Page 9 of His Hawaiian Heart
This came from Dr. Katrina Davidson, a scientist I’d been trying to work with for the past five years. When she stepped closer, shot a direct look at Sam before turning back to look at me and asked, “Dr. Laughlin, are you all right?” the spell was finally broken and I sensed Sam step away. I immediately felt the loss of his presence but it was the final element needed to snap me from warmth of fantasy back into the cold world of reality.
“Sorry I’m late,” I said then turned toward Sam who was no longer smiling but wasn’t frowning or turning on his heel and leaving either. “This is Sam, and Sam I am,” I said and then burst out laughing which caused yet another round of concern among my team as more people moved out of the trees to surround us.
“Do you like green eggs and ha… mmmph.”
Josh’s attempt to make a joke was thwarted when the eye-rolling young woman slapped her hand over his mouth.
I knew I was hysterical but couldn’t stop laughing even though I was beginning to panic.
“Breathe with me.”
Only three spoken words, but when they were accompanied by Sam’s fingers finding my chin once again and lifting my face to look at his, they were magical. It took a few minutes, but I began to calm as oxygen flooded into my body. When I was breathing in sync with him, his smile returned and I smiled back.
“Thanks,” I said softly.
“Anytime,” he said then stroked the tip of his finger across my lips before dropping his hand.
Once again it was as if part of my body had been ripped from me. The pain might be akin to what a person felt when losing a limb, but phantom or not, my heart felt the loss.
There was no laughter this time, only a circle of faces watching when he stepped away. “It’s my fault Sam… Samantha is late.”
“We figured,” Josh said which caused the young woman I’d not yet met to jab her elbow into his side.
I’d have to ask him about her later, but for now, watching as Sam shook hands with people I’d often worked with before reminded me that I wasn’t in Hawaii on vacation. I was being paid to do a job. Running my hands over the denim of my jeans, I began to follow him, hugging old friends and shaking the hands of those I didn’t know. The young woman with Josh introduced herself as Elisabeth, but instructed, “call me Beth,” and informed me she was here due to securing a fellowship from Harvard and was earning credits for her degree.
“It’s nice to meet you, Beth, if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask,” I said after releasing her hand.
“I think that’s supposed to be my line. You know, student to established scientist,” she said with a grin.
I laughed. “I remember thinking the same thing when I was on fellowship. Except mine was in Egypt.”
“Oh, I hope to go there someday. I would simply die if I got to see the pyramids. Are they as fantastic as I’ve heard?” she gushed.
“I honestly can’t say. I was nose deep in beetle dung the entire two months I was there.”
“Wow, that’s really sad.” Beth’s sincerity momentarily threw me.
“Don’t fret,” Josh said from her other side. “I’ve been trying to teach our Sam that as fascinating as insects can be, there is more to life than science. It looks like she might finally be getting the message.” He grinned and shot a glance at Samuel who was currently speaking with Dr. Davidson. When he turned back, his grin was no longer in place.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he said but wasn’t meeting my eyes.
“Josh?”
“It’s just that… well, I thought the guy looked a bit familiar.”
What? Who?
I voiced my inner questions aloud. “Thought or does?”
“I’m pretty sure he does. I didn’t put two and two together until just now.”
I couldn’t make sense of that. “Okay, maybe you could see a way to fill me in…?”
Josh shrugged. “Sorry, it’s just that seeing him in the middle of the forest threw me. Last time I saw him he was?—”
He paused again and I’d swear I saw him blush, yet that also didn’t make any sense. Josh was one of the most unflappable people I’d ever met. If I didn’t know him as a scientist, it would be easy to mistake him as some laid-back surfer dude who had nothing better to do than ride the waves and soak up Vitamin D. Of course, his shaggy blonde hair and perpetually tanned skin helped that image seem far more likely than the one he made when flipping through slides at a hundred miles an hour with the ability to process the information provided at the speed of light. Though he appeared to be tongue-tied at the moment, he was actually absolutely brilliant.
