The Heart of a Hero, page 12
“Didn’t you?”
“No, I . . .” She got up and reached for the supply cart. “No. I thought I was texting my friend Jenny.”
“Or, you subconsciously wanted him to find you so you texted him . . .”
“I didn’t text him.”
Angel raised an eyebrow.
“I didn’t. I don’t want him here.”
“Not at all?”
She sighed. “I guess . . . I mean . . .”
Angel grinned. “I thought so. Because you know, you’re awfully angry at him for no reason.”
“I’m not mad at him, I’m just . . . well . . . he totally overreacted and—”
“It was sweet, wasn’t it? Him coming down here?”
She unwrapped a bandage and pressed it over her wound. Stood up. “It was sweet.” She snapped off her gloves. “But I don’t have room for sweet and charming and . . . well, anything but just friends in my life.” She tossed the gloves into a nearby garbage can. Looked at Angel. “You don’t know it, but your life is about to get very busy. And sometimes, when you have something super important to you, other things just . . . well, they have to be sacrificed.”
“Like love?” Angel’s hands curled over her stomach.
“Well, maybe some kinds of love. I love my job. My patients, my life. I just don’t . . . I . . . Jake is a great guy. But he is very different from me. The real me, not the me he met on the mountain. He is funny and charming and everybody loves him. But he’s also impulsive. And frankly a little frightening sometimes.”
Angel’s eyes had widened.
Aria held up her hand. “No, I don’t mean scary, as in he would hurt someone, although he was a navy SEAL, so maybe he would, but I never felt anything but safe with him.”
“He was a navy SEAL?”
“Yeah. So, he’s got a bigger protection gene than the average man.”
“And that’s why you’re mad at him?”
Aria took some gauze and began to wrap it around Angel’s heel, the question sinking inside.
“No. That’s not why I’m mad at him.” She looked at the window, seeing herself dimly lit in the reflection. It looked tired and bedraggled, and she felt it. She wasn’t up to fighting the feelings Jake stirred in her.
Wasn’t up to fighting the longing to give in to his charm.
“He broke a deal we made.”
“What deal?”
And she didn’t know why she was trying to justify herself to this girl. Or maybe, it was just to herself.
“The unspoken deal we made in Alaska that what happens in Alaska stays in Alaska. That I could be one person there, the person that could laugh at his jokes, and dance with him, and kiss him—”
“You kissed him?”
Aria smiled, glanced up at Angel. “Yeah.”
“Oh.” Angel grinned. “I’ll bet he’s a good kisser.”
Aria looked away, warmth spreading through her. “Good enough. But see, that’s the thing. I don’t go around kissing guys. In fact, I can count the number of times I’ve been kissed on one hand, and I let myself sort of . . . I don’t know. Kiss Jake and tell myself that it didn’t matter. That it was all in fun.”
“But it wasn’t in fun. You like him.”
Aria reached for the tape to secure the wrapping. “No. I mean, yes. One part of me liked him, but the other part . . . no, I can’t like Jake. And he was supposed to forget about me. He wasn’t supposed to care. And he certainly wasn’t supposed to follow me to Key West. He broke our deal.”
“Does he know that?”
The voice came from behind them, and she turned to see Yola entering the room. “So that’s what that was about.”
“What was about?”
“Complicated.” Yola walked into the room. “Jake said things between you two are complicated. But they don’t sound complicated. Jake likes you, you like him—”
“I don’t—”
Yola gave her a look.
“Fine. But like I was telling Angel, it won’t work between us.”
“You’d better tell him that, because he’s breaking the law for you down the hall.”
“Huh?”
“He was wrestling the vending machine. I told him that maybe he just needed to pick the lock instead of beating it up, and he took off like a man on a mission.”
“Where did he go?”
“He said he was going to get wet.” Yola walked over to the window. “Yep, he’s down in the lot. The light’s on in a car.”
Aria walked to the window. The parking lights illuminated the lot, rippling with running water, in some places past the windows of the parked cars. No, there was no getting off this island—by car, at least.
She spied Jake in the back seat of an SUV. He climbed out and shut the door.
But instead of heading toward the hospital, he stopped, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and headed out into the lot.
He stopped by a car and leaned over, looking in. Then he reached into the door through an open window and unlocked it.
“What’s he doing?” Yola said.
He opened the door. Pulled out something and tucked it into his jacket.
“Maybe he found some food or something,” Aria said and turned away as Jake ran for the building.
She walked over to Angel. “I’m going to try and find an ultrasound machine, but until then, let me get your blood pressure again.” She pulled the cuff from the wall and wrapped it around her arm.
“I think you should give him another chance.” Angel pressed her hand onto her abdomen. As if warmed by the heat, her stomach moved, the body inside pressing back.
Aria watched, a warmth coursing through her. Life. Hope.
“Some things are worth the risk,” Angel said. “Right? Even if he’s not the settle-down-and-have-a-family, get-a-dog type. He still showed up for you.”
Yes, he had.
And if she were honest— “I just don’t want him getting hurt because of me.”
Angel frowned but didn’t answer because of the footsteps squeaking down the hallway. They passed the room without entering.
Aria couldn’t help the slightest twinge of disappointment.
“He looks pretty sturdy,” Yola said, walking to the door. “Not the type to get easily hurt.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t know Jake like I do.”
Yola turned. “I think that’s the point. If Jake is the guy you say he is, maybe that’s exactly why he isn’t letting you go. Why he chased you to Florida.”
“I don’t think—”
Yola stepped back as the door opened.
Jake stood in the frame. Soaking wet. Grinning. Wearing his backpack and holding up a bag of Cheetos as if he’d brought home dinner from the wilds.
Yola folded her arms and looked at Aria, a told-you-so in her expression.
“Here you go, Doc,” he said and tossed her the bag.
She caught it. “I suppose you want a tip.”
“Nope.”
“How’d you get into the vending machine?” Yola asked.
“I picked the lock.” He turned to Angel. “And I got something for you too.” He walked over, and from his coat drew out a—
“Oh my, it’s a puppy!” Angel said.
Soaking wet and shivering, the little black dog appeared to be a poodle, with curly hair but droopy ears and big brown eyes. He looked about three months old, about the size of a football.
“Where did you find him?”
Jake set his pack down, leaned it against the wall. “He was in this car. I don’t know if he climbed in, or maybe the owner left him there, but he was barking, scared to death.”
“He’s trembling,” Angel whispered and pulled him to herself.
“I thought you might like some practice before the little one shows up,” Jake said.
“He’s so sweet,” Angel said.
Aria stared at Jake. Water dripped down his face, into his beard, his baseball hat saturated, his clothes equally wet. He shivered a little, but he was watching Angel, grinning.
Yes, he was.
Oh, boy. “I’m going to find you a blanket,” she said and pushed past the infuriating man and out into the hallway.
He turned and followed her down the hallway, of course. “Aria, what’s the matter?”
She didn’t look back.
“Hot Lips. Turn around and talk to me.”
Oh, for— “Don’t call me that.” But she turned, her hands on her hips.
He skidded to a halt. “Then tell me what I did.”
“What you did? What you . . .” She shook her head. “Stop being so . . . charming. You sweep in here like you’re Superman, carrying a pregnant woman. Then you put out a fire, find a puppy—for crying out loud, and bring me Cheetos. I mean, what’s next, donating a kidney?”
He just stared at her.
“You can’t do this, Jake. You can’t follow me around the world and make me . . . just, you can’t.”
“Make you what?” His voice had dropped, his blue eyes holding hers.
Her mind went blank. Shoot, those eyes had magical powers. “Don’t.”
“What?”
“Look at me!”
He moved his eyes off her, up, over, down, over—
“Stop.” But she bit back a smile. “You’re like a two-year-old.”
He grinned. “A very tall two-year-old.”
She sighed. “Jake, don’t you get it? What we had in Alaska was . . . it was a time-out from life. It was . . . fun. And yeah, I . . . I liked you.”
His smile fell. “I liked you too.” He made to reach out for her then, but she stepped back.
“But that’s the point. That wasn’t . . . me. The real me doesn’t, well, she doesn’t do impulsive, or unexpected, or even really—”
“Have fun?”
She lifted a shoulder. “I tried to have fun and ended up stuck in a tropical storm. And, before that, on a mountain.”
“That was a little fun.”
“And see, that’s why we don’t belong together. Because no, it wasn’t fun. I mean . . . yes. I liked talking to you—”
“That’s not all we did—”
“Don’t. I mean, I know.” And now she couldn’t look at him, her face heating. “But see, again. To you, that was all fun. To me . . . I . . . I don’t behave that way. I don’t just kiss people and walk away.”
“Except that’s exactly what you did.” He drew in a breath. “Was it because . . . well, because of what happened, or didn’t happen, in the hotel room? Because I made you feel, I don’t know . . . unsafe? Because if that’s what it was, then I’m not only sorry, but yeah, I’ll walk away from you, Aria. I never want you to feel unsafe with me.”
“No, Jake. No.” She put her hand on his arm then. Squeezed. “I felt safe. Too safe, probably. And that’s why I suggested . . . well, again, I wasn’t myself. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I do know that I’m back in my real world now, and in this world, I work 24/7. I barely have a social life, my patients are my world, and I like it that way. I know I’m not being fair to you, but . . . but you don’t really want a woman like me anyway.”
He frowned at her.
“No, Jake, really. I’m all preplanning, schedules, to-do lists, and by the book. You’re . . . well, you’re the guy who climbs mountains for fun, jumps from a plane on a whim, and breaks into cars to rescue puppies.”
“You would have broken into a car to save a puppy,” he said.
She shook her head.
“What if I’m good for you?”
She looked up at him, softened her voice. “No, Jake. You’re not good for me. You get me in over my head.”
He drew in a breath, and his jaw tightened. But he nodded, something hooded coming over his face. “Yeah. Okay. I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry, Aria. For everything. For Alaska. And for following you down to Florida.”
She didn’t know why, but her chest tightened and her throat burned.
“We’ll get through this storm, and back home, and I promise, you’ll never see me again.”
Then he turned and walked down the hall.
CHAPTER 7
THE SOONER JAKE GOT OUT OF HERE, the better. Because watching Aria stare at the dregs of her Cheetos, avoiding his gaze, only burned a hole through him.
“No, Jake. You’re not good for me. You get me in over my head.”
His sternum might have actual bruising from the way her words hit him.
He got her in over her head. He could attach a slew of other words to that. He scared her. He was dangerous. He was, um, bad for her.
In fact, boil it down and Jake was nothing but trouble.
Nice.
Yes, this little excursion was quickly turning into a trip through H-E-double-hockey-sticks. Despite his attempts to lighten the mood.
“So, what did the football coach say to the vending machine?” Jake sat on the windowsill, rooting around in his Doritos bag, looking for the last full chip.
He looked up to the silence in the room. Mimi lay on the bed, breathing oxygen through a mask, hooked up to a ventilator. But she’d demanded that “whatever party y’all are having, you’d better have in my room,” so he’d wheeled Angel’s bed in next to the older woman’s.
He liked Mimi. She reminded him of his grandmother—feisty, to-the-point, determined. Probably an older version of Aria, at least on the inside. On the outside, Aria was probably going to die in a pair of scrub pants.
“I want my quarter back,” he said to his waiting audience.
“I like it!” Angel was sitting up, petting the puppy—whom she’d named Toby. The little guy had finally stopped shivering, warmed in the nest of blankets Aria had found.
Angel had dried off too, although her dreads were still soggy. She looked desperately young. He’d like to get his hands on Baker, the guy who’d knocked her up and abandoned her.
“You should do stand-up,” Yola said. She sat on a chair next to Mimi’s bed. “There’s this great comedy club in my neighborhood in Queens. They have open mic every Wednesday.”
“You know, I know a lot of jokes about unemployed people but none of them work.” Jake found a chip, crunched it, waiting.
A pause, then Mimi started to laugh.
Jake winked. “You know why the shrimp wouldn’t share his treasure, right?” He lifted a shoulder. “Because he was a little shellfish.”
Mimi bent over, her hand to her stomach, laughing. It turned into a cough.
“Okay, that’s enough, Jake.” Aria got up from where she was sitting on the floor. She washed the Cheetos grime off her hands in the sink and went over to Mimi. “We don’t want to have to give her another nebulizer treatment.”
“Sorry,” Jake said, but the rest of the women were grinning at him. And as long as he kept everyone smiling, everyone laughing, he didn’t have to think about—no, it wasn’t fun.
Wow, he’d judged that wrong.
Because he remembered being trapped with Aria as being very, very fun. At least when he didn’t think about the parts where someone could have died.
“Where did you learn all those jokes?” Yola asked.
“BUD/S. We had a guy—we called him Seinfeld. He was hilarious and we’d be dying, just trying to breathe and he’d come up with a one-liner that would take us out. He tapped out during hell week, but his jokes stayed.”
“How long were you a SEAL?” Yola asked.
“Twelve years. I got out about a year ago.”
He didn’t look at Aria. Because during one of the not-fun parts of their two days trapped together, he’d told her exactly why. One of a handful of people who knew the facts, even if he hadn’t told her everything.
But talk about letting someone in too far . . .
“Thank you for your service,” said Mimi.
He looked over at her, smiled. “Thanks, ma’am.”
“My Rollo wanted to go in, but I was too afraid he’d be shipped over to ’Nam, and we already had Yolanda’s mama, so he agreed to stay out. And they hadn’t started the draft yet, when he came of age, so . . . but he always felt like he shoulda served.”
“It’s not for everyone,” he said. “But it was a life I . . . well, it fit me. I liked being on the teams.” He got up then and went over to the remote near the bed. “Let’s see if we can get some reception, Mimi. Get us some Weather Channel.”
He turned it on but found static.
“We already tried that,” Aria said. “Probably the cable station is down.”
“Hopefully we’re past the worst of it,” Mimi said. “The storm sounds like it’s dying.”
The rain had gusted in bursts of fury over the past hour. Outside, one of the lights had gone out, broken. Jake reached for his cell phone, checking again for reception. Nothing.
He walked toward the window—one bar appeared, and with it, a message. He opened it before the reception died.
Jake. Hope you found your girl and are out of danger. Cat 5 hurricane headed for the Keys. Call us when you get to Miami. Dad
He stilled, then closed his phone and slipped it into his back pocket.
“You know,” he said, taking a breath, “I was thinking that if the storm gets worse, we probably don’t want to be near these windows.” He turned, a smile on his face. “I’m going to try and find a better room for us.”
He petted Toby on the way out of the room.
Aria followed him. “Jake?”
He looked over his shoulder. “’Sup?”
“What was in the text?”
He opened an inner door—supply room. Not big enough to accommodate all of them. “Nothing. My dad, checking in.”
She’d caught up to him. “You’re acting weird.”
He opened another door, a tiny bathroom. It could work, maybe. “Did you see any other rooms here that don’t have any windows?”
“There’s a chapel on the other side, sort of by the nurses’ station.”
He turned to her. Debated. But she’d said she liked to plan, didn’t want anything unexpected, so, “Lucy has been upgraded to a Cat 5, and with the intermittent rain bands, my guess is that it’s going to hit soon. Which means there will be a storm surge and pretty violent winds. We need to stay high and get someplace without glass.”
She was just staring at him. “A . . . Cat 5. No. That isn’t . . . that can’t . . .” She reached out and braced her hand on the wall. “No, this can’t be—”
“No, I . . .” She got up and reached for the supply cart. “No. I thought I was texting my friend Jenny.”
“Or, you subconsciously wanted him to find you so you texted him . . .”
“I didn’t text him.”
Angel raised an eyebrow.
“I didn’t. I don’t want him here.”
“Not at all?”
She sighed. “I guess . . . I mean . . .”
Angel grinned. “I thought so. Because you know, you’re awfully angry at him for no reason.”
“I’m not mad at him, I’m just . . . well . . . he totally overreacted and—”
“It was sweet, wasn’t it? Him coming down here?”
She unwrapped a bandage and pressed it over her wound. Stood up. “It was sweet.” She snapped off her gloves. “But I don’t have room for sweet and charming and . . . well, anything but just friends in my life.” She tossed the gloves into a nearby garbage can. Looked at Angel. “You don’t know it, but your life is about to get very busy. And sometimes, when you have something super important to you, other things just . . . well, they have to be sacrificed.”
“Like love?” Angel’s hands curled over her stomach.
“Well, maybe some kinds of love. I love my job. My patients, my life. I just don’t . . . I . . . Jake is a great guy. But he is very different from me. The real me, not the me he met on the mountain. He is funny and charming and everybody loves him. But he’s also impulsive. And frankly a little frightening sometimes.”
Angel’s eyes had widened.
Aria held up her hand. “No, I don’t mean scary, as in he would hurt someone, although he was a navy SEAL, so maybe he would, but I never felt anything but safe with him.”
“He was a navy SEAL?”
“Yeah. So, he’s got a bigger protection gene than the average man.”
“And that’s why you’re mad at him?”
Aria took some gauze and began to wrap it around Angel’s heel, the question sinking inside.
“No. That’s not why I’m mad at him.” She looked at the window, seeing herself dimly lit in the reflection. It looked tired and bedraggled, and she felt it. She wasn’t up to fighting the feelings Jake stirred in her.
Wasn’t up to fighting the longing to give in to his charm.
“He broke a deal we made.”
“What deal?”
And she didn’t know why she was trying to justify herself to this girl. Or maybe, it was just to herself.
“The unspoken deal we made in Alaska that what happens in Alaska stays in Alaska. That I could be one person there, the person that could laugh at his jokes, and dance with him, and kiss him—”
“You kissed him?”
Aria smiled, glanced up at Angel. “Yeah.”
“Oh.” Angel grinned. “I’ll bet he’s a good kisser.”
Aria looked away, warmth spreading through her. “Good enough. But see, that’s the thing. I don’t go around kissing guys. In fact, I can count the number of times I’ve been kissed on one hand, and I let myself sort of . . . I don’t know. Kiss Jake and tell myself that it didn’t matter. That it was all in fun.”
“But it wasn’t in fun. You like him.”
Aria reached for the tape to secure the wrapping. “No. I mean, yes. One part of me liked him, but the other part . . . no, I can’t like Jake. And he was supposed to forget about me. He wasn’t supposed to care. And he certainly wasn’t supposed to follow me to Key West. He broke our deal.”
“Does he know that?”
The voice came from behind them, and she turned to see Yola entering the room. “So that’s what that was about.”
“What was about?”
“Complicated.” Yola walked into the room. “Jake said things between you two are complicated. But they don’t sound complicated. Jake likes you, you like him—”
“I don’t—”
Yola gave her a look.
“Fine. But like I was telling Angel, it won’t work between us.”
“You’d better tell him that, because he’s breaking the law for you down the hall.”
“Huh?”
“He was wrestling the vending machine. I told him that maybe he just needed to pick the lock instead of beating it up, and he took off like a man on a mission.”
“Where did he go?”
“He said he was going to get wet.” Yola walked over to the window. “Yep, he’s down in the lot. The light’s on in a car.”
Aria walked to the window. The parking lights illuminated the lot, rippling with running water, in some places past the windows of the parked cars. No, there was no getting off this island—by car, at least.
She spied Jake in the back seat of an SUV. He climbed out and shut the door.
But instead of heading toward the hospital, he stopped, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and headed out into the lot.
He stopped by a car and leaned over, looking in. Then he reached into the door through an open window and unlocked it.
“What’s he doing?” Yola said.
He opened the door. Pulled out something and tucked it into his jacket.
“Maybe he found some food or something,” Aria said and turned away as Jake ran for the building.
She walked over to Angel. “I’m going to try and find an ultrasound machine, but until then, let me get your blood pressure again.” She pulled the cuff from the wall and wrapped it around her arm.
“I think you should give him another chance.” Angel pressed her hand onto her abdomen. As if warmed by the heat, her stomach moved, the body inside pressing back.
Aria watched, a warmth coursing through her. Life. Hope.
“Some things are worth the risk,” Angel said. “Right? Even if he’s not the settle-down-and-have-a-family, get-a-dog type. He still showed up for you.”
Yes, he had.
And if she were honest— “I just don’t want him getting hurt because of me.”
Angel frowned but didn’t answer because of the footsteps squeaking down the hallway. They passed the room without entering.
Aria couldn’t help the slightest twinge of disappointment.
“He looks pretty sturdy,” Yola said, walking to the door. “Not the type to get easily hurt.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t know Jake like I do.”
Yola turned. “I think that’s the point. If Jake is the guy you say he is, maybe that’s exactly why he isn’t letting you go. Why he chased you to Florida.”
“I don’t think—”
Yola stepped back as the door opened.
Jake stood in the frame. Soaking wet. Grinning. Wearing his backpack and holding up a bag of Cheetos as if he’d brought home dinner from the wilds.
Yola folded her arms and looked at Aria, a told-you-so in her expression.
“Here you go, Doc,” he said and tossed her the bag.
She caught it. “I suppose you want a tip.”
“Nope.”
“How’d you get into the vending machine?” Yola asked.
“I picked the lock.” He turned to Angel. “And I got something for you too.” He walked over, and from his coat drew out a—
“Oh my, it’s a puppy!” Angel said.
Soaking wet and shivering, the little black dog appeared to be a poodle, with curly hair but droopy ears and big brown eyes. He looked about three months old, about the size of a football.
“Where did you find him?”
Jake set his pack down, leaned it against the wall. “He was in this car. I don’t know if he climbed in, or maybe the owner left him there, but he was barking, scared to death.”
“He’s trembling,” Angel whispered and pulled him to herself.
“I thought you might like some practice before the little one shows up,” Jake said.
“He’s so sweet,” Angel said.
Aria stared at Jake. Water dripped down his face, into his beard, his baseball hat saturated, his clothes equally wet. He shivered a little, but he was watching Angel, grinning.
Yes, he was.
Oh, boy. “I’m going to find you a blanket,” she said and pushed past the infuriating man and out into the hallway.
He turned and followed her down the hallway, of course. “Aria, what’s the matter?”
She didn’t look back.
“Hot Lips. Turn around and talk to me.”
Oh, for— “Don’t call me that.” But she turned, her hands on her hips.
He skidded to a halt. “Then tell me what I did.”
“What you did? What you . . .” She shook her head. “Stop being so . . . charming. You sweep in here like you’re Superman, carrying a pregnant woman. Then you put out a fire, find a puppy—for crying out loud, and bring me Cheetos. I mean, what’s next, donating a kidney?”
He just stared at her.
“You can’t do this, Jake. You can’t follow me around the world and make me . . . just, you can’t.”
“Make you what?” His voice had dropped, his blue eyes holding hers.
Her mind went blank. Shoot, those eyes had magical powers. “Don’t.”
“What?”
“Look at me!”
He moved his eyes off her, up, over, down, over—
“Stop.” But she bit back a smile. “You’re like a two-year-old.”
He grinned. “A very tall two-year-old.”
She sighed. “Jake, don’t you get it? What we had in Alaska was . . . it was a time-out from life. It was . . . fun. And yeah, I . . . I liked you.”
His smile fell. “I liked you too.” He made to reach out for her then, but she stepped back.
“But that’s the point. That wasn’t . . . me. The real me doesn’t, well, she doesn’t do impulsive, or unexpected, or even really—”
“Have fun?”
She lifted a shoulder. “I tried to have fun and ended up stuck in a tropical storm. And, before that, on a mountain.”
“That was a little fun.”
“And see, that’s why we don’t belong together. Because no, it wasn’t fun. I mean . . . yes. I liked talking to you—”
“That’s not all we did—”
“Don’t. I mean, I know.” And now she couldn’t look at him, her face heating. “But see, again. To you, that was all fun. To me . . . I . . . I don’t behave that way. I don’t just kiss people and walk away.”
“Except that’s exactly what you did.” He drew in a breath. “Was it because . . . well, because of what happened, or didn’t happen, in the hotel room? Because I made you feel, I don’t know . . . unsafe? Because if that’s what it was, then I’m not only sorry, but yeah, I’ll walk away from you, Aria. I never want you to feel unsafe with me.”
“No, Jake. No.” She put her hand on his arm then. Squeezed. “I felt safe. Too safe, probably. And that’s why I suggested . . . well, again, I wasn’t myself. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I do know that I’m back in my real world now, and in this world, I work 24/7. I barely have a social life, my patients are my world, and I like it that way. I know I’m not being fair to you, but . . . but you don’t really want a woman like me anyway.”
He frowned at her.
“No, Jake, really. I’m all preplanning, schedules, to-do lists, and by the book. You’re . . . well, you’re the guy who climbs mountains for fun, jumps from a plane on a whim, and breaks into cars to rescue puppies.”
“You would have broken into a car to save a puppy,” he said.
She shook her head.
“What if I’m good for you?”
She looked up at him, softened her voice. “No, Jake. You’re not good for me. You get me in over my head.”
He drew in a breath, and his jaw tightened. But he nodded, something hooded coming over his face. “Yeah. Okay. I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry, Aria. For everything. For Alaska. And for following you down to Florida.”
She didn’t know why, but her chest tightened and her throat burned.
“We’ll get through this storm, and back home, and I promise, you’ll never see me again.”
Then he turned and walked down the hall.
CHAPTER 7
THE SOONER JAKE GOT OUT OF HERE, the better. Because watching Aria stare at the dregs of her Cheetos, avoiding his gaze, only burned a hole through him.
“No, Jake. You’re not good for me. You get me in over my head.”
His sternum might have actual bruising from the way her words hit him.
He got her in over her head. He could attach a slew of other words to that. He scared her. He was dangerous. He was, um, bad for her.
In fact, boil it down and Jake was nothing but trouble.
Nice.
Yes, this little excursion was quickly turning into a trip through H-E-double-hockey-sticks. Despite his attempts to lighten the mood.
“So, what did the football coach say to the vending machine?” Jake sat on the windowsill, rooting around in his Doritos bag, looking for the last full chip.
He looked up to the silence in the room. Mimi lay on the bed, breathing oxygen through a mask, hooked up to a ventilator. But she’d demanded that “whatever party y’all are having, you’d better have in my room,” so he’d wheeled Angel’s bed in next to the older woman’s.
He liked Mimi. She reminded him of his grandmother—feisty, to-the-point, determined. Probably an older version of Aria, at least on the inside. On the outside, Aria was probably going to die in a pair of scrub pants.
“I want my quarter back,” he said to his waiting audience.
“I like it!” Angel was sitting up, petting the puppy—whom she’d named Toby. The little guy had finally stopped shivering, warmed in the nest of blankets Aria had found.
Angel had dried off too, although her dreads were still soggy. She looked desperately young. He’d like to get his hands on Baker, the guy who’d knocked her up and abandoned her.
“You should do stand-up,” Yola said. She sat on a chair next to Mimi’s bed. “There’s this great comedy club in my neighborhood in Queens. They have open mic every Wednesday.”
“You know, I know a lot of jokes about unemployed people but none of them work.” Jake found a chip, crunched it, waiting.
A pause, then Mimi started to laugh.
Jake winked. “You know why the shrimp wouldn’t share his treasure, right?” He lifted a shoulder. “Because he was a little shellfish.”
Mimi bent over, her hand to her stomach, laughing. It turned into a cough.
“Okay, that’s enough, Jake.” Aria got up from where she was sitting on the floor. She washed the Cheetos grime off her hands in the sink and went over to Mimi. “We don’t want to have to give her another nebulizer treatment.”
“Sorry,” Jake said, but the rest of the women were grinning at him. And as long as he kept everyone smiling, everyone laughing, he didn’t have to think about—no, it wasn’t fun.
Wow, he’d judged that wrong.
Because he remembered being trapped with Aria as being very, very fun. At least when he didn’t think about the parts where someone could have died.
“Where did you learn all those jokes?” Yola asked.
“BUD/S. We had a guy—we called him Seinfeld. He was hilarious and we’d be dying, just trying to breathe and he’d come up with a one-liner that would take us out. He tapped out during hell week, but his jokes stayed.”
“How long were you a SEAL?” Yola asked.
“Twelve years. I got out about a year ago.”
He didn’t look at Aria. Because during one of the not-fun parts of their two days trapped together, he’d told her exactly why. One of a handful of people who knew the facts, even if he hadn’t told her everything.
But talk about letting someone in too far . . .
“Thank you for your service,” said Mimi.
He looked over at her, smiled. “Thanks, ma’am.”
“My Rollo wanted to go in, but I was too afraid he’d be shipped over to ’Nam, and we already had Yolanda’s mama, so he agreed to stay out. And they hadn’t started the draft yet, when he came of age, so . . . but he always felt like he shoulda served.”
“It’s not for everyone,” he said. “But it was a life I . . . well, it fit me. I liked being on the teams.” He got up then and went over to the remote near the bed. “Let’s see if we can get some reception, Mimi. Get us some Weather Channel.”
He turned it on but found static.
“We already tried that,” Aria said. “Probably the cable station is down.”
“Hopefully we’re past the worst of it,” Mimi said. “The storm sounds like it’s dying.”
The rain had gusted in bursts of fury over the past hour. Outside, one of the lights had gone out, broken. Jake reached for his cell phone, checking again for reception. Nothing.
He walked toward the window—one bar appeared, and with it, a message. He opened it before the reception died.
Jake. Hope you found your girl and are out of danger. Cat 5 hurricane headed for the Keys. Call us when you get to Miami. Dad
He stilled, then closed his phone and slipped it into his back pocket.
“You know,” he said, taking a breath, “I was thinking that if the storm gets worse, we probably don’t want to be near these windows.” He turned, a smile on his face. “I’m going to try and find a better room for us.”
He petted Toby on the way out of the room.
Aria followed him. “Jake?”
He looked over his shoulder. “’Sup?”
“What was in the text?”
He opened an inner door—supply room. Not big enough to accommodate all of them. “Nothing. My dad, checking in.”
She’d caught up to him. “You’re acting weird.”
He opened another door, a tiny bathroom. It could work, maybe. “Did you see any other rooms here that don’t have any windows?”
“There’s a chapel on the other side, sort of by the nurses’ station.”
He turned to her. Debated. But she’d said she liked to plan, didn’t want anything unexpected, so, “Lucy has been upgraded to a Cat 5, and with the intermittent rain bands, my guess is that it’s going to hit soon. Which means there will be a storm surge and pretty violent winds. We need to stay high and get someplace without glass.”
She was just staring at him. “A . . . Cat 5. No. That isn’t . . . that can’t . . .” She reached out and braced her hand on the wall. “No, this can’t be—”
