Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(114)

Sean worked hard at resuscitating, everyone else standing back to let him work. When the ambulance showed up, they cleared Sean away and took over. It was the first time the camera got a good look at Krista’s savior, and what a sight they saw. He was perfectly sculpted and bronzed in the afternoon sun. His cut body glistened as he stood with his hands on his hips, panting. He looked down with worry, his vivid eyes deep and troubled. He was still the most handsome man Krista had ever seen. He was the love of her life, and she had never, in all her life, seen him look more scared.

The newswoman came back on and explained that Krista was revived and currently recovering. She would have no lasting injuries.

That’s good news.

Next there was a story of a shooting. Krista just had her ten seconds of fame and she was comatose for it the whole time.

“At least my hero was super-hot.”

Krista was looking for the remote when the latch on the door jiggled. Krista glanced up as Sean walked into the room, his face a mask of misery. He was still in his swim shorts but donned a smiley face t-shirt. He must have bought it in the gift shop. When he saw Krista he stopped dead and dropped the hand that clutched his cell phone.

“I hear I owe you a thank you,” Krista said evenly. She had to work to keep the tears out of her eyes. Despite her desperate hope to keep upbeat about this whole thing, she nearly died. It was kind of a big deal.

Sean moved to her slowly, eyes roaming her face. He sat gracefully in the chair next to the bed. His face was troubled. He didn’t look like he planned to speak.

Krista opened her mouth to ask how he knew where to find her, trying to get the conversational ball rolling, when the door opened slowly. Kate’s worried face peeked in. Worry was replaced with relief, and then anger. Then the door was kicked open.

“You are one stupid bitch, you know that?” she yelled as she stormed into the middle of the room.

Jasmine and Ben came in behind her. Jasmine looked stern, Ben looked totally freaked out.

“Hi,” Krista said, not sure what else to say.

“Do you know that you f**k-turd? A stupid f**king bitch! I told you not to come down here all broken hearted and do something stupid! Look what you did! You did exactly what I told you not to do and nearly got yourself killed, you f**king anus! If you didn’t look so broken and pathetic, I would slap you across the face for scaring the ever loving shit outta me. No, wait—yeah, I’m gonna slap you!”

Kate stalked up to the hospital bed with balled fists. Krista had time to shrink back before Sean’s big arm flung out and stopped Kate’s progress.

“It’s the best thing for her, Sean. You know it is!”

“Krista, what were you thinking?” Ben asked reasonably.

“Guys, look, I wasn’t planning on surfing those big waves. When I first got there, the waves were manageable. I surfed for a while and I was just fine. I was already out in the water when those monsters started coming in. What else was I going to do? Stay out there all day?”

“You shouldn’t have been surfing alone, Krista,” Jasmine said in a low, even voice. “Sean has told you that before. You still have a lot to learn.”

“Obviously!” Kate burst in. Now she was looking out the window with her hands on her hips.

“People surf alone all the time. People swim alone all the time, too. I can’t always have someone around,” Krista reasoned.

“Krista, you aren’t the best swimmer,” Ben said.

“I know that—“

“No, you aren’t the best f**king swimmer,” Kate burst in, needing a break from silence. “Yes, you know that. Also, and stop me if I bore you with common knowledge, but you don’t know the rules of the ocean! You don’t have the first clue about tides and currents and waves and all that. Not the first f**king clue! But there you go, trying to surf with the big boys.”

“Guys, the waves weren’t all that big to start. I wasn’t doing anything stupid in the beginning. Seriously. I don’t understand why all the hostility. Aren’t you a little glad I’m okay?”

Kate started to crack slowly. Her hard exterior was melting. For the first time Krista saw how frightened she had been. That was right before she took two fast steps and slapped her across the face. Hard!

“You’re lucky as hell to have Sean as your guardian angel!” she spat. Then she walked out of the room.

“She thought you were dead until Sean got an update. We all did. Him included, though he won’t admit it,” Ben said quietly. “It was a long car trip here.”

“We are glad you’re okay, Krista,” Jasmine affirmed with misty eyes. “Of course we are. But you gave us a helluva scare. We all deal with it differently. Anger is easiest now that you’re okay.” She walked toward the door. “I better go get her. She’s probably screaming at a nurse or kicking a person in a wheelchair or something.”

“I’ll go, too.” Ben glanced at Sean.

Krista got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She really didn’t want to know what Sean had to say. She had been so horrible to him. She had said some truly awful things. And now there he was, saintly, her savior, sitting quietly next to the bed.

After everyone left, the only sound was the TV.

“So…” Krista said when the silence became deafening. “I can’t thank you enough, obviously.”