I watched the couple splash for a moment, the girl shrieking with delight as the man tried to dunk her under the water. I felt a surge of jealousy. I had technically won a trip for two, but I had come alone.
I lived by myself, had no boyfriend, and my older sister who was supposed to come with me had gotten appendicitis and had to cancel at the last minute. It was easy enough to cancel the reservation for her, but it meant that no one else was able to get the time off to go with me. I was on my own for this trip. I sighed and turned away from the happy couple. Valentine’s Day had only been a couple of weeks ago, and I didn’t want another reminder that I was alone.
I looked towards the solitary figure in the other direction. It was a man, at least good looking from the distance, but unhappy about something. It was subtle, but the way he kicked at the waves and clenched his hands, I could tell he was not enjoying his vacation. I wasn’t sure how that was possible in a place like this, but I wasn’t about to let a stranger ruin my good mood. He was walking slowly towards my spot on the beach, lost in his own thoughts.
I pressed the small clicker the bar had given me for "beach service", knowing they would bring me a fresh piña colada in minutes. This really was a slice of heaven.
“Help! Somebody, help! HELP!” A scream came from the water, high pitched and full of fear. I jerked up, knocking my sunglasses off my face. The girl was screaming and thrashing in the water. My first thought was a shark, but the water was still crystal blue. She was struggling with the man’s limp body towards shore, screaming as she battled the waves.
I was up in a heartbeat and racing towards her to help. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the solitary man running in the same direction I was headed. I crashed into the shallow waves, the first touch of the warm water surprising me. I had expected it to be cold, but it felt more like bathwater. I reached the girl quickly and grabbed hold of her boyfriend’s arm to help drag him into shore.
“What happened?” I shouted as we pulled his dead weight through the water.
“I don’t know! One minute he was under the water, and the next he was just floating there. I thought he was just playing, but, oh God...” she cried softly. The solitary man reached us, not even breathing hard despite the fact he had sprinted down the beach. Between the three of us, we maneuvered the unconscious man onto the beach, his feet still in the waves as I bent to check his pulse.
I couldn’t find it. I wasn’t sure if I was too excited and was missing it, or if I really couldn’t find one. Either way, I knew what I had to do. It was more instinct than actual thought; I placed one hand on the other and began pumping his chest, humming an old Bee Gee’s song under my breath. The girl started screaming again and Solitary Man quickly grabbed her and took her up higher on the beach, asking her questions. I could barely hear them, like they were in a far away dream as I concentrated on making my thrusts deep and even.
“Does he have any heart conditions?”
“I don’t know... wait, yes! He said it wasn’t a problem though!”
“Is he on any medications? Even stuff that he wasn’t prescribed?”
“No, no... Well, he took something today. A little blue pill. It’s our first vacation together and we didn’t think it would cause any harm! Oh god, why did I let him take it?”
The man underneath my fingers suddenly lurched and gasped. I quickly rolled him on his side, just in time, as he vomited salt water and whatever he had for lunch all over the beach. I rocked back on my heels, suddenly light headed. My shoulders and back ached; I hadn’t realized how hard I had been pushing. The girl was screaming again, but this time with joy as she rushed over to check on him.
A uniformed man came running towards me carrying a big red medical bag. Another man carrying an orange back-board was hot on his heels. I stood up and backed away slowly in a haze, letting the professionals take over. They spoke quickly between themselves, efficiently transferring the man onto the back-board and hooking up a blood pressure cuff and other monitoring devices. Before I had cleared my thoughts enough to understand what was going on, they were already halfway up the beach to a waiting ambulance. They passed by a confused looking waiter with a piña colada walking towards my empty towel on the beach.
I brushed the hair out of my eyes, suddenly realizing I had lost my sunglasses. I glanced around the beach, but couldn’t see them anywhere. A kernel of irritation welled up inside my chest; I really liked those sunglasses. I kicked at the sand before realizing that my sunglasses weren’t important. I giggled a little; I had just saved a man’s life, but my issue with the day was about my missing sunglasses. People lose sunglasses all the time, but very few people randomly save a stranger on their vacation.
“That was amazing,” a deep voice said by my shoulder. I spun around quickly to see Solitary Man smiling at me.
“Oh, um, thanks. I didn’t even really have time to think about it to be honest. I just reacted,” I said, a little flustered. Up close, he was really handsome. Like movie star handsome. He had a white t-shirt that did nothing to hide his muscles and dark blue swim trunks that looked expensive. He ran a hand through sandy hair, his eyes twinkling at me.
“Well, I think you saved his life. Not a bad thing to tell the folks at home about your vacation. You did really well,” he said. His eyes were focused solely on me, like I could be the center of his world. I fidgeted with my foot in the sand, embarrassed by his praise.
/> “Thank you. You helped. You kept his girlfriend from completely freaking out,” I said quickly. I could still feel my heart pounding a million miles a minute and I wasn’t completely sure the whole thing hadn’t been a crazy dream. Adventure never happened to me. I was always the one who came in five minutes after the excitement ended, not the person living it. Once again everything felt surreal.
“I think it was his wife. She had a big diamond on her finger,” he said with a smile. “I’m Jack by the way. Jack Saunders.”
“Emma. Emma LaRue,” I replied and shook his outstretched hand. His skin was warm and his grip firm. I felt a strange tingle run through my fingers as we touched, like we were completing a circuit. He smiled and repeated my name, still holding onto my hand.
“Emma. Well, it is very nice to meet you, Emma. Are you staying at the resort here?” He asked. I nodded and held up my other wrist with the pink bracelet.
“Yup. How about you?”
“No, I am staying at a house on the beach a little further down,” he said, jerking his head back in the direction he had come from. He still hadn’t let go of my hand and I wasn’t about to complain. I found myself wanting to touch even more of him.
“Oh, that must be nice. The houses I saw on the way in looked very nice,” I said, instantly sounding dumb in my head. I needed to find a new adjective. I let myself off the hook for it though. I was still a little shell shocked. He sighed and let go of my hand.
“I am actually trying to escape it right now,” he said, his smile gone. It was like the sun had dipped behind a cloud when he stopped smiling.
“It can’t be that bad,” I said, hoping he would smile again.
“I came with someone, and I thought we were going to have a good time, but it has been miserable. I couldn’t stay in the house with her a second longer,” he said with a grimace.
“Girlfriend?” I asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice. If he was here with someone, then I probably would never see him again. I had only known him for less than five minutes, but I never wanted him to leave.