Blooming in the Wild Page 0,107

humidity.

“Is that who I think it is?” Grace asked.

“Joel Girand,” Bella said. “He’s recuperating here.”

She turned to see Grace watching her with an arrested look. “Oh, I see.”

Bella blushed. “Come on in, Mama.”

Joel woke to hear voices eddying quietly around him. Opening his eyes, he saw a glass of water on the table beside him, sweating in the humidity. He reached for it and drank thirstily. Setting the empty glass back with a sigh, he rubbed his eyes and then looked around him, squinting in the bright afternoon sunlight.

He sat in deep shade, but down across the lawn was a little bay, waves spilling over the reef at its outer edge, the water inside a bright, clear turquoise. Waves lapped gently at a small golden-sand beach, palms clustered along the edge. A cement dock jutted out along the west side, with one of the most spectacular cigarette boats Joel had ever seen tied up to it. Long and sleek, it shaded from turquoise to blue, with native emblems swirled on the sides in long ribbons of metallic paint. A tiny fishing boat rode jauntily next to it.

Bella and her friends lounged on beach chairs in their swimsuits. They were all wet, as if they’d just come out of the water, and he lay there for a moment, admiring the tableau of two pretty blondes and one Hawaiian beauty in bikinis. He was looking forward to meeting the two other women who’d forged such a tight bond with Bella.

They didn’t look like prim and proper little corporate types, so outside of DelRay time, she obviously allowed the real Bella to come through. Reinforced his decision to get her to quit. Of course he’d win, because anyone could see she didn’t belong in an office. And now that his future was assured, he could take care of her.

Another woman sat with them, a big straw hat shading her face, her swimsuit much more conservative.

She said something, and all of them laughed. Their happiness tugged at him. Carefully, he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the chair. Then he pulled himself to the edge and prepared to stand up.

“Need some help there?” It was Frank, materializing from the shadows of the house.

“You look a hell of a lot better than last time I saw you,” Joel said, attempting a smile. He was really glad to see the older man safe and well.

“So do you—kinda.” Frank bent to put his arm under Joel’s and helped hoist him to his feet. It hurt like hell, but he was glad to be upright. “You look like hell now, but den you were nearly dead. Where to?”

“Toilet.”

Frank walked him into the house, across a sitting room and into a bathroom tiled in cool beige. “I’m gonna be right outside,” he told Joel. “Bella’ll be mad as hell if you fall and reopen your wounds.”

“Thanks.”

Joel relieved himself, sighing as the pressure on his aching bladder eased. He fastened his shorts one-handed and then turned, holding on to the counter around the sink. He peered in the mirror. He didn’t care how he looked, but Bella might. He grimaced at his reflection, pale from lying around inside and dark smudges under his eyes, as if he was recovering from the flu. He’d lost weight from several days of no appetite too. He swiped his face off with cool water, ran his wet fingers through his hair and dried his hands. Best he could do.

Frank walked him back outside. Joel looked longingly at the beach, where the big Hawaiian moke who’d brought him out now stood with the scarylooking dude with the long hair. Man, he’d hate to tangle with either of them.

“Wanna join dem?” Frank asked.

Joel nodded. “You have a cane around here or a walking stick?”

“Maybe, I’ll take a look. Fo’ now, I got Ho’omalus. Hey, boys,” he called. “C’mon and give us a hand, yeah?”

To Joel’s embarrassment, the whole beach erupted in activity. The two men loped up the lawn to take his arms, and the women scurried around, fixing a lounger for him in the best shade of the palms that leaned over the little beach lanai, bringing a table and a cold drink from the big cooler nearby.

Bella hovered, admonishing her cousins to be careful. When he was settled, exhausted and hurting again, she perched at the foot, frowning at him. He held out his hand, and she put hers in it and let him hold it on his thigh, without