9. Caleb
NINE
Caleb
I t was hotter than hell today. The way the sun hit the water was like the entire sound lit up from beneath the surface. Trying to look at the water was like looking directly into a spotlight. I winced under my sunglasses and wiped my brow. I took a drink of water. I drank too much last night. I could feel the whiskey still working its way through my muscles. It left a second reminder—the headache that pounded even after the handful of aspirin I swallowed. I had been on patrol since 6 am. I volunteered to take Gabe’s shift so I could be off tonight. I didn’t like night patrol.
I steered the 25-foot skiff out of the cove and cleared the oncoming set of buoys. If the forecast was right, the next few days were going to be rough. When storms moved into the Pointe Harbor and Marshoak Island area, they usually bring with them a set of problems. Complications. Stranded boaters. Swimmers caught off guard by the rip currents. I shook my head when I thought about the rescues we’d completed so far this summer. Since last week’s rescue of the family during the storm I hadn’t slept much. The sleep deprivation was starting to catch up to me.
The low-pressure system was still a day off the coast. I needed to get some sleep tonight.
The pelicans skimmed the top of the waves as if their wings were going to touch, but they never did. I slowed the engine and drifted for a few minutes.
The radio crackled then beeped three times, announcing a call is coming in. I picked up the receiver to listen. “Coast Guard Cutter 21 this is base.”
“Base this is Coast Guard Cutter 21. Go ahead.” I waited for the call.
“Coast Guard Cutter 21 we have an unconscious boater at the Blue Heron Marina. Male, approximately ten years old. Injury status unknown.”
“Shit,” I muttered. I felt a rush of adrenaline. The Blue Heron. “Base, this is Coast Guard Cutter 21 en route now.”
“Can you meet the emergency responders at the docks?”
“Ten-four.” I clipped the receiver on the radio. I needed to focus on getting there as fast as I could.
I threw the boat into full power. I didn’t need markers on a map to tell me where the Blue Heron was. It was the one place on the island I’d avoided for seven years. Sometimes it couldn’t be helped. Docking or helping boaters at the marina happened a few times. I avoided Walt. Didn’t want to hear about his niece. I didn’t want to chance it that she’d reappear somehow like a fever dream.
As I approached the marina, I saw someone on the end of the pier, waving me over. I almost hit the side of the piling when I skidded into place. The wake sloshed up on the ladder, rattling it against the hull.
“Oh my God. Hurry. I don’t know what’s wrong with him except I can’t get him to wake up.”
It had been seven summers since I had seen her. For a second, I didn’t know if my mind was playing tricks on me. How could it be her? After all this time, how could she be the one who sent out a distress call? There was no mistaking Margot. I had memorized every part of her all those years ago.
I threw the bow line onto the dock as I hopped up onto the wooden planks and tied the boat off to a piling.
“Caleb?” she whispered. “What? How?”
I dropped my backpack next to the kid. It contained an emergency first aid kit. I didn’t see blood or any cuts.
“What’s his status?” I needed to get to work to save the boy.
“He’s breathing,” she explained. “I took him inside to call but they said to come back out here.”
“What happened?” I checked his pulse at his neck and wrist. It was slow but steady.
“I found him, or saw him,” she stammered. “It tipped. That’s his Sunfish.” She pointed to where the capsized boat had washed ashore near us. “It knocked him out is my guess. He was wearing a life jacket. Thank God. That’s good, right? That means he’ll be okay?”
I nodded and checked his pupils. “I need to get him to the hospital on the mainland. There’s an ambulance waiting for him over there. You did a good job of calling this in.”
“I’m going with you,” she announced just as I lifted the kid off the pier.
“Are you his mom?” I paused long enough to finally take her in. All of her. She was standing in wet clothes. The shorts stuck to her skin like a wetsuit, hugging the silhouette of her hips. It was an inconvenient time to notice she was still beautiful.
She shook her head. “No. I’m not his mom. Or maybe. Should I be? Will you let me go with you if I am?” She bit her lip. “Let me go. Please. I want to know what happens to him. Okay? I’ll stay out of the way.”
I wasn’t supposed to let anyone who wasn’t family onto the cutter. Of all the people, the last one I needed to interfere with the work I had to do was the girl who shattered my heart.
“Please, Caleb.”
I didn’t have time to argue with her. He seemed stable, but with a head injury, anything could happen to the kid.
“Come on.” I gestured for her to climb aboard with me. “Untie us all right? I’ll get him settled.”
She lifted the knot I made and shoved off while I flipped the bench seat up and buckled the kid so he was secure. She sat with him in on the bench, brushing his bangs off his forehead. I noticed there was something lost about both of them. Yet, they fit together.
I called in on the radio that we were only ten minutes from the docks. Base dispatch said the ambulance was already waiting.
“Hey.” I couldn’t believe she was here on the cutter. “Keep him as steady as you can while we get through the shoals.” The ride was about to be even bumpier.
She nodded. “Okay. I’ve got him.” I watched as she unbuckled the belt, wrapped her hands against his arms, and secured the boy to her chest.
By the time we reached the harbor, there was a crowd gathered around the docks. The ambulance lights flashed. I eased into the boat slip reserved for emergency vessels.
I hadn’t even cut the engine before the team of paramedics boarded, checked his vitals, carried the kid off, and placed him on a gurney.
“Emergency contact?” they asked. “Known allergies? Blood type?”
She shook her head. “I-I found him in the water like that. I don’t even know his name.”
I realized Margot’s clothes were pajamas. I opened the stowage door beneath the wheel and retrieved a blanket. I stepped toward her while they scribbled information on a clipboard. He was a stranger to her. She wasn’t able to answer any of the paramedics’ questions.
Once they began to wheel the kid away, I saw her lunge toward the pier.
“Hey, hold on.” I wrapped the Coast Guard blanket against her shoulders, but she pushed it off along with my hands.
“I need to go with him,” she urged.
“They’ll take care of him. He’s in good hands. I know these guys. Work with them all the time.” I smiled. This was my third rescue of the month. “I’ll ride you back over to the island. Come on.”
“No.” She scrambled away from me, scraping her knee on a deck board as she stretched to her feet. “Shit.” She hurried toward the ambulance.
“Wait,” I called, chasing her through the gravel parking lot. “They aren’t going to let you on the ambulance.”
The lights circled and the tires spat out bits of rock and dirt while the siren blared.
“No,” she whimpered, watching the ambulance drive away. “I don’t know his name. I don’t know who he is. They don’t either. I should go. Someone should be with him when he wakes up. He’s going to be so scared.”
I stood next to her. “He’s going to be okay. I can make a couple of calls.”
“No. I’m going to the hospital.”
“In your wet pajamas?” I questioned.
“Does it really matter?”
“Look.” I took a deep breath. “Give me a second. I’ll figure something out.” I jogged back to the boat and lifted the receiver on the radio.