conversation actually took. It couldn’t have been more than two or three minutes. All the while, though, my heart thudded in a sick beat of dread in my chest, and I had to swallow against the bile rising in my throat. My hands were cold and clammy. I unlaced my fingers and tucked my hands under my thighs to warm them.
Cat unbuckled her seat belt and turned around, leaning over the back seat and rummaging for something. Annoyed with her motion, because my nerves felt strung tight with the air itself chafing on my skin, I asked, “What are you doing, Cat? You need to turn around and buckle up.”
Even to my ears, my voice sounded scratchy and irritated.
Cat turned around but then surprised me by carefully placing a soft blanket over my legs.
“You’re cold,” she explained when I peered over at her.
My heart pinched at her sweetness. “I am. Sorry I got a little snippy there.”
“It’s okay. Gabriel’s gonna be fine. Right, Daphne?” she prompted.
“Everyone’s going to be okay. Darren doesn’t have any updates from Flynn’s earlier call. He thinks they should be in the harbor shortly. The emergency crew said they’ll be bringing several of the passengers on the original boat to the hospital for hypothermia and Gabriel to deal with whatever happened to his leg. He’s also hypothermic. But that’s to be expected, given that he had to dive in the water,” she said matter-of-factly.
I tried to take a breath, but it was hard. When I tried again, my throat caught with a sob, and then I burst into tears. Cat scooted closer to me, buckling herself into the middle of the back seat before she curled her arm around my shoulders. “Nora, he’s going to be okay. Please don’t cry,” she pleaded.
I lifted my head, swiping at my tears again. Daphne wordlessly handed back a small packet of tissues. Because, of course, she had tissues with her. She was the kind of person who was always prepared.
I wiped my face and blew my nose while Cat rubbed a palm up and down my back. Talk about role reversal. My seventeen-year-old sister was trying to make me feel better. I felt like a crying hot mess.
“I’m okay,” I said between sniffles after several shaky breaths.
When I looked at Cat, the worry in her eyes made my heart clench tightly. “I swear, I’m okay.”
“Does this mean you’re going to take my advice?” she asked.
If the circumstances were anything other than this, I would’ve thought she was trying to annoy me. She loved to be right. I recognized that tendency in her because I shared it. Just now, though, I sensed she really wanted to know if I was going to wise up about Gabriel.
I managed a wobbly smile. “Probably.”
“What’s the advice?” Daphne asked, turning slightly and hooking her elbow on the back of her seat.
“Cat might’ve told me I was being a little stupid about Gabriel.”
Daphne nodded, shifting her eyes to Cat. Cat smiled. “Well, she is.” Her eyes bounced to me. “You obviously love him.”
My heart gave a hard thump as if in agreement. “How is that obvious?” I blew my nose again.
“Because you never cry and fall apart.” Her eyes were worried as she squeezed her arm around my shoulders again.
“Crying and falling apart means I’m in love?” I tried to tease, but it didn’t work.
Cat looked at me solemnly, her head bobbing with a nod. “I think so.”
Daphne chimed in. “Yes, it does.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Gabriel
I was shivering all over, so hard that my teeth kept chattering. My leg throbbed. I tried to cling to some sense of control, but it was eluding me. I was accustomed to being the one who kept my shit together in an emergency. I hated feeling as if my control was slipping through my grasp, and I couldn’t stop thinking about Nora.
“Can you let me call her now?” I asked Nathan between rough shivers.
He was climbing into the ambulance where I was, telling the crew he was going to ride with me because he could talk to any family once we got there. He glanced at me. “You don’t sound good. I think you’re gonna freak her out,” he said flatly.
I couldn’t even reply when a shiver struck me so hard, my teeth clicked loudly, jarring my jaw with the force. One of the med techs moved to wrap a heated blanket around me. I was wearing an old pair of Nathan’s sweatpants and a T-shirt. They’d used an emergency blanket