Page 55 of Love Overboard
Jon tensed, but Lacey stepped around him. “You’re absolutely right, sir. If you want to file a complaint, I’ll accompany you to the local police station. You can tell them a seventy-eight-year-old woman beat you up.”
Amante’s crooked jaw jutted out. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far.”
Jon took a candy bar from his pocket and held it out to the man. “Your blood sugar must be low from the excitement. Why don’t you have a snack and rest? I’ll wake you as soon as the reinforcements arrive.”
“Don’t treat me like a child!” He advanced and poked an aggressive finger. “If I don’t receive a full refund, I’ll scream my head off to any news channel that will listen. This line’s reputation will be”—he squinted in Emily’s direction and censored his word choice—“in the crapper.” The petulant man snatched the candy and stomped off to his cot.
Jon exhaled. Crisis averted with no injuries. He leaned toward Lacey and murmured from one side of his mouth, “Should we sing him a lullaby?”
She rubbed her temples. “Pass.”
He put his arm around her back and steered her to the office. They entered the private area, but Jon made sure the door stayed open so he could keep an eye on Amante, whose bed was a few feet away.
Lacey plopped on the floor in the corner. She released a tired sigh and stared at her chapped hands. “Will this night never end?”
“The rain should quit anytime now.” Jon snagged the blanket from the cot and spread it around her. He sat to her left and stretched. “We’ll get a call from the ship when it’s safe for them to send the tender. Until then—”
“Aaaaah!” She pressed against the wall.
“What?” He raised up on one knee. “What’s wrong?”
Her trembling finger pointed to three feet away, where an enormous spider scurried across the broken plaster. Lacey grasped the blanket tight.
Jon observed her cower with a quirk of his lip. “Still hate spiders?”
“With every fiber of my being.”
He really shouldn’t find her obvious distress adorable. But he did. “Want me to kill it?”
“Witheveryfiber of my being.” Her eyes pleaded with him.
He pushed off the floor and grabbed a tattered magazine from a nearby table. Rolling it, he walked to the far wall and swatted the bug. Jon dropped the magazine on the floor and returned to her side.
Lacey clapped. “My hero.”
“Wish you meant that.”
She readjusted the blanket around her body, avoiding the obvious hint. That was nothing new. He was used to it by now. But Lacey sitting beside him of her own free will might even be considered progress.
Incessant rain drummed against the roof in an angry rhythm that Noah of old might recognize. Lacey’s nose twitched at the pervasive scent of mold. Her rear end ached from sitting on the hard floor, and even a stiff army cot sounded tempting. But she didn’t want Jon to suffer alone. Someone should help keep watch. Who knew when another crisis might arise?
She tapped her fingers against the concrete. Something moved. Lacey looked down and shrieked. Her body vaulted forward. She barreled to the window.
“What?” Jon pushed to his feet.
“Spider.” Lacey shuddered. “Another one.”
Jon crushed it under his heel. “It’s an old building. Probably a lot of them in the walls.”
Lacey whimpered.
“Sorry. Not the best thing to say, under the circumstances.”
“You think?” She bracketed her face with her hands, trying to shut out the room. “This is a nightmare. I won’t get any sleep tonight. I might as well stand with my nose in the corner.”
“Spiders can crawl up.” Jon ducked as she seized the discarded magazine from the floor and hurled it at him. “Okay. Sorry. But you’re so appealing when you freak out.”
“I’m not freaking out.” She crouched in the middle of the room and wrapped her arms around her legs. “I’m exhausted. I haven’t slept in thirty-six hours. First, the sprinkler crisis, and now we’re marooned on Arachnid Island with a bunch of litigation-happy passengers.” Her body hovered above the floor, only the soles of her shoes making contact with the grimy tiles.
