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“What’s happening?” Angela presses, tugging on my arm. I catch a note of panic in her voice, and I make a promise to myself, then and there, that I’m going to be strong for her no matter what happens next.
Because I don’t think we’re getting on that boat.
“Carter, I don’t think we can wait for you,” Jamie says over the phone. “Not unless we all want to get stuck on the island. Captain Jones said it could be until tomorrow, or the next day, before it’s safe to travel again if we don’t go now. And he doesn’t want to wait any longer. He lives on Mount Desert Island and wants to get home.”
“Okay,” I say. “That’s fine.” Because it is fine. I have rations and supplies and I know of somewhere we can wait the rest of the storm out.
“What’sfine?” Angela asks.
I ignore her because I know she’s not going to be okay with this plan, but I’m not going to ask the others to wait for us and risk everyone getting trapped.
“Are you sure?” Jamie asks, and even through the bad connection, I can tell he’s worried.
“Yes,” I say. “I know of a cabin here where we can wait out the worst of the storm, and then we’ll head back to the town and stay over in one of the vacation rentals or something. We’ll make it back to Harborview tomorrow or the next day.”
“Alright,” Jamie says. “I’m sorry, man. Try not to hold it against us.”
“It’s okay,” I say, meaning it. I’m just happy I found Angela before the storm got worse.
I hang up and turn to find Angela looking both panicked and livid.
“What the fuck did you mean when you said we canwait out the rest of the storm?” she demands.
“We’re nearly an hour’s walk from the dock and Captain Jones said that they needed to leave now. Jamie called me about forty-five minutes ago to let me know. If they wait any longer they won’t be able to go,” I say calmly.
“So they’re just leaving us here?”
“No,” I say. “They’re leaving so that we don’t all get stuck.”
“Why didn’t you tell me we needed to head back?” Her face is all screwed up in a frown, and even still, she looks so beautiful it takes my breath away momentarily. The rain has slicked her pale hair across her face, and her blue eyes are dancing with anger. I want to take a step closer, invade her personal space, count every single one of the freckles on her nose, and then move on to cataloging her eyelashes.
“Because you basically ran away from me,” I say, regaining my control. “I spent the last forty-five minutes frantically looking for you so that we could head back.”
“And no one thought to call me?”
I bark out a laugh. “I called you multiple times.”
I see her check her phone, but she doesn’t back down an inch.
“You’re okay with this? Being abandoned,” she all but hisses.
“Angela, they have no other choice,” I explain, sensing that there’s something else going on here. Something preventing her from seeing that it didn’t make sense for them to wait for us. “The storm isn’t bad now, but it’s going to get worse.” I gesture at the sky above us, which is completely covered in angry gray clouds now.
“I don’t care,” she says. “Besides, if you hadn’t pissed me off so much about the scavenger hunt, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“How could this possibly be my fault? I didn’t cause the storm,” I say, keeping my voice calm.
“I wouldn’t have gone off in the wrong direction if you weren’t provoking me,” she says, her voice rising. The rain is falling harder around us now, and I know we need to head for shelter, but I want to hear her out.
“How did I provoke you?” I ask, genuinely curious. I’ve been trying to be on my best behavior since this bachelor party started, tiptoeing around Angela, trying to be polite and kind to her.
“By being nice! By telling me I like the outdoors when you have absolutely no clue what I like or dislike.” She pauses, her chest heaving slightly in anger. “By pushing,” she continues. “You always have topush,Carter.”
Her words sting, because she’s right. I don’t know what she likes, not anymore at least. And I do always push, even when I know I shouldn’t. My best behavior clearly isn’t good enough for her.
“Well I didn’t ask to be paired up with someone who so clearly hates me,” I say. “But this is the situation that we’re in.”
My words hang there between us and I can tell Angela isn’t sure what to say. But I’m being honest, at least.
