AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“September 1st, 1986.”
“Do you have any children? Anyone else that might be on this ship or somewhere else?”
“I have BeLew. I have you.”
“Seriously, though. Anyone else that might look for you? There is an entire section here dedicated to reunification.”
“There is no one, Rowan.” His face was stern. There was no invitation to continue my line of questioning, so I moved on without pushing the subject.
I completed the not applicable boxes and moved on to medical history. “Do you have any medications you were taking? Surgeries in your past? Pre-existing conditions?”
He replied no to everything. “I’m very average and very boring. I try to stay healthy,” he shrugged.
“You seem like it. I mean, you had t-to be to make it through w-whatever happened to your leg.” My awkwardness was shining through, even then. I caught myself complimenting his physique and failed to stutter my way out of it.
“Nice of you to notice,” he drawled.
My blushing continued. “I need to put your leg injury on here. Do you know what happened?”
“I don’t. I remember running on the trail. The third storm had just hit, and the wind was still up, but not terrible. The next thing I remember is being in your Jeep.”
I scrunched my face, trying to describe the injury on the paperwork in front of me. I had nothing to go on, but he was already doing so well. I didn’t want us to be a liability, but he could still require medical attention, and these forms would be the start of the process.
“Do you want to ask me anything else?” Sam urged. He had one eyebrow raised and moved his hand over my thigh. “Something that’s not on those pages.”
We had a year to get to know each other, but there was no time like the present to start. “Where were you going… on the path?”
“Higher ground. My place was completely underwater. I thought I might hot-wire an abandoned car.”
“And you lived by yourself?”
“Yes,” he paused. “I was married before. I’m not anymore.”
“Oh, I see.” I shuffled the papers, looking for a reprieve. “I’ve never been married. I was engaged once.”
“Lucky for me it didn’t work out.”
My eyes widened as I stared back at the familiar place on the wall. A knock at the door offered my desired reprieve from the conversation. I exhaled with gratitude. “Time for more blood,” I said, nervously rising to my feet.
Two women entered the small space with a narrow cart, clipboards, and a mission. They never made eye contact with us, completely engrossed in their tasks. BeLew tried to object to the needles, but they had them held down and stuck before they knew what hit them. They stuffed our paperwork away in their files and slammed the door behind them without as much as a goodbye.
The air grew thick with discomfort after their departure. I was aware of myself, my smell, and the man that was in such close proximity. “Do you think—” I began, unsure of how to ask. “Maybe, um, I could try to shower? The bathrooms are down the hall, and I could really use one.”
“I’m here with the boys. You don’t have to ask, just go,” Sam said. “Maybe we can tell each other some stories. I’m sure we will think of something, right, BeLew?”
“Yes!” they shouted in unison.
“Okay, I don’t know you really, so I don’t know how to do this. I will, I guess, in time,” I mumbled.
“It’s us now, Row.” His face was hard, making his point known. “The four of us. Are you comfortable going out on your own?”
I nodded, collecting the bar of soap, clean clothes, and washcloth. I hugged the boys, and they crawled in front of our bed as the man we would call Sam started a story. I heard his voice boom a tale with enthusiasm as I left and started down the hall.
Small metal slots without shower curtains lined the bathroom wall, but they looked like heaven. I turned on the faucet and felt steam immediately.
Oh, thank God.
The heat felt orgasmic on my skin. The walls and floors ran dark with dirty water, confirming how disgusting I had become over the previous few days. I scrubbed as much as I could with the washcloth before using the soap. We had one bar, and the showers had nothing more to offer. Once I could wash my body with a single layer of suds, I put my clothes on the floor of the shower, cleaning them at the same time.
