going to be open to everybody, not just the elite and the affluent. Your guests will be modest families, neighborhood merchants, local farmers. Regular folks. My kind of people."
"Please tell me your plan doesn't involve disguising yourself as a Bear Canyon evacuee."
He laughed. "No, but Second Harvest has plenty of produce and supplies to donate for such a worthy cause, especially with a FEMA tax write-off. Ford might not be our biggest fan, but he's-"
"What?" She broke away. "You told him about us? Why would you do that?"
"Are you really so bound to the judgments of your family that you won't give him a chance? Even for me?"
"That man screwed my family." A fact she'd stuffed into a back pocket of denial for too long.
He reached for her hips and pulled her close again. "Meet him, Rayne. Talk to him, just once. You'll see that he's not what you-"
"No." She'd crossed a lot of lines for Levi. But she couldn't cross that one. "You may think I'm different from the rest of the people who share my name, but that doesn't change what's written on my birth certificate. He deceived my family. Meeting him won't change the past."
"But what if we could change the future of the lodge and farm?"
"We can't." She thought about Cousin Milton, the mistakes that led him down a path of permanent ostracism. Couldn't he see what she'd risked for him already? Why couldn't that be enough?
"How did you get Cal to agree to the shelter?"
She looked away.
"Rayne."