“Owen?” Bee’s voice was closer. I turned, and she must have been reaching out blindly for me because I caught a finger in the corner of my eye. “Oh, sorry!”
“I’m right here.” I grabbed her freezing hands and swore. I shucked my gloves and quickly thrust them toward her. “Put these back on.”
“Wh-what’s going on?”
“You need to stay warm. Do you have anything else in that bag that might help?”
She was silent for a beat. “No. I didn’t think I would be needing anything.”
“Shit.” I spun in a circle and pulled off my beanie. I realized she should have been wearing that too. Her nose had been icy when we kissed. I tugged it off and found her head, pushed back her hood to slide it on before pulling the hood back up.
“Won’t you need that?” she asked.
“No. I’ll be fine with my hood.” I tugged the hood from my sweatshirt out and covered my head, then zipped up the outer layer as high as it would go. All the heat from moments ago was gone. With every second, the air around us grew colder. I could almost feel the heat waves coming off my head, only to be instantly converted to cold.
This wasn’t sustainable.
“Bee, it’s going to get really cold now.” I rubbed up and down her arms.
“Oh,” she said. “Are we going to be okay?”
“Yes,” I answered immediately. “We just have to stick it out a few more hours.”
I never wished for something to be truer than I did at that moment.
“Okay.” Her tone was uncharacteristically tentative.
“We’re going to be fine.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her back to the seat. I didn’t even go through the pretense of asking her and pulled her right onto my lap. I was too scared to speak. I would sue Benny Jr. for every cent if anything happened to her. I rubbed her arms up and down through the heavy material.
When had this switch been flipped? When had she gone from the task I needed to complete to the person whose safety I prioritized over even my own? I’d only really known Bee these last few hours, but I already felt like I needed to protect her no matter what. She had plans and goals and was sweet and funny and a little scary.
“I’m okay,” she said softly.
I grunted. She was now.
I pulled her close and had her tuck her legs so that no part of her touched the frigid box. At first, it wasn’t too bad. I almost thought we would be okay if it weren’t for that damn wind.
But after another silent half hour, my worries became an obsessive loop I couldn’t shake. Each worst-case scenario posed was more horrible than the last. The fears were incessant, gnawing. Her body trembled in my lap. What was the right thing to do in this situation? I could give her more of my layers, but if something happened to me, I couldn’t help her.
“Owen?”
I couldn’t watch Bee succumb to the cold. She had plans; she didn’t deserve this. I should have never listened to Benny Jr. I should have never answered his call.
“Owen?” she said, poking me.
I made another grunt of acknowledgment.
“You’re shaking me. With the wind, it’s making me feel queasy.”
I stopped bouncing my leg. “Sorry.”
“Can you answer me a question?”
“I’m not in the mood for any more games,” I said.
“I wasn’t going to suggest that,” she said sharply. “But also, rude.”
“Sorry.” I squeezed her closer, resting my forehead on her shoulder for a second. “Sorry,” I repeated. “I’m just pissed.” I didn’t want to admit I was scared. “At the situation.”
