CHAPTER SIXTEEN

This was not good.

Greg inwardly groaned while keeping a calm exterior. He couldn’t believe they were so close to home and yet so far away. Why did the boat have to give out on them now of all times?

He knew the answer to the question. Though, he didn’t like the answer. He’d been pushing the motor and the electrical system harder than he had in the past in his effort to get home quickly. He’d been anxious to put some desperately needed distance between the two of them.

Because things were rapidly changing between them. Lines were shifting, and he felt as though he’d lost his balance. The wall around his heart was starting to crumble.

Every minute he was with her, he felt himself getting drawn to her. Every time their gazes caught and held a moment too long, his heart would race. Every time they reached for the same thing at the same time and their fingers touched, a sense of awareness jolted him.

But he couldn’t give in to any of those feelings. He had to get them back to the island safely and then walk away. He’d done it before. He could do it again.

He wouldn’t be the reason Summer remained on the island. She felt a duty to her parents to be close to them and respected it, even if it meant that once more their paths were headed in different directions.

Maybe if he hadn’t been in such a rush back to the island, the engine wouldn’t have given out. If he hadn’t fought so hard to keep up the pace against the strengthening current, then he wouldn’t have blown out the entire system.

And even worse, he was having no luck restarting the motor. Frustration churned in his gut. He’d used every bit of mechanical knowledge that Summer’s father had bestowed upon him. None of it had helped. And minute by minute the churning waters of the Atlantic were getting worse.

He reached for the bright orange life jackets. He held one out to Summer. “Put this on.”

Her mouth opened, but then silently she closed it. She nodded as she took the life vest and put it on at the same time he put his on.

The sky had grown dark. The rain grew heavier. The waves were threatening to splash onto the deck. He secured the engine compartment. There was nothing left that he could do. Whatever was wrong with the boat was beyond his capabilities out there on the ocean.

“What do you want me to do?” Summer’s emerald-green eyes stood out against her pale cheeks as goosebumps covered her bare arms.

He glanced around as the first wave reached them. “Secure the cabin.”

With adrenaline flooding his body, he didn’t notice the coldness of the water combined with the gusty wind brushing over his wet clothes. He moved toward the ladder to the cockpit.

“Where are you going?”

He didn’t want to tell her. He knew once he did, she’d realize the grave danger he’d gotten them into. The last thing he wanted to do was to scare her further.

“Greg?” she yelled over the noise of the wind and water. “Greg, come inside the cabin with me.”

“I will. I have to do something first.” He had to raise his voice to be heard over the driving rain.

“What could be that important?”

“I need to get us help.” He failed to mention that he was unsure how long his old boat could sustain these turbulent conditions.

The fear shone in her eyes. She opened her mouth but no words came out. Instead, she nodded her head. Just then a big wave rocked the boat. It lurched hard to the side. His feet went out from under him.

Greg grasped the ladder. He held on tightly. He reached out for Summer. He grasped nothing but rain. The water blurred his vision.

He blinked. When his vision cleared, he saw Summer across the deck. She had fallen. He moved across the deck to her.

He bent over to help her up. When she turned to him, crimson streaked down from her forehead. His stomach plummeted. She was hurt, and it was his fault for suggesting that he bring her to Maine and back on his boat. Why had he thought this was a good idea?

As she moved her right arm, her face contorted with pain. She pulled it back against her chest. Instead, she reached out to him with her left arm. His gut knotted up. What else had she hurt during that fall?

When he at last drew her close, he said, “You’re bleeding.”

“I am?”

He nodded. “Your forehead… It’s bleeding.”

She raised her hand to her head. She pressed her fingers to the wound and winced. “I’ll be fine.”

“Go below. I’ll be down soon.”

She nodded her head and went below without an argument. That worried him. Summer was strong and independent. She wasn’t one to readily take orders.

His worry about her head injury spurred him into action. Making it across the wet deck while the boat pitched back and forth was a lot like ice skating across a rink that moved. He was tossed around like a rag doll, colliding hard with things before being propelled in a different direction.

It took a couple of tries, but at last his hand latched onto the ladder. He held onto the rungs with a death grip. When he made it to the cockpit, he headed for the emergency radio. With the power on the boat being out, he was never so glad his father had taught him as a young boy to change the backup batteries on a regular schedule. It was something he’d never forgotten.

By now the sky was dark as night, even though nighttime was still hours away. Lightning arced between the storm clouds. He hadn’t seen a storm this severe in a very long time. Why had there been no warnings about it? Earlier when he’d checked the forecast, the storm coming from the west was not supposed to be severe, and they’d been predicting it would curve north before it reached the open water. They’d been wrong. So very wrong.

“Mayday, mayday, mayday.” It was the most urgent call for help. He’d hoped he’d never have to make one of those calls because it would mean someone’s life was in imminent danger.

As the lightning flashed overhead, he knew if the boat were to take a direct hit, they’d never survive in the rough waters. He would do whatever he could to protect Summer.

He repeated the boat’s name, hoping someone could hear him. “Mayday. This is the Blue Minnow.” He read off their location just in case his radio’s GPS wasn’t working as well as gave detailed information about the boat. “Our boat is inoperable, and I have an injured person.”

Thankfully, the Coast Guard heard his call. They didn’t have anyone in the area, but they would dispatch someone as soon as there was a break in the storm.

Greg had no idea how long it would take for the Coast Guard to reach their location. Every passing minute seemed to last an hour as the sea lashed about around them and the sky lit up with lightning. The thunder was lost in the sounds of the angry sea.

He made his way to the ladder. The wind pushed against him as though attempting to blow him off the ladder. He had to check on Summer. He had to make sure her head injury wasn’t too severe.

She was sick.

Her whole body ached.

Summer wanted off this boat—out of this storm—and to be at home safe and secure in her own bed. She wished this was just some sort of horrendous nightmare. But as she put the last of the loose items in a cabinet and secured the door, she knew there would be no waking up from this nightmare.

With a battery-powered lantern in one hand, she found a towel in the kitchen to wipe the blood from her brow. Her head throbbed, and the bleeding wouldn’t stop, but she couldn’t just sit around. If she missed securing anything, it would become a projectile as the small boat was tossed around the sea like a toy boat.

The hatch opened. The rush of air filled the cabin, swishing her ponytail into her face. She swiped away the strands as she turned to see Greg lower himself into the cabin. He secured the hatch, locking out the storm.

She lowered the towel from her forehead and opened her mouth to say something to him, but the words got lost somewhere between her mind and her mouth. She wordlessly pressed her lips together.

Greg took two swift steps toward her. Concern reflected in his eyes. “Oh, man. You really took a hard hit.” He took the lantern from her hand and raised it to her face to have a closer look at her wound. “Here let me have the towel.” He pressed it to her forehead. “Don’t worry. Help is on the way.”

“It is?”

He nodded.

“How long?

“I don’t know.”

“Shouldn’t we do something?”

“Yes.” He reached out to her, gently grasping her left shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “You need to sit down before you fall again.”

“No. We need to go out there and bail or something. We can’t just sit here.”

“We can’t go outside. Not until the lightning stops.”

“But we can’t just sit here.” Panic welled up inside of her, threatening to suffocate her. “The boat… It’s going to sink.”

“No, it isn’t. We’re safe. And help is on the way. In the meantime, we need to sit on the floor.” As the boat was pitched side to side, he helped her lower herself to the floor.

Once he was beside her, she lowered the towel from her forehead. “How bad does it look?”

The frown on his face said it all. “It’s going to need some stitches. Keep the towel on it.”

Needing to continue talking in order to keep her panic at bay, she said the first thing that came to mind. “Do you remember when we were kids how you were fascinated with storms?”

“That was a long time ago. And before I got stuck in a storm.”

Perhaps that wasn’t the best thing to mention. With the boat rocking back and forth, it was difficult to think they were going to make it back to Bluestar. “Do you really think we’re going to be okay?”

His gaze met hers. “I do.” Then he lowered his gaze to the floor “I’m so sorry about this.”

“It isn’t your fault.”

“I feel like it is. You have to know that I would never do anything to put you in danger.”

She turned to him. In the glow of the lantern, her gaze met his. “I do know that. I just can’t help thinking about that time in the rowboat with Josie.”

Her mind kept opening the door to the past—a past that she’d thought she’d finally put behind her. It had been another boat—another time—she’d been in trouble at sea.

But it had been so long ago, and she was past it. After all, she’d been willing to get on this boat. She was on a boat every time she went to the mainland. But the ferry never scared her. Maybe because it was so big or maybe because she’d been riding on it all of her life.

She swallowed hard. “We were so excited when we found that old row boat abandoned on the northern tip of the island, tucked in among the rocks as though long forgotten. We thought if we could fix it up and make it sea-worthy.”

“Any fifteen-year-old would have thought that.”

“We grew up on the island. We should have known the risks.” She remembered the excitement of them fixing up their very own boat. If only they’d known what lay ahead of them, they would have made other choices. “We knew the boat was old and needed patched. So we used our allowance to buy the supplies to fix it. We should have asked our parents for advice on what to use, but we thought they might stop us. After all, it wasn’t our boat.”

Greg sat quietly next to her, listening to her every word. She’d never told him the whole story. He’d just heard how it ended—terribly.

She drew in a steadying breath and then continued. “We thought the stuff we used to fill in the cracks in the wood would work.” She shook her head at their naivety. “And we didn’t even think about checking the forecast that day. We wanted to see if we could row around the island. We just rowed and rowed until our arms got tired. And then I can’t remember if the boat started to take on water or if it started to rain, either way, we were in trouble and so far from the shore.”

She remembered how frightened she’d been. A shiver raced down her spine. “The boat had filled with water so quickly. The next thing I knew, we were in the water. If a fishing boat hadn’t come along when it did, it would have been a long, tough swim back to shore.”

“I should have been there with you.” Greg’s voice held a note of regret. “If I had met up with you that day, maybe things would have been different.”

She shook her head. “You can’t think like that. You were dealing with your own issues back then.”

“Um, yeah, my parents’ divorce.” He grew quiet as though just the mention of that tumultuous time in his life had swept him back in time. “Still, I told you I would be there that day. Maybe if I had been, I would have noticed something or stopped you from going out that day.”

“You were where you supposed to be. There was no way you could have known that day would have been the day your father moved out. I don’t even think he knew it until it happened. What happened to you that day was so much bigger than what happened to me.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

She went to reach out to him and winced in pain. Her lower arm ached from where she’d struck it on the deck as she’d tried to break her fall. She lowered her arm to her side. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dredge up that time in your life.”

“It’s not your fault. I’m the one who got you out here in the middle of a storm.”

“And that wasn’t your fault either. No one forecast this behemoth storm.”

Right now, the sea was choppy. The late afternoon sky was dark as night except for the continuous lightshow. Just then there was a bright flash followed by the rumble of thunder that rolled and rolled until she felt it in her bones.

“Please know that I’d never do anything to put you in danger.”

“I know.” And then she felt the need to put things right between them. If it was ever going to happen, it was now, when they were trapped together. “I’m sorry about the kiss.”

Greg was quiet for a moment as though mentally catching up with her abrupt change of conversation. “We don’t have to talk about that now.”

“I feel like we do.”

A bright flash of lightning lit up the inside of the boat followed by a boom of thunder that reverberated through her whole body. Greg must have seen how the storm unsettled her because he reached out and wrapped his arm over her shoulder and drew her to him. She willingly leaned into him.

“There’s nothing you need to say,” he said softly. “It was a long time ago, and I had lousy timing.”

“It’s just if I had known you felt that way—if I’d have known before I went off to Boston that summer for those college classes.” That wasn’t exactly the truth. She’d sensed there was something going on with him—that he might ask her out—and it had scared her. In fact, it had scared her so much it had spurred her into signing up for those college courses.

Because they needed some distance between them. Then things would sort themselves out like they’d always done in the past. He’d meet someone else. Or in this case, she met someone else.

She thought by the time she’d returned to Bluestar at the end of that summer that Greg would have moved on, and they could continue their friendship—a friendship she valued so dearly.

Her history with guys hadn’t been a good one. Things always started off great. She’d think she found the right guy for her, and then it would go all wrong.

So it stood to reason that if she dated Greg, it would eventually end. When it imploded, she’d not only lose her boyfriend but also one of her best friends. It was just too much of a risk.

The thought of losing Greg from her life was unimaginable. And so that day she’d thought she was dodging an inevitable disaster. She had no idea that the end of their relationship would come even without dating.

But now… Now Greg seemed as though he was ready to give their friendship another chance. Well, that was if they lived through this evening.

Her gaze strayed to the portlight. She’d noticed that it’d been a bit since the last flash of lightning. Though the boat was still tossed about on the rough sea, was it possible that the worst of the storm had passed? Hope filled her chest.

After an awkward silence stretched out between them, Greg said, “It’s fine. I’m over it.”

She wasn’t so sure she believed him. He’d kept his distance from her ever since that incident. She didn’t think he could dismiss it so quickly.

Unless he realized all of those years ago that the kiss had been a mistake, and he hadn’t cared anything for her. Maybe it was just a passing thing. Maybe he woke up the next day and was relieved he’d dodged a mistake. Was that the case?

“Summer, you have to know that I’ll always care about you. You’ve been in my life as long as I can remember.”

“I feel the same way about you.” And this distance between them was killing her. “Does this mean you want to be friends again?”

“We’ve always been friends.”

It warmed a spot in her heart to hear those words. Just then the boat rocked so hard to the side that she thought it was going to capsize. Her heart lurched. Time seemed to stop. And at last, the boat settled right side up.

She reached out, squeezing his knee. “We’re going to die.”

“No, we’re not.” He pulled her tighter against him.

Panic clawed at the back of her throat. “They aren’t going to get here in time.”

“Yes, they are.” His voice was calm and steady. Did he really believe what he was saying? “Look at me.”

She turned to him. He placed the lantern on the floor between them, and then he cupped her face in his hands. For a moment, they wordlessly stared at each other.

“I will not let anything happen to you.” There was a note of conviction in his voice.

She clung to his words as though they were a life preserver. As she stared into his eyes, she wanted to believe him, but even Greg couldn’t overcome the wrath of mother nature.

The boat once more rocked hard to the side. Tears burned the back of her eyes. This just couldn’t be how their story ended.

Wanting to rewrite their story, she gave into the one thing she wanted most. She leaned forward, pressing her lips to his. She didn’t know what to expect from him, and with the future so precarious, she just let herself get lost in the moment.

His lips moved against hers. With her good hand, she reached out to him. Her fingers wrapped around his neck. His skin chilled from the wind and rain.

For the briefest of second, she got lost in the intense rush of emotions. In her mind, they were teleported to the island. They were sitting on the beach in the glow of a full moon. Greg had said something funny to make her laugh, and then he’d leaned in to kiss her just like he was doing now.

The boat jerked, pulling them apart. Her heart leapt into her throat. Was this storm ever going to end?

“Look!” Greg held onto the bench for stability as he stood. “There’s light.”

“You mean lightning?”

“No. This is a consistent light. I think it’s the Coast Guard. I think they’ve found us.”

That was when the flood gates opened, and tears streamed down her face. They were going to live through this nightmare. She was going to see Bluestar Island again—her beloved yoga studio—and her parents.

And then there was that kiss. Just the memory made her stomach dip. That conversation would have to wait for another time.

Greg opened the hatch so they could go out onto the deck. She wasn’t so sure how she felt about stepping out into this harrowing storm. It would take digging deeper into her courage than she’d ever dug before.