Page 33 of Always a Roommate
“Sure,” she scoffed, but this time, I detected a quiver in her voice.
Tanner didn’t seem too upset about his store and the merchandise in it, but it would hit him in the morning, once we got through this.
I walked to the window we’d fixed up, feeling the wind whistling through the cracks. No one would ever call it a professional job, but it would hopefully keep us dry.
Looking down at my sopping shirt, I clutched my hands together to still their shaking. I wished I could blame it on the cold.
Following the sound of Tanner’s voice, I found them in the storeroom.
“All the clothes out there are as wet as you guys,” he was saying. “But I do have a couple boxes of stuff back here. I hadn’t put it out yet.”
Rae crouched down next to a box and ripped it open. “These are wetsuits.”
I opened another one. “Bathing suits here.”
Tanner kicked a stack of boxes. “These are all beach towels. I ordered too many.”
So, we had wetsuits, bathing suits, and beach towels. Great.
Rae started digging in the bathing suit box. “These are all just swim trunks.”
Tanner shrugged, reaching for a pair and checking the size with the diving flashlight he now held before chucking them at me.
Well, it was better than a wetsuit.
As I walked toward the men’s room to change in the dark, I realized the night wasn’t even half over.
13
RAE
I clutched the sink, staring at the narrow strip of light wavering across the porcelain as the flashlight I’d taken from Tanner rolled back and forth, its restlessness echoing my own.
My arms shook as I tightened my hold, sending a tremor through my entire body right into my heart, kicking it up a notch.
Had I really just run out into the middle of a hurricane? There’d been too much adrenaline racing through me to think about it. All I’d known was we had to board that window up.
Unclenching my fingers, I pulled one hand away and held it to my neoprene-clad stomach. The stupid wetsuit constricted my every movement, even breathing, but at least it was dry and warm.
My wet clothes sat in a pile on the floor, but I couldn’t bring myself to pick them up, to do the necessary task of wringing them out. Not now.
I reached for the flashlight with shaky hands before turning away from the sink, from the reflection I didn’t want to see there.
The problem with a wetsuit was it hugged every curve. Nothing could be hidden.
Then, there was my ragged hair, tired eyes, and naked face.
But somehow, I knew the boys waiting for me wouldn’t care. If I was telling the truth, I’d have sworn there’d been something, a look or a moment, where Shane saw me. Not as he normally did as the thorn in his side. He’d looked like he wanted to kiss me.
Which was completely ridiculous. No matter how much I’d wished for it over the years, he’d never once shown any sort of interest in me.
Schooling my features, I made myself relax so they didn’t see just how much I’d been shaken by everything, how much I was still worried for the hours that lay ahead of us.
I walked out into the store, but as the beam of light cut through my surroundings, I didn’t see either of the guys.
It wasn’t until I heard their laughter that I found them in the storage room, where they’d set up three beach lounge chairs, not the industrial kind Tanner rented but the prettier ones he had for sale.
Tanner grinned up at me. “The chairs were the only section of the store that didn’t get soaked.” He held up a chocolate bar. “Good thing the snacks have wrappers.” He threw it.
