“No. But there’s a storm coming up fast from the south. You might want to head further inland if you aren’t already.”
“We’re by Barren Island. I’ll put us north of the island and that will hopefully shelter us from the worst of it. We’ll be close enough to shore that we can head in if things get bad.”
“Should be all clear by tomorrow.”
“Good,” I murmured. “There’s a general store on Hooper’s Island, right?”
“Yeah. You going to stock up there?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Call me in the morning to let me know you’re good,” Dalton said. I could hear the worry in his voice.
“I will. We’ll be okay, Dalton.”
I sensed I was no longer alone and turned to see Caleb sitting on the steps leading into the cabin from above deck. His expression was unreadable. I said my goodbyes and hung up the phone.
“Dalton said there’s a storm coming.”
Caleb nodded. “I saw some lightning.”
“You okay?” I asked.
“Don’t like storms,” he murmured.
“Why don’t you stay down here while I get the boat moved to the northern side of the island?”
“I’ll do the dishes,” Caleb offered. We were forced to pass one another as I headed above deck. The close proximity as we nearly brushed chests was akin to torture. It was all I could do not to grab him.
It took just a few minutes to get the boat moved and anchored in the small inlet at the northernmost part of the little island, but in those minutes, several peals of thunder rattled the air around us. The heavens opened up just as I stepped below deck and closed the door. Darkness had already fallen so the lightning lit up the interior of the boat with every flash. The wind had kicked up the waves enough so the boat was swaying back and forth, but nothing bad enough to warrant seeking shelter closer to the shore.
Caleb wasn’t in the kitchen and the dishes, while now in the sink, weren’t done. Concern had me hurrying to the bedroom. I found him sitting on the edge of the bed, his knees drawn up so that his feet were resting on the lip of the platform. His arms were around his legs and he was rocking back and forth slightly. It took everything in me not to automatically look at his arm. He was wearing short sleeves, so it would have been easy to check to see ifhe’d cut himself in the few minutes I’d been above deck, but I didn’t want to do that to him. I wanted to build trust with Caleb and I couldn’t do that if his condition was always at the forefront of my mind.
Caleb had turned on all the lights in the bedroom and had drawn the curtain on the one window that had one, but the flashes of lightning through the other windows were impossible to miss. Not to mention the cracks of thunder that followed just moments later.
“You okay?” I asked, more to start the conversation than anything, since I could tell he wasn’t.
“Stupid, huh,” he said. “Someone my age afraid of storms.”
“Nope,” I said as I sat down next to him. “Everybody’s afraid of something.”
He didn’t need to speak for me to know what was on his mind. “Clowns, for starters,” I said. “And those troll doll things… with the hair… my sister had a whole bunch of those and they creeped me the fuck out. Not a fan of geese, either. Those fuckers are just mean.”
Caleb laughed and buried his face in his knees. “What did I do to deserve you?” He turned so he could look at me, but kept his cheek resting on his knees. “Why did you do it? Why did you get me out of the hospital that day?”
I lifted my own legs so my position was mirroring his and then rested my arms on my knees. “I just knew,” I said. “I could see it in your eyes.”
“See what?”
“That you didn’t belong there. That you weren’t broken like the others. At least not in any kind of way that those doctors could put you back together again.”
Caleb jumped when more thunder rumbled above us. I shifted closer to him and he automatically leaned into me.
“Andthisis why I keep coming back,” I murmured.
He looked up at me in confusion.
“The trust you show me, Caleb. After all you’ve been through, you’re still willing to trust. I wish I had that kind of strength.”
