Never Say Never

This novel follows two women whose lives collide during a catastrophic hurricane evacuation in Texas. Told in alternating first-person chapters, the narrative weaves together the voices of Donetta Bradford, a nearly seventy-year-old hairdresser in the small town of Daily, and Kai Miller, a twenty-seven-year-old drifter who works cruise ship contracts and makes art jewelry in the coastal town of Perdida.

Donetta runs a beauty salon in her family's century-old hotel building on Main Street. Her roots are split: Her father was a local prodigal, and her mother was a Cajun woman from the bayou country of southeast Texas. After her mother died, Donetta lost contact with her mother's people, the Chiassons. She carries a secret from her last bayou visit at age fifteen, when her grandmother Mamee told her a story about a young Mexican harvest worker named Macerio, the true love of Mamee's youth.

Donetta, her lifelong best friend Imagene Doll, and their friend Lucy, originally from Japan, plan a birthday cruise out of Perdida. Hurricane Glorietta is in the Gulf of Mexico, but forecasters predict it will veer toward Mexico. That morning, Donetta's husband, Ronald, barely acknowledges her departure. Her nephew Kemp, a former minor-league pitcher now coaching baseball at Daily High School after multiple surgeries on his pitching arm, helps load her luggage.

In Perdida, Kai lives above a surf shop and prepares for a routine contract aboard the cruise ship Liberation. Her friends evacuate as the storm approaches, but Kai's landlord, Don, dismisses the threat. Kai reflects on her rootless childhood with a musician father who drifted from carnivals to harvest crews, and on her brother Gil, who died at eleven. She keeps Gil's stolen motel Bible as her most treasured possession.

Kai oversleeps and misses the Liberation, which departed overnight after Glorietta turned north. She loads Don's dogs into her vintage VW Microbus and joins the gridlocked evacuation. Meanwhile, the Daily women drive toward the coast, unaware the hurricane has changed course; their laptop never refreshed its cruise page because there is no wireless signal on rural roads. At a crossroads gas station, the two groups cross paths, and Kai informs the women that the port is closed.

Both parties crawl through evacuation traffic as Glorietta bears down. Kai encounters drunk men who harass her under a bridge and helps an elderly couple stranded without fuel. Hours later, she spots the Daily women's disabled minivan and loads them into the Microbus. The vehicle soon develops a flat tire with no usable spare. Stranded in the piney woods, the group hears singing in the forest. A man named Ernest emerges; he belongs to the Holy Ghost Church, a Creole congregation from near Perdida whose bus broke down nearby.

They reach the repaired church bus and drive through the storm until taking shelter in an abandoned stone church, where a tornado passes directly overhead. In the frightened darkness, Donetta and Imagene confess jealousies held for decades and affirm their bond. Donetta admits she married Ronald impulsively because she wanted someone to love her the way Imagene's husband loved Imagene. Kai overhears and recognizes her own yearning for lasting connection, shaped by her father's mantra that she is all she has.

After a day of waiting, a rescue crew from Daily arrives, led by Kemp. Donetta introduces Kai to Kemp, and an immediate mutual attraction is evident. Donetta also learns that Ronald did not join the rescue: His truck, boat, and tackle were gone, and everyone assumed he went fishing. The realization that Ronald did not even check on her triggers a deep hurt rooted in her father's neglect.

The Holy Ghost congregation travels to Daily, where residents welcome them with food and shelter. Donetta houses Kai and maneuvers Kemp into walking her home. Over the following days, Kai and Kemp fall into a routine, playing Wiffle ball with schoolchildren, visiting the family ranch, and sharing a kiss on a hilltop at sunset. The games trigger a powerful recovered memory for Kai of her family playing baseball together before Gil got sick.

At the vet clinic, Kai meets Jennifer Mayfield, Kemp's childhood neighbor and former girlfriend. Jen reveals that Kemp secretly traveled to Dallas for an MRI that cleared him to return to professional baseball, news he shared with Jen rather than with Kai. The revelation stings: Kai sees a parallel between Kemp's single-minded pursuit of baseball and her own father's obsessive devotion to music, and she resolves not to be a sidenote in someone's life again. She tells Kemp the cruise line has called her back. When he asks whether she will at least visit her Grandmother Miller in nearby McGregor, Kai refuses.

Meanwhile, Betty Prine, a prominent local resident, threatens to have the fire marshal shut down Donetta's building unless the evacuees are removed. Her hostility is thinly veiled racism and a bid to protect her family's business interests. Donetta rallies allies and secretly houses the evacuees at the Anderson-Shay ranch outside town. When Betty leaves town to care for a sick relative, Donetta moves some older evacuees back into the hotel for comfort, but Betty returns unexpectedly and discovers them, renewing her threats. During this period, Imagene confronts Donetta about her avoidance of Ronald, and Donetta breaks down, admitting she is lonely in her own house.

Donetta shares Mamee's full story with the group. Obeline, a ninety-four-year-old church member, recognizes it: Her older sister witnessed what happened after Mamee gave birth to twins. Mamee's father abandoned the dark-haired boy in the swamp, but the midwife's daughter rescued the infant and delivered him to the Mexican harvest camp, where he was taken south to Macerio. Donetta realizes she may have unknown family in Mexico.

That evening, a radio program called "Voices From the Storm" airs. A volunteer from Perdida requests a song for his wife, confessing he regrets never telling her he loved her. Donetta drops a cup: The voice is Ronald's. He explains he followed Donetta toward the coast, got trapped in Perdida, and spent days rescuing flood victims with his bass boat. He declares his love on national radio. The broadcast becomes a sensation; Good Morning America features the story, and the resulting publicity neutralizes Betty's threats. Kai says goodbye and catches a flight to rejoin the ship.

At sea, Kai watches Donetta and Ronald on television and is overcome with homesickness for Daily. Weeks later, Ronald calls with a secret plan: He wants to surprise Donetta with a vow renewal ceremony on their anniversary, filmed by Good Morning America. He asks Kai to teach him to dance. The ceremony takes place on the beach in Perdida, organized by Kai with help from the Holy Ghost Church congregation, including Sister Mona, one of the older evacuees. Donetta descends the hotel steps in a white lace dress, discovers Ronald in a tuxedo, and tearfully agrees to marry him again.

After the ceremony, Kemp appears on the veranda. Ronald had "accidentally" left the cruise passports behind so that Imagene could send Kemp to deliver them. Kemp tells Kai he visited her Grandmother Miller in McGregor and hands her a letter written in her grandmother's shaking hand. Kai is overwhelmed that Kemp completed the journey she was too afraid to make. They kiss on the beach as the sun sets. The novel closes with Kai's reflection that home is not a place but the people you carry with you, and that nothing adrift is meant to stay adrift forever.