“Brace this,” she tells me, then moves the nightstands, desk, and dresser up against the mattress to hold it in place against the windows.
“Okay,” Chloe says from behind us. “You two sit down so I can take a look at you.”
KT and I sink into the two upholstered chairs, and Chloe sits on the edge of the box spring, facing us. She assesses my face and gently feels around my head, avoiding the egg I see swelling in my peripheral vision. She lifts her index finger and says, “Follow with your eyes. Good.”
I evidently pass whatever test she’s given, because she focuses on KT and winces. “You, on the other hand, are a pretty big mess. Let’s get you out of the wet suit.”
Outside, the wind sounds like a freight train. Rain hammers the windows. Gusts rock the small building.
KT lies back on one of the two twin box springs remaining on the bed frame, and Chloe and I leverage rips in the wet suit material to ply the suit from her body, piece by piece, until KT is down to her bikini. She is intensely fit. If she were a guy, I’d describe her as ripped. But she’s got some hefty gashes in those long, toned limbs that make me suck air between my teeth.
“It’s not that bad,” KT says, surveying the damages as Chloe gets to work cleaning and inspecting the wounds. KT props herself up with her hands behind her. “Could have been a hell of a lot worse. The coral down there is some of the most stunning I’ve ever seen, but I never would have gone down if they’d correctly forecast this cyclone.”
“They didn’t forecast a cyclone,” I say. “They said it was a tropical storm.”
As if my terminology insults Mother Nature, dark shapes ricochet off the glass, making us all jump.
“That,” KT says, her breath hissing out in a stream, “is a cyclone.”
I can’t quite figure this woman out. She leans a little more toward the masculine than the average woman. “Are you military or law enforcement or something?”
“No, why?”
“Because you’re hardcore. Badass. What you did out there was fucking intense. Anyone else would have drowned.”
Her gaze holds on mine. “You’re the reason I didn’t drown. If you hadn’t come down to the bottom of the steps, there was no way I could have made it through another pounding. I was an inch away from giving up.”
A spring of bubbles erupts in my chest, and unexpected tears sting my eyes. Maybe from her sincere appreciation, maybe from the aftermath of the near-death experience.
KT turns her gaze on Chloe. “And I wouldn’t have made it up the stairs without both of you.”
She reaches out and gives our hands a squeeze, then lies back, resting her arm across her forehead, then casually announces, “I think I have a couple breaks.”
“What?” Chloe asks, alarmed. “Where?”
She takes a deep breath and winces. “Rib, and maybe my left foot.” Then she grins, and her normally broody expression melts into a rare and stunning kind of beauty. “Sorry, Chloe, I’m going to opt out of your ‘deep breath’ clinics.”
“Ha-ha,” Chloe says with a good-natured smirk.
I laugh, hard and unexpectedly. The pressure immediately creates knifelike pain in my head. “Oh, shit. Ow. Ow, ow, ow.”
“The adrenaline is waning,” KT says. “That’s when all the pain kicks in. I’m going to look like an eggplant for weeks.” To me, she says, “You’re going to look pretty rough too.”
I think of my parents and the fuss they’ll make. Maybe I’ll extend my vacation so I can heal before they see me. I seriously can’t take one more you-stupid-girl look from either of them.
More shapes blow past the building—a lounge chair, an umbrella, a small tree, something. They bounce off the glass, making us all jump again.
After a moment of nothing but the storm filling our ears, KT lays her head back on a groan and stares at the ceiling. “I’d give my right arm for a juicy cheeseburger.”
“With double patties,” I add dreamily, “extra cheese, a basket of fries—”
“Animal style on both,” Chloe says, referencing the gooey combination of cheese, fried onions, and Thousand Island dressing used by the well-known American restaurant In-and-Out Burger. “And a milkshake. Thick, creamy chocolate.”
I gasp dramatically. “Chloe, you cheating little spirit junkie.”
Chloe and KT laugh. “I’m into self-awareness and the universal laws of happiness and love. That doesn’t mean I’m vegan or a masseuse or a member of PETA. They’re not one in the same, however, I do happen to be a good masseuse, or so I’m told, and I’m also a yogi.”
“Spirit junkie will definitely stick,” KT says.