Between the Land and the Sea - By Derrolyn Anderson Page 0,80

been behind the accident? I felt a surge of anger at the thought. This was between me and them. I resolved to confront them. Whether or not they were responsible for this, I couldn’t go on constantly worrying about what they might do to him.

I leaned over the bed, stroking his cheek with my fingertips. His eyes fluttered open and focused on my face.

“You’re here,” he smiled.

“Ethan,” I whispered, hot tears burning my eyes, “I’m so sorry...”

“Don’t cry,” he said. He reached for my hand clumsily, “I’m okay.” He pressed my hand to his face and sighed. He closed his eyes again, “Don’t leave me,” he mumbled. On an impulse, I bent down and kissed him on the forehead, moving down to kiss him again softly on the lips. He drifted back to sleep as I laid my cheek alongside his, willing him to get better. His face felt rough against mine, and his hair smelled like salt water. I wanted to crawl into bed and wrap myself around him, as if I could somehow protect him. Instead, I sat on the stool and rested my head against his chest, reassured by his strong and steady heartbeat.

I must have dozed off almost immediately, because the next thing I knew Abby was gently shaking my shoulder, “Marina, wake up,” I opened my eyes, disoriented, to see Abby and Dutch in the room with us. Several hours had passed, and Ethan was still sleeping.

“Cruz told me what happened and I thought you might want to get changed,” she said.

I stood up and smoothed my wrinkled dress. I must look like a mess, I thought.

“I brought you some things from home,” Abby said with a concerned look, holding up one of my totes.

“Thanks Abby,” I took my bag gratefully, “I’ll just be a few minutes.” I walked out to find the restroom and looked in the mirror. My hair was messy, and my eyes were puffy. I splashed some water on my face and checked the contents of my bag. Abby had packed a change of clothes and a toothbrush. I smiled, thinking about how thoughtful she was. I felt much better when I came back out.

Dutch and Abby were sitting side by side in the lounge, heads together. She looked like a beautiful earth mother, wearing a long skirt made of old blue jeans and a colorfully embroidered Mexican peasant blouse. Was it my imagination or was there something happening between them? I thought about the image I saw of them together.

“The doctor says he’ll be just fine,” she said, looking up with a radiant smile.

Abby brought a soothing, calm feeling to the room; things seemed brighter with her there. I could see Dutch watching her with fascination, and I wasn’t surprised when he looked up at me with flushed cheeks.

“He’s awake now, they’re checking his sutures,” he said.

I entered the room to see a nurse pulling back the bandage to reveal Ethan’s shaved temple.

There was a nasty cut with a row of scary looking stitches holding it together. I gasped and Ethan looked up, smiling when he saw me, “That bad, huh?” I rushed over to the side opposite the nurse who was busy re-wrapping the wound.

She looked at me, “Don’t worry hun, your boyfriend is gonna be just fine.” I felt the blood rush to my face.

She turned to Ethan, “It’s closed up nicely, but you do have a concussion. You need to take a break from surfing for a couple of weeks.”

Ethan groaned, “Two weeks?”

She hurried out of the room, shaking her head, “Surfers!” she said with mock exasperation.

I sat down on the stool next to him, serious and stern, “What happened? Did you see her?

Was it one of them?”

“No! It was just some jerk who dropped in on me,” he said, meeting my eyes. Then he added, “I might have seen her though...”

“She was there,” I said coldly, my temper rising.

“It’s not like that,” he looked alarmed at my anger, “I thought I spotted her off in the distance, and I suppose I wasn’t watching out for that fool... I should have been able to avoid him.” He grimaced, “How long was I out of it? When did you get here?”

“Cruz and I got home this afternoon and Shayla told us what happened.”

“Whoa,” he said, gingerly touching the bandage on his head, “I don’t even remember how I got here.”

I realized he didn’t remember me being there earlier either. I was kind of relieved, blushing at the thought