37. Cole

CHAPTER 37

COLE

C ole was going to die.

The motion sickness had started halfway into the swim with a queasiness in his stomach, then expanded into a headache that left his temples throbbing every time he looked up to take a breath. And the dizziness… Skeleton Cay was there on the horizon, a dark, malevolent blemish against the blue, but reaching it…seemed…impossible.

He stopped to tread water for a moment, willing the nausea to subside, cursing the whitecaps a growing wind had whipped up.

“Hey.” Bella turned onto her back and floated back toward him. “You okay?”

“Just need a minute.”

“Look at the island. Focus on a fixed point.”

This side of the island was a vertical cliff of brown rock jutting toward the sky, and he had no idea how they were going to climb it. A paler lump stuck out near the middle, fuzzy in the twilight, and he locked his gaze on it, trying not to puke. He hadn’t gotten seasick in years, not since those early days at college when he’d gone on field trips as part of his marine biology studies. By the time he met Gretchen, he’d found his sea legs, but now the churning in his guts was back with a vengeance, and he just fucking knew he was going to embarrass himself in front of the woman he loved.

Yes, he loved Bella. Even with her occasional bitchiness and her tendency to keep secrets, he loved her. And that made him start swimming again.

She kept up with every stroke, slicing easily through the water, and he could swear she was part trevally. Half a mile left to go , he thought. Half a mile until they reached the slippery rocks of Skeleton Cay. If he’d tried this swim without a BCD and fins, he’d be fish food already, and Bella would be alone, and?—

“Turn onto your back.”

“What?” Cole asked, but he was low in the water, and a mouthful went down the wrong way. He coughed and spluttered and finally puked up bile and the remains of lunch as Bella gripped his BCD to hold him steady.

“Let me die. I think I’d prefer it.”

Bella kissed his hair. “When it’s our time, it’s our time, but today isn’t it.”

“You think?”

“Relax.” She slipped a hand under his armpit and began swimming, towing him along. “I did a lifesaving class in high school, and I’ve been dying to try it out. No, not dying. Wrong word. Waiting? Let’s go with waiting. Waiting to try it out.”

How could she still speak coherently?

“I can swim.”

“I know, but this way I’m less likely to get puked on again.”

Cole would have argued further, but he simply didn’t have the strength. When Bella dragged him onto a flattish rock at the base of the cliff, he couldn’t even sit up .

“See? Told you we’d make it.”

“This isn’t much better than the other place.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Now we’re stuck on a smaller rock, and we still don’t have any potable water.”

“Potable? Did you swallow a thesaurus with that gallon of saline? Do me a favour—don’t fall into the sea while I take a look around.”

“A look around? A look around where? There’s just a cliff with more rocks.”

Unless they swam around the island to look for the harbour, but Cole wasn’t capable of swimming anywhere at the moment. Fuck, this was embarrassing. A man who’d spent half his life around water getting saved by his desert-dwelling girlfriend? He’d never live it down. But he might not have to. The Caribbean Sea was barely tidal, but if Cole had calculated correctly, the water would rise another foot overnight. They couldn’t even stay on this rock safely.

Bella pointed upward. “Skeleton Caves, not Skeleton Cay, remember?”

Before he could stop her, she jumped, clinging to the rock above her head, and scrambled higher. Fucking hell.

She was climbing a cliff.

In a damn cast.

Her toes were sticking out the front, and she was using them to dig into cracks and crevices as she went higher, higher, higher. What do you know? Watching a woman with a death wish provided a real adrenaline kick. Cole leapt to his feet, ready to save her in case she fell into the water. What if she hit a rock on the way down? What if she ended up with a head injury?

But she didn’t fall.

No, she disappeared into a dark fissure. Fear prickled at the back of his neck, and he was ready to vomit again before her head reappeared .

“There are no skeletons. I feel cheated.”

He laughed with relief.

“Did you learn rock climbing in high school too?”

“No, college. There was a hot guy in the rock-climbing club, and— Never mind. Have you ever tried it?”

“Once.”

Marcus Driscoll had invited Cole and Gretchen on an activity weekend with him and his then-girlfriend, Melody. Melody had twisted an ankle hiking, and because they’d driven to the outdoor centre in Cole’s Jeep, he’d ended up taking Melody to the hospital while Gretchen and Marcus carried on with the trip. He’d been so damn stupid. Gretchen had come back with a hickey, and she’d told him it was a bruise she’d gotten while practising archery. The explanation hadn’t even made sense, but he’d just accepted it because she was his girlfriend and he loved her.

Bella wriggled out of the cave, feet first, and began climbing down.

“There’s a second time for everything,” she called. “We can stay in the caves overnight, get our strength back, and explore in the morning.”

His strength. She meant get his strength back. He’d spent half his life outdoors, and somehow, a woman who spent her days at a desk was outpacing him at every turn, and doing it almost cheerfully. Damn, he needed to go to the gym more often.

“Caves? Plural?”

“There’s a little network up there. The inside is dry, and there’s a pool of rainwater at the entrance.” Bella landed beside him. “When you’re ready, we can make the climb. I have a roll of paracord we can use as a safety rope. What do you weigh? One-eighty?”

“About that. You brought paracord?”

Bella patted the pocket of her BCD. “I’m a regular Girl Scout. ”

“I can see that.”

She knelt beside him and kissed his forehead. “In case I forget to tell you later, there’s no man I’d rather be marooned on a desert island with.”

Cole cupped her cheek in his hand. “And there’s no other woman I’d rather be with. Bella, I lo?—”

She clapped a hand over his mouth. “Don’t say it. Just don’t. We’re doing fine exactly as we are, okay?”

“Then I’ll let you say it first.”

“Can you kneel? I need to tie this rope.”

A neat subject change, but she didn’t totally rule out saying it, and Cole was taking that as a good sign.

The cave was larger than Cole had expected, and more hospitable too. The sand-covered floor was soft enough to lie on without aches and pains, and the narrow entrance kept out the worst of the wind. Tonight, Cole was hoping the weather forecast was wrong. He and Bella had taken it in turns to drink from the rainwater puddle, and now it was gone.

But they were alive.

They were alive, and they stood a chance of rescue.

Frankie would raise the alarm, but not yet. A week could pass without them speaking, so she wouldn’t start worrying for a while. Yolanda would also call the coastguard, but not until Cole was overdue. Last year, Dr. Blaylock had extended the trip by three days to attend Bart Huntley’s funeral, so a late return wasn’t unusual. But if he wasn’t back in a week… Then the coastguard would start searching, and who the hell knew where the Crosswind would be by then? Venezuela? Cuba? Hidden among the many islands in the Bahamas ?

The coastguard would check the islands in this area, wouldn’t they? Frankie knew the route they were meant to be taking, and he’d emailed her pictures yesterday, so she’d have an idea where to start.

Then there was Nancy. When Cole didn’t answer the phone, Perry would flip out and Nancy would start making calls. Maybe they wouldn’t have to wait a whole week? As long as they had water, they’d be okay. The Crosswind ’s fate wasn’t as important as their lives.

Cole tightened his arm around Bella. He’d always thought he slept like the dead, but here he was, wide awake, while she’d dropped off almost immediately, her head resting on a rolled-up BCD.

“I love you,” he whispered into the darkness.

The rhythm of her breathing didn’t change. Air puffed over his hand. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t heard his words—the important thing was that he’d said them.

His heart couldn’t keep them inside any longer.

“Do you want the good news or the bad news?”

Cole’s eyes flickered open. “Huh?”

“Good news or bad news?”

“Give me the bad news.”

“We’re still stuck on an island.”

He’d worked out that much already. “What’s the good news?”

Bella produced something brown and hairy from behind her back. “We have coconuts.”

Now he sat up, but slowly because he still felt delicate after the events of yesterday.

“Where did you get that?”

She pointed to the roof. “The caves are on a slope. I went exploring when I woke up and found the rear entrance. We’re stuck in a jungle, but we’re not going to starve.”

Weight rolled off Cole’s chest like a cannonball as Bella cracked the coconut off the wall. Juice began dripping out of a crack in the shell, but when she held it out to him, he shook his head.

“It’s yours.”

“I’m good. This is the second coconut I found.”

“What the hell would I do without you?”

“I don’t know, spend the morning complaining about a nasty case of sunburn?” Damn, Bella seemed more cheerful here than she did in Las Vegas. “Are you ready to go role-play Tom Hanks in Cast Away ?”

“I didn’t bring my volleyball.”

“Aw, shame. We’ll have to make do with the other balls you brought.”

“Other balls?” Wait a second… “Are you talking about sex?”

“No, I was thinking of juggling with them.”

“We’re stranded on an island.”

“Exactly. And there’s fuck all else to do here apart from eating coconuts and getting bitten by mosquitoes. Not everyone is lucky enough to wash ashore with a bunch of FedEx boxes.”

Fair point, except… “I don’t carry condoms in my dive kit.”

“Is now a good time to tell you I get Depo shots?”

Damn, this island was a weird mix of heaven and hell. If it weren’t for his missing boat, Cole might almost be happy to spend a few weeks here. Oh, and the curse. Don’t forget the curse.

“You’re killing me here.”

Bella sank to her knees, the light-heartedness gone, the air turning heavy. She cupped his face in her hands .

“I’d never harm you, I swear.”

“I know, beautiful. I was just joking around.”

“But I’m not. Promise you’ll remember that.”

“Okay, sure, I promise.” This conversation had taken a real weird turn. “You want to go explore?”

Bella’s smile was a tiny flicker, but it was there. “I want to check out the prison.”

Cole rose to his feet and held out a hand. “Breaking into a prison? That’ll be new.”

“You take me on the best dates. Shame we don’t have a YouTube channel.”

A groan escaped. At least the battery on Cole’s camera had run out, so nobody could get tempted to record this horror show for posterity.

“Don’t. I can’t think of anything worse.”

Bella grinned as she led him to the back of the cave. “Me neither.”