Saving Summer (9 page)

That dog was easily entertained.

It wasn’t long till a few of the staff discovered us.

At first I thought we’d get kicked out, but they didn’t seem to mind.

I caught a smile from Summer. She was standing across the room. Her hair was in a braid, chunks were falling out around her face. I felt myself smile back.

We hadn’t gone on a date yet. I hadn’t asked her out. But in that moment, I knew that we were together. I smiled even wider when she gave me a nod, as if to confirm everything I felt.

Summer Bergmann was mine, and I was hers.

Chapter 16
Summer

I was sitting on the bed in our room, utterly exhausted after hours in our makeshift dog park. Gael was in the shower, singing, might I add, a very bad rap song. He had no voice for it. Was off key and not on the beat at all, but it only made me like him even more.

I smiled, flipping through the pages of the menu, when the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“This is the front desk, you have a call from a Celso Cortez.”

“Yes, thanks,” I said. “Celso?”

“Hey, Summer?” he let out a heavy sigh. “Damn, what happened to you guys?”

I flopped back against the pillows. “It’s a long story. But we are safe. How are you guys?”

There was a long pause.

“Celso?” I pushed. “Is everything okay?”

“Damian got beat up playing the hero. But he’s good.”

I hopped off the bed and banged on the bathroom door. Gael was out in a rush, still half soaked as he was tugging on his clothes. I gave the phone to him and watched as he paced the room, talking to his brother.

Before Gael hung up, I asked him to ask Celso about Lou.

He stood with the phone pressed to his ear, a look of shock and disbelief passed over his face. When he hung up, he looked back at me, opened his mouth, and…

“Lou’s fine.”

I got off the bed, not sure I liked how he was keeping the truth from me. “Gael, what is going on?”

He smiled. “Vic dropped her off at the hospital, she was taken to a room and asked to wait with another patient there. When Vic came back to check on her, she claimed it was love at first sight.”

“Who is it?”

“Danny’s grandfather. And he’s even crazier than she is. The man talks to himself and can’t keep his clothes on. He got the nickname, Key West Streaker, a while back.”

When I went to Half Mile I never expected that I would be taking the role as the adult, and that poor Lou would be need supervision. I guess that’s how it goes though. You start your life in diapers and end your life in, well maybe not diapers. But it sure sucked getting old from what I could see.

“I don’t believe it,” I groaned.

“Me either.”

When we checked out of the hotel, the staff was sad to see us go. They loved Wilbur, and decided to keep using the ballroom for a doggy play hour every day until the all clear was given for people to take to the streets. We really shouldn’t have been venturing out in this, but we had to get back home, or at least try.

The truck was in okay shape. The driver’s side window had a slight crack in it from debris hitting it as some point, but she was ready to hit the road.

As we drove we encountered abandoned cars, people wandering aimlessly, and enough junk littering the streets and highways that at some points we had to leave the road to get around it or get out to move it.

Thank goodness we had the truck.

A sedan might not have fared so well.

Halfway through the drive, Gael and I had to stop the truck and drag tree limbs off the road. We were standing off to one side, when Wilbur started barking. He tugged on the leash, and it snapped out of my hand.

“Stop!” I shouted, running after him. But he was like lightning, racing down a dirt lane. I glanced around, thinking maybe this was near the spot where we’d found him the night before. I wasn’t sure though.

Gael ran after him, and I kept close, wondering if we’d find Wilbur’s owner.

We ran what seemed like half a mile before slowing at the end of the lane. Wilbur was seated in front of what used to be a house…it was tiny, the walls had collapsed and the roof was gone. It was literally flattened.

I walked closer, crouching down next to Wilbur to smooth my hand over his head. He was tense, staring at the house and whining like something was wrong.

“Gael…” I looked up at him and swallowed a lump in my throat. “Do you think someone is in there?”

He grimaced. “Yeah, I do. Why else would he be acting like this? Wait here, and don’t go closer to the house.”

I nodded, and watched him run back down the drive. He came back a few minutes later, slowly driving the truck through all the debris scattered around the house. He emerged with a red box that said first aid on the side, and pulled on a pair of gloves.

“What are you doing?” This wasn’t something that happened every day. I was half terrified, half amazed by how brave he was, just walking over the rubble of the house with gloved hands, shining a flashlight down into the cracks and crevices.

“I’m looking for whoever might be here…” He glanced back at the dog. “Hey bud, come on. Smell anything? Anyone?”

I let go of the leash and Wilbur circled the pile of rubble, sniffing, whining, until he stopped near the far corner. The wall was down, but I could see the outline of a bathtub underneath in the cracks.

It was a safe place sometimes, during a storm.

I gulped. “Uh, Gael?”

He walked around the house, crouched next to Wilbur, and began to dig. There wasn’t much to dig through before he stopped and grimaced. He reached out slowly, and held something. When he stood and shook his head, I knew we’d found someone that hadn’t made it.

“No pulse,” he said quietly, hanging his head. “I don’t want to dig any further. I mean, there’s no way that person is alive.”

“Was it his owner?” I asked, turning my back to the house, trying not to cry, or vomit. I felt pretty sick right about now.

“I have no idea.” He carefully pulled off the gloves and dropped them in the dirt. “Let’s find the address to this place and find a phone to call for help.”

I grabbed a scrap of paper from the truck and a pen, while he pulled up our location on the GPS. I scribbled it fast then got in the passenger seat. Wilbur didn’t want to leave, but eventually we coaxed him into the truck. He seemed very sad, but I cuddled him and kept him close as best I could. He’d feel better, hopefully soon.

Chapter 17

The bridge was closed. Just for a few hours. We spent the time playing with Wilbur, who seemed to cheer up as the day wore on. I shared a sandwich with him, and walked him along the shore line by the bridge. Cops were making sure people didn’t try to get back over, at least for now. We’d get onto the island eventually; until then, we’d just have to wait it out.

I kept close to Gael, holding his hand like it was a life line. He’d become a source of strength for me, especially when I broke into tears once he got back into the truck after finding the poor person in the house help. He cried too. It was the hardest experience I’d ever been through. I felt bad laughing or even smiling because of what happened. But Lou used to say that time healed almost all wounds, and even though it was sad, I forced myself to smile and look forward to the good.

We were allowed to get on the island eventually. It was late in the afternoon and a light rain fell, but nothing like what we experienced from the storm. We drove straight to the police station, and waiting for us out front were Gael’s brothers, and just behind them was the girl we met at the coffee shop, Violet. Damian’s face was bruised and his right eye almost swollen shut, but he still ran up to me and hugged me so tight I wanted to squeal. Celso hugged me too, and they both grabbed Gael and crushed him in a big brotherly group hug.

“Damn, it feels like forever.” Damian gestured to his face. “It’s not bad. I’ll be back to normal in no time.”

“So how did that happen…exactly?” I shaded my eyes and looked up at Damian, but he went a little pink and smiled back at Violet.

“I’ll tell you about it later.” Violet reached for Damian’s hand and held it tight. “Once we’ve all settled.”

Gael’s shocked expression morphed into a grin. “I can’t wait to hear this.”

Celso eyed our furry friend and knelt down to say hello. “Where did you find him?”

It was a long story, and we told them everything as we stood outside the station. At first they didn’t believe us, but then Damian tilted his head to the side. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but the boats gone.”

“You mean Wilbur?” I asked.

“Yeah, no telling where it ended up,” he said. “Danny really got rid of it.”

Damian said that he and Danny had been in a fight. Stealing a boat and leaving two people stranded on an island was a crime of some sort, and was pleased that Danny got to experience what it was like to ride in the back of a cop car.

Danny wasn’t our most pressing matter though.

It was Lou.

We made the long walk to the hospital and were able to find Vic’s wife. Tori was frazzled and exhausted, but she gave me good news, and we were shown to a room on the sixth floor. Lou was tucked into the bed watching TV. She had a cup of Jell-O, and an old man was sitting next to her. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and he was smiling. They both were. They looked really happy.

“You know,” I said, backing away from the window. “I think we should leave them alone. I don’t want to upset the peace.”

Gael agreed, and we left the nurses instructions to get in touch with Vic if Lou started asking about me. So far, she’d said nothing about the great niece who was staying with her.

The sound of the voice behind me was very familiar as we were walking out of the hospital. I glanced over my shoulder, and my jaw dropped when I saw Danny at the end of the hall. He had a cop with him, and he was wearing handcuffs.

Gael was next to me one second, and the next he was running at full speed towards his so called friend. I ran after him, but I was too late. Danny was too slow to move. And Gaels aim was just right as he lifted a fist and slammed it in the center of Danny’s face.

He was knocked clear off his feet, and fell with a thud. I was too stunned to do anything other than stare at Gael as he shook his hand and grimaced.

He said nothing and took my hand, pulling me back down the hall out of the hospital.

I glanced back at the cop, who glared at Gael and me then shook his head and hauled Danny up off the floor.

Wow.

To be honest, I really wasn’t sure this was the same Gael Cortez I’d gotten to know. But whatever had happened, I liked it. I liked him. Not because he gave Danny a bloody nose, but because he was just so sure of everything. I had seen so many sides to Gael over the past twenty-four hours, and each one of them I liked better than the last.

There was only one last thing we needed now.

And that was to know what had happened on the island.

We met Damian and Celso down by the docks. Violet had stayed behind at the hospital to visit her mom, who had just had a baby. A few boats had survived. They were pretty impressed with their younger brother. We didn’t even have to tell them about Danny. News traveled fast on the island.

The boat ride was silent. No one said anything. We took Wilbur with us, and he seemed to like the water just fine. He bounded to the very front barking with excitement as we went faster. He was really having a blast. But our spirits were pretty low. They got even lower once we slowed the boat to tie up to a dock that wasn’t leading up to the island anymore. So Celso ran the boat ashore.

Gael gave me a hand out, and I clutched his arm as we wound our way through the brush. It was madness. Nothing looked the same. The trees and mangroves were destroyed. I didn’t hear any birds chirping. The paths we took were gone.

Celso pulled two machetes out of a pack on his back. He handed one to Gael, and I kept close to Damian as they cut their way across the island.

The first house we came to, the one where I spent every summer in with Lou, was gone.

Nothing left.

Just piles of wood and glass.

I was devastated. A sob I didn’t expect broke free and I found myself enveloped by the Cortez brother’s in a hug that made me cry even more. I was so relieved to have them with me, especially Gael, who kissed me right in front of his brothers and wiped the tears off my face.

“Let’s go see how the other house is.” Celso gave me a wink and we started off to the other side of the island.

The Cortez house didn’t fare too well, but most of it was still standing. The roof was gone. So was the deck. All of the windows were blown out, though the cement walls were still standing. The water damage had destroyed all of the furniture and appliances, but as the four of us stood in the yard, Celso decided to point out the obvious.

“Dad can’t blame us for destroying the house now.”

Damian snorted with laughter, and we all started to laugh and smile.

We were alive. We were safe. And we had each other.

Everything else would fix itself in time.

Chapter 18
Gael

“Mom!” Five days later Summer let go of my hand and ran across the terminal to throw her arms around her mother’s neck and hug her tight. We were back in Miami at the airport to pick them up. “Oh God, I’m so happy to see you.”

She hugged her back and smoothed her hair. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”

Summer pulled away from her mom and motioned for me to come closer. “Mom, this is Gael. He was with me the whole time.”

I expected her mother to shake my hand, not pull me into a suffocating hug. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how grateful I am that you stayed with Summer.”

“You’re welcome.” I felt my face go pink and stepped back. We’d spent a lot of time on the phone with her parents once we’d gotten ahold of them. I felt as if we retold our story ten times, but each time we talked they grew more and more at ease. I felt like I’d known them forever now. “Summer is a pretty tough girl. She saved my butt a couple times.”