Chapter Sixteen
There was no more legitimate reason to give Ava some space. The boat had left the dock and was slowing to drop anchor in the morning’s dive spot. John wasn’t a teenager anymore. Talking to a woman he had no right to kiss should not be this difficult.
As casually as he could muster, he strolled up to Ava. “Looks like we’re slowing down.”
She smiled up at him. “We are. This is a great spot. You’re going to love it.”
Her voice held no hesitation. She seemed natural and relaxed, nothing like her rigid stance of a short while ago. Had he overthought the situation? Or simply misread the exchange? Could it be so much time had passed since he’d interacted socially with a member of the opposite sex that he had all the signals wrong?
“You remember the routine. You and Maggie will go first. You’ll be each other’s dive buddy, so you watch out for each other.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be right there with you.”
“I mean, shouldn’t you have a buddy too?”
“I’ll be fine.”
And she probably would be, but the whole idea sat really wrong with him. Like firemen and fighter pilots, divers should always travel in pairs. No telling when a wingman would come in handy.
Already in her wet suit, Ava used the elongated tab to pull at the zipper. He couldn’t have been more mesmerized if he’d been watching an artist create a new masterpiece. What was it about this woman that made his brain scramble? She wasn’t the first attractive or smart woman he’d known. Is this what it was like to be on an even playing field? To be thrown into a cocktail of emotions, none of them stirred by money or power. He needed to untie his tongue and find some answers. “Allow me?”
Fingers at her neck, Ava turned away from him, then sliding both hands under her long hair, she twirled the silken strands into a single ponytail and flipped it up, on the top of her head, exposing her bare neck.
Resisting the urge to place his lips on her soft skin, John reached forward and swiftly extended the neoprene tab across the zipper tab and closed the Velcro strips.
Letting her hands drop to her side, Ava’s hair fell in a swirling cascade down her back. “Thank you.”
“About earlier.”
She looked up at him in silence.
“I want to apologize. It was neither the time nor place to have kissed you. Forgive me?”
“Forget about it.” She offered what struck him as a practiced smile.
“That’s just it. I don’t want to forget about it.”
Angling her head, as though that might help her better read his mind, she paused, nodded and then flashed him a sincere smile. The kind that made him want to smile back. “I’m not sure I want to forget about it either.”
Not sure. He supposed a little hope was better than too bad, sucker.
“All right,” Billy announced from the rear of the boat. “Jonathan and his group will enter the water first, Ava and her group second. And snorkelers will go in last. Everyone got it?”
All eyes turned to him, heads nodded, and a few people responded vocally or with a thumbs-up. One kid, who didn’t look old enough to be out of high school, flashed Billy the extended pinky and thumb signal for hang loose.
Once Jonathan and his charges had disappeared below the surface, Ava stepped in first, followed by Maggie, and, then seeing the thumbs-up from Billy, John stepped in. The three of them treading water in place, Ava waited only a few seconds before turning and diving underwater. The view was as amazing as it had been just a few days ago. He could see why people did this over and over again. No matter how many times a person strolled through a park in spring, the beauty was still as impressive. The same black-and-yellow fishes swam past him.
He saw more colorful marine life, only this time he had his GoPro out and filmed away. Ava stopped and, twirling around to face him and his sister, motioned for him to film off to his right at three o’clock. Wiggling its way on the floor of a nearby cave, a small shark buried himself. John hadn’t seen one of those last time, and he could hardly wait to see how the film turned out.
Checking his gauges, he saw they still had some time to explore, before they would need to ascend. Maggie had paused and grinned at him every few feet. Whenever a new multicolored fish appeared, she’d smiled at him, as though she’d never seen anything so beautiful before. The woman had visited every major art museum in the world. She’d seen some of the most famous natural landmarks on at least five continents, and yet all it took to have her bubbling with excitement was a school of colorful fish. And he couldn’t blame her.
Spotting another brightly colored fish, Maggie turned and chased after it. In her enthusiasm she mustn’t have seen the coral stretching its prickly fingers in her path. Kicking his fins in an effort to move faster, John stretched his arm and grabbed her ankle, seconds before she would have had a nasty collision with the reef’s sharp cutting edges. Unable to mouth words through his regulator, he did his best to motion for her to slow down and be more careful. The way Maggie kept nodding and grinning at him, he doubted she got the message.
To his right Ava appeared, smiling and gesturing it was time to start back. But first she motioned for him to give her the camera. It took a few tries but he finally figured out that she was offering to film him and Maggie. A few seconds later Maggie was doing her best Esther Williams interpretation, coaxing him into spinning and twirling with her for the camera.
Somehow they’d shifted around until Ava had her back to the crop of rocks by the small cave with the sleeping sand shark. A harmless creature, but nonetheless one he didn’t want to disturb. He’d motioned for her to move on, but Maggie was still doing her dancing mermaid impersonations. Finally Ava released the camera and, raising one arm, pointed skyward, indicating time’s up. He wasn’t sure where or why, but as her arm swung back, a long and narrow dark flash zapped out from the rocks.
Ava’s eyes went wide, and she froze in place, her head tilting slightly to her left. That’s when he saw what she already knew. A moray eel had snapped at her arm. Kicking his heels and pressing his way through the water, he hurried to her side. For just a few moments, by the way she stood still, unreactive, he was sure the stupid animal had merely nipped at her wet suit.
Until he saw the green flow oozing from her arm. This far under the ocean, red blood looked green. Damn it. He’d almost reached her, when Ava raised her right arm for him to stop. He could see the strain on her face, the tight press of her lips, as she held on to her composure. And just as suddenly as the viper had struck, it let loose and swam off.
Ava’s shoulders slumped, and John knew she’d used all her skill and strength to remain composed, and wasn’t sure she had any left for the trip to the surface. Not having any medical supplies, he grabbed hold of her, clamping his fingers around her torn wetsuit and praying to stop the green ooze. Maggie appeared on Ava’s other side and, nodding at him, grabbed Ava under her arm and began slowly kicking upward. John had never held on to anything so tightly in his life. The steady stream of green had eased to a trickle between his fingers, but he didn’t dare think what the hell would happen when they broke the surface.
Unable to race to the surface, the climb to get help seemed to be taking an eternity, when they finally sprang above water. Ripping out his regulator, he screamed to Billy, “Medical emergency. Ava’s been bit.”
Billy’s face blanched a chalky white. Flipping up a bench seat and hauling out what looked like a red toolbox, he hollered, “By what?”
“An eel,” John replied, working his way to the rear of the boat.
Moving at a fast clip, Billy pulled out an array of supplies. “Can you hear me, sis?”
Ava nodded weakly. “The whole world can hear you.”
“I need you to hang on a minute. How bad is it?”
“I didn’t pull away.”
“Good. Good.”
What the hell did Billy mean by good? Drenched in concern for the woman in
his arms, John had forgotten his other sisters were snorkeling nearby, until they swam up beside him. “How can we help?”
“It will be easier to lift Ava on board without her gear,” Billy shouted to them. Though John could see the worry in Billy’s eyes, the former navy man wore only a calm facade. Strong in his military bearing, Billy’s voice came across even and reassuring, as he directed the women. “Heather, you undo the shoulder straps on her BCD, then the belt clip and cummerbund. Rose, you’ll need to help Forrest do the same, since he needs to maintain his grip on Ava.”
Hovering to one side, Maggie watched intently, offering a tug here or there in assistance. Free of gear, John positioned himself and Ava by the ladder. One foot on the lowest rung, he quickly calculated his options for how to heave her up and hand her off without releasing pressure on her arm.
“Here.” Billy held out a thin strip of rubber to Maggie. “I need you to tie this tightly just above the wound. As soon as the temporary tourniquet is in place, I’ll pull her up. Forrest, I’ll need your help to give her a boost.”
He nodded, thankful Ava was still conscious enough to not be totally dead weight. He didn’t want to think about how much it would slow them down if she were out cold.
“Ready?” Billy called out. “On the count of one, two, three.”
John released his white-knuckled grip on Ava’s wound, as Billy hefted his sister up and over the side of the boat onto the deck. Bright red blood covered the jagged tears in the once black wet suit.
“We’ll leave the wet suit on,” Billy continued. “It’s probably adding pressure to stop the bleeding. I’m going to pour on a little something to clean it out and then wrap it as fast as I can.”
John scrambled up the ladder and onto the deck. Kneeling, he settled beside Ava and took hold of her good hand, curled his fist protectively around her long fingers and willed everything to be all right.
“Maggie,” Billy said, without looking at her. “I need you to take that wrench on the bench and bang on the rail. The sound will alert the divers still underwater that they need to return to the boat.”
Practically lunging across the small space, Maggie grabbed the hand tool and, leaning over, banged as directed three times. Pausing a moment to allow Rose and Heather up the ladder with Ava’s and Forrest’s gear, Maggie then leaned over again and banged three more times.
“If you wanted to curl up beside me,” John began, speaking to Ava as Billy’s hands moved with lightning speed, “you could have just asked.”
Ava smiled thinly. “In your dreams.”
Already the alarm sounding had a couple of divers surfacing. Now John prayed the rest of the divers would hurry the hell up.
“You’re probably in shock.” Billy taped the sterile bandages in place. “So we’re going to raise your legs.”
Ava merely blinked at him. Could she have lost that much blood?
“How quickly did you surface?” Billy asked him.
“I’m pretty sure we maintained a safe ascent rate.”
“What about a safety stop?”
Forrest merely shook his head. All he’d wanted was to get Ava some help.
“You’d better keep extra pressure on this.” Billy gestured to the freshly wrapped wound, then turned and, grabbing the cushions Rose handed him, shoved them under his sister’s legs.
Already tinges of pink were appearing on the gauze bandages. John wrapped his fingers across the wound and pressed. Ava hissed in a pained breath, and John wondered if that was a good or bad thing.
Having pulled a green box from another seat, Billy returned to his sister’s side, shards of concern shattering his calm facade. “Ava, I’m going to put you on oxygen. Just a precaution.”
The bends. Since Billy was making no move to put Maggie or him on oxygen, John had to believe there was no real threat, but obviously Billy wasn’t taking any chances with his sister.
Repositioning himself, John eased Ava’s head on his lap. One hand kept steady pressure on her wound; the other held the O2 mask in place.
Out of breath, Jonathon appeared behind him. “All divers accounted for.”
Billy sprang to his feet. “Get us free of the mooring ball, then radio 9-1-1. Tell them we need a bus. Eel bite.” Before finishing his words, Ava’s brother was already behind the wheel. The second Jonathan had freed the rope keeping them in place, Billy shifted the engine into warp speed. The large boat skipped across the waves, slapping up and down like a carnival ride. They had to be flying. And still, for John, it wasn’t fast enough.
Chapter Seventeen
“I don’t understand.” Maggie sat beside her brother in the emergency waiting room. “Ava didn’t bother the eel. He just shot out of nowhere and bit her. Why?”
“In some ways”—leaning forward, forearms resting on his thighs, Billy stared ahead at the double doors separating him from his sister in the ER—”eels are a lot like bears. It’s a known fact that bears don’t attack humans without provocation. It’s also a known fact bears, like this eel, get to decide what constitutes provocation.”
“You said it was a good thing she didn’t pull away. Why?” It had bothered John the way Ava had stood frozen in place with the three-foot eel hanging off her arm. There would be no wiping away that horrific picture.
“The eel wasn’t going to let go, until he wanted to. Had she pulled her arm, she would have torn away her flesh. Eels’ teeth are double-tiered and worse than a razor. She could have lost a good chunk of her arm.”
John kept telling himself it could have been worse. Much worse. But at this particular moment, knowing the shock and pain Ava had suffered, it was hard to find comfort in avoiding a worst-case scenario. Maybe if someone would tell them how she was doing, how much blood she had lost, how serious was the wound? Though, with the amount of Ava’s blood on his hands, he didn’t need medical training to know this was definitely more than a little scratch.
“There you are.” Angela Everrett waddled in with Nick, Kara and baby Catherine. “They wouldn’t let me drive.”
John didn’t miss the curt nod that Billy gave his former navy partner, nor the silent your welcome received in response.
“Your mother caught a ride with Lexie and Jim,” Angela continued. “They should be here any second. Jonathan’s running the shop.”
“What about Emily?” Billy asked.
John vaguely remembered meeting Ava’s sister, the teacher.
“Doug is at the school. He wanted to tell her in person. I’m sure they’ll be here soon.”
“She should stay with her students.” Oozing frustration, Billy flexed his fingers and shifted his attention from the clock to his sister beyond the separating doors and back. “The doctors aren’t telling us anything here anyhow.”
* * *
Before long the tiny waiting room was overflowing with Everrett family and friends. Even the redhead, Sara, and her mother had come, after stopping to pick up Nick’s son from school. The one person John noticed hadn’t arrived was the guy from the birthday party. After this morning’s kiss, he’d seriously hoped the guy wasn’t important to her.
“Shouldn’t we have heard something by now?” Emily asked.
Her fiancé Doug pulled her a little more tightly against him. “They’re probably busy with other emergencies more serious than Ava’s.”
“I like that thought.” Emily smiled weakly.
The double doors opened, and every head in the room turned to the tall man in blue scrubs. “Mrs. Everrett?”
To the doctor’s credit, he didn’t flinch when the crowd rushed to surround him.
“Your daughter is very lucky. That’s a nasty bite. But she did the right thing in waiting for the eel to unclamp his jaw. Still she needed twenty-six stitches.”
A collective grimace reverberated in the chilled space.
“She will be moved to a room shortly.”
“She’s staying?” For the first time since her arrival, Maile’s voice cracked under the stress.<
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“Just for observation. We’d like to keep an eye on her. She did lose a great deal of blood.”
“But she’ll be all right?” Billy asked, and several heads bobbed in agreement.
“She should be fine. She’ll need some physical therapy, mostly for strengthening. There’s some tissue loss.”
Maile gasped, and her arm flailed momentarily, reaching for her son.
The doctor in blue scrubs softened his gaze. “She’s had a strong cocktail of antibiotics and is a bit groggy from the pain meds, but why don’t you come see for yourself how well she’s doing?”
“Yes.” Maile squeezed her son’s arm and jumped forward.
“Once Ms. Everrett is in her room, the rest of the family can visit in twos.”
“Like Noah’s ark,” Billy added.
The doctor smiled. “Exactly.”
Maile trotted off beside the doctor, and everyone else took his or her seats. The room had grown awfully quiet. But it was Billy who looked the most somber, his wife rubbing her belly with one hand and squeezing his knee with her other. No. Not squeezing, massaging.
John could only imagine the memories this incident had to be bringing back to mind for the war hero. John had only served six years in the navy. As an engineering aide with the Seabees, he’d been lucky to make it home without issue, but he’d had too many friends who couldn’t say the same.
“Daddy.” Bradley, Nick’s son, looked up. “Is Miss Ava going to be with Mommy soon?”
“Oh, no, sport. She’s not sick. She’s hurt. Remember at the last Fourth of July, when your friend Kimmy walked in front of her older sister, just as she swung the bat?”
Bradley bobbed his head. “She split her head open.”
“That’s right. Kimmy’s eyebrow split open, where the bat hit her. She had to be taken to the hospital and get stitched up.”
“So Miss Ava’s eel is like Kimmy’s bat?”
“Exactly. Now she’s had stitches, just like Kimmy.”
Love by Design Page 11
