Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) (46 page)

Sean sat and listened to Cassie praying.

~*~*~*~

Krista blinked the dim light of a hospital
room. The smell was unmistakable, as was the uncomfortably hard
bed. There wasn’t any beeping, which must mean she wasn’t on life
support or anything too serious. The TV was on and the news was
playing. A story about some dog that fell down a well was just
wrapping up. The dog was saved.
Hooray.

Next came a story about the larger than
expected ocean swells that came in that afternoon. It must’ve been
Saturday evening, then. She didn’t lose all that much time.

Seeing it on the news, the waves Krista was
dealing with weren’t even the tip of the iceberg. Some beaches had
record high swells. Surfers were drawn from all over the world to
ride them. They were expected to remain until sometime on Sunday,
but you just never knew with waves. It didn’t stop the avid surf
lords grabbing a plane ticket or starting up their RV and heading
out. Tourism in San Diego was booming.

The theatrically somber news woman reported
two fatalities. Krista’s blood froze in her veins as the newswoman
recounted the unlucky stories of one swimmer and one surfer that
got caught. It was on two different beaches. They were both pulled
out, but not in time.

Krista gasped as her photo took up the TV
screen! The news woman talked about the heroic tale of a lucky
female surfer who was pulled from the water in the nick of time.
The words fell away as she saw a shaky image from a cell phone of a
tiny head disappearing under a massive, tumbling wave. The waves
were every bit as big as they looked from the ocean—no exaggeration
from the memory. There was yelling and pointing while everyone
strained to see where she went. The tiny head bobbed up again and
started swimming—the recording was late in her foray.

The viewers at home, her being one of them,
could see how hard and fast she was swimming for the shore. Harder
and faster than she thought she had been. It hadn’t been enough,
though. Krista watched in horror, a spectator at that point, as a
giant wall of white bore down on the tiny swimmer. It ran her down
and crunched over her.

The video got shakier and people started
screaming. More than one guy was at the water’s edge looking for
her, but not knowing where to jump in. That was until one guy came
running into the shot. He was shirtless and lithe. Without slowing
down, he dove into the water. Even from the distance, you could see
his long, powerful strokes as he cut through the water as if he was
born to it. His head bobbed, stayed down for a while, then came
back up. It bobbed down again, came back up. He was fighting the
waves and the walls of torrid water as he searched for the missing
surfer. When he came up after the third bob, closer to the beach
than when he went in, he had Krista in toe. He must have been the
vice on her arm. It was a good thing she had given up her fight to
the surface because she would have been kicking for the bottom
instead of the sky.

Despite the hammering waves, the swimmer
tugged her along behind him, having only one arm to head for the
shore. He was slowed, but he did not look tired. The shaky
cameraman ran toward the spot he was washing up on shore. Another
surfer took to the water with his board to meet the rescuer.
Everyone else vied for space like a welcome party, safely out of
harm’s way.

A limp Krista was loaded up on the board, her
limbs dangling off the side. If she wasn’t sitting there in a
hospital, having been saved, she would think the girl was dead. She
would think they were too late. The gasping of the news woman, the
tsks
of the news man—it was a tragedy they were showing. The
ending wasn’t happy.

The procession was quick after that. Krista
reached the shore and the swimmer scooped her up and hugged her
close as if she was a recovered treasure; a priceless relic.
Miraculously, her bathing suit was still on and covering all the
important parts, because with the speed she was being transferred
up the beach, no one would have bothered to cover her up.

New motto: When in the face of death, always
be thankful for the small things.

The cameraman got a front row seat to see the
swimmer’s large back hunched over a still limp and deathly pale
Krista. It was Sean. Of course it was—she knew from the second he
came into the screen. It still came as a shock, though. It was
still unbelievable. First, that he was in San Diego when he was
supposed to be in L.A., second that he found her, and third that he
found her in time to heroically save her life. She had done a lot
of stupid things in her life, but giving up on him had to be number
one.

Sean worked hard at resuscitating, everyone
else standing back to let him work. When the ambulance showed up,
they cleared Sean away and took over. It was the first time the
camera got a good look at Krista’s savior, and what a sight they
saw. He was perfectly sculpted and bronzed in the afternoon sun.
His cut body glistened as he stood with his hands on his hips,
panting. He looked down with worry, his vivid eyes deep and
troubled. He was still the most handsome man Krista had ever seen.
He was the love of her life, and she had never, in all her life,
seen him look more scared.

The newswoman came back on and explained that
Krista was revived and currently recovering. She would have no
lasting injuries.

That’s good news.

Next there was a story of a shooting. Krista
just had her ten seconds of fame and she was comatose for it the
whole time.

“At least my hero was super-hot.”

Krista was looking for the remote when the
latch on the door jiggled. Krista glanced up as Sean walked into
the room, his face a mask of misery. He was still in his swim
shorts but donned a smiley face t-shirt. He must have bought it in
the gift shop. When he saw Krista he stopped dead and dropped the
hand that clutched his cell phone.

“I hear I owe you a thank you,” Krista said
evenly. She had to work to keep the tears out of her eyes. Despite
her desperate hope to keep upbeat about this whole thing, she
nearly died. It was kind of a big deal.

Sean moved to her slowly, eyes roaming her
face. He sat gracefully in the chair next to the bed. His face was
troubled. He didn’t look like he planned to speak.

Krista opened her mouth to ask how he knew
where to find her, trying to get the conversational ball rolling,
when the door opened slowly. Kate’s worried face peeked in. Worry
was replaced with relief, and then anger. Then the door was kicked
open.

“You are one stupid bitch, you know that?”
she yelled as she stormed into the middle of the room.

Jasmine and Ben came in behind her. Jasmine
looked stern, Ben looked totally freaked out.

“Hi,” Krista said, not sure what else to
say.

“Do you know that you fuck-turd? A stupid
fucking bitch! I
told
you not to come down here all broken
hearted and do something stupid! Look what you did! You did
exactly
what I told you not to do and nearly got yourself
killed, you fucking anus! If you didn’t look so broken and
pathetic, I would slap you across the face for scaring the ever
loving shit outta me. No, wait—yeah, I’m gonna slap you!”

Kate stalked up to the hospital bed with
balled fists. Krista had time to shrink back before Sean’s big arm
flung out and stopped Kate’s progress.

“It’s the best thing for her, Sean. You know
it is!”

“Krista, what were you thinking?” Ben asked
reasonably.

“Guys, look, I wasn’t planning on surfing
those big waves. When I first got there, the waves were manageable.
I surfed for a while and I was just fine. I was already out in the
water when those monsters started coming in. What else was I going
to do? Stay out there all day?”

“You shouldn’t have been surfing alone,
Krista,” Jasmine said in a low, even voice. “Sean has told you that
before. You still have a lot to learn.”

“
Obviously
!” Kate burst in. Now she
was looking out the window with her hands on her hips.

“People surf alone all the time. People swim
alone all the time, too. I can’t always have someone around,”
Krista reasoned.

“Krista, you aren’t the best swimmer,” Ben
said.

“I know that—“

“No, you aren’t the best fucking swimmer,”
Kate burst in, needing a break from silence. “Yes, you
know
that. Also, and stop me if I bore you with common knowledge, but
you don’t know the rules of the ocean! You don’t have the first
clue about tides and currents and waves and all that. Not the first
fucking clue! But there you go, trying to surf with the big
boys.”

“Guys, the waves weren’t all that big to
start. I wasn’t doing anything stupid in the beginning. Seriously.
I don’t understand why all the hostility. Aren’t you a little glad
I’m okay?”

Kate started to crack slowly. Her hard
exterior was melting. For the first time Krista saw how frightened
she had been. That was right before she took two fast steps and
slapped her across the face. Hard!

“You’re lucky as hell to have Sean as your
guardian angel!” she spat. Then she walked out of the room.

“She thought you were dead until Sean got an
update. We all did. Him included, though he won’t admit it,” Ben
said quietly. “It was a long car trip here.”

“We
are
glad you’re okay, Krista,”
Jasmine affirmed with misty eyes. “Of course we are. But you gave
us a helluva scare. We all deal with it differently. Anger is
easiest now that you’re okay.” She walked toward the door. “I
better go get her. She’s probably screaming at a nurse or kicking a
person in a wheelchair or something.”

“I’ll go, too.” Ben glanced at Sean.

Krista got a sinking feeling in the pit of
her stomach. She really didn’t want to know what Sean had to say.
She had been so horrible to him. She had said some truly awful
things. And now there he was, saintly, her savior, sitting quietly
next to the bed.

After everyone left, the only sound was the
TV.

“So…” Krista said when the silence became
deafening. “I can’t thank you enough, obviously.”

Sean didn’t say anything. He just stared at
her.

She tried again. “Um…How did you find
me?”

Sean’s gaze wavered for a brief second then
glued back on. “I got the hotel name from Jasmine. I checked in at
the bar to see if anyone had seen you. I met your…friend. He said
which beach he recommended.”

By the way he said
friend,
Krista
could tell he didn’t think much of the connection.

“I had to talk to somebody, Sean. I didn’t do
anything with him, if that’s your worry.”

“It wasn’t my worry, Krista,” he answered
quietly, eyes still glued to hers.

Krista wanted to ask what his worry was then,
but didn’t think she would like the answer. She kept quiet for a
minute, unable to meet his troubled gaze. After a while, too long
for her taste, he finally spoke.

“I’m not sure what to say. There is a lot on
the table between us.”

She tried to keep the tears at bay. “Look,
I’m sorry for the things I said to you the other day. They seemed
right at the time. Hindsight is 20/20, you know? It’s my forward
thinking that needs glasses.”

Sean did his classic sigh and got up. He
paced toward the window, directing his unwavering gaze
elsewhere.

“You were right about the things you said.
All of it. You have a way of cutting to the wick with me. You call
me on my bullshit. I need that.”

Well…that was unexpected. Krista was suddenly
back in that swirling water; she had no idea which end was up with
this conversation. She chose to keep quiet and wait it out.

After a while, Sean turned back to her. His
expression was grave. “I almost lost you today.”

“Honestly, Sean, I didn’t intend to surf
waves that big. I just got caught on the wrong end. I didn’t go
looking for danger or anything.”

“I know. You never actively look for danger,
but it finds you anyway. Or you always find it without knowing you
were looking. Unlike Kate, I don’t blame you for your close call. I
take that responsibility unto myself.”

“Wait…what? I’m
trying
to tell you
guys—I wasn’t all depressed and looking for thrills.
Seriously
. Why doesn’t anyone believe me? I planned to worry
about my heart tonight with a bottle of something strong. This
accident has nothing to do with you, Sean. Well, I mean, other than
the fact that you saved my life…”

Sean was still staring at her. He was still
troubled. It was like he was brushing away all her covers and
exposing her gushy insides. It was disconcerting, to say the least.
She looked down at her hands and started to fidget until she heard
a rustle of fabric and peeked under her eyelashes. Sean had turned
back to the window.

“I told Tory I needed to slow down. I told
him I would hand in my resignation if the job I had done thus far
wasn’t satisfactory.”

That took Krista by surprise. Sean was
dancing to his own rhythm with the conversation. Krista figured she
might just play as his side show act for a while instead of as a
participant.

To that end, she commented with, “Oh.”

“He told me I had beaten his expectations.
Those are tall words coming from Tory. Not many people live up to
his expectations, let alone beat them.”

“Well, that’s good.” Krista stopped herself
from adding “right?”

“Yes, that is good.”

Krista nodded even though his back was to
her. Where the hell was this going? She waited, silent, even though
she was extremely uncomfortable with the possible outcomes for his
thought process.

“Tory asked what finally made me realize I
was working too hard,” Sean continued.

“Uh huh.”

“I said you left me.”

Krista’s stomach dropped. He said it in past
tense, so in his mind they weren’t together. So that was bad. On
the other hand, he came to San Diego. So that must be good. Silence
was definitely the right way to go on this one.