by Kaira Rouda
A group of five newly hired college co-eds walked noisily down the hall headed for orientation. When they spotted Jack, they all started to hit each other and whisper, a situation Jack was more than accustomed to. He flashed them his dimpled smile as they walked past. He’d always be friendly to them, but he wasn’t available, not more than a one-night stand. Not to them, not to anyone.
“Oh my God, he’s so hot,” the short blonde said as they passed him and strutted into the conference room.
“Aren’t you joining us, Jack?” Steve said, punching him in the arm. Steve was drenched, as always, in aftershave, a scent so strong it must double as bug repellent. Jack sneezed.
“Sure, if you need me to. I feel like I already know this stuff.”
“This stuff, as you call it, is important, son. Especially if you want to be in management,” Steve said, lowering his voice.
“I have an offer in hand from you. I am in management. I should have started two weeks ago,” Jack said, his brown eyes narrowing as he stared at his boss.
“I told you, I’ll honor it. I paid you for the summer, upfront, like you demanded as I recall. So now you just need to wait until the season is over. Three months and the position is yours, as long as you maintain a stellar employment record. You can do that, can’t you?” Steve said, patting Jack on the shoulder.
Jack wanted to pull away, or punch him, but said, “Sure, Steve. ETQ all the way.”
“Good,” Steve said, and walked into the conference room.
Jack hated being lied to more than anything. He was a man of his word. Knowing he’d turned down three other job offers, one with a company rivaling the size of Top Club pissed him off. He had been offered a job, he’d accepted it and then, when he arrived on the island he was told he’d be a lifeguard again for the summer. Now he had no choice. He had to make it work. He’d checked. The other three positions he’d been offered already were filled.
He balled his hands into fists, took a deep breath and followed Steve inside.
Jack looked around the ballroom, the setting for corporate retreats and indoor weddings in case of bad weather, and the scene of Steve’s power trip meetings. He saw some familiar faces, repeats from the summer before. Rebecca was back, and trying to catch his eye. They’d had some fun, especially in bed, but that’s all it was. Fun. Most girls got that, and he’d tell them that up front. No strings, no relationship. He’d had trouble shaking Rebecca last summer, though. He found an empty seat in the second-to-last row and sat down, dreading hearing Steve and his pompous squeaky voice drone on about how great the summer would be. Jack knew it would be the longest in his life, because of Steve.
Jack’s attention was drawn to a pretty strawberry blonde who walked down the center aisle like a deer in the headlights. Her hair was crazy curly, nothing like the rest of the girls who flattened and primped so much their hair all looked the same. She had freckles on her nose and gorgeous green eyes. He wanted to jump up and help her find a seat.
What’s wrong with me? Sure she’s adorable, but you aren’t looking for anyone this summer. Just work and get promoted, Jack reminded himself.
“Don’t we have a fabulous-looking group of new Top Club team members?” Steve said enthusiastically, using his stupid bullhorn as usual. “I know a couple of you are on long-term contracts. Dorsey, where are you?”
“Here,” said the girl Jack had just been watching. He could see her face blush a deep red. He could tell she hated to be singled out. Jack knew that would make Steve draw even more attention to her.
“Stand up, honey,” Steve said, bounding down the aisle and reaching her row, pulling Dorsey up by her hand.
“Dorsey’s our new Kids Club leader. Better her than me, if you know what I mean,” Steve said, and a few employees laughed.
“Where’s Jack?”
Oh shit, really? Two can play this game, Steve.
“Hey, I’m Jack. So happy to be here for my fifth season,” Jack said, standing up before Steve could reach his row, taking charge of the room. Jack knew the smile on his face was forced. Usually because of his dimples, people believed it anyway. His smiles never had reached his eyes, not since his brother’s accident. “Steve here hired me in management, but then changed his mind. So I get to be a lifeguard for the summer. Again.”
“Jack, let’s tell them the whole story,” Steve said to him without his handy bullhorn. Then he held the thing back up to his lying lips and said, “Jack here is going to be head lifeguard and in charge of all pool staff for the summer. After Labor Day, he is joining management. The youngest person we’ve ever hired to management, something which he should be grateful for,” Steve said. “Let’s give him a round of applause.”
Steve walked back up to the front of the room, basking in Jack’s applause. Jack caught Dorsey looking at him, clapping vigorously. He gave her a quick smile. She blushed and lowered her eyes. She was a babe, he decided. He dropped back into his seat, prepared for a two-hour lecture from Steve about the rules he already knew, about a system he helped create over the past five years. Steve himself had only been here for two seasons.
Jack put his head down on the table in front of him and settled in for a nap.
“Jack, wake up,” Rebecca said.
Disoriented, Jack sat up, realizing he’d slept through orientation and employees were filing out of the ballroom. He stood up quickly, wiping drool from the side of his mouth.
“Uh, thanks,” he said, looking past her, trying to figure out an escape route.
“Look, I know you said we were over last summer, but I’m here, you’re here as well,” she said, smiling up at Jack hopefully.
“No, we’re over,” he said, too loudly he realized as he looked up and saw Dorsey standing in the aisle in front of him. He pushed past Rebecca and Dorsey and walked quickly out of the ballroom.
“Jerk!” Rebecca yelled in his wake.
Chapter 3
Dorsey
Dorsey found the young woman Jack had been talking to outside the ballroom. She was leaning against the wall, alone, crying.
“Are you OK?” she asked, worried about her and wondering what was going on with her and Jack.
“I’m fine,” she sniffed. “I just shouldn’t have gone out with him. They all warned me what he was like. I thought I’d change him, that he’d actually like me, not just want sex.”
“Oh, well,” Dorsey said, stepping back. She didn’t want to know any more. Didn’t need to know any more. She’d seen the way all the women here looked at Jack, like he was a piece of meat, a prize to be won.
“I’d stay away from him if I were you,” Rebecca said. “He’s bad news, but I miss him.”
Dorsey walked away, not sure she could be of any help, and she had work to do. By the end of the second day on the island, Dorsey had the Kids Club cleaned up and ready for the new crop of vacationers arriving the next morning. Memorial Day Weekend started tomorrow and kicked off the season. Dorsey couldn’t wait for the kids to arrive. Laughter and fun would fill the now-quiet air. The Kids Club was housed in a bright white cottage, closest to the swimming pool facilities and adjacent to a wonderful play area with swings and climbing structures, and plenty of shade from the giant pine trees. Steve had shown her the supply closet and the order form if she needed more crayons or the like. She’d scrubbed the black-and-white-checked linoleum floor until it shined, and she’d ordered a new bright blue area rug for the kids to sit on. The windows shone. Everything was ready.
Dorsey headed for the beach after locking the Kids Club behind her for the day. She was feeling more settled, more at home on the island each moment. All the new staff were nice and friendly, even if she didn’t have anything to talk to them about. At least they said hello and good morning. They were all, she had realized, freakishly good looking – bright white teeth, big smiles, perfect skin. All the guys were built like lifeguards and body builders. All the girls were in shape and model-looking.
Jack was especially in shape and
looked like a model. She’d watched him stand up to Steve in front of the whole staff, but she’d also watched his incredible dimples. She had noticed that, like her, his smile didn’t reach his eyes, not when Steve was around at least. Jack was the epitome of a lifeguard – broad shoulders, dark wavy hair and muscles like she’d never seen. He could be a movie star. He was that gorgeous. And he was closer to her age, older than the rest of the staff. Whenever she thought about him her heart beat a little faster.
But that was silly. Dorsey heard how rude he had been to the young woman during orientation. Rebecca had burst into tears. Dorsey watched all the young, cute women flirting with him during staff meetings or whenever she walked through the pool complex. She knew she didn’t have a chance of catching his eye. Even so, it was nice to realize she could get a little crush again. She hadn’t had the butterfly feeling in her stomach since the early days with Chad. It was a fun feeling, even if it wouldn’t amount to anything.
She walked along the wide warm sandy beach alone, getting her feet wet at the edge of the warm water. She looked across Calibogue Sound to Hilton Head Island and suddenly felt envious of the throngs of people lining the beach. She was aware of how very alone she was here and in the world. She swallowed hard and kept walking.
Behind Dorsey, huge egret nests were perched on the tops of the trees at the edge of the sand. Beyond the egret homes was a vast forest that the club planned to develop someday. It was early evening and only the end of May, but five minutes into her walk, she was drenched in sweat. Out in the ocean, shrimp boats bobbed in the flat water, just as they did every day. The lazy arms of the boats worked all summer and continued long into the fall in a quest to find the popcornball-sized delicacies as they hopped by in schools called swarms.
Feeling uncharacteristically brave and particularly hot, Dorsey decided to wade farther out into the water. She was careful to shuffle her feet to avoid stepping on a horseshoe crab. She’d made it out to just about her shorts line when a loud clicking sound erupted on the water, like a bunch of people snapping their fingers. She turned in time to see a swarm of shrimp lurching toward her. She didn’t know what was chasing them, but she didn’t wait to find out. Her heart racing, she hurried out of the water, tripping over a rock or a large shell on her way out.
“Ack!” she hopped to the dry-sand line and plopped down to examine the bottom of her foot. A big gash on the pad of her foot below her big toe was blooming with blood, dripping down her foot and onto the sand.
“Hey, can I help?”
Dorsey looked up and realized it was the god of lifeguards. Shirtless, sweaty, sexy.
“Hi, I’m Jack,” he said, extending his hand.
“Dorsey,” she said, fighting to remain calm. She realized she was a clumsy mess, her hair frizzy, her foot dripping with blood. But still, his touch had been electric, at least to Dorsey.
Jack kneeled down next to her. “What happened?” he asked, his huge brown eyes kind and caring. He smelled like sea air and sweat, a surprisingly intoxicating mixture.
Dorsey’s heart thumped in her chest.
“I tripped on something. I’ll be fine, I think,” she answered, although the blood was still flowing from her cut and her foot was beginning to throb.
Jack gently held her foot in his hand, assessing the wound. “Wait here, I’ll be right back with a medical kit from the pool,” he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze before jogging off in the direction of the main clubhouse.
Dorsey leaned back into the warm sand. Her foot throbbed but Jack’s touch still lingered on her shoulder. She couldn’t believe how his touch made her feel, and as she thought about it, her stomach flipped again. Stop it, she told herself. He was just being nice and she was acting like a schoolgirl with a crush.
Jack came jogging back, sweating muscles glistening, carrying a fully stocked first aid kit under his left arm, two water bottles in his right.
“Drink this. I’m glad I decided to go for a beach run today. I usually just run on the cart paths,” Jack said, bending down to examine her foot. “Sorry I took so long. It’s at least a mile back to the plantation.”
“Thanks so much,” she said, pouring the cool water into her mouth, trying not to wince as he doused her foot with antiseptic. Dorsey didn’t trust herself to say anything else, she simply leaned back on the sand, enjoying his care, his skilled touch.
“This is too deep for a shell cut,” Jack said.
He bandaged her foot and then rose, standing over Dorsey and looking out at the calm ocean. “Where’d you go in? Right here?” Without waiting for an answer, he walked slowly into the ocean and then dove in right where the shrimp swarm had been. She watched as he swam slowly around in the shallow water, popping underneath the waves in the spot where she’d cut her foot.
“Eureka!” he said, walking back to shore, soaking wet. He looked like he’d just stepped out of the pages of a magazine, abs defined and hard, his arms strong and powerful. Stop it, she told herself. He handed her an arrowhead, carved of pink quartz. The tip—the obvious culprit—was still as sharp as it must have been when it was crafted by one of the first residents of the island.
“Wow!” she said as he dropped it into her hand. The arrowhead, more of a spearhead, was longer than her hand and beautiful, with different gradations of pink. The tip was sharp. Very sharp. She shivered.
“I’m sorry I didn’t bring a towel or anything. But the golf cart should be here any minute.” Jack sat down on the sand next to her. “You’ll need some stitches. It’s a great find, though. I’ve found six arrowheads so far, but nothing like this. These Savannah River points, as they’re called, can be eight thousand years old.”
“How do you know all of this?” she asked, playing with the spearhead in her hands. Her heart was beating faster just because he was sitting next to her; she could feel the heat from his body, and it was making her dizzy.
“I like to know all about the place I’m going to live,” he said. “It’s amazing what you find when you know what you should be looking for. Now that you know you might find an arrowhead, you might find one every time you’re out walking. Just wait. I can’t walk the beach without finding one.”
“So you’re here past the summer, too, right? I saw you at orientation.” Dorsey blushed, and looked away. She tried not to stare at his six-pack.
“I saw you, too,” Jack said, nudging Dorsey’s shoulder with his. Electricity shot through her body. “I am making my career here, I hope. I was promised a management position but when I arrived, Steve told me I had to lifeguard again through the summer. Asshole. He better keep his word when Labor Day rolls around.”
“I heard. Sorry about that,” she said. “I’m head of the Kids Club. I’m excited to get working with the kids. I hope it’s the start of a new career. All I’ve done so far is clean. It was a mess.”
“Yeah, Lila left in a hurry. Anyway, you’ll be bringing the kids to the pool, so we’ll see a lot of each other,” Jack said. “So, um, want to go to the employee bonfire with me tonight? You’re going to need help with that foot of yours, I mean if you want to go.”
Dorsey was shocked. She swallowed. Was Jack asking her on a date? “Sure. Great.”
“Cell phones don’t work here, as you know, so call my cottage if you change your mind. Otherwise, I’ll swing by about seven?”
“Perfect,” Dorsey said, as Steve pulled up in an all-terrain golf cart.
Dorsey tried to stand up, but fell back on the sand. Jack reached for her hands as Steve said, “Here, Dorsey, let me help you,” scooping her up off the sand as Jack turned away. “You’re good to walk back, right, Means?” Steve asked Jack. Steve dropped her into the back of the cart and they drove away, leaving Jack behind on the hot sand.
“Why didn’t we give Jack a ride back?” she asked. “He really helped me a lot back there.”
“I’m sure he did. You know my policy, right? No dating among employees. I enforce it very strictly,” Steve said. “Summer staff is
one thing, but you are an employee, like Jack is now. Will be quite a change for the lad from last summer.”
“Right,” Dorsey said, getting the chills. Her foot was throbbing, the sun was hot and Steve was, well, Steve.
“Quite the playboy, that one, but now he is in management. Rules change. I learned that the hard way on my first management job. I was quite the ladies’ man back in my day,” he said. “Yup, but now I’m a career man. Career first, pleasure second. Excellence in everything.”
As she held on to the golf cart, Dorsey realized she’d sort of agreed to go on a date, a date with the hottest guy on the island. Hopefully, though, Steve would just think Jack was helping her out by taking her to the bonfire because of her injured foot. And really, that’s all they could ever be anyway, even without Steve’s strict rules. Friends. She knew she wasn’t ready for more. She’d made a promise to herself after Chad broke up with her that she’d spend this time, this chapter of her life alone. It only made sense.
Dorsey looked at her foot, at the blood seeping through the bandage Jack had applied, and shuddered, remembering years ago the blood that had splattered all over her face and pink t-shirt, and all over the flowers they had been planting in the garden. The police said the killer must not have seen Dorsey, as she was kneeling down, planting a row of seeds. They also told her she must have seen the shooter, just before he turned to run away.
She’d been fourteen years old, old enough to remember, her mom kept saying.
Dorsey wrapped her hand tightly around the arrowhead as tears flooded her eyes.
Five stitches later, and with orders to use crutches for the next three days to allow the cut to heal, Dorsey was released from the resort’s clinic. Steve hadn’t left her side, insisting on being there as the doctor cleaned the cut and then stitched her foot, an excruciatingly painful process. She didn’t understand why he had to be with her, watching her suffer, his beady eyes glinting under the fluorescent clinic lights.