Page 11 of Against the Wind

“There was an unfortunate incident at the market over the last gallon of milk. I got caught up in the crush.”

I would never understand why people went after perishables like milk and eggs when the chances we’d lose power were almost a hundred percent. They’d have been better off stocking up on bottled water and protein bars. But it was a truth universally acknowledged among islanders that the milk, eggs, and toilet paper would be the first to go.

“Dangerous place to be this close to a hurricane. Half the island’s probably crammed into the aisles.” I washed my hands and rolled the stool over to the exam table.

“You’re not wrong. I even saw Willa and Sawyer.”

At the mention of one of my best friends, my gaze flicked from her wrist up to her face. “Oh, yeah?”

“Bless her. She looked a little green around all the people.”

Yeah, that was on-brand. Willa had struggled with social anxiety all her life. When we’d been kids, she’d always hung out on the fringes of crowds, despite the fact that she was basically island royalty as the latest generation of the founding family. That had been fine with me. As the youngest daughter of an absentee mother and a known abuser, I hadn’t exactly been cream of the social crop. But our differences had never mattered.

Marion continued, though I hadn’t done more than murmur a noncommittal response as I gently palpitated and pressed her wrist. “Sawyer did such a good job shielding her. I swear, those two are relationship goals.”

Having somebody to stand by you no matter what? Hell yeah, that was definitely relationship goals. I could admit that left me feeling a little twinge of envy that one of my best friends had found it. And I had no patience for that twinge. I didn’t begrudge her an iota of joy, and I was thrilled she’d finally gotten to marry the love of her life. It had no bearing on the fact that I was currently single. I’d find someone, eventually. It wasn’t as if I was actually in the market right now. I still had some processing to do about the dissolution of my last relationship and how. He’d put his career ahead of me. And you know what? That was fine. Right now, I was putting my career ahead of everything else. I’d worked my ass off to earn my medical degree so I could come back and serve the island that had always held my heart.

My exam backed up what Marion’s x-rays had already told me. “Not broken, which is the good news. The bad news is you’ll need to keep this immobilized for at least the next few days. We’re going to put you in a splint. Over-the-counter anti-inflammatories for pain. Ideally, you’d ice it for fifteen or twenty minutes several times a day, but do the best you can, dependingon what happens with the power. I’ll send home a list of range of motion exercises for you to start in a few days, if the swelling has gone down. Under normal circumstances, I’d say come back in a week or two for a follow up, but who knows what we’ll be dealing with after the storm. If you’re not improving, come see us. Otherwise, it should heal just fine on its own, so long as you don’t try to overtax it.”

“Got it. Thanks, Doc.”

“You stay safe, you hear?” I stepped out into the hall, feeling my phone vibrating in my pocket. “Justin, can you get a wrist splint in here?”

“You got it.”

Fishing out the phone, I saw my sister Caroline’s name flashing across the screen. She knew I’d be slammed today and wouldn’t be calling over anything trivial, so I answered. “Caro? What’s wrong?”

“Why does anything have to be wrong?”

“Because my pregnant sister is calling me at work, when we’re a day out from a hurricane. What’s going on?”

“I just wanted to know if you wanted me to go ahead and pack you a bag to take over to Hoyt’s folks’ house tomorrow? I know you left early this morning, and I’m sure you’re too slammed today to want to think about it when you get home.”

I could file that under things I hadn’t planned well enough. But my plans had changed, anyway. “No. I’m actually going to be staying at the clinic.” I hadn’t had time to work out all the details yet, but it made the most sense.

“The clinic? Is it even properly prepared? Will anyone be with you? I heard about the attempted break-in.”

Of course she had. That was the island grapevine for you.

“Caro, I don’t have time to argue about this. I’m the only doctor on-island. I need to be where I can access facilities if anything goes wrong.” Spotting someone stepping through thedoor with a bloody cloth wrapped around a hand, I shifted back into work mode. “And in that light, I’ve got another emergency to deal with. I love you, and I’ll see you when I get home. Be safe.”

I hung up before she could go all big sister on me and try to insist I change my plans. She’d have plenty of time to try to browbeat me about it after work.

In twenty minutes, I had the gash cleaned and neatly stitched. In the distance, I heard the boom of the ferry horn announcing the final boarding call. Two minutes to three. We were getting down to the wire. Unless we had more patients expected or another emergency, I needed to let my people go finish prepping their own places for the storm, and I needed to finish doing my own prep of the clinic, since I was going to be riding things out here.

Escorting my last patient out to the front, I opened my mouth to ask Nina about the schedule when I spotted a familiar figure standing in the waiting room. A familiar figure that had absolutely no business being on Hatterwick. A man who was supposed to be on the other side of the damned country right now.

“What the hell are you doing here?” The words escaped before I could think better of them, but at least they came out cool and even.

Daniel tucked his hands in his pockets and slipped into that laconic drawl I loved so much. “Well, at this moment, I’m here to help board up the windows and get the clinic ready to weather the storm. But I’m on the Outer Banks for you.”

EIGHT

DANIEL

As I stared at the blank shock written across the face that had haunted my dreams, I was torn between a desire to freeze the moment to drink in every detail of her messy bun and the long-lashed, fathomless dark eyes locked on mine, and a deep regret for my big mouth. I hadn’t meant to just come out with it like that. No matter what kind of fantasies I’d harbored about her taking one look at me and leaping into my arms, I’d known the likelihood of that was slim. Not with how I’d fucked up. But the moment I’d laid eyes on her everything had just crystalized.

Given that her expression didn’t change, I could tell I definitely hadn’t helped my cause. But damn, it was so good to see her. She looked good, with a trace of sun on those cheeks deepening her natural golden skin, telling me that no matter how hard she’d been working since she moved home, she’d still found some outside time. Everything in me wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss the bejeezus out of her. To erase the distance I’d been fool enough to put between us. But I’d sure as shit lost the right to do that, so I didn’t move.

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