Page 61 of Stuck in Paradise with You

We pull into Leverick Bay and the water is much calmer here than I was expecting. From Joe’s relay of Henry’s call, I was anticipating a tsunami or something. Don’t get me wrong, it’s choppy enough to test my constitution, but it’s not horrific here in the bay.

Our group has left the truck and waved goodbye to Roy’s father-in-law, whose sentimental moment with Roy amounted to a stoic pat on the back and telling him, ‘I’ll see you for dominoes and a rum when the fat lady passes.’

We’ve increased our numbers by one mom and an adorable baby and we’re all standing around, making small talk, waiting for the other truck to arrive. The docked boats look different to when we turned up this morning and I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I think it’s more lines between the boats and the dock, the boats and the boats. Everything seems more secure.

Though it defies belief, with my sweaty clothes sticking to me, the wind picking up and the thick cloud cover, I’m actually cold in the Caribbean.

‘Are you okay?’ Luke asks, coming to my side, so close as he speaks, his chest is grazing my shoulder.

For an insane nanosecond, I want to tell him I’m cold, to ask him to fold me into his arms and warm me up, the way I would have when we slipped beneath the cold covers in his apartment at night. The way I used to.

Instead, I nod, but the way his deep brown eyes penetrate me is as much of an embrace as if I had asked for him to hold me.

For the first time today, I’m grateful when my cellphone starts to ring in my pocket. Taking it out, more of me rubs against Luke and I try hard to ignore the sparks my body remembers, that my mind wants to forget.

‘You should get that,’ Luke tells me, glancing at my screen. ‘You’ve been ignoring calls all day and we might lose signal tomorrow. Who knows for how long. Things out here don’t repair quickly and Charithonia won’t be a priority for the local handymen.’

I lick my dry lips, swallow against my dry throat and I think I manage a stiff nod before accepting my boss’s call.

‘Rachel, hi.’ Holding the phone to my ear, I move away from the group, holding my hand over the handset to shield from the noise of the wind. ‘How are you?’

‘How amI, Carrie? How am I? How areyou?’

Rachel is usually calm and composed, not fazed by much in my experience, so to hear the frantic tone of her voice instantly puts me on edge.

‘Rachel, I’m fine, I promise. I’m sorry I haven’t been very responsive on emails and answering calls; I’ve been helping with storm preparations all day and?—’

‘Carrie, I don’t give two hoots about your emails. I can deal with those from here. I care aboutyou.’

‘You do?’ Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. A category five hurricane is sort of bad. Understatement of the century. And I am her employee. Yet I am surprised, because work is work. I’ve never been asked how I am and the person actually mean the question in the office. All I’ve done is fight to be heard, to set my story straight. This is new.

‘Of course I do.’ I feel like she’s pacing. I don’t know why, I just get the sense she’s walking lines up and down her very plush corner office. ‘I feel like this is all my fault, Carrie. I’m so sorry, I should never have sent you there.’

‘Rachel, this is myjob; I’m pleased you sent me here.’ For some reason, my eyes flick across to Luke and I find him already looking at me. ‘You weren’t to know about the storm and you weren’t to know I’d get stuck here. In any event, Joe’s assured me everything is going to be fine and I genuinely believe him. He has a safe bunker, which I think is probably more like a kidnap hideaway, but I’m told it’s a concrete basement that’s half the size of a house and done out like a bachelor dungeon. I won’t be alone.’

Rachel’s sigh is so loud, I hear it above the island’s breeze. ‘Let’s talk when you get back to New York. I need to explain a few things. But for now, Joe is looking after you, right?’

‘One hundred percent. He’s great.’

‘And… and Luke? How are things with him? Is he looking out for you?’

I feel a frown crease the skin between my eyes and glance back across to Luke, who is now in conversation with Roy. He has been looking out for me, actually, more than I would have expected, given how much we rile each other up and the fact he walked away from any want to enter into a relationship where we would care for each other once upon a time. But as I’m thinking that, I’m also wondering why Rachel is asking.

Of course, he’s the CFO of the Hettich group. She asked about Joe. I’m reading something into something that doesn’t exist.

Unless Joe has told her about Luke and me, but why would he? And she’s never, not in all the time I’ve been at the firm, mentioned that she’d heard anything on the grapevine, though it’s possible.

‘Ah, yeah, he’s keeping an eye on things, too, I guess.’

‘Carrie, stay safe, okay? We’re going to talk properly in a couple of days. If there’s anything I can do for you…’

‘Maybe just keep an eye on my inbox, please, Rachel. I’m going to set an automatic reply for my emails but if the phonelines go down here, then?—’

‘I’m not referring to work, Carrie. I’m asking as a friend, not your boss.’

Huh.

‘That’s—’ A friend? At work? Who’s my boss? Well, today is full of lots of unintended consequences; what’s one more? ‘Thank you. Maybe that catch up should be over a glass of wine.’

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