Jessica reflexively patted her skull. “Something felt different but I thought I was just lightheaded from holding my breath.”
“It came off over there. I’ll go find it.”
“No, don’t. I hate that thing.”
“But your scalp might get sunburned.”
“Good. I’ve always wanted to be a redhead. Come on, let’s float.”
Jessica had gingerly lain back on the water as if onto a bed, but she was all bones, no body fat, and she immediately began to sink. This, too, struck her as funny, but Zoey had to force a laugh as she took her arm and they began their long trek back. Every few yards, Jessica would pause and Zoey couldn’t tell whether she was winded or if she didn’t want to get out yet.
When they’d made it to where the water was knee-deep, Jessica pointed to her husband and daughter down the beach. “He’s really going to be lost.”
Even though Scott had a notoriously poor sense of direction, Zoey doubted it was possible he’d lose his way back. “All he has to do is follow the shoreline. Or follow Gabi.”
“No. He’s not going togetlost. He’s going tobelost. When I die.”
“Nowyouknock it off,” Zoey rasped.
“Wait, you have to hear me out on this. Scott is… he’s the love of my life. Everything I could have hoped to have in a husband. But I know his faults. His weaknesses. He’s going to be an absolute disaster when I’m gone. I’m not asking you to take care of him or to set him straight or anything like that. I’m only telling you what to expect, so you’ll cut him a little slack when he screws up or does something stupid… like marrying someone I’d detest.” Jessica had laughed but Zoey couldn’t even fake a smile. Her sister’s voice was wheezy as she continued, “I’m only kidding. I want him to be happy and I think he’s better off married than on his own. The most important thing is that he always puts our daughter’s well-being first. That’s what matters to me more than anything else. Understand?”
Zoey had understood. Jessica meant she could accept Scott remarrying as long as his new wife was a good stepmom for Gabi. She’d nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
“Scott’s the love of my life, but Gabi, Gabi’s my heart. And I know I don’t even need to ask you to remind her how much I love her. Or to tell her what I was like. I already know you’ll do that. Just like I know she’ll always be able to turn to you if…”
Jessica couldn’t finish her sentence because her teeth were knocking together and Zoey had noticed her lips were bluish. She let go of her waist and hugged her shivering upper torso sideways with both arms, trying to warm her.
“Of course she will, Jess,” she had whispered into her sister’s ear. “But don’t talk about that right now. Concentrate on walking. Only a little farther and we’ll be out of the water. Then you can sit down and I’ll run and get you a towel.”
She tried to sound confident but inside she was panicking. If her sister had hypothermia, Zoey would never forgive herself. Scott wouldn’t forgive her, either.
They barely made it to dry ground when Zoey noticed Scott and Gabi were also heading back from the opposite direction. She beckoned him, yelling, “Jess is freezing!”
Scott broke into a sprint toward where they’d left their things spread on the beach. Shouting at Gabi to stay put, he grabbed the blanket instead of a towel and raced across the sand faster than she’d ever seen him move. When he reached them, he peeled off his T-shirt and replaced Jessica’s with his before cocooning her in the blanket and gathering her to his chest. Zoey expected him to be livid but instead he hummed and softly caressed his wife’s back, as if they were slow-dancing to their favorite song.
After a few minutes, when Jessica stopped quaking, he kissed the top of her white, baby-bald head and casually asked, “How was your swim, hon?”
“It wasawesome,” she croaked, peering up at him.
“Good. I’m glad.”
Then he had picked her up and carried her back to the car. When Zoey and Gabi arrived some fifteen minutes later, the heat was blasting and the windows were rolled up. Scott had been dripping with sweat but he and Jessica were laughing about who knows what.
“Hey, Zoey…” His voice was a growl when she got into the car.
Uh-oh. Here it comes,she thought.He can’t get mad at Jess because she’s sick but he’s going to light into me for helping her go swimming.She just hoped his rant wouldn’t upset Gabi. “Yeah?”
“If I knew you were going to take so long, I would have carried the cooler myself. Pass me a sandwich, would you? I’m starving.”
He never did chew her out. And because of that—more than because of anything Jessica said about cutting him some slack—Zoey had always known she couldn’t hold it against him when he made errors in judgment, either.
Thinking about Scott now, floating in the same bay where her sister had her very last dip in the ocean she’d loved so much, she decided,When I get back to the house, I should write him a note to tell him how well Gabi is doing. At least, shehopedGabi was doing as well as she seemed to be.
But first, Zoey dove and swam and floated until her toes and fingers were numb and goosebumps rose all over her skin. Quivering as she got out of the water and retrieved her leggings, she couldn’t imagine ever complaining about being too warm again.
* * *
The next morning Zoey woke to what she immediately recognized as the aroma of freshly baked cinnamon raisin sticky buns.Aunt Ivy is already awake and making breakfast?That could only mean one thing: Mark was coming for a visit. Maybe he was already here. Zoey wondered why her aunt hadn’t given her a heads-up.
