Chapter 16 #3
“It isn’t necessary to thank me again—I was well compensated for my work.” His words may have been polite, but his tone was so flinty that Caitlin dropped her hand and stepped back. Why was he acting like this?
She reasoned aloud, saying, “You knew all along I was going to sell the cottage, and it was always going to end up being owned by someone else. If my aunt’s nephews win their case, they’ll probably sell the cottage, too. So I don’t understand why you sound so… so disgusted or something.”
Before he could answer, she was distracted by movement in her peripheral vision; Sammy was kicking the heel of his work boot against the ice in a chopping motion.
That doesn’t seem like a good idea , she thought, and then turned her attention back to Shane.
Was he red-faced from emotion or from the bitterly cold air?
“I’m not disgusted. I’m surprised ,” he claimed. “Although I guess I shouldn’t be. Like you said about your aunt’s nephews, the signs were all there from the beginning. Giving up the cottage is consistent with your character.”
Losing patience, Caitlin retorted, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, when your apartment was flooded, or your boyfriend cheated on you, or your coworker took your job, you rolled over and played dead,” Shane answered, almost accusingly. “So why should this time be any different?”
For a moment, she was speechless. I can’t believe I confided in him about all those private, humiliating situations, and he acted so sympathetic, but the whole time he was judging me for how I responded! Who does he think he is? It’s not as if he handled the Halloween prank perfectly, either!
“Well, excuse me if I don’t get up in arms at every offense or every time something doesn’t go my way, like some people do,” she said curtly.
“Maybe some people think things like their property and careers and relationships are worth fighting for,” he shot back. “Maybe they try to protect the things they care about. The things that matter.”
Caitlin would’ve responded but at that moment, Sammy began jumping up and down, clearly trying to break through the ice. “Stop it!” she shouted. When he didn’t, she remarked to Shane, “What’s wrong with him? That water’s frigid. If he falls in, he’ll get hypothermia—or drown!”
Without waiting for his reply, she jogged beyond the sand and started climbing over the bay’s jagged, frozen crust, waving her arms and yelling at Sammy. But either he didn’t hear or he was ignoring her, because he continued jumping in place, his heavy boots making a dull thumping sound.
Caitlin raised her voice and shouted louder, just as Sammy broke through. The lower half of his body disappeared beneath the ice, but she could still see his shoulders and head.
“Sammy! Hold on, I’m coming!” she screamed and rushed across the pointy, uneven surface. He must have been in shock because he slowly turned his head and stared at her, as if she were speaking a language he couldn’t understand.
“Caitlin, wait! What are you doing?” called Shane from behind her. Hadn’t he seen what had happened?
“Sammy fell through!” she shouted over her shoulder. Still moving forward, she tripped on a chunk of ice and landed hard on her right hip and knee, her cheek and ear striking the cold, uneven surface. The sensation was like an electric shock, followed by a rush of warmth.
“Caitlin!” Shane was suddenly crouched beside her, touching her left shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Sammy’s going to drown!” Ignoring her pain, she scrambled to her knees, unwound her scarf from her neck, and pressed it into his hand. “Use this to pull him out but don’t get too close to?—”
“He’s fine,” interrupted Shane. “Look.” He pointed to Sammy, who gave them a friendly wave from the hole in the ice and then he adjusted his cap over his ears.
“But-but-but he’s…” stuttered Caitlin, her teeth chattering. She couldn’t comprehend what had happened.
“He’s standing on dry sand,” explained Shane. “It’s low tide, so there’s no water beneath the ice. See, it kind of makes a shelf that’s suspended about four feet above the seabed. The space will fill in with water again at high tide. But right now, it’s just air.”
It took Caitlin’s brain another moment to readjust to what she was seeing, and when she realized Sammy wasn’t in danger, she turned toward Shane and cried out, “That was a mean joke to play on me! It was really, really cruel.”
“It wasn’t a joke. I don’t think he meant to scare you, Caitlin,” he said softly, concern filling his eyes as he caught sight of her right cheek. He quickly rolled her scarf into a thick pad and lifted it toward her. “You cut your face and it’s bleeding—a lot . Here, let me apply pressure to it.”
She snatched the scarf from his hand, pressed it against her cheek, and stood up. “I can take care of it myself.”
As she picked her way back across the ice toward the dunes, she could hear Shane yelling, “Get out of there, Samuel. I’m driving Caitlin to the ER, so you need to move your car. RIGHT NOW!”
But Caitlin was so angry at Shane for what he’d said, and even angrier at Sammy for scaring her that she didn’t want either of them near her right now.
She hurried to the stairs and by the time she reached the upper landing, her scarf was saturated with blood.
Aware she didn’t have bandages in the cottage, she headed straight for Marion’s house.
“I’m bleeding. Do you have any butterfly strips?” she asked as soon as her neighbor opened the door, with Pepper at her feet.
“No. But let me grab my car keys. I’ll bring you to the hospital.”
Because she was bleeding when she arrived at the emergency department, Caitlin was able to see a physician right away. As the doctor sutured and dressed her wound, he assured her that it was superficial, and he expected her skin to heal nicely within a few weeks or so.
“Would you like to spend the night at my house?” asked Marion as they drove home.
“I’ll make soup for supper, and you can sleep in the guest room.
I promise not to crowd you, but sometimes when you’ve suffered an injury like yours, it’s comforting to know someone else is nearby to chat or to bring you whatever you need. ”
“Thank you, that’s very thoughtful, but I’ll be fine,” insisted Caitlin. “I’m too exhausted to even pack an overnight bag. After a hot bath, I’m going straight to bed.”
“On an empty stomach?” Marion looked worried.
“All that blood made me queasy. But if I get hungry, I’ve got plenty of food in my fridge.” Not that she could imagine eating lobster-stuffed mushrooms, or even glancing at a raw steak, for at least a week.
“All right, but promise you’ll call if you change your mind—it doesn’t matter what time it is,” Marion said as she pulled into the driveway.
“I will, thanks—and thank you for bringing me to the hospital. Going there was a much better idea than trying to bandage my face by myself.”
Just before Caitlin got out of the car, Marion told her, “Oh, I almost forgot—while I was in the waiting room, Shane called me to ask how you were. He also said he’d be happy to bring you anything you need.”
“That was nice of him,” Caitlin responded politely, even though he’d already texted the same message to her and she’d deleted it without replying. The only thing I need from Shane is distance , she thought.
That night, for the first time in at least a decade, Caitlan dreamed of Nicole.
The two teenagers were in the car, on the way to a party, and Nicole was rummaging through the blue pouch, which she held on her lap.
After pulling out several miniskirts, her snakeskin print bikini, and a dozen tubes of melted lipstick, she finally removed a small bottle of concealer.
Handing it to Caitlin, she said, “After I drown, you’re going to be scarred for life, but if you cover it up, maybe no one will notice.”
Caitlin woke with a start, and for the rest of the night, she couldn’t stop shivering.