As Breeze slipped through the front door, Hercules ran over to her, clearly ratting me out for dropping his nippy brother into the sink.
“Dude,” I complained to the giant backstabber. I thought we were better friends than that but apparently not.
Breeze came straight for me and grabbed the pathetic weapon from my hand. Clearly she was one of those types who didn’t believe in corporal punishment.
“What part of ‘remain quiet’ did you not comprehend?” she asked, grabbing Sweetpea from the sink. “I could hear you squealing from the car.”
“First of all, I don’t squeal. And secondly, he bit me.”
“Yes. He bites people on a minute-by-minute basis. Ouch, see. He just bit me too. Big deal. Bee stings hurt worse.”
“That’s not a selling point, Breeze. Maybe you haven’t been stung recently but that shit lingers.”
With the hint of a grin she said, “If you’re afraid of a four-pound dog, go stand with Hercules. He’ll protect you.”
“I’m not scared,” I grumbled, even as I took a step closer to the big dog.
Breeze securely locked the door before setting the duffle bag onto the bed and producing one very unhappy cat from the canvas depth.
“I’m so sorry,” she soothed, petting the cat behind the ears. “I know you probably hate me right now, but I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
“I think it’s enough that you saved her life,” I chimed in.
“I know that. And you know that. But Lucy here doesn’t know that. As far as she’s concerned I shoved her into a bag just for the fun of it. If I don’t do a little groveling, our little feline friend here is going to pee on every square inch of my apartment.”
“Fantastic,” I grumbled under my breath.
Tears flooded her eyes, spilling onto her cheeks, and she hastily wiped them away. “Sorry. I’m a little emotional when it comes to these animals. I thought I was going to have to leave them for dead tonight.”
Her hands shook as she related the story to me. Why she’d initially chosen to put the safety of those animals over her own was a mystery, but it was clear Breeze operated in a whole other mindset. It wasn’t until I watched the cat, after being crammed in a bag all night, stretch up and touch noses with Breeze that I understood the power of compassion. The cat had forgiven her, not because Breeze had thrown money or resources at the problem, but because she’d proven her worth with nothing more than a kindness.
Breeze caught me staring and shifted uncomfortably. She probably thought I was judging her, when in reality I was judging myself. Maybe if a nurturing, sympathetic hand had been employed in my upbringing, I wouldn’t find this whole scene so foreign.
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling every bit the emotional freak I’d just discovered myself to be.
“It’s okay. I’m a little emotional, is all,” she answered, brushing off the uncomfortable exchange. We were standing close, our faces lit by the phone screen. Suddenly, our eyes met and all reservations fell away. I was inexplicably drawn to her shine, a solar light in the darkness, attracting a convention of moths… me being the biggest one of them all. That positive energy of hers was like a messenger calling me home.
For the first time in my life I knew exactly where I was supposed to be. This meeting of the minds was no accident. Breeze and I had been brought together for a reason, and I was committed to finding out why.
“Anyway,” she brightened. “Enough of the ‘what ifs’. We’re all alive because of you, and that’s what needs to be focused on, right?”
I was no superhero. In fact, I’d stopped to help her more for my own sake than hers.
“It really wasn’t…” I began humbly denying her assertions, but Breeze had already lost interest, and was off rummaging through drawers in her tiny, dollhouse-sized kitchen.
“I know I have a flashlight in here somewhere,” she said, before suddenly pulling one out. “Boo-ya! Check me out! A flashlightanda battery powered lantern. It’s from Halloween but that’s okay, right?”
I shrugged. “I mean during blackouts I prefer Christmas lanterns, but I suppose that one will work.”
“Okay, smartass.” A smile illuminated her face as she flicked the lantern on. “I think I have just enough charge left on my phone for us to let our families know we’re okay. My friend, Mason, has called fourteen times.”
I thought about my own family, my dad and the guys, and how they probably had no idea what had happened on that ocean view hilltop. In fact, it might take days for the word to reach them since none of us were the types to keep up with the happenings of the world. That’s when it hit me. They didn’t know. In exchange for my near-death experience, I’d been handed a ‘get out of jail free’ card. I could go anywhere, be anyone, even go in search of long-lost relatives without the fear of being tracked down by my father’s cronies. But in order for that to happen, no one could know where I was. At least for a couple of days.
“Breeze, before you call… would you mind not mentioning me, at least by name?”
She seemed confused by my request, so I was forced to elaborate.
“I just don’t want the press to know where I am. They’ll have cameras poking through the windows in no time.”
