Between Hello and Goodbye(8)

“Yes, hi, I’m your problem child today.”

“Name?”

“Faith Benson.”

He squatted in front of my mud-splattered legs to examine my ankle. “Move your toes for me.”

I did as he said. Commanded, really. “Are you a doctor too?”

“EMT.” He laid two fingers on the top of my foot, feeling for a pulse. “These shoes aren’t appropriate for this trail.”

“I’m painfully aware.”

He snorted. “If I had a dollar for every tourist who traipses in here after a rain, utterly unprepared…”

His disdain smacked me back to my reality, and the pain came rushing back with it.

“You have a lovely bedside manner,” I said. “And you don’t look Hawaiian, by the way, so maybe cool it on the dumb tourist talk? This hurts like crazy.”

He grunted in response and turned to his fellow firefighters. They huddled for a moment about what to do with me, one speaking into a walkie-talkie affixed to his shoulder. The helicopter came into sight again—a red mosquito flitting across the blue sky.

“Okay, time to get you out,” my firefighter said.

“How?”

He pointed a finger upward.

I shook my head. “Oh no, no, no. That’s not necessary.”

“We have to evacuate you from the area, ma’am.”

“I’m not a ma’am, and a helicopter? That’s a tad dramatic, don’t you think?”

Just the sort of drama I was trying to erase from my life.

Silas will never let me hear the end of this.

“It’s necessary for your safety and to prevent further injury,” said a second, huge guy with a bald head and muscles for days. He turned to my new friend. “Ash, you ready?”

“Ready, Cap.”

So the Hottest Firefighter in the World is named Ash, I thought. Made sense. He probably set panties on fire.

Stop it.

“Your name is Ash?”

“Asher. Only the guys call me Ash.”

“What do the girls call you?”

He smirked, a crack in his stony demeanor. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, as Asher and the captain moved to either side of me to lift me up. “Can’t you just piggyback me out?”

Asher’s brows furrowed. “For two miles? On whose back?”

My graze slid over his uniform shirt that clung to his chest and highlighted the muscles in his arms. “You appear capable.”

He snorted, but his smirk deepened into a hint of a smile. “As fun as that sounds, we’re using the chopper.”

“How are you going to land a helicopter on a waterfall?”

“We’re not.”

I didn’t have time to ponder the meaning of his words as Asher and his captain hooked my arms around their brawny shoulders and lifted me around the waist. I bit back a small whimper as they carefully sloshed their way into shallow water and found an outcropping to sit me on.

In the exact center of the pool.

Mortified, I waited while the EMTs talked into walkie talkies. Hikers loitered nearby, taking photos of me and the casket-shaped metal basket that was slowly making its way down a cord from the chopper. A guy in an orange uniform and white helmet came down with it.

“You’re going to put me in that?”

“Don’t worry,” Asher said, crouching beside me again. “Roy is the best in the business.”

My glance darted to the basket, the cables, and the dinky-looking helicopter hovering hundreds of yards in the air above us. I looked back to see Asher’s granite expression had softened a little.

“Is there someone I can call?” he asked.

“Question of the hour,” I said, willing the tears back. “No. There isn’t.”

“You’re on the island alone?”

“Yes, okay?” I spat. “I came here to work on myself. That’s not exactly a team sport. If I’d brought a gaggle of girlfriends, we’d have spent all our time drinking and shopping. Which is exactly what I do in Seattle. I needed a reset.” I flapped my hand at my ankle. “This was not on the itinerary. Obviously.”

Asher wore a grudging look of…mild surprise? Understanding? Doubtful. To him, I was just another dumb tourist. Even dumber for coming here solo.

Roy and his Basket of Doom were brought over in a tangle of straps and buckles.

My pulse kicked up another notch.

“You want me to lie down in that? On purpose?”

“It’s safe, I swear,” Asher said.

“I’ll bet you say that to all the girls.”

The guys helped me into the basket. I lay down flat on my back, clutching my muddy backpack to my chest. Silent under his white helmet, Roy busily worked attaching various buckles and straps.

“Where are you taking me, Roy?”

“They’re going to land you on dry ground,” Asher said when Roy declined to comment. “An ambulance is waiting to take you to Wilcox Hospital. Where are you staying on the island?”

“Kapa’a.”

“Then you’re right there.”

A lot of good that would do me. I couldn’t drive. Couldn’t walk. Outside of Silas, there was no one I wanted to call to help me get through this. I wasn’t one for freaking out, but at that moment, it took all I had to not burst into tears. I was allergic to being emotional, but I felt so helpless when I’d come here expressly for the opposite reason.