Outer Banks

by Anson Barber

  “Keep it handy for the next time you’re bitchy. I’m sure it will happen again at any moment.”

  “Very funny,” she said with a playful glare.

  I made some coffee while she went to clean up and change.

  When she came out in a new T-shirt and sweatpants she sat on the sofa and tucked her feet under her.

  I was surprised she wasn’t going into the lab or the other white room.

  “What’s on?” she looked at the TV.

  “I was going to watch a baseball game but we can watch something else.”

  “No that’s fine. I like baseball. Who’s playing?” she inquired as she took the bag of blood I handed her.

  “You like baseball?”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “Who’s your favorite team?”

  “It had been the Angels when I lived in California. Then I switched to the Yankees when I moved to New York. I guess I’m back to the Angels.” She shrugged.

  “Hmph,” I snorted. “No loyalty there.”

  “What about you?”

  “Astros,” I answered, being from Houston. “Always the Astros.”

  “Hmph,” she mimicked me. “No taste there.”

  We settled in and it wasn’t long before she shared her dislike with some of the umpire’s calls. Loudly. During a commercial I went to get a beer.

  “Can I ask you something, Em?”

  “Sure.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m watching a baseball game.” She pointed at the TV as I walked back into the living room.

  “Yes. Maybe I should have asked why?”

  “Are you sure the question isn’t, ‘Why are you hanging out watching a baseball game instead of in the lab working?’” She raised her brow.

  “Yes, that’s the real question, but if I asked it like that I’m pretty sure you would have gotten pissed at me again.”

  “It’s a valid question. I guess my answer would be I’m working up to it.”

  “Are you scared?” I could read it on her face.

  She kept her eyes on the TV. “Terrified. Overwhelmed.”

  I reached out and took her hand and gave it a little squeeze. I tried to let go, but she entwined her fingers through mine, clutching my hand against her chest.

  When the game was over we watched a rerun of SNL that I had seen before but she hadn’t. I enjoyed watching her laugh.

  At some point she lay down on the sofa and rested her head on my leg.

  “Can I ask you something?” She turned to look up at me. Her head still resting on my legs. I resisted the urge to play with her hair.

  “Sure.”

  “My father told me you found a queen in Ohio. You saw it. It could have killed you.”

  I shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah.”

  “Why didn’t you ever mention it? Even when I was telling you my hard luck story you didn’t say, ‘That’s nothing, I was chased by a queen just last week.’ Why?”

  I bit my bottom lip. “I didn’t want my story to make light of what happened to you. I escaped and you wouldn’t have been able to escape that night. I dunno. It seemed rude to bring it up.”

  “Were you scared when you saw her?”

  “Yes.” Though “scared” didn’t really encompass the terror accurately.

  “At the hospital when I believed I was going to die I thought about how I’d never gone ice skating at Rockefeller Center at Christmas. Isn’t that dumb? Of all the things to think about…”

  “I think it’s normal to have regrets of the things you’ve done or haven’t done when you’re facing death,” I allowed.

  “Were you thinking about something you’d never got the chance to do when you saw the queen?”

  “Yes.”

  “What was it?” she pressed.

  I sighed and told her the truth. “Meet you.”

  Her mouth parted in surprise and her eyes widened.

  I tried to cover for how corny that sounded. “I was already hired by your dad. I’d been briefed about you, seen your picture, told how important you were. I thought you were going to give us all a real chance, and there I was facing something bigger than any of my nightmares, and all I could think was how I’d failed you. Which is stupid since you didn’t even know me yet.”

  For a long moment we were locked in each other’s gaze. She swallowed loudly and I realized this moment was getting more awkward, not less.

  “Should we watch a movie?” I suggested.

  “Sure.” She sat up.

  I let her pick a movie which proved to be a bad decision. She chose a sappy romance that made her emotional and made my eyes roll.

  “I’m going to bed,” she announced when it was over.

  “Already? You still have about an hour.”

  “Yeah. I have some calls to make first.”

  “Oh, sure. Good night.”

  “Thanks. You too, Dillon. I—I’m glad you were there when I woke up.” She turned and went down the hall.

  “Tell your dad I said hi,” I shouted after her, guessing she was going to be calling him.

  Of course, she had said she had some calls to make. Who else would she be calling?

  None of your business, I thought quickly.

  The fiancé?

  Not my concern.

  She’d said she didn’t know where they stood. Did she want to find out?

  Let it go!

  I went for a run on the treadmill to clear my head before trying to go to sleep. It didn’t work.

  I could only think of her blonde hair across my lap. Her hand in mine. Her smile when she woke up.

  This girl was quickly becoming too important to me. I already knew I was going to be in for a world of hurt when it was time to leave.

  At some point while I stared at the ceiling, looking for an answer, I must have drifted off to sleep.

  I was awakened by the house alarm. The three steady beeps were alerting me of someone coming up the driveway. I pulled on a shirt and jeans and checked my gun while I cursed whoever it was.

  I got to the front door just as the brown clad delivery person was reaching for the doorbell.

  “Delivery for Mitchell,” he said as he held out his scanning device which I signed illegibly. It was nearly impossible to write on those damn things.

  “Thank you.” I took the three boxes from him. They were stacked biggest to smallest and I was barely able to see over the top.

  I carried them back to the lab and set them on the counter, noticing the smallest box had a warning that the contents needed to be refrigerated. I carried it back out to the kitchen and made space on one of the shelves. It wouldn’t fit in the small refrigerator in the lab.

  Now that I was awake, it wasn’t going to be easy to fall asleep again.

  I made some breakfast and watched some talk shows. Talk shows usually put me out like a light, but the topic this morning was being honest about your feelings. I had a lot of feelings I wasn’t dealing with. They were all crammed down to the pit of my stomach.

  Unfortunately, I had to push new feelings down there too. I wondered how long until I would no longer be able to eat because my stomach was at maximum capacity.

  At some point I did fall asleep. I woke to the alarm on my watch. Emery would be waking in about ten minutes. I usually didn’t sleep this long.

  I went down the hall and pushed the keypad to unlock her door. Then I went upstairs to shower and change.

  When I came back down I went to the lab to greet Emery with a “good morning” but she wasn’t there. The boxes on the counter had been opened and rummaged through. The only thing left was some packing paper and those clear bags filled with air.

  I went to the kitchen to start my real breakfast, deciding what I had earlier had been pre-breakfast
.

  I was finishing some sausage when Emery came out. I glanced up at her.

  “Good morn—” my head spun to look at her more closely. “—ning.”

  Emery was one of those naturally beautiful women. Even with the black eyes, dark veins and lackluster hair, she had something about her that made you take notice. Her body was slim, but curved in all the right places. Her legs were long and toned. All of this I had noticed in small bursts of observation so I wouldn’t get caught.

  This morning, however, I couldn’t help but gawk. I wasn’t sure if my mouth was hanging open or not. All my brainpower was being used at the moment to study Emery.

  Instead of the usual shirt and sweatpants, or scrubs she wore around the lab, she was wearing jeans and a tight fitted knit top that was cut into a deep V in the front. The jeans were dark washed and from what I had learned on TV were considered “skinny” jeans. To a guy that translates into: tight in that way you love—until the moment you’re trying to get them off.

  Her hair was brushed straight to below her shoulder blades and she was wearing makeup for once. Not a lot, just some mascara and eyeliner. Her lips were shiny with a deep pink gloss.

  I swallowed and closed my mouth which I realized was indeed open.

  “Are…are you going somewhere?” I stuttered while trying to keep my eyes from wandering from her face.

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Is someone coming here?”

  “No. I’m not expecting anyone.”

  I blinked and looked at the floor. Had she done this for my benefit? No. She was careful to keep this arrangement from becoming romantic. Except she had laid her head on my leg last night. Was that a signal?

  With a normal girl it would have been safe to assume so. But with Emery? I’d misread her before. More like constantly. She was an enigma. A beautiful, sexy, frustrating puzzle I wasn’t smart enough to solve.

  “Okay. I have to say—at the risk of being called a perv—you look very, very nice.”

  “Thank you,” she said with a big smile. She went to sit at the table across from me while I set my breakfast at my usual spot. She was sitting with me.

  I pointed toward the refrigerator. “Can I get you something?”

  “No, thank you. Not now.”

  I stole glances at her while she read the paper. Every once in a while she would catch me and smile.

  “You know…I don’t think it’s the new clothes or the other stuff,” I meant the makeup. “It’s your smile that makes you so beautiful. I’ve never seen you smile like that.”

  She smiled involuntarily in response to my compliment and turned her head away. Then she said, “Thanks.”

  I finished my breakfast while thinking I’d never wanted to kiss someone so badly before. It didn’t help that I had already kissed her once, and knew how wonderful it was.

  She smiled again when she caught me staring.

  When I put the butter in the refrigerator I saw the box I’d stored there.

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you. You have another package here.” I pulled it out as she got up. She was still smiling as she took the box out of my hands.

  “Thanks. I can’t wear this one.” She laughed. “See you later.” She carried the box down the hall. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her. Her jeans were perfect.

  I took my time cleaning up the kitchen, then went back to watching TV, knowing if I went back to the lab I would do or say something to make an ass out of myself.

  Eventually, I couldn’t hold back any longer. I pounded myself in the head as I walked back to the lab. What are you doing? This is a really bad idea. But she only had an hour before she would need to sleep. How much could I mess things up in an hour?

  I was relieved to find she had put on a white lab coat at least. It covered the dangerous part of her jeans, but did nothing for the slight cleavage exposed by her low shirt. Her hair was clipped back to keep it out of the way.

  She looked up from her notes. “Come sit here, I want to check you over.” She pointed to a stool. I quickly did as she asked while she pulled a blood pressure cuff from a drawer. “I’m a doctor. If you’re going to take care of me, then I need to take care of you as well.” She winked at me which did nothing to help with the growing pain in my chest. “I’ve already checked your cholesterol from the blood I took. Everything seems fine.”

  “Well, that’s good.” I nodded as she wrapped the cuff around my biceps and placed a stethoscope in the curve of my elbow before she started pumping the little bulb.

  “Blood pressure is good. One eighteen over seventy.” She moved the stethoscope to my chest. She tilted her head so she could listen to my heart which was nearly crashing out of my chest by that point. “Pulse is rather high, though.”

  She was so close I could smell the lip gloss she wore. Candy apple.

  I asked possibly the dumbest question ever. “Have you ever wanted to do something so badly, but you were scared if you did it, it would mess everything up?”

  “I feel like that every day.” She looked away to the microscope. “I mean I want to find a cure in the worst way, but what if I make things worse somehow?”

  “Right.” That was not what I meant at all, but I was happy for the chance to avoid the subject. “How’s it going?”

  “It’s not…”

  “I’m sorry. Should I go?” I was probably a distraction.

  “Please stay.” She put her hand on my arm and then let go immediately. She wrapped the stethoscope around the back of her neck.

  “Your heart rate was a fairly elevated, but I didn’t hear anything that would indicate a blockage or a valve problem. How does your chest feel right now?” She looked up at me through her lashes.

  “Fine. I think I’m okay.” I nodded. I wasn’t okay. My stomach was in knots. “I should go.”

  I got up and left the lab. Then, almost of its own accord, my hand slapped up against the doorjamb, stopping me dead in my tracks. I turned around.

  “Actually, I want to kiss you, Emery.” I could see her tense and her head snapped away from me. “But I know that’s eight different kinds of complicated right now. I can wait. I can wait until you’re ready. If you ever would be ready I mean,” My words were failing me. I put up my hands and turned to go. “Forget it. I’m sorry.”

  I felt like I was going to explode with the pressure of cramming another emotion down. I stopped myself before I even took a step this time.

  “No. You know what? I’m not sorry I want to kiss you. I think—”

  Her eyes closed and she started to fall to the floor.

  “Emery?” I caught her before she hit the ground and laid her out on the gurney in the room. “Em?” I checked the clock on the wall. “Shit!” Emery was asleep, but this was too early.

  Maybe it was all the blood samples she’d taken that weakened her. Stamina played a part in how long it took to wind down. I’d have to remember to warn her earlier.

  “Of all the luck,” I whispered and looked her over. I couldn’t very well let her sleep there all day.

  The first thing I did was pull the clip out of her hair where it was probably digging into the back of her head. I ran my fingers through her hair to get the knot out.

  I sat her up so I could get the lab coat off. She was so limp it turned out to be more difficult than I would have thought.

  I picked her up and carried her into her room. After wrestling back the covers, I laid her out on her bed. Her shoes had already come off, so I pulled her blanket back over her and kissed the top of her head before I left the room.

  “We’re not done talking about this,” I warned her as I turned off the light.

  Chapter Thirteen

  That night I unlocked her door before I started my breakfast. I carried it into Emery’s room and ate while I waited for her to wake up.

 
; Her nose sniffed my eggs before her eyes opened. Like before she smiled when she saw me.

  “They smell good.”

  “I’d offer you some, but…”

  “Did you not break the spell yet?”

  “No. I told you. I’m not a prince. And besides, I didn’t kiss you while you were sleeping.” Kisses on the head didn’t count. She nodded and looked up at her ceiling.

  “Dillon, I’m really sorry about last night.”

  “You can’t help it. When it’s time, you fall asleep. I should have been paying more attention.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” She got up and looked down at the clothes she’d had on last night. “I mean this,” she gestured at herself. “I was feeling sorry for myself. I got these clothes to make myself feel attractive. I didn’t feel like a woman anymore.”

  “Well, they definitely did the job,” I said with a grin.

  “I was flirting with you shamelessly because you make me feel better about myself.”

  “I didn’t mind.”

  She shook her head in embarrassment. “I was using you, Dillon.”

  “Emery, it’s not a problem. I’m happy to help you feel like a woman again. I consider it a perk of the job,” I teased in hopes of making her laugh. It worked a little.

  She took a deep breath and looked at me. “I’m sorry. I need to be able to focus on my work. I can’t have any distractions right now. It was wrong of me to start flirting with you like that. It wasn’t fair to you.”

  “Right. I see.” I took a step toward the door.

  “It’s just bad timing.”

  Bad timing? When would it have been better? If I had met her when she was in college, she would have been too smart for me. If I met her when she was working at the hospital, she would have been too good for me. If I had met her when she was first infected…

  “I told you last night I would wait until you were ready, and I meant that. We’ll see what happens, okay?” I smiled patiently, but inside my chest was hurting again.

  She took a deep breath. “I’m going to get started tonight. No more fooling around. I’m going to do it.”

  “Tonight?” I checked.