Chapter 41
MAE
I must have dozed off at some point, exhausted with worry. The sound of my phone woke me, but it took me a few seconds to register what it was and where I was. I saw the candle burned down in the jar, the torch in front of me, and I remembered.
Jonah.
Throwing myself across the table I fumbled for it, cursing when I dropped it and it fell to the floor.
‘I’m coming,’ I called, to no one who could hear me. ‘Don’t hang up.’
Dropping to my knees I felt for it, snatching it up when I felt the vibration connect with my fingers.
‘Hello?’
‘Mae?’
It was him. At the sound of his voice I collapsed into a heap. ‘Jonah. Oh my God, I’ve been so worried.’
‘I know, I’m sorry.’
‘Where are you?’
‘At the dock. We just tied up not long ago.’
I looked around for my keys. ‘I’ll be there as soon as I can.’
‘No, it’s cold. Stay put. I can come and see you. I just need Jim to take me for a quick detour first.’
‘Where?’
‘Hospital. But before you panic, it’s nothing. Just a dislocated shoulder.’
‘That’s not nothing,’ I growled at him sternly.
‘I’m alive,’ he said softly. ‘And I get to see you again. That’s all that matters.’
‘How about you stay put,’ I told him. ‘And I’ll be there as quick as I can to take you to the hospital myself.’
He chuckled, and it was music to my ears.
‘Fine,’ he said. ‘But can we stop for a coffee on the way?’
I threw on my boots, jacket and hat, grabbed my keys and got in the car.
Dawn was just breaking. The storm had worn itself out, leaving a bruised sky and a choppy ocean.
Pulling into the docks I saw him straight away.
My tired eyes drank in the sight of him, his oilskins around his waist, slumped against the hood of Jim’s truck.
He looked tired, exhausted and in pain, but none of that mattered because he was safe.
He heard the sound of my car and looked up, his eyes searching. When he saw me, he smiled.
I didn’t even bother parking, but the dock was pretty deserted anyway. I just pulled the car to a screeching stop a few meters away from him and was out the door before the sound of the engine had even died away.
‘Jonah.’
‘Mae,’ he said, pushing off the hood of the truck and reaching for me. I ran to him, and he caught me in his arms. ‘You have no idea how many times I imagined this exact scenario last night,’ he breathed into my hair. ‘It got me through the storm.’
I squeezed my arms around his waist and he winced, sucking in air sharply.
‘I’m sorry.’ My eyes scanned over him, making sure he was still all in one piece. ‘Are you OK?’
‘I am now.’
‘Your arm.’
‘Is still attached. Right now, the only first-aid treatment I need is to hold you.’
I buried myself against his chest, inhaling the salty, sweaty smell of him. I felt him bury his face in my hair, breathing in the smell of me.
‘We’re like a couple of silkworms,’ I joked, feeling my voice tremble as the adrenaline of the night eased away. I tilted my head to look up at him. Reached up and rubbed the stubble of his beard.
He looked understandably confused. ‘Maybe I knocked my head too,’ he confessed. ‘Because I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘Silkworms,’ I repeated. ‘They use smell to identify their mate. Can smell each other from miles away.’
He pouted. ‘Are you saying I stink?’
I laughed. ‘Honestly? A little. But you still smell good to me.’
His eyebrow arched. ‘Better than fry bread?’
I pulled a face. ‘Nothing is better than fry bread.’
His turn to laugh. ‘Good girl. You’re learning.’
‘I know it’s not quite Christmas yet,’ I said, feeling emotions well up inside my chest. ‘But you’re the best early Christmas present I could have ever hoped for.’
He looked sheepish. ‘That’s good to hear, because I haven’t had time to go shopping for you yet.’
‘You don’t need to buy me anything. All I care about is that you’re home safe. Come on, let’s get you to hospital and then home to bed.’
‘I like the sound of that. Though you might have to do all the heavy lifting – I’m not sure if my arm can hold my weight at the moment.’
‘You will mostly be resting,’ I informed him firmly, and he looked crestfallen. ‘But I’m sure we can work something out.’
‘That’s what I love about you,’ he grinned. ‘Your resourcefulness.’
The sound of another vehicle made us turn. He frowned.
‘My mother. How did she—’
‘I might have called her,’ I confessed.
He stared at me, confused again. ‘Why?’
‘I had to. I’m sorry. Your family have been just as worried as I have.’
‘Jonah,’ his mother called, exiting the vehicle. ‘Oh, thank God.’
I started to pull away from Jonah but he tightened his grip. ‘Oh no you don’t. You stay right there.’
Eleanor stopped short, running her eyes over him. ‘Mae said you’ve been injured.’
‘I’m fine, I’ve just dislocated my shoulder again.’
I blinked up at him. ‘Again?’
‘Long story. I’ll tell you about it another time.’
Eleanor looked over Jonah’s shoulder at Jim’s boat. ‘I hope it was worth it,’ she said tightly. ‘You could have been killed, and for what? A few lobsters?’
I felt Jonah’s body tense. ‘Can we not do this right now?’
She stared at him, as if carefully trying to decide her next words. Then she sighed, her shoulders sagging. ‘I’m sorry. I’ve hardly slept. Neither has your father. We’ve been worried.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Jonah replied. ‘I know it must have been hell.’
I squeezed my arm tighter around his waist. ‘It was nothing compared to what you must have gone through out there.’
‘What he went through out there was reckless,’ Eleanor said. ‘And avoidable.’
‘Unfortunately, the weather is outside of my control,’ Jonah replied.
‘Don’t be glib. If you stayed on shore, none of this would have happened,’ she retorted.
‘Here we go. You don’t miss an opportunity, do you, Mom? I’ve just spent the night being tossed around the Atlantic and you want to use this moment to work your own agenda.’
‘Why do you think I want you to take over the hotel,’ she retorted. ‘At least then I know you’ll always be safe.’
‘That’s why you want me to work at the hotel?’
‘It’s a good job, Jonah. A safe job. You’ll never have to worry about anything. And I won’t have to spend my life worrying about you.’
‘Why can’t you just trust me to keep myself safe?’
‘I do trust you. But people don’t drive their cars expecting to have accidents, do they? They don’t climb ladders expecting to fall off, or swim in the ocean expecting to drown.’
‘What’s your point?’
‘You’ve always enjoyed pushing the boundaries. You think I didn’t know you used to sneak out as a kid and explore the island? Of course I knew. I spent countless hours worrying about you falling off a cliff, or being swept off rocks out to sea.’
Jonah frowned. ‘You never tried to stop me.’
‘Because your father wouldn’t let me. He said it was just the way you were born, a child who craved the outdoors, and I had to let you find your own way.’
‘I’m amazed, frankly, that you listened to him.’
‘I shouldn’t have,’ she retorted. ‘Maybe if I’d stepped in earlier and stopped you from taking all those crazy risks, encouraged you in other directions, you’d never have ended up on the boats.
’ She spun and pointed at the memorial on the pier.
Decorated with colorful buoys, it listed the names of every fisherman and lobsterman lost at sea since Pine Harbor was founded.
‘Every time you leave this dock I imagine your name on that thing and I… just… can’t…
bear it. Somewhere in this town, the mothers of the crew of the Golden Pearl must be going out of their minds right now, waiting for word. ’
‘Shit.’ Jonah rubbed his good hand over his face wearily. ‘They haven’t come in yet?’
I shook my head. ‘Dion said last night that they haven’t been able to contact them.’
‘It could be something as simple as a damaged antenna,’ Jonah suggested.
‘Coast guard will head out this morning.’
They stared at each other. In that moment, I saw Eleanor for what she was: a vulnerable mother. Beside me, Jonah shifted his weight and made a noise, activating the nurse in me.
‘I’m sorry but this conversation is going to have to wait,’ I said. ‘Jonah needs medical attention for his shoulder. The longer it’s out of place, the harder it’ll be to get back in.’
‘Can’t you just do it for me here?’ he asked.
‘Without painkillers?’
‘It popped out without painkillers. Can’t be any worse than that.’
‘How exactly did it happen?’
Jim jumped down from his boat to the dock and joined us, just in time to hear my last question. ‘You don’t want to know, believe me.’
‘No,’ Eleanor said curtly, glaring at him. ‘I don’t. Interesting that it’s Jonah who is injured and not you. I’m guessing you were safe in the wheelhouse when he was injured?’
Jim stiffened. ‘I don’t like what you’re insinuating, Eleanor.’
‘Neither do I, Mom,’ Jonah growled. ‘For your information, he offered to go out and cut the rope that was tangled around the prop, but I insisted on doing it. It’s my fault, not his.’
‘You could have been washed overboard.’
‘I was.’ He shrugged, then winced when it hurt his shoulder. ‘But then I managed to pull myself back up. This is what I’ve been trying to tell you – I can look after myself.’
She pointed at the memorial again. ‘Every single one of those men no doubt thought the same thing.’
‘That’s low,’ Jim interjected. ‘Those men—’
I held up my hands. ‘Guys, enough,’ I said loudly. They all fell silent. ‘Seriously. We’re going around in circles here, and all I care about right now is getting Jonah fixed up, cleaned up and rested up. And if anyone has a problem with that, they can get lost. OK?’
The three of them stared at me.
‘Bossy little thing, isn’t she?’ Jim said.
Eleanor looked at me with something that I could have sworn was respect. ‘Yes, she is.’
I lifted my chin. ‘Deal with it,’ I told her. ‘Because I’m not going anywhere.’