“Then why is it so messy?”
And just like that, my pity was gone.
I sighed and shook my head, standing up and turning to walk away. She followed, apparently, because she was touching my elbow within seconds.
“Ow. Ow. Ow,” she said with every step. I almost swept her off her feet to take away the pain, but thought better of it. She was wincing, but that wasn’t what caught my attention. No, it was the fact that she was in my bedroom, wearing my T-shirt and a pair of my sweatpants. Why was that so hot? Why did I want to pick up an injured woman and pin her against the wall with my hips and mouth?
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she squeaked out. This time, I couldn’t help myself. I reached out for her so I could take her into my arms and soothe her pain, but she touched my shoulder and shook her head. “I’m okay, Jack.” Now she was the one reassuring me?
Flashes of last night popped into my head. Her voice had been barely intelligible from her room as the rain poured overhead. The way she’d clung to me as I carried her. I’d barely noticed my surroundings or who came to help last night. I got her to the doctor, but the rest of it? Everything was so blurry.
The sound of rain broke me out of my stupor.
“It’s still storming outside? Seriously?” She walked on her heels over to the window. Her bandages seemed intact, so I didn’t give her shit about it.
“It’s not supposed to let up for a couple of days or so.”
“Too bad your weather app can’t predict falling trees. Then we wouldn’t be in this mess. Or—” She scanned my living room. “I guess you still would have been in a mess of your own.”
I surveyed my surroundings. Okay, so it was a little cluttered. I’d sort of swept the clean laundry that had been on the couch onto the floor last night, and mail and manuals were lying on all surfaces around the room. Not to mention the water glasses on my end table only added to the aesthetic. But the toolboxes and drywall supplies I hadn’t moved into my second room were job-related since I treated it like a garage. She certainly couldn’t judge me for that, right?
As she scrutinized the room, I eyed her and shook my head. It was time to get out of here. “Bathroom’s down the hall. Towels are in the closet, and first aid is under the sink. And there’s orange juice in the fridge.” Why was I babbling?
“Where are you going?” she asked as I reached for the door.
“Out. Help yourself to anything. I’ll be back in a bit.”
I could have stayed to help her, but I chose not to. I needed to put as much distance between the woman wearing my clothes and me as possible.
“Wait a minute. What happened?”A distressed Leo stared at me and Autumn through our video chat, and I sort of wished I hadn’t involved him in this mess.
“A storm took out Nat’s cabin,” I repeated patiently. He had to feel out of control being in California.
Autumn jumped in. “Nothing else appears to be damaged. We checked on all the campers last night while Jack took Nat to the hospital.”
“Hospital?What the hell?” Leo looked two seconds away from pulling out his hair or maybe jumping on an airplane to see that Nat was okay.
“It wasn’t the hospital,” I interjected. “I took her to see Dr. Alyse.”
That didn’t give him the relief I was hoping for. “I need more, Jack.”
“Nat stepped on some glass last night. Alyse removed it and bandaged her up. She’s a little shaken, but she’s fine.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. “I’d like to talk to her today and hear that from her.”
“Of course,” I promised.
“So, what kind of damage are we looking at?” Leo asked.
Ever the fixer, Autumn tried to assuage his fears. “I’ll start by saying that none of the campers were affected, beyond having a big scare. Damage-wise, there’s a whole-ass tree going down the middle of Nat’s cabin. Then, there are the downed tree branches all over. We’re in damage control in more ways than one, but as far as the camper experience goes, we’ve got some indoor activities planned for the time being. We might bring back poker just to distract people from the rain.”
“And the repairs?”
I shook my head. “I need to assess, but based on what I saw last night, we’re looking at weeks of repairs, at minimum. She’s going to need a place to go.”
I tracked Leo’s eyes to my best friend, who had already considered this.
