Under Tornado Warning

Finally, Lisette entered the living room and modeled a sleeveless pink dress that reached to mid-thigh, showing off her beautiful legs. The stretchy material hugged her slim hips and sweet backside. Lifting the hem, Lisette showed Ed why there were no panty lines; there were no panties.

"How much break your lease with that little bitch?" Ed asked angrily as they left the apartment.

"Month to month, so, nothing," Lisette said.

"Good; you're leaving," Ed said.

"Oh?" Lisette asked, leaning heavily against Ed. "And why's that, Daddy?"

"Because you're living with me," Ed said.

In the small foyer of the opulent restaurant, Ed smirked. Lionel and Carole stood, looking irritated. The maître-d shrugged helplessly, indicating the crowded dining room.

"Jim, how are you? Reservation for Carroll?" Ed said.

"Ah yes, right this way, Mr. Carroll," Jim said.

"Linus, Carole, how's it going?" Ed said easily as they walked past the fuming couple.

"Uh, it's Lionel," Lionel spat.

"Oh, shut up; he knows its Lionel," Carole snapped.

Lisette noticed that her menu did not have prices. Being in the service industry, she knew this meant she wasn't to know the prices of any of the foods.

Ed had not told her to watch what she ordered, he had not said there was any limit. So, she ordered a ribeye, medium, with asparagus and a baked potato, loaded.

"Know what? That sounds good," Ed agreed. "Give me the same thing."

"That blonde woman, the pretty one in the lobby?" Lisette asked as she sipped the rich wine.

"My ex-wife?" Ed asked.

"Oh! So that's why she keeps glaring over here," Lisette said.

"Might be, but who cares?" Ed smiled.

"And here we are, ma'am, sir," the waiter said, placing their plates in front of them. "Please try the steaks, tell me if they are to your satisfaction?"

"Uuummm!" Lisette enthused, chewing the succulent meat.

"What she meant to say is, she guesses it's okay," Ed joked.

The waiter smirked and waited for Ed's approval.

"Eh, its fine, I guess," Ed shrugged.

"Glad it meets your approval, Mr. Carroll," the waiter smirked and walked away.

"Oh my God, this is to die for," Lisette enthused, stuffing another hunk of meat in her mouth.

"That's why I like this place," Ed agreed. "The beef is aged to perfection."

"You always hear about that, didn't know what that meant," Lisette said.

When the waiter named the desserts, Ed smiled as Lisette's eyes lighted up at the mention of the Chocolate Decadence cake.

"Think she wants that chocolate cake, and I'll have your chocolate mint pie and a cup of coffee," Ed said.

"Ma'am? Coffee?" the waiter asked.

"That woman, your ex-wife? She's just glaring and glaring," Lisette whispered.

If just seeing Ed with another woman upset Carole, watching the other woman feeding Ed a forkful of her cake, then taking a forkful of Ed's pie enraged Carole.

"But, Honey, you're with me," Lionel preened smugly.

"Uh huh, and he's paying with an American Express while you're using a pre-paid credit card," Carole wanted to snap.

"Daddy, I'm stuffed," Carole heard the young woman whine.

Ed drove them back to the apartment so that Lisette could gather up her clothes and let Michelle know she was moving out. Ed stopped at Burns & Burns and grabbed a few cardboard boxes from the rear loading docks.

"Hey, that girl Sam? She say you quit your job, huh?" Michelle shrilled at Lisette when Lisette let herself into the apartment.

"Uh huh," Lisette said.

"Fucking bitch! How you going pay rent, huh?" Michelle screamed.

"She's not," Ed said forcefully. "She's moving out."

"Fuck she is! Bitch still owes me money," Michelle glared at the man.

"How much?" Ed demanded.

"Two, three hundred dollars," Michelle thought quickly.

"Here," Ed said and gave Michelle three crisp one hundred dollar bills.

Ed and Lisette were on a run that took them to Los Angeles, California. Lisette had plenty of opportunity to see the famed and fabled city, see the urban blight that is rarely shown on television as they sat and sat on the freeway. The government housing along the freeway stretched on and on as the traffic jam stretched on and on.

Then, after they dropped their load, Ed drove along the coast, showing Lisette the Los Angeles shown on postcards and on television.

"Five and a half hours on that damned interstate?" Lisette asked, even as she watched some muscle bound young men surfing. "No thanks! Get my ass back to Texas, Daddy."

"Uh huh, licking them doesn't make them work faster," Ed teased.

"Driving me crazy," Lisette admitted, running her tongue over her bulky orthodontic braces again.

"Know; had them myself," Ed said and answered his cell phone. "Tom, what's up?"

"Don't know if you've seen the news," Tom said.

"We're on the road, Los Angeles," Ed said.

"Well, tornado ripped through Oakleaf about four hours ago," Tom said.

"Annabelle okay?" Ed immediately asked, alarmed.

"What?" Lisette asked, sitting up.

"School's fine, wasn't even hit," Tom assured Ed. "House is fine too. Oh, and I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"If you weren't fine, ass hole, first words out of your mouth would have been you weren't fine," Ed said. "So, the bad news?"

"Depot got hit; it's a loss, Diner got hit, what's left of it? Tear it down, start again. That apartment off Pembroke?" Tom rattled off.

"The Oxbow Plaza?" Ed asked.

"Totaled; they're still digging through it," Tom said. "Didn't you have a girlfriend lived there?"

"Had, but she's in my rig right now," Ed said. "Any fatalities?"

"What? What's going on?" Lisette demanded.

"Still digging through it," Tom admitted. "Pretty sure the Pak-N-Go' is a loss too."

"All right, guess I need to call my insurance agent," Ed said. "Oh. Wait. That's you."

"Uh huh, I'll get a list to you, Tom said.

"I'll be back tomorrow; I'll swing by the office," Ed said.

"What, damn it? What happened?" Lisette shrilled.

"Tornado, tore Oakleaf to shit," Ed said.

"Oh my God, Michelle," Lisette said, pulling out her cell phone.

"Princess, there's a gas leak? Your cell phone could set it off," Ed cautioned. "Know it's tough but going have to wait."

Getting back on the interstate did not help Lisette's frazzled nerves.

"Hi Sweetheart, how are you?" Ed answered when Annabelle's ringtone chimed.

"Daddy? Grandma's, her trailer, it's gone," Annabelle sobbed into the phone.

"But Rose, Rose is all right?" Ed asked.

"Yeah, thank God, she was at the grocery store when the tornado hit," Annabelle sobbed. "But Daddy, her house!"

"Where are you right now?" Ed asked.

"We're at Momma's office," Annabelle said. "And Momma wants..."

"I'll have Miss Theresa bring you a key to the house," Ed said. "You and grandma can stay at the house."

"Give me that, is that Ed? Give me that phone, you little bitch, I said give me that phone," Ed heard Carole demanding.

Ed smiled as he disconnected the call right when Carole said "Hello?"

Theresa White thanked Ed for his concern. The small office building had survived unscathed. She then agreed to bring a key for 1812 Roberts Drive to Rose Cooper.

"Uh, and Mrs. Carole Cooper?" Theresa asked.

"She can go live with Lionel for all I care," Ed said.

"I'll tell her that," Theresa said, almost a little too happily.

"Licking them doesn't make them work any faster," Ed said.

"Shut up, butt hole," Lisette said and ran her tongue over her braces again.

Ed did not stop; just drove straight through the night. The ugly gray dawn showed Ed the devastation that the tornado had done to his beloved community.

Tom met him at the office. Together, the two looked over the list of Ed's properties that had been affected. Ed smiled as Tom's eyes kept being drawn to the young, beautiful Lisette. She was wearing a pair of cut off denim shorts and one of Ed's button up shirts.

"She is legal, right?" Tom finally whispered to Ed.

"Nineteen. And a half," Ed teased.

"I'm twenty; got me these stupid braces for my birthday, remember?" Lisette corrected.

"Sorry. Twenty. And a half," Ed said. "All right, anything out of the Pak-N-Go that can be salvaged? Donate it to the crews doing the cleanup. Same with the diner. Anything be salvaged out of there? Give it to the shelters."

"Did that yesterday," Tom smiled. "Figured you'd do that."

"Employees? They're getting paid," Ed said.

"Already told them that," Tom agreed.

"Oh, and give yourself a nickel raise, huh?" Ed said. "No, not a nickel more an hour. Just a nickel."

Lisette giggled. Ed smiled at her.

"Got a crew coming in from Lowridge get on the depot tomorrow," Tom said. "We got thirty seven trucks just sitting there, waiting."

"Then loan them out to help with the cleanup," Ed said.

"Offered. Mayor turned us down," Tom said.

"Fucking idiot," Ed snapped. "I tell you, she stole that election, hear?"

"Uh, because she's a woman?" Lisette challenged.

"Uh, no, because she's a Socialist," Ed said. "Her being a woman has nothing do with it."

Ed wearily left Tom's office and drove home. He smiled when he saw Rose's old Oldsmobile parked in front of the house.

"Daddy!" Annabelle shrieked when Ed let himself into the house through the garage door.

"Hey, Sweetheart! Why you not in school?" Ed asked, hugging his girl.

"Uh, it's Saturday?" Annabelle said.

"Hi Ed," Rose said.

"Hi," Lisette said quietly.

"Annabelle? Sweetie? This is Lisette. She's my girlfriend," Ed said.

"Hi," Annabelle said, almost shyly.

"Rose, I'm so sorry about your trailer," Ed said.

"Oh, it's all right," Rose shrugged. "Thank God I'm insured with Oakleaf."

"Oak, uh, not Cooper Hahn?" Ed asked.

"Jesus, right," Rose spat. "I look stupid?"

"Let's not bring your looks into it, huh?" Ed teased.

"Smart mouth," Rose smiled. "Hi, I'm Rose. My daughter was stupid enough throw this hunk of man away."

"Hi, I'm Lisette," Lisette said again.

"So, you're a trucker like Ed?" Rose asked.

"Kind of," Lisette smiled.

"My handle's Daddy's Sweetie Pie," Annabelle said.

"Mine's Oakleaf Princess," Lisette said.

"Carole wants me call her minute you get here," Rose warned Ed.

"Rose, shit; just drove thirty hours straight," Ed sighed. "Three hours? Let me have three hours?"

"Got it," Rose said. "I'm not biting hand fees me."

Ed swore he had just lay down when Lisette was kissing him. He groaned and saw that it had been three and a half hours.

He and Lisette showered together. But in a rare move, they did not make love in the shower.

Ed dressed, then walked out of the bedroom. He could hear Carole's voice ringing through the house.

"Well, Carole, no one told you take up with that snake in the grass," Rose was telling her daughter as Ed walked into the living room.

"Ed, I need..." Carole started.

"No one gives a shit what you need, Carole," Ed said. "Anyone make coffee?"

"I'll do it," Annabelle said, scampering into the kitchen.

"Seriously, Ed, I need..." Carole started again.

"Seriously, Carole, what you need? What you want? Not my problem," Ed said.

"Hi!" Lisette said brightly, bounding into the room.

Rose and Ed tried hard to stifle their laughter. Lisette had found her old Ferguson High School cheerleading uniform and put it on. Her hair was done into two pony tails at the sides of her head. Her smile was wide, showing off her shiny braces.

"Hi!" she chirped again. "Oh! You muth be Mithith Cah wool! Hi, I'm Lithette!"

Carole stared at the young girl. Annabelle came into the room, saw Lisette, and burst into laughter. Lisette looked over and smiled at the girl.

"Daddy, coffee's almost done," Annabelle giggled.

"Oh, they got any juithe?" Lisette lisped.

"Yeah," Annabelle said.

"Annabelle, sweetie, this one of your friends?" Carole asked.

"Huh? No, no, this is Daddy's girlfriend," Annabelle said.

"Ed, Lionel, I need, is there somewhere we adults can go talk?" Carole asked, looking at the beautiful girl that now had Ed's left arm in her two arms, hugging him.

"Right here's fine," Ed said, taking a seat on the couch.

Lisette sat with him, curling her feet underneath herself.

"Uh, lithette," Carole said.

"Ith Lithette," Lisette corrected.

"That's what I said," Carole snapped. "Lithette."

"Lisette," Ed corrected.

"Oh, anyway, why don't you run off? The grownups need to talk," Carole snapped.

"I'm grown up," Lisette smiled. "Daddy even leth me drink hith beer thometimes, huh Daddy?"

"Princess, quit it, huh?" Ed laughed. "I'm about to bust here."

"Spoil sport," Lisette smiled. "I was having fun."

"Get tired of trucking? Could be an actress," Rose complimented.

"You? You're a trucker?" Carole asked, surprised.

"That's a big ten four good buddy, you got the Oakleaf Princess on with you," Lisette said.

"Cream, right Daddy?" Annabelle called out.

"Make it blonde," Lisette agreed.

Annabelle carefully carried the mug into the living room. Ed took a cautious sip them smiled.

It was horrible. Annabelle must have put three tablespoons of grounds for every one cup of water. But he swallowed the coffee and beamed proudly at his baby girl.

"Almost as good as yours, Lisette," Ed complimented.

"Anyway, uh, Ed, I uh, Lionel?" Carole stammered. "Annabelle, sweetie, why don't you and Grandma go..."

"Oh bull shit," Rose spat. "Want to hear this. What'd that idiot do?"

Carole's eyes filled with tears of bitterness. She set her jaw firmly and glared at Ed.

"Lionel ran off with all the money," Carole admitted.

"All what money?" Ed asked.

"Cooper Hahn. And mine. He emptied the bank accounts, the checking, the prudent reserve, everything," Carole admitted.

"Cooper, and that tornado," Ed said. "Damn; how are you going pay all them claims?"

"Forget about the claims; how am I going pay the bills?" Carole snapped.

"Your bills don't mean shit, Carole," Ed snapped. "You got clients lost everything. Their insurance company needs pay them."

"You listening to me? He cleaned us out!" Carole shrilled.

"Who's your underwriter?" Lisette asked.

"We uh, we didn't have one," Carole admitted.

"Oh, man, you are screwed," Ed laughed bitterly.

"Ed, I uh, I don't suppose you could uh," Carole stammered.

"Let Rose and Annabelle live here for as long as they need? Absolutely," Ed agreed. "Remember? I wanted custody of Annabelle when we divorced."

"You did?" Annabelle asked. "You told me he didn't!"

"Annabelle, he's not your father," Carole snapped.

"No, my father's running around with all our money," Annabelle taunted. "My Daddy? He's sitting right here."

"Ed, sweetheart," Carole started again.

"Uh, no ma'am," Lisette said. "You don't get to call him sweetheart."

"Ed, could you, I need to borrow some money," Carole tried again.

"Borrow, as in, you'll pay it back?" Ed smiled. "Uh, and how you going do that? Lionel ran off with your business, remember?"

"But what am I going to do?" Carole whined.

"Don't know, and uh, don't care," Ed said. "Casa Ole get hit by that tornado?"

"One by my house? Yeah, it's gone," Rose said.

"Damn; their enchiladas were good too," Ed said. "How about, no, no, Annabelle's not old enough for Gear Box."

"Ed, Sweetheart, please, I need..." Carole whined.

"Big problem all through our marriage right there," Ed said. "It was always about what Carole wanted, what Carole needed. Well, right now, Ed needs something eat."

"Oh, oh, I'll see if Bully Burgers is open!" Annabelle enthused.

She found her cell phone and rapidly searched for the number. She then hit 'send'

"Yes, y'all open? Y'all are? Oh goody!" Annabelle chirped.

"Well, I guess we're going to Bully's," Ed smiled.

"Yes, after my stroke, I really need that grease," Rose mock-complained.

"Guess we can all fit in your car, Rose," Ed said.

"I am not going to Bully's in this," Lisette smiled and got to her feet.

"Were you really a cheerleader?" Annabelle asked as Lisette and she walked out of the room.

"Uh huh, and year I was the head cheerleader Miriam A. Ferguson won State," Lisette claimed.

Bully Burgers was a hole in the wall hamburger joint. It had been standing, barely, for fifty three years, in the same location. The original cast iron grill was still in use. If the place ever caught on fire, it would be a ten to twelve alarm fire because of fifty three years of built up grease.

"I want..." Annabelle started.

"The Cannonball, add pineapple," Ed guessed.

"Really?" Lisette asked.

"Uh huh, it's the best," Annabelle enthused.

"Cannonball has a half pound of our ground round, with four slices of thick slab apple wood bacon, two slices of pepper jack cheese and grilled jalapenos," Lisette read aloud. "Ooh, Daddy, get me that too, okay?"

"Add pineapple?" Ed asked.

"Yeah!" Lisette said.

"What do old people eat?" Rose asked.

"Don't know, let's find an old people and ask them," Ed said. "But I'm getting the Blue Bully, and their onion strings."

"Blue cheese, yeah, that sounds good for me," Rose agreed.

Lisette and Annabelle agreed that theirs was the best, especially since Ed didn't want his pickles so they claimed them. Rose complained about the sodium, the grease, the cholesterol, while polishing off her burger and her shoestring French fries.

"So, Carole, what did the police say?" Ed asked as Carole sullenly chewed her way through a Ranch Bully.

"About what?" Carole asked.

"Uh, about Lionel running off, taking the money?" Ed asked.

"Oh, I uh, I didn't, I'm kind of..." Carole stammered.

"You are kidding me," Ed sighed.

Carole sobbed and sniffled as she related the information to the Oakleaf County detective. The man was a seasoned professional; he did not call Carole Cooper an idiot. He did quietly point out that she should not give anyone access to her bank accounts, even if she was intimate with them.

"People are with someone for years? Think they know them? Only to find out, whole time, they been running around, cheating on them, all kind of stuff," Detective Eischenbach said.

"Believe me, she knows all about running around, cheating, don't you, Carole?" Ed smiled tightly.

"That's a big ten four, good buddy," Rose said.

"Grandma!" Annabelle giggled. "And what's your handle?"

"Idiot's Momma, I guess, Daddy's Sweetie Pie, come back," Rose said.

Detective Eischenbach did remind them that, right now, their number one priority was assisting the survivors of the tornado. They had over fifteen people still on the 'Missing' list and were diligently searching for them.

"Well, I am wiped out; I'm going to bed," Ed said. "Rose? No roller blading in the house, you hear?"

"You are too funny," Rose smirked.

"Ed, I uh, I don't have anywhere go," Carole stammered.

"Damned shame, huh?" Ed said.

"Daddy, there's four other bedrooms in this house," Lisette quietly begged.

"Carole, no playing tuba in the house," Ed said. "Good night."

"Good night," Lisette agreed, following Ed down the hall.

"Uh, where you think you're going?" Carole snapped when Annabelle dashed past her.

"Gracie's; shoot some hoops," Annabelle said.

"Did I say...?" Carole started.

Before Carole could finish, though, Annabelle was out of the house. Rose smirked and turned the television on. She rode the volume up. She didn't know why, but everyone seemed to like to have the television on far too low for anyone to hear it.

"Good God, thought I told them, no roller blading or tuba playing in the house," Ed groaned.

"Poor woman can't hear," Lisette mumbled, snuggling up against him.

A moment later, she twisted around. She put her head on his chest.

"Your uh, your wife sure is pretty," she murmured.

"Ex-wife," Ed said.

"You ever miss her?" Lisette asked.

"With you here? No, Princess, I don't miss her," Ed said.