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“Jackson!”
20
Melissa
I bolted to the bridge, hollering Jackson’s name. He appeared, seconds after the alarm sounded, his hands pressed against his ears and a distraught look on his face.
“I didn’t do it!” he screamed above the noise. “It wasn’t me!”
Chase stifled a laugh and I stopped running, looking back at him. “It’s okay, buddy. Hold up.”
He ducked into the bridge and I stood with Jackson by my side, wanting to cover my own ears from the deafening noise. When Chase reappeared, his expression was grim. “There’s a storm coming. That was the warning alarm.”
I glanced down at Jackson who looked relieved that the noise had stopped but conflicted over the news. “Does that mean we can’t go fishing?”
Chase frowned. “I’m afraid not, bud. We’ll have to plan that for another day.”
Jackson shrugged. “I’m going to go play my game.”
“Okay, sweetheart. I’ll come check on you in a little bit.”
He trudged off and disappeared below deck. I turned my attention to Chase. “How bad is it going to be? Does it say?”
“It’s hard to tell,” he replied, scratching his stubble coated jaw. “Come here, I’ll show you.”
I followed him into the tight captain’s quarters. He pointed down at the radar screen which was flashing with different colors like something from the weather report on the news. How he could decipher it was a mystery to me. It just looked like a bunch of color coded blobs and patterns.
“That’s the eye of the storm,” he said, pointing at a fast moving circle. “Looks like it’s headed right at us. That’s why the alarm went off. When that thing hits, it’s going to be high winds, which will bring higher swells. We’re going to get tossed around a little bit.”
“Are we equipped for this kind of thing?” I asked, frantically looking around. I knew where the life vests, fire extinguisher, and first aid kit were held but in light of what he was telling me, it didn’t seem like enough.
“We’ll be all right,” Chase answered, his tone even and strong. I let his words soak in, bracing me with borrowed confidence. “But we need to secure everything down below and up top. We don’t want things moving around, someone could get hurt.”
“Okay. I’ll go down below.”
He nodded. “All right, good. I’ll deal with up here.”
I turned to leave, but he caught me by the wrist and pulled me back close. Our faces were inches away and all the air left the room around us. Chase’s eyes went dark and intense as they stared down into mine. “I’m going to get you and Jackson through this, okay? Nothing is going to happen to either one of you.”
I nodded and my eyes slid down to his lips. I wanted to kiss him. To use him as an anchor for my wild and careening heart. But in the end, I knew I had to be strong on my own. I couldn’t count on someone else all the time. “Thank you.”
Chase held my wrist a moment longer and I wondered if he just didn’t want to let go quite yet or if he was so lost in his planning that he didn’t realize he had a hold of me still.
“Chase, I—”
He let my wrist go and I stuffed down the words that had formed on my tongue. They vanished in a split second and I left the room before he could ask me what I was about to say.
Honestly, I had no idea.
The man had a way of calming me and scrambling me up all at once.
Once I left the bridge, I exhaled long and slow, gathering myself back together again, before heading down below.
An hour later, everything was secured, tied down, or put inside the cupboards and closets. Jackson was tucked in bed with a movie on the TV in the bedroom with a pair of noise-canceling headphones in hopes he wouldn’t hear the howling winds that Chase had warned were on the way.
“Mom!” Jackson called, not realizing how loud his voice was over the movie sounds in his ears.
“What, baby?” I reached over and tugged one of the cups away from his ear. “What’s wrong?”
“Can I go upstairs now? I want to see the waves!”
I shook my head. “No, sweetheart, it’s not safe. You have to stay down here.”
He wriggled, already restless. He could sense our angst as Chase and I raced around to get everything ready and was now amped up himself. “I can help. Remember what Chase said? If I ate my oatmeal, I’d be strong. I ate my whole bowl today.”
I smiled. “I need you to be strong down here, okay? I’m going to go up and check on Chase and see if he needs anything. Then I’ll be back down and we can watch the rest of the movie together. How does that sound?”
