Turtle Bay (17 page)

"Funny. I can't wait to check out Josh."

Chapter 10

That night I had no trouble falling asleep. I could have told myself it was because I was so exhausted, but I suspected it had something to do with everything coming together in my life. What had seemed so overwhelmingly bleak a few weeks ago now held a promise of better things on the horizon.

True to her word, Farrah was at my house the next morning fifteen minutes before we had to shove off. She had taken my advice and was wearing an old T-shirt and comfortable shorts. Butch and Buttercup were dressed much the same since they both planned on helping out.

Arriving at the station as a group, I introduced Vanessa to our honorary volunteers and asked if it was okay.

"Are you kidding, honey? The more volunteers, the better. Two more truckloads of sand were dropped off early this morning, and we're expecting another one later this afternoon. The phone has been ringing off the hook with residents asking when we're going to have more sandbags ready," she said as the phone rang, proving her point.

"I guess that's our cue to get to work," I told my crew, leading them through the building and out the back door.

Larry called out a greeting to us and I introduced him to Farrah, who would be responsible for holding the bags open for him. Buttercup and Butch paired off while I looked around for Josh, who suddenly appeared at my side.

"Ready?" he asked, handing me a bag. I ignored the little flip in my stomach when I realized he had waited to team up with me again
.

"Sure. Let's make this pile our bitch," I joked, holding the bag open.

Today was different than the previous day since the newest models showed Hurricane Alexia gaining strength. More residents were taking the storm seriously, and a line for sandbags quickly formed. Many of the people pitched in and filled their own bags¸ but the elderly residents had no choice but to wait. Bags were loaded into the trunks of cars the moment they were filled in a never-ending stream. We had to take breaks in shifts because it was so busy. The big treat came when Sal from the local pizza shop down the road showed up for sandbags with a dozen pizzas he had donated for the workers.

Surprisingly, even Buttercup and Butch inhaled a couple slices, but I was more impressed by how tirelessly Farrah worked beside me. We had to force her to eat since she kept insisting she would get something after she filled the next sandbag, which would turn into the next one, and then the next one. Mitch, the station chief, literally had to take the bag out of her hands. Farrah looked like she wanted to argue, but Mitch held an air of authority that made you listen. Larry laughed at her expression as the four of us headed inside to wash up as best we could before sitting in the station break room to eat our lunch. The air conditioning felt amazing, and Farrah and I sighed with pleasure as we sat down at the table with ice-cold sodas and plates loaded with food.

Like the first day I met him, Larry kept up a running commentary throughout the meal that had all of us laughing as he regaled us with stories of surfing experiences that had gone awry. My senses were hyperaware of Josh sitting beside me. I couldn't resist shifting slightly, so we were barely touching. I could tell he noticed by the small smile prying at his lips, but he said nothing. He only leaned across me to grab a napkin on the other side of the table as if to tease me. I wanted badly to take him by the shirt and pull him in close to lay a big kiss on his lips, but I wasn't sure what the guys in the office would think about it. I didn't want to get Josh into any trouble.

The afternoon was more grueling and much hotter than the morning had been, but even more surprising was the fact that the sky was clear blue. If not for the reports on TV, I wouldn't have believed a storm was headed our way. The sun was shining so bright that it hurt my eyes as it reflected off the black asphalt of the parking lot. By mid-afternoon we were all drenched in sweat, which caused the sand to cake to our bodies. It was miserable. The only one who seemed unaffected was Farrah. She bounced around happily, like we had spent the day at a theme park.

The pile of sandbags we created was enough to keep up with the demand of the local residents, but Vanessa said she was still receiving calls for them all day long. My body was spent. There wasn't a muscle on my body that didn't cry when I moved. Even worse than muscle soreness was the way Josh gave me the same nod and grin before heading off to his truck. My aggravation was beginning to boil.

"What's up with that?" Farrah asked as we stood off to the side by ourselves.

"I don't know. We're figuring things out. Part of it is my fault because I kinda said we needed to get to know each other more, but I didn't mean we had to come to a halt."

Farrah nodded as if agreeing with me. "What did he say to that?"

"We haven't talked about it again since that night. I don't know if he's waiting for me or worried about the guys at work finding out," I said, kicking a shovel that was leaning against the wall.

On the way home we dropped Farrah off at her house after she made us promise we'd wait for her in the morning. Waving at her through the window, I watched as she gingerly made her way up her front steps. The work high must have worn off because she no longer had the same bounce in her step. I felt her pain.

The next morning there seemed to be a heightened sense of urgency in everyone at the patrol station. The wind had begun to pick up slightly and finally you could feel a change in the weather that hadn't been noticeable earlier in the week. Just as Josh predicted, the residents in low-lying areas were asked to evacuate, while those in higher non-flood zones were put on alert. Temporary shelters were opened farther inland, and residents were busy boarding up their homes. Butch abandoned sand detail to use his saw to help people who had purchased plywood but had no power tools. Farrah's parents insisted she join them at the hotel rooms they had reserved. They volunteered to let me tag along, but I insisted I needed to stay for my community service obligation. Truthfully, I only used my sentence as an excuse. My sheet was quickly filling up with all the extra hours I had been working, but I didn't want to leave. I was beginning to feel a sense of pride in helping out and in a kooky way considered it making up for my past sins. Josh and I remained in a holding pattern. My resolve to take it slow was disappearing as quickly as the sand piles we had used to fill the bags.

"You want some lunch?" he asked, pointing inside the building as I tied up what felt like my millionth sandbag.

"Sure." I grinned. The weariness I had felt on previous days was gone. My body was quickly adjusting to the physical labor.

"Are you guys still going to ride out the storm?" Josh asked conversationally, handing me a paper plate with a six-inch sub on it.

"Thanks," I said, reaching for a bag of chips and a can of soda. The local beachside businesses had gone all out to make sure the workers and volunteers remained well fed. It was the least they could do since many of the guys from the station helped them get their storefronts ready for the storm. "We have a few suitcases ready to go in case things escalate, but for now, we plan on staying."

Butch had already told Mitch that he would be on hand if he needed him. I was more worried about Player, but Farrah was able to talk her parents into letting him hang out at the hotel with them.

"Maybe you should think about joining Farrah," Josh said, opening his bag of chips.

"I thought you weren't worried about this storm?" I teased.

"I'm not, but you never know. It's just that things will probably get hairy around here. There's always some yahoo who decides to do something stupid like try to catch the next big wave to Australia or some shit like that."

I chuckled at his words. "I bet Larry will be one of them," I teased.

"Nah, these waves are different. Too choppy. You're a serious asshole if you go out during a hurricane," he said, shaking his head. He reached out and tugged on my ponytail. My breath hitched as his knuckles brushed across my neck. It was the first time he'd initiated intimate contact since the night we kissed on the beach. "Regardless, I just want you to be safe."

"You do?" I sighed as his thumb lightly stroked the back of my neck.

"I do." He looked into my eyes, smiling.

"We sound like a Hallmark card," I said, trying to interject some humor so he wouldn't notice my knees were practically quaking.

"Truth," he answered, rubbing his thumb in a circle over my shoulders.

I fought the urge to drop my head forward. I now knew why Player purred every time I rubbed his neck. "You know, we really need to talk," I said hesitantly.

"About?"

I turned my head away, rolling my eyes. He could act dense if he wanted to, but he knew very well what I meant. "About us. You know, where this is going."

"We're getting to know each other, like you wanted, right?"

"Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I just wanted to make sure we were both on the same page," I said awkwardly. I couldn't believe I had chickened out. Actually, it wasn't that I was afraid, but with the attitude of indifference he had been displaying, I wasn't sure I wanted to put myself out there unless I knew he was 100 percent in.

"Cool," he replied, continuing to rub my neck. "So, you read a lot of cards?"

"What?" I asked, zoning out on his question.

"You said we sounded like a Hallmark card. I figured you must have read a lot of them."

"Oh. Not recently, but when I was eight, Butch found boxes of them in the dumpster behind the drugstore back home," I said, cringing before I could even finish the sentence. Did I really just admit that my dad was a dumpster diver? "Anyway, when he brought them home, I felt I needed to read all of them. There were a lot of duplicates, but for the most part I read every one—baptisms, weddings, birth announcements, even condolence cards. I was fascinated with them."

"What did you do with all of them?" he asked, sounding intrigued.

I laughed. "The question is, what didn't I do with them? I made collages from the pictures and cut out the quotes and glued them to blank sheets of paper. Just put it this way, those boxes of cards kept me entertained for an entire summer. When school rolled around, I used the ones I had left to hand out to my classmates. Turns out, I was the only one who liked the sentiments on the cards. Coming from a religious town where the majority of the residents were Christians, most people didn't appreciate their kids coming home with Kwanzaa cards since that's all I had left."

"What? You mean they didn't appreciate that you were being nice?" he asked, smirking at me.

"Strangely, no. It pretty much just reiterated the idea for everyone that the apple didn't fall far from the tree when it came to parents and their children," I said, able to laugh about it. "Hey, I just remembered something I wanted to ask you. What about the turtle nests?"

"You can go out with me tonight to check if you want," he said. His tone sounded chipper, like he was surprised I had asked about them. "I wasn't sure if you were interested. I mean, there's only one left that hasn't hatched."

"Definitely," I admitted, grabbing the bull by the horns. With any luck, he would take the opportunity to move our relationship forward too.

His eyes lit up as a smile took over his face. "Good," he said, leaning in close. I held my breath, waiting for our lips to meet. He gave me a small peck on the cheek before pulling back, which was better than nothing.

As we resumed working through the afternoon, I could feel another subtle change in our relationship. Maybe he had seen through my attempt at talking about it earlier, but all signs looked positive. Like the way he winked at me when I handed him a water bottle or the way he would subtly brush the sand from my face. Without necessarily declaring ourselves a couple, it was apparent we were now together.

When we finished for the day, I rode home with Josh since Buttercup had asked him over for dinner. According to the news, tomorrow would be the day we would start to see the effects of the hurricane.

"Did your dad evacuate?" I asked as we climbed into his truck together.

"Yeah, he's bunking down with my uncle until the storm passes. We prepped our house last night, but it's a tough old bird."

"Are you going to your uncle's too?"

"No, I plan on staying at my house tonight, and after that, I'll be at the station. Like I said, you'd be amazed at the idiots who show up at the beach during a storm. We'll need all hands on deck to keep everyone safe. I wouldn't be surprised if we get more calls than normal."

"I know, right?" I said. "We had crazy tornado storm chasers back in Kansas. Everyone wanted to be the next YouTube sensation."

"Everyone wants to be famous," he muttered, obviously talking about his mom.

"I'm glad I decided to stay," I said, changing the subject.

"Me too."

"Man, we've come a long way. To think, just a few weeks ago you hated me."

"Whatever. You were convinced I was some Boy Scout."

"I still feel that way," I deadpanned.

"I know we kinda talked about this, but I really do feel bad for the way everything went down. The fact that you're the one who suffered all the consequences is pretty shitty."