Page 35 of Until We Break

“Can I call you later?” Caleb asked, as he cleared our plates and rinsed them in the sink.

I nodded. “Yes.” Nothing sounded better to me in this moment than knowing I was going to see him again. I flashed back to the first time he asked for my number on Uncle Walt’s porch, only a few feet from where we were standing now.

“I should get back to base. I have a report to fill out on the kid. The whole accident. My supervisor isn’t going to be happy I’ve been gone so long.”

My stomach churned. “Right. You do have work to do. I’m sorry I kept you so long.” It seemed like an insufficient apology after everything he had done for me.

“Go,” he urged. “Sleep.”

“Okay. Okay.” I tried to smile. I turned to head back upstairs, but something held me in place. I didn’t want to leave the incredibly amazing man washing dishes in my kitchen.

“Caleb?”

“Yeah?”

I shook my head. “Thank you. For all of it.”

“You got it. I’ll let myself out when I’m done.”

Somehow, I managed to make it to the second floor, one step at a time.

It was hard to breathe. My arms flailed. Every time I tried to kick, it was as if my legs were slicing through swaths of giant seaweed patches, making no progress. I pictured Lucas floating on top of the water.

“No!” I screamed.

Finally, I reached him, dragging him into my arms. I coughed and sputtered with him as I kept swimming. I struggled to drag him up the ladder. I screamed and yelled for help. No one answered. I couldn’t shake the feeling it was my fault. I was somehow responsible for why he wouldn’t breathe. How his eyes wouldn’t open. How I thought he was dead or would die in my arms until I saw the Coast Guard cutter.

I kicked and kicked until finally, I awakened myself in a fevered haze from the nightmare.

I tried to catch my breath, but this time knowing it was from the dream, not water in my throat or lungs. I closed my eyes, steadying myself.

I’m okay. Lucas is okay. I turned on the lamp next to the bed, wondering what time it was. I glanced at the old alarm clock. I couldn’t believe it. It was eight o’clock. I had slept all afternoon and through dinner.

I padded through the living room and into the bathroom where I turned on the shower and stood under hot water. I kept trying to piece it all together. I kept coming back to the same thing—through all of it, Caleb was there. Caleb never left me. And he every reason to.

SEVENTEEN

Caleb

There was chatter for the next couple of days about the kid and the rescue of the Sunfish. It seemed like it was all anyone on base wanted to talk about. I tried to explain to anyone who asked or wanted to talk about it, that all I did was show up. It was the girl. The girl named Margot was the hero in the story. No one wanted to hear it or believe it. I got more attention than I wanted about Lucas’s rescue. The worst part was that it was undeserved. I knew I wasn’t the hero.

A few days after I took Lucas to the hospital, my captain called me into his quarters. There had been a few requests for interviews from the press—the local newspaper and news station wanted to interview me. I had declined the last two, citing I wasn’t the actual hero. The rescue of the family of four barely made any news, but a lost child had captured everyone’s attention.

“Sir?” I walked in, expecting another reporter who wanted a sit-down with me on base. “I heard you wanted to see me.”

“Captain O’Connor, come on in. Have a seat,” he offered.

No sooner had I walked into his office, than I recognized the woman sitting in front of his desk.

“Carrie?” I was surprised to see Lucas’s mother. She looked different and yet was completely recognizable at the same time.

The truth was, I didn’t usually see anyone after an accident or a rescue. This was a first.

“How are you?” I asked. “How is Lucas doing?” I had a lot more questions for her.

Her face lit up immediately. “He’s home now. He’s so good. So happy. He wants to see you. He’s been asking about you.”

“Really?” I had more questions to ask her when Officer Guthrie said he would leave to give us a few minutes to catch up and discuss Lucas’s health.

---