To keep it together, I focused on Hunter’s forearm flexing as he tended to the wound. Many scars, each the size of a grain of rice were scattered across his tanned arm. The time on his solar Casio watch displayed seventeen thirty-five. The only person I knew who used military time was my neighbor, a retired Navy surgeon.
“Where did you learn to take care of cuts?”
“I’ve had some basic medical training in the last couple of years. During fishing trips, people slip and fall, get minor injuries, and sometimes deep cuts. What happened to you?” Hunter retrieved the bottle from my hand, collected the soiled bandage, and returned to the table.
“I was on a sailboat with Bambi. She’s my captain. Well, was…” I drew in a ragged breath. “The storm was so bad I think it broke our sail in two. She went overboard first, and sometime later, I fell too. The last thing I remember is being dragged underwater, and then pain.”
“It was one of the worst storms I’ve seen.” Hunter slid the medical case onto a shelf and closed the cabinet. “I’m sorry to hear about your friend. Let’s hope she survived and was rescued.”
I nodded, but dreadful doubt seized my heart. Bambi hadn’t fully put on her life jacket. Tears blurred my vision, and I rubbed my eyes on my forearm. I had to report her missing and maybe, just maybe, the recuse team could find her. “Do you have a phone I could use?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t.”
“Do you mind taking me into town? I’m sure I can find a bar or a hotel with one.”
Hunter remained still, his back against the cabinet. He looked past me at the open window, then to me. I had a sinking feeling that I was about to be disappointed by a man once again.
“There’s no town,” he said, a pained expression on his face, his eyebrows furrowing in the center. “I’m the only one who lives on the island.”
And there it was.
I sat up. “Do you mean you live here all by yourself?”
“Correct.”
I smiled to hide my growing alarm. I’d gone out of my way not to be alone with a man during my sailing trip, just to end up with one after all. Deep breaths. It was just for a short time. For a few hours tops. “Could you please ferry me to the next island with a town?”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” Uncertainty flickered across Hunter’s face, but he quickly erased it. “I don’t have a boat anymore.” He inhaled gradually and exhaled just as slowly, his face calm but serious. “The storm damaged it.”
My heart sank. “And you don’t have another one?”
“I do but regrettably it’s at Avarua.”
Perfect. Rarotonga was the largest of the Cook Islands, and Avarua was the city where Bambi and I had been heading. “Can you take me there?”
His forehead wrinkled, and he mouthedwow. “You must have hit your head hard,” he muttered, pushing off the cabinet. “I don’t have a boat.”
Without meeting my eyes, Hunter walked over to the table and pick up the used bandages and wound them into a loose ball. His calmness, which I found comforting before, now pissed me off. Of course, maybe he wasn’t worried about the fact that we were boatless because he had already called for help. I shouldn’t just assume he wasn’t prepared, like Bambi. Or me.
“Do you have a satellite phone?”
He scrubbed his cheek like his beard bothered him. “The phone is somewhere in the bay.”
My mind exploded with panic. “What about VHF radio? A walkie-talkie? Something to reach other people.”
“A walkie-talkie?” he said, as inare-you-serious?“How about we tie two paper cups with a string and try to reach other people that way.”
Har-har, Hunter was a comedian too.
“So, we’re stuck on this damn island?” I asked with an accusatory tone, as if it was his fault he didn’t have an extra vessel, or that I ended up in his bed, or that he made me go on my trip.
“No,” Hunter said, his voice low. “Youarestuck here.Ilive here.”
A hoot escaped me. This situation was more than I bargained for. I’d been so unqualified for this sailing trip, and much less so for surviving in a jungle. God, I’d been stupid.
