Shipwrecked Summer

by Carly Syms

  Jen furrowed her brow. “He could die out there.”

  “He won’t.”

  Jen’s fears--and the worried expression on the other lifeguard’s face that he was trying so hard to conceal for her--sent me into a full-blown panic. Did Jeff even know the storm was coming?

  “Sorry,” I said to them, unable to keep quiet any longer. “But are you talking about Jeff Blanco? The lifeguard?”

  She turned to me and nodded and I was horrified to see the tears in her eyes. “Do you know him?”

  I could only nod.

  “He wanted to take his boat out a couple hours ago but his dad had already gone fishing this morning,” she said. “So Ted took him out. He just called up the shift manager and said he needed to get away for awhile.” She shook her head as if she couldn’t quite understand it. “Something about not getting any response from a letter he wrote, I don’t know. But it’s not like Jeff to just bail on work like this. Something’s got to be really wrong.”

  If I’d been scared for him before, I was downright terrified now.

  Not only was Jeff out there somewhere, alone, but it was my fault. The letter. It had to be the one he’d tried to give me, the one I’d finally taken from Gianna.

  “Does--does he know about the storm?”

  “We don’t know. He isn’t answering his phone. I’m sure he’s seen the clouds, but for all he knows, they could be moving in any direction. By the time he realizes it’s heading our way....”

  “Where did he go?”

  “White Cap Ridge,” she replied. “Ted thinks it’s too risky to try and get there before the storm blows in. There’s a chance he’d get stuck on the water and then he’d be worse off than Jeff.”

  “How far away is it in this weather?” I knew Joey could get there in ten minutes if the conditions were right.

  Jen shrugged. “Maybe fifteen minutes if you know exactly where you’re going. The storm’s expected to reach us in less than half an hour.” She studied me for a second. “You’re not thinking of going out there, are you?”

  “I have to,” I said, suddenly realizing it was true. “He’s out there because of me.”

  “You can’t! It’s way too dangerous,” she said.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I replied. “He’d go out there for me.”

  “That doesn’t mean he wants you risking your own life to save him. This isn’t some movie. It’s real life. And I’m sure the harbor master has a no-boat rule in effect right now, anyway.” Jen shot me a triumphant smile.

  Ignoring her, I dug in my bag, suddenly frantic to find the letter. If I was going to do this, I had to know why he’d gone out there in the first place.

  “What are you doing?” Jen demanded.

  I tossed old lip balms and receipts to the sand, dropping to my knees to root around in my bag. Finally, my hands landed on the envelope. I pulled it out, holding it in my hand for just a second, before tearing it open.

  It was a single page of loose-leaf paper written in his scratchy handwriting:

  Lexie,

  I hope you’re reading this no matter what you think about me right now. And I’m sure your opinion of me isn’t at an all-time high. I should have been there that night. I wanted to be there, you have to know that. I’m sure you don’t want excuses, but you need to know that I was getting ready to come see you, finishing up my shift for the day. Brittany cornered me on the beach. She wanted to talk to me about how things ended, said she realized she made a mistake and wanted me back. I told her that I didn’t need--or want--her anymore. That someone else had shown me what a real relationship could be like, what it meant to actually care about someone else. I told her she and I had never had that.

  She wouldn’t listen, wouldn’t take no for an answer. I tried to leave. Maybe I didn’t try hard enough. But the truth is that I’m miserable without you, more miserable than I thought possible. Sometimes you’ve got to take a risk to find that one thing that makes you happier than you could ever imagine and that’s what I felt with you. And I don’t want to give up on that so easily.

  Please, please, at least let me talk to you face to face. I need to see you again.

  Jeff

  I didn’t know that tears were streaming down my cheeks until I folded the letter and tucked it neatly back into the envelope.

  I had to get off the beach.

  Sprinting across the sand toward the bridge, I heard Jen call after me, desperate to know what I was doing, but there was no more time to waste. I’d already lost enough of it.

  My bike leaned up against the side of the house exactly as I’d left it. I threw my bag into the basket and took off pedaling. There was no time to tell Grandma where I was going and she’d only try to talk me out of it.

  I prayed that it would be there. I didn’t have a back-up plan if it wasn’t.

  My legs burned as I forced them down onto the pedals, willing the bike to go faster with each rotation. I barely came to a stop at the intersection of Gull Boulevard and Central. I flew through the traffic light and down the bayside streets until the marina rose into view.

  The Lady & the Tramp was docked exactly where I remembered it. Jeff’s father had returned from his early morning fishing trip thanks to the impending storm, which was what I’d been counting on.

  I jumped off my bike, barely remembering to grab my bag, and ran. I flung myself into the boat, knowing that I needed one last thing to go my way before I could do what I needed to.

  I hurried over to the bench where Jeff had packed our lunch last week and ripped off the lid. I dug through the contents of the storage container, praying that the plastic purple frog would be there.

  Finally, my hands circled around something that felt right. I pulled it out and turned the frog bank over, taking the stopper out of the bottom and shaking the boat’s keys loose into my open palm.

  I tossed the frog aside and ran for the controls, sticking the key into the ignition, trying to remember everything that Jeff had told me about operating the boat.

  I pushed a few buttons, sent up a silent prayer, closed my eyes, and yanked on the throttle. The engine caught and my eyes flew open, a smile spreading across my face.

  I managed to maneuver the boat out of its slip and out onto the bay.

  I was pretty sure I knew where the island was, but as I glanced out over the ocean at the dark clouds, my stomach twisted. Could I really make it in time?

  I drove parallel to the beach, surprised to see it completely deserted. Many of the ocean-facing homes already had wooden boards nailed to the windows. All the furniture had been removed from patios.

  This wasn’t the Fresh Water Island that I loved.

  The wind whipped through my hair, vicious and unrelenting. The clouds were closer now. I could just make out of the rising shape of White Cap Ridge in the distance.

  And that’s when the rain began.

  There was no drizzle, no warmup, no warning.

  Huge sheets of rain pelted me as they fell from the sky.

  I could barely see, barely hear. And, for a moment, as a big fat drop of rain fell into my eyes, I couldn’t remember why I was doing this in the first place.

  Then I thought of Jen’s words: Jeff had done this because I hadn’t acknowledged the letter. And I thought of the letter, sweet, and cute, and perfectly Jeff. I had to know that he was okay.

  White Cap Ridge wasn’t far now, just a few more minutes and I’d be able to dock the boat and find Jeff. There was still a chance we could make it back to the mainland before the worst of the storm hit.

  The waves grew choppier, higher, making it harder to navigate through the water, but I somehow reached the dock, dropping the anchor. I jumped onto the wooden plank and tied the boat to a post before I ran to the sand.

  Then I stopped.

  White Cap Ridge wasn’t the biggest island, but it wasn’t all that small, either. I had no idea where to find Jeff, where to start looking.

  “Jeff!” I screamed, but the wind carr
ied my voice out to sea. “Jeff!”

  And then I was struck by a horrible thought, an unimaginable horror. What if someone had come back for him already? Jen and the other lifeguard at Gull Boulevard definitely weren’t the only ones who’d known he’d been out here before the storm. Someone could have picked him up hours ago!

  No, he was here. He had to be.

  I began to run again, plodding through the wet sand, shouting his name, blinding rain and wind making it nearly impossible to see more than a few feet in front of me.

  “Jeff!”

  I spotted a hill a few yards away and ran for it, thinking that maybe I’d be able to see Jeff from a higher point.

  As I struggled to climb the hill and secure my footing against the slippery terrain, I lost my grip on the ground and slid back down, crying out in pain as my knee banged into rocks before I came to a stop, slamming against a thick tree trunk.

  I sniffled, afraid to look down at my leg, but my knee screamed out in pain.

  The first thing I saw was blood. The gash in my knee oozed and I bit my lip. I remembered seeing a first-aid kit in the boat, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get back there in the rain on my bum knee.

  I laid there, wrapped around the trunk of a tree, bruised and bloodied, drenched by thundering rain. And Jeff was nowhere in sight. I couldn’t help it...I started to cry.

  I could die out here!

  Damn that Jeff and his sweet letter!

  “Haven’t we done this already?”

  I looked up, wiping my runny nose on my wet sleeve, and my eyes widened.

  A soaking wet Jeff stood there looking down at me, hands on his hips, eyebrow raised.

  I cried harder.

  “Hey,” he said, his voice growing soft as he crouched down next to me. “Don’t cry. You’ll be fine! It’s just a little cut.”

  I sniffled as a sob escaped my lips. “I’m just...” I trailed off. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  He smiled before scooping me up into his arms. “There’s a little hut on the other side of the hill. We’ll wait for the storm to pass there.”

  “The boat,” I croaked.

  He glanced up at the black sky and shook his head. “Are you crazy? The storm’s here. How long have you been on the island?”

  I shrugged. “A couple minutes?”

  Jeff gave me an incredulous look. “You rode all the way here just now? And made it?”

  “I guess I had a good teacher.”

  “How did you get a boat?”

  I bit my lip, hoping he wouldn’t get mad. “Um...I guess your dad kinda came back from his fishing trip early.”

  He tightened his grip on me as we began the treacherous journey downhill. “You stole my dad’s boat?”

  “I didn’t steal it!”

  Jeff just raised his eyebrows, a small smile forming on the corner of his lips. “You sure about that? It isn’t yours and you took it and I’m quite sure my dad has no idea. Wanna try again?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Okay, whatever, I stole it. But it was only to help you! If this is how you’re going to be, I wish I’d just stayed inside!”

  He laughed. “Oh, stop it, you know I’m teasing.”

  We reached the bottom of the hill and he kicked open a creaky wooden door and finally, finally, I felt relief from the driving rain.

  He bent down and gently laid me across the cold concrete floor. “Don’t put your head down.” He walked away for a few seconds and returned, placing a balled up sweatshirt beneath my head. “There. Now, let’s take a look at your second leg injury.”

  I smiled, barely feeling any pain anymore as I watched Jeff examine me. He busied himself for a few minutes, using a towel and something else to stop the bleeding before he pressed a paper towel against the wound.

  “I don’t have a bandage or tape or anything so you’re just going to have to keep your leg flat and hold that against the cut for awhile. We’ll get to the first-aid kit when we can.”

  I struggled to lift myself into a sitting position and looked around the hut for the first time.

  It took me all of three seconds to scan the whole structure.

  “What is this place?”

  Jeff shrugged. “I don’t know what it was built for, but I’m really glad it’s here. I saw the clouds forming maybe an hour and a half ago, but I didn’t think anyone would get over to me in time so I figured I needed to find somewhere to ride out the storm. Stumbled on this.”

  “It’s not much.”

  He sat down against the wall on the other side of the hut--maybe ten feet away from me. “Are you complaining about this?”

  I cracked a smile. “No. Guess I’m not.”

  The wind whistled throw the slats in the wooden planks that held the hut together. The rain still pounded the ground and the occasional clap of thunder sounded as if it was right over our heads. I shuddered, thinking of how I could have easily been out on the ocean in this.

  Jeff must’ve been thinking the same thing. “You still didn’t really tell me what the heck you were doing out on the water.”

  I looked down at my hands. “Sure I did.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “You mentioned that you did this for me, but I don’t understand.”

  “I...I’ll start at the beginning.”

  He nodded. “I think that’s a good idea.”

  “I heard that this storm was brewing,” I said, taking a deep breath. “So I went down to the beach to find my grandmother and tell her to get home and help us prepare.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “When I was trying to convince her to come back, I overheard the lifeguards say that someone named Jeff was stranded here.” His eyes never left mine as I spoke. “I...I asked them if it was you.”

  “Betcha hoped it was so you’d never have to see me again.”

  “Right, that’s why I’m here,” I said, and he smiled. “They told me it was and one of the lifeguards said it had something to do with this letter.” Jeff’s smile vanished. “I hadn’t read it yet, but it was in my bag, and I had to know what it said. I dug it out and read it and I didn’t have a choice after that. I had to find you, to see that you were okay in the storm.

  “I remembered what you told me about the boat and the keys and the purple frog bank and I was just hoping that your dad had come back from his fishing trip because I didn’t know how else I’d get out here and I really didn’t want to swim in those waves.”

  “You’d have swum for me?”

  I grinned. “Probably not. But I got the boat out and found the island and then didn’t know how to get to you. I was trying to climb that hill when I slipped and fell.”

  “And here we are.”

  I nodded. “Here we are.”

  “I guess there’s still something I’m not really clear on,” Jeff said. “I mean, you wouldn’t even talk to me that night when I came to your work. What made you jump on a boat you barely know how to drive in the middle of a storm to try and help me?”

  I sighed, drawing in a deep breath, not sure how to explain it because I wasn’t sure I totally understood it myself. “I just didn’t realize how much you apparently care about me until I heard that the letter forced you out here to clear your head. And then I read it and I just...I feel all those same things about you and when two people have those kinds of feeling for each other, it isn’t worth throwing away over a mistake. Or a misunderstanding.”

  The smile spreading across his face made me forget everything: the pain in my leg, the fear of not finding him on this island, the thought that maybe I’d already lost him with my hesitation.

  He was by my side in seconds. Jeff looked down into my eyes and I smiled. He reached up and cupped my chin in his hands before he leaned in--slowly, slowly, slowly--and gently pressed his lips to mine.

  When we broke apart, I cuddled up into his chest and he draped his left arm around me, pulling me into him.

  The violent storm continued to rage outside, but sitting there in that r
ickety little shack on the beach, I’d never felt safer.

  Epilogue

  We awoke to bright blue skies and a warm sun the next morning.

  But Fresh Water Island didn’t look as inviting.

  Garbage cans, umbrellas, and seashells littered the streets. Traffic lights were out and I’d heard that some people had even lost the roofs of their homes.

  The cleanup would take days.

  It didn’t matter. We’d get it done.

  Jeff and I had made it back to the mainland late last night to quite a bit of fanfare. His father wasn’t all that happy about his disappearing boat and Grandma looked as if she wanted my head on a stake.

  But even that didn’t bother me.

  Because I had Jeff.

  He came by the next morning to help us clean up our property. As I went outside to greet him, I noticed Pia standing in her front yard with Anthony, doing the same thing. I couldn’t help but smile. His nose was still purple, but they seemed happy.

  And besides, did it really matter anymore? Anthony was nothing to me now that I knew what else was out there. I wasn’t sure my friendship with Pia would ever be the same, but we waved to each other from our houses, and I knew I wasn’t going to give up on us that quickly.

  A few days later, Jeff and I were back out on the open water, lounging on the boat under clear blue skies and a warm sun.

  “I can’t believe your dad let you take the boat after all that,” I said as we spread out our picnic.

  Jeff grinned. “I think he’s secretly impressed by you. It’s not often I bring home a boat thief and all.”

  I stretched out, feeling the rays on my skin and sighed happily. “Well, whatever the reason, I’m pretty glad he’s okay with it. We’ll have to bring Gianna and Joey out here some time. They’d love this.”

  “Definitely,” he said, but I could tell he wasn’t thinking about that. There was something else on his mind. “So I had this crazy idea.”

  I propped myself up on my elbows and pushed my sunglasses onto the top of my head so I could see him better. “What’s that?”

  “I thought maybe you’d want to jump in today. I mean, you already drove a boat through the worst storm we’ve seen in years. Why not this?”