Breaking Even (13 page)

“It still smells like food, so I’ll let it
air out. Besides, we may want to go over to the resort for dinner.”

“That sounds good. And you owe me a
sparring.”

“I do. Let’s change clothes and see what
you can do. I left a uniform in the second bedroom that should fit.”

Ric changed and went into the workout
room. He had wanted to spar with her since he found out she was been part of
the fencing club at Florida State.

He heard her come in, and his breath
caught in his chest when he saw her in the traditional white fencing uniform.
She carried the helmet under her arm, and her hair flowed free to her shoulders.
He shifted his legs, well aware that his pants were too tight to hide any
reaction he may have to her.

“Have you gone to any more meetings of the
fencing club?”

“No, I don’t have time. I ran into Cayden
and he still wants to get your help. If you have time.”

“He seemed nice. I'll see if I can work
with him my next visit up. But you are the one I’ve wanted to see in a fencing
jacket." He ran his hands down her torso, following the line of the
jacket. “Perfect fit,” he said, handing her the smallest gloves that he had on
the island.

“So do you want me to offer pointers as we
go, or after?” He had hoped this would be a fun match. He knew he would win,
but he didn’t want to overwhelm her either.

“It will be hard to hear you with the
helmet on. Let’s save them for the end.”

He showed her the foils that he thought
might work for her height and she chose one.

Wearing the black-fronted helmet, Lindsey
became a faceless opponent. They each did the traditional salute and took the
ready position.

He won, but Lindsey was tough, and with
her speed, she got more touches than he expected. They each removed their
helmets and bowed.

“Want to go again? I think I saw some
weaknesses that I want to exploit. You were going easy on me,” she said.

“Not much,” he said, and then at her
frown, added “Maybe a little.”

“How am I going to learn if you’re not
playing tough?”

Ric heard a car and turned just in time to
see Xavier running toward the gym. They both met him at the door. “What is it?”

“I tried to call. Rudy’s missing.”

“Oh, God." He shrugged out of the
fencing jacket, leaving his white undershirt. "Let's go. Where was he last
seen?”

Xavier lapsed into Spanish. “A group of
boys were playing hide and seek, but it’s been over an hour and no one can find
him.”

Ric turned to Lindsey, realizing that she
hadn't understood. “Lindsey, Rudy's missing. They have organized a search
party. I have to go help. He could be anywhere.”

“I know. Just find him.”

Lindsey watched
Ric and Xavier leave. All she could think about was that little sweet boy,
saying he
“wanted
Wick.” Her irritation with Jacquetta didn't mean she wanted Rudy hurt.

With no word from Ric, she took off the
fencing suit and showered. When she checked her phone for the fifteenth time, he
had not called.

No news was good news, right? She told
herself that he wouldn’t call unless he had new information. Unless they found
a body, Rudy was out there alive somewhere needing help.

Restless, she walked out on the wide front
veranda. The wind whistled over the dunes, whistling as it whipped through the
sea grass. She froze, tilting her head. She thought she heard a whimper.

She frowned. The sound she had just heard
was a whimper. “Rudy? Where are you, baby? Call out to me.” She left the porch
and walked toward the dunes, but didn’t hear anything but the wind. She tracked
back toward the porch, pausing to listen every few feet.

There. She heard it again. Coming from the
SUV. She ran to the back, but didn’t see anything but a blanket. She opened the
back hatch and underneath the blanket saw a foot.

“Oh, God,” she whispered. She pulled the
blanket off and saw Rudy, his face flushed. His eyes were closed, and he was
whimpering. He felt hot to the touch. She tried to lift him up, but he was
solid, and without him holding on, she worried she would drop him. She opened
all the car doors to pull the breeze through the vehicle and ran into the
villa.

Ice. Rags. Towels. She found a bucket
under the sink and filled it with ice and water. She tossed a towel over her
shoulder and carried the water outside as fast as she could.

She dipped the cloth in the ice water and
started sponging him off. As she worked, she grabbed her phone from her back
pocket and dialed Ric's number. She prayed he would answer and when she heard
his voice, she almost sank to her knees in relief.

“Ric! He’s here! In the car. I’m icing him
down.”

“Be there as soon as we can. Keep trying
to cool him down.” She put the phone back in her pocket and turned back to
Rudy.

“Rudy? Can you hear me? You need to wake
up, sweetie.”

Lindsey stepped back and gave Ric room to
pick up the boy. She was already ahead of him, opening the door. He went
straight to the master bath and set him down on the tile. Lindsey started
running cold water.

“Rudy, wake up, buddy. You’re going to be
fine,” Ric told him, speaking in a calm, collected voice. Lindsey felt anything
but calm and collected.

Rudy shivered and whimpered. “Wick,” he
murmured. “I wuv you.”

“I love you, too, Rudy.”

Lindsey heard a commotion at the door and
turned to see a man in a white coat running in. Jacquetta raced in behind him,
still in her black. Lindsey stepped back to give them room.

“My baby!” Jacquetta screamed.

“Shhh. That won’t help. He’s coming
around, but let the doctor check him out.” Ric pulled Jacquetta back from the
tub.

“His core temperature has come down. We
just need to keep him cool,” the doctor said. “Do you have sports drinks?”

“In the kitchen,” Ric said.

“I’ll get one,” Lindsey offered, relieved
to be able to help.

Lindsey ran back into the kitchen and
found a sports drink with a cap that made it a squirt bottle. She grabbed
grape, since she had never met a child who didn’t like grape.

Back in the bathroom, Rudy was awake and
crying, holding up his arms. He didn't like the cold water.

The doctor pulled back after listening to
his heart. “Let’s give it five more minutes and then I think you can take him
out. His heart rate sounds good and his pupils look good. Just keep cool cloths
on his forehead and check his temperature over the next few hours.”

They gave him the drink, holding it for
him so he could drink. He refused to hold it, and he had started shivering.

“Mama,” Rudy cried, begging to be picked
up. After a few more minutes, the doctor checked his skin again and nodded. Ric
lifted him out of the water, wrapped him in a towel, and handed the crying boy
to Jacquetta.

“It’s okay, baby,” Jacquetta whispered,
holding him and swaying to get him calm. “Mama’s here.”

The four paraded out of the bathroom. They
found Xavier in the den, pacing the main room. He turned as they filed out.

“How is he?”

“We think he will be okay,” Ric said.

He crossed himself. “
Gracías, Madre
Díos
!”

Ric invited Jacquetta to stay at the villa
with Rudy if she wanted, but she declined. She thought he would sleep better in
his own bed. Xavier gave her a ride back.

Rudy had gone back to sleep as they left.
As she walked out the door, Jacquetta turned back and mouthed “Thank you” to
Lindsey.

Lindsey smiled and waved back.

When they had gone, Lindsey perched on a
chair in the kitchen, too hot and sweaty to sit down in the den on his couch.
Ric followed, looking as tired as she felt.

“Will he be okay? Shouldn’t he have gone
to a hospital?” she asked.

“He’ll be fine. The doctor wouldn’t have
released him otherwise. We would have flown him to the hospital in Nassau.”

“Will he be cool enough?” Lindsey asked,
envisioning a small house with no cooling ability.

“They have air conditioning in their house,
but they don’t use it much. If we sent them to the hospital, he wouldn’t sleep.
On top of that, his mother wouldn’t sleep, and it would take longer for him to
recover. She will take a few days off, stay with him and make sure he’s
hydrated. He will be good as new.”

“Where does he stay when she works?”

“The church runs a half-day preschool, and
her sister takes him in the afternoon.” He reached out and squeezed her hand.
“You saved Rudy’s life, you know. I would have never come back here to look for
him. The doctor said he had severe heat exhaustion. It would have progressed to
heat stroke given more time.”

“If I hadn’t been here, you might not have
come home so early, so he wouldn’t have hidden in the car—”

“No, I never stay at those events long. I
would have left with Xavier to go look for him, and no one would have found him
until it was too late. You kept your head, getting the cold water.”

“Lifeguard training, remember? I wanted to
carry him to the bathtub myself, but I was worried I would drop him. He’s
solid.”

“You did the right thing. Now, it seems
that I have worked up an appetite. What should we do for dinner? We can drive
over to the resort if you want.”

“I’d rather stay here. I’ll see what I can
find in the kitchen.”

“I think I have ingredients to make
spaghetti with a basic marinara sauce. Are you sure you want to cook? I can
call the resort to bring something out.”

Lindsey smiled at his offer. “You don’t
want to eat my spaghetti?”

“I didn’t say that. I just know this has
been stressful.”

“I don’t mind cooking. Come sit in the
kitchen with me. You can make the garlic bread if there’s any of Etienne’s
French loafs left.”

“We may have one or two.”

“The French missed their calling. They
could have ruled the world with their bread.”

He grinned. “All right, well you start the
spaghetti, and I’ll go shower.”

While Ric showered, he heard his phone’s
weather alert ping several times. By the time he got out, a hurricane watch had
been declared for the island. Experts predicted it would turn toward
Charleston, South Carolina, but he didn’t trust them.

A text pinged from his on-island armchair
meteorologist. Born on the island, Ramando had returned after college. Ric had
hired him as his technology chief, and he kept the servers running.

On top of his IT work, Ramando served as
the main local meteorologist. Ric charged him with tracking and forecasting
severe weather. The island had a modern weather station with radar and wind
measurement instruments placed at strategic sites on the island. Ramando
studied Caribbean wind patterns and he had never failed in his predictions.

He stayed in the bedroom and called
Ramando to get the news firsthand.

“They are reading the wrong model,” his
friend warned him. “Hurricane Marco will turn and graze the Eastern coast and
lowlands on the island. I think we’ll get wind at the lower end, around 100 miles
per hour, but that won’t last long. High swells and torrential rain for three
days. Then Marco will pass.”

“When will the rain start?”

“Tomorrow afternoon.”

“Thanks. Keep me posted if it changes.”

Ric found Lindsey in the kitchen. She
would not be happy with what he had learned. He hated to tell her about the
hurricane, but he didn’t want to keep it from her either.

“That looks good,” he said.

Lindsey laughed. “It’s no five-course
gourmet meal, but I think we’re both too tired for that.”

He helped her move salad bowls to the
table.

“Spaghetti sounds great. It’s not
something I get much here. In fact, I bought it because I thought it would be
quick and easy. And different.” He sat down, took a deep breath, and plunged
in. “The weather forecast has changed.”

“Let me guess. Sunny in the morning,
afternoon thundershowers, and then sunny again? Or did I mix up the order?”

Ric laughed. “Not that easy. Sorry. No,
there’s a hurricane headed our way. It’ll be here tomorrow afternoon, so I
called the pilot and gave him notice to be ready for an early departure.
There’s a handful of guests that will need to fly out as well.”

“I can wait—”

He held up his hand. “If you wait until
Tuesday, I don’t know what the weather will be. If the hurricane hits here , or
grazes us, we may lose power. Planes may be grounded, even if we have
electricity. And while I’m confident you can rough it with me, they will expect
you back in class, right?”

“Yes, but—”

“Don’t argue. Let’s just enjoy our last
evening together.”

“You’re right. Leaving is probably the
best thing. But I don’t have to like it,” she finally said.

“I know. I don’t like it either.”

Ric watched Lindsey all through dinner.
They managed to put thoughts of the hurricane aside and focus on other things.

Lindsey told him about a new program that
offered math tutoring to students who needed it. Lindsey had signed up as a
tutor. As she talked, she got so excited she was gesturing with her hands and
her eyes flashed.

“What?” she asked when he reached across
the table and took her hand. “Do I have spaghetti sauce on my face?”

“No,” he said, smiling. “You’re beautiful.
I was just thinking that this is the first time I’ve seen you show any
enthusiasm for teaching.”

“I always thought when I got to college
that all the kids would be eager to learn. I thought that the freshmen would be
like sponges, soaking up calculus.”

He laughed. “And they’re not?”

“Well, most of the ones who are like
sponges get in the honors sections, which aren’t what I’m teaching. The
students that I get are okay, but some days they don’t want to be there.”

“I think any school gets that,” he agreed.

“That moment when you see a struggling
student finally get it, and make a high C on a test, that's a great feeling.”

“They’re lucky.”

Lindsey cocked her head to the side. “Why?”

“To have a teaching assistant who cares so
much about them.”

Lindsey snorted. “Some days more than
others, but I get what you’re saying. How old were you when you decided what
you wanted to be?” Lindsey asked.

“Last year?” Ric laughed, a deep rumbling
in his chest. “No, seriously. It’s always changing. Who says you always have to
do the same thing? You’re young. It will come.”

“I thought I wanted to be a college
teacher, but the classes aren’t always easy to control. Maybe teaching isn’t
for me.”

She looked so unsure of herself it made
Ric want to grab her and shake her. She needed more self-confidence. “It’s too
early to determine that. You've only had classes for a few weeks."

“Oh, so now you’re teasing me, talking
about sample sizes.” She picked up her glass and swirled the wine. “It’s just
that I’ve always had this singular goal in sight, and now I’m questioning that.”

“It’s okay to question. It’s okay to
doubt. I think everyone feels that way sometimes.”

“You’re so good to me.”

“All I want is for you to be happy.”

She leaned across the table and took his
hand. “Right now, you make me happy.”

After dinner, Ric pushed back from the
table, full. “That was good spaghetti. Thank you.”