Violet

Well, now I’m worthless. I may as well go back to the hotel. I can’t go out there and sing another Karaoke song after the Major just rendered me useless. That bathroom in the kitchen has seen some serious action the past couple of days. I wonder if he’s brought a lot of women back here?

“How many women have you seduced in this crappy little bathroom?” I ask as he washes his hands and face.

“One.”

“Just me?”

“Yes, only you.”

“Hmm . . . good.”

I watch him smile at me in the mirror. He blows his hands dry, and we slip out of the bathroom back into the bar. My legs feel like jelly walking in these stilts after that mind-blowing O. As if he’s read my mind, he slides his arm around my waist to support me.

Everyone congratulates us on our performance. No one can believe it was totally impromptu, but we assure everyone that it was. I feel like the whole table knows the Major just blew my mind in the bathroom with his tongue, but I’m probably just being paranoid. We were gone a while, though, and one person in particular noticed our absence. My mother.

“That was some performance up there. You two should start a show.”

I roll my eyes and laugh it off.

“We didn’t plan it or anything. It just happened.”

“It’s always best that way. Where did you two go? You disappeared for quite a while there.”

I cross my arms over my chest and purse my lips.

“What? Can’t a mother wonder what her daughter’s been up to?”

I shake my head back and forth and the Major leans around me, “She won’t kiss and tell, but I will. We were in the—” I gasp and clasp my hand over his mouth, cutting him off.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I say.

“He was about to tell me—” I cut Mom off too.

“You two need to cool it. Mother, he’s right. I don’t kiss and tell.” I turn to the Major. “And if you know what’s good for you, neither will you.”

I feel him smile under my hand, and I give him a don’t you dare look before releasing him.

“Sorry, Lilly. We don’t kiss and tell,” he says, and I smile and cross my arms over my chest.

“Hey, I had to try,” she says, smiling over the rim of her glass. Something catches her eye behind me, and all at once, she’s lost interest. I follow her gaze out onto the dance floor, where a very handsome man about Mom’s age is dancing with what I hope to God is his daughter and not his date.

“Mother?”

“Yes, honey?” she answers without taking her eyes off the silver fox.

“Be careful,” I say.

“Says the girl who went home with a stranger last night and didn’t tell her mother she was leaving,” she says, standing up to go dance.

“Touché,” I say.

“She’s right, you really should never go home with strangers,” the Major says and takes a swig of his drink while he scans the room.

“Looking for something?” I ask.

“No, I’ve got everything I need right here.” He slides his arm around my shoulder, hugging me close to kiss me on top of my head. I usually don’t care for public displays of affection, especially top of the head kisses. They always feel parental to me, but with the Major, it feels different. He makes me feel . . . cherished. I know it’s crazy after only one day, but it’s true.

“Your mother is very confident, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, I guess so. She’s been more extroverted since my father died. She didn’t used to be like this.”

“She didn’t have to be, did she? She was happily married, I assume.”

“Yes. Yes, she was,” I say, watching my beautiful mother tap the silver fox on the shoulder. He turns to smile at her and they exchange a few words. She waves her hand in a little circle toward the young woman he’s dancing with and then motions to the bar. Silver fox nods and returns to dancing with the young woman.

“I think she’s lonely. I think she misses Dad more than she lets on.”

“I’m sure she does.” His words are so full of sadness, I almost ask if he’s lost someone close to him, but Kimber and Garcia return to the table, chattering about some crazy couple they saw making out on the bus stop bench outside.

“What were you guys doing outside?” I ask.

“Had to get some air. It’s hot as hell in here,” Garcia answers.

“It’s hotter outside, isn’t it?” I ask before I realize that they were probably outside for something other than air.

“I think it’s pretty steamy in both places,” Kimber answers suggestively. She takes a long drink from her bottle of water and settles into the booth against Garcia.

“You two seem very cozy,” I say, watching her snuggle under his arm like they’ve known each other forever.

“Looks who’s talking.” Kimber laughs. Yeah, I guess she’s right. This has been the best vacation I’ve ever been on, and it wasn’t really even supposed to be a real vacation. I’m in the wedding party. I’ve been given jobs to do and responsibilities, and come to think of it, I haven’t thought about any of them since I met Major.

“We have to go for a dress fitting tomorrow, don’t we?” I ask Kimber when I start ticking off my list of things to do this week in my head.

“Yeah, at ten thirty, then lunch and golf. Belle and Mattie have us scheduled to do something every minute this week. I’m not going to make it to half of those things. This girl’s gonna nap,” Kimber says. Garcia places his hand on her bump, and I almost spit out my drink. He’s pretty damn comfortable with Kimber’s pregnancy, and she doesn’t seem to mind at all.

“You have to take care of yourself. Overdoing it isn’t good for you or the baby,” Garcia says. An ice cube from my Margarita slides down my throat. I lean forward and cough and sputter, but it’s defiantly going down the wrong way and it hurts.

“Shit, Violet, you okay?” Major says, pounding me on the back. I work to catch my breath, and when I have it under control, I apologize.

“Sorry, damn ice cubes are just the right size to choke on.”

The Brittney Spears song being sung by two very drunk girls dressed like Japanese anime characters wraps up, and the DJ asks for the crowd’s attention.

“As you all know, our Karaoke night is also a contest, and we have a winner!” he yells so loudly I think something popped inside my head. I cringe, and Major pulls me close, protecting one ear with his chest and holding his hand over the other. He’s a very attentive man. He notices everything going on around him and he reads me well. I too make note of things happening around me. I love to people watch. Sometimes, I even think up little stories in my head to go along with what I’m seeing.

Since I can’t hear very well all cocooned between Major’s chest and hand, I watch the two anime girls dressed in knee socks and baby doll skirts with Hello Kitty shirts. They’re falling all over each other giggling, trying to sing Hit Me Baby One More Time as they make their way back to their table. They look so innocent and sweet. It would be cool if they were undercover cops looking for that creep that Major threatened last night. He would approach them on the sidewalk at closing time and one would pull out some crazy martial arts moves while the other called for backup. Or even better yet, one would pull out a samurai sword and wave it around, expertly cutting off snippets of his hair while the other waited to cuff him.

I’m lost in my vivid imagination when Major releases my ear and I hear the crowd clapping and chanting. “Don’t phunk with my love, don’t phunk with my love.”

“I guess we won,” he says, and I hear the DJ calling us up on stage.

“Come on, let’s go. It’s time for our fifteen seconds of fame,” he says, pulling me up with him. I can’t believe we won a contest singing a song I pulled out of my ass because I was pissed at him.

There are people on all sides of us as we make our way to the tiny stage. Major has his hand sprawled over the small of my back, guiding me when I feel a tremble. Everyone stops in his or her tracks and the whooping dulls to a murmur. It happens again, harder this time, vibrating the whole building. I can hear glasses rattling and tables and chairs rumbling on the floor. We sway back and forth, gently at first and then with more force as the quake picks up force. I’ve been through a few earthquakes in my life here in California, but none as strong as this one.

Major’s arm slides around my waist. He’s moving us into the area where the bar and the restaurant join in the foyer. Garcia’s already here with Kimber, and I catch the top of my mother’s head across the foyer. At least, I’m pretty sure it’s her head. Major has me turned to face the frame of the door, my palms against the wall and his body behind mine with his arms crossed over my head to protect me from falling debris if there happens to be any.

A loud crash comes from somewhere in the main area of the restaurant, and a plume of dirt and dust rolls into the foyer. Panic builds in my chest when the shaking gets worse instead of better. I haven’t officially seen my mother or Taye since the shaking began.

“Can you see my mom or my brother?” I ask.

Major shakes his head no, and dread consumes me.

“How long’s this damn thing gonna last?” I say, knowing full well that he has no answer.

“I saw your mother a few minutes ago, but not your brother. It should be over soon.”

No sooner do the words leave his lips than the ground begins to calm. The clattering and groaning of furniture and equipment quiets, and the people fall silent, waiting to see if it’s over.

“It’s over. Let’s get your family and friends together and get out of here before the aftershocks start,” he says. I’ve never been more grateful for someone to take charge of me in my life.

“Stay in front of me. Everyone is going to be trying to do exactly what we are in a minute when they wrap their heads around what’s happened.”

He’s guiding me toward the doors, and it’s getting hard to see through the layer of dust and dirt in the air. I hear Major talking to a disembodied Garcia, and then my mother’s voice comes from behind me and relief spreads through my chest. Now if we can just find Taye and Belle and Mattie.

Outside, it’s pitch black. The sun went down an hour ago, but the street lamps aren’t on so I can’t even see my hand in front of my face.

“Oh, baby, I didn’t see you. Thank God you’re okay.” Mom’s arms circle me and she squeezes the breath from my lungs.

“Where’s Taye, Mom?”

“I don’t know. He went to get a drink at the bar before they announced the winner of the contest. My God, Vie, you don’t think something happened to him, do you?” She spins around to face the building and starts yelling for Taye. With our eyes adjusting to the dark, we can see just how extensive the damage is to the building we just escaped. There is an enormous crack in the restaurant wall that runs the entire height of the building, essentially breaking it into two pieces.

“Oh God,” she says covering her mouth.

I look at the damage and then at Major. He knows what I’m thinking, and he doesn’t hesitate.

“Stay here, don’t move,” he says. I nod and I reach out to take my mother’s hand.

“Garcia,” Major calls out to Garcia, who is holding Kimber in his arms, consoling her.

“Come on.” Major calls, and Garcia walks Kimber over to stand with us before he follows him. Garcia kisses Kimber on the cheek before taking off inside with Major.

“He’s going to find Taye, Mom, don’t worry. He and Garcia are going to find them,” I say, trying to reassure both of us, but this place looks bad. Part of me wants to go in and help, but I know nothing about unstable buildings and aftershocks.

“Are you guys okay?” Kimber asks. We both nod and quickly scan each other for injuries. When we find nothing visible, I drop my eyes to her belly. “Everything okay in there?” I ask.

She presses a hand to her middle, “Yeah, I think so. He’s moving.”

Mom’s eyebrows shoot up. “He? You know it’s a boy?” she asks.

Kimber rubs comforting circles over her little boy, who is lucky to be nestled safe inside his mommy. “I just found out last week.”

She hugs me, and we surge back to reality when an aftershock almost knocks us off our feet. We grab each other’s arms and wobble, holding on until it passes. I can hear crashing in the distance and horns honking. This is crazy. We need to find the others and get out of here. I don’t know where the hell I want to go. I’m sure the quake has effected the whole town and maybe more, but I have an overwhelming urge to flee . . . anywhere, maybe to Minnesota where Major is from, far away from the coast and the San Andreas fault line.

“I’m taking off these damn shoes. If there’s another one of those, I’m gonna break my neck when I fall off them,” Kimber says, unbuckling her shoes.

“Be careful. There’s a lot of glass and debris on the ground,” I say.

“I’ll stand right here until Julian comes back.”

“Julian? Is that Garcia’s first name?”

“Yeah, it’s cute, isn’t it?”

Oh Lord, she’s got it bad for that Marine. I hope this wasn’t a bad idea. Pregnant women are so emotional, and I don’t want to see her get hurt again so soon. I’ve yet to run into that asshole, Caleb, and he’s damn lucky. I hope Garcia goes to the wedding with Kimber and puts his hands all over her sexy ass baby bump. Serves him right.

“Watch your heart, Kimber. It’s fragile right now, ya know?”

“I know. It’s just nice to have someone show me some attention.”

“Look!” Mom says, pointing at the door of the restaurant where Taye and Garcia are dragging Mattie along with his arms draped over their shoulders and his head lolling against his chest.

“Oh, thank God, Taye, you’re okay,” Mom says, rushing to them.

Kimber starts to move, and my arm shoots out to stop her.

“No shoes, remember? Stay put.” She nods and covers her mouth with her hand when the guys lay Mattie down on the ground and start checking him over.

“Where’s Major?” I ask when I realize he’s not with them. I kneel down and kiss Taye on his dusty cheek. He turns to me and brushes a tear off mine.

“He’s getting Belle. She’s in bad shape, Vie. You need to find a doctor or call an ambulance or something. It took two of us to get Mattie out here, but he’s got a pulse. I’m not sure about Belle.”

My eyes leap to the door to search for them, and within seconds, Major is striding toward us carrying Belle, who is limp in his arms.

Taye’s words bounce around in my head. Bad shape, ambulance, and no pulse. Fuck, where’s my phone?

“Violet, go around and ask for a doctor,” Major says, laying her on the ground and checking for a pulse. I’m frozen. She can’t be dead. They’re getting married on Saturday. That’s why we’re all here . . .

“Violet!” he yells and I jump.

“Okay, I’m going,” I say, snapping to my senses.

“Is there a doctor here? Hey, does anybody have any medical experience?” I yell and push my way through the little clumps of people gathering outside. Mom is yelling too. She sounds frantic—do I sound frantic? Maybe I should be more insistent. Belle could be dying.

“We need a doctor! A girl is dying over here, somebody please!”

“I’m a doctor. Where is she?” A voice comes from a few feet away.

“Over here by the entrance. Come quick. I don’t think she’s breathing” I say, turning to lead him to Belle and Mattie.

When I can see our group again, Major’s doing chest compressions on Belle and Mattie’s moving his head back and forth, moaning. God, he’s doing CPR. That’s bad, very bad.

“There, right there, hurry!” I yell and the doctor jogs around me, dropping to his knees on Belle’s other side. He feels for a pulse, gives her a breath and switches places with Major when he’s finished his round of compressions.

I feel nails digging into my flesh, and when I look down, my mother is holding Taye’s hand and clutching my bicep with the other. She’s pale, or maybe it’s just the ashes and soot covering her beautiful brown skin, or maybe both. She’s in shock.

“Taye, you need to sit her down somewhere,” I say to my brother.

“Come on, Mom, let’s go sit down over here. We won’t be far, just a couple of feet away,” Taye says in a soothing voice, leading her to sit on the bus stop bench on the sidewalk.

I kneel down next to Garcia, who’s examining Mattie’s very obviously broken leg.

“Is there anything I can do?” I ask.

Mattie grabs my hand and squeezes it so hard I whimper.

“Is she okay? Is Belle going to be all right? I tried to cover her, but the beam fell so fast, I couldn’t stop it—urgh!” He yells out midsentence when Garcia manipulates his broken leg.

“What are you doing? You’re hurting him.”

“I’m a medic. His bone needed to be aligned. It’s broken clean through, and if the quake’s damage is extensive, we won’t be seeing a hospital anytime soon.”

Mattie continues to yell out in pain, and I think one or more of my fingers are broken when I hear someone to my left say, I got a pulse.

Oh God, thank you, Jesus, she’s alive. I look over at Belle. Major has stopped compressions and is talking with the doctor, who I now recognize as the silver fox Mom was drooling over earlier.

“Mattie, she’s breathing, she’s alive,” I say, leaning down into his tortured face. “Do you hear me? She’s breathing.”

His screams turn into loud groans as his head lolls to the side, seeing Belle a few feet away.

“Move me over there. I need to be next to her,” he says between gritted teeth.

“Man, we gotta keep you still. If we move this leg wrong, you could lose it,” Garcia says.

“Move me! I don’t give a fuck about my leg. Move me!” he yells. Garcia closes his eyes and shakes his head.

“We really shouldn’t.”

“Move him. I’ll help,” I say, placing my hands under his shoulders.

“Stop, you’ll never budge him. Major!” Garcia yells. “I need some help over here.”

Major sees me ready to drag Mattie across the parking lot and jumps to his feet. Striding toward us, he points a stern finger at me and then at Belle, indicating I should go to her.

Major and Garcia move Mattie as carefully as they can and lay him next to Belle, who is still unconscious. Mattie reaches out to take her limp hand.

“Belle, don’t you leave me, you hear me? Don’t you dare go anywhere. We’re getting married Saturday. We have all these people here. You can’t disappoint them.”

My heart breaks as I listen to him beg her to wake up. These two don’t deserve this. They’re both such good people. Mattie’s a fierce, independent Marine and Belle’s a sweet, compassionate veterinarian. “We have to get them to a hospital. There won’t be any ambulances available after a disaster like this. They’ve probably all been called out already,” Major says, and Dr. Silver Fox agrees.

“We’re going to need two SUVs.”

“No. I’m not leaving her. Take us both. I’ll sit in the back seat—whatever—just don’t separate us,” Mattie says.

I look at Major and shrug.

“What do we do? You have that big built-in thing in the back of yours.”

“It comes out. I’ll go pull around. You stay with them, Doc.” The doctor, who is carefully examining Mattie’s knee, nods absentmindedly.

“Belle? She just squeezed my hand.” Mattie says, flinching when he tries to move to see her face.

I kneel down next to her and place my hand on her cheek. “Belle, honey, can you hear me?”

She moans, but her eyes are still closed.

“Don’t move. You’ve been in an accident. We’re all here for you. Mattie is holding your hand. We’re going to get you to a hospital. Just be still. It’s going to be all right,” I say, and I say a silent prayer that I’m right.

People around us begin to part and move away when Major pulls up next to Belle and Mattie. He jumps out and rounds the vehicle to the back, opening it and unlatching several levers until the built-in is free. He slides it out effortlessly and opens several of the drawers, snatching clean, pressed shirts.

“Let’s get her in first,” he says, spreading out the shirts in the back of the pristine SUV. I can’t help but wonder if he’s doing that to protect her from the floor or the floor from her. It’s a weird thing to be thinking at a time like this, but it’s a weird thing to be doing.

Dr. Silver Fox and Major carefully lift Belle into the back, and Major wads up another shirt and places it under her head. Mattie is watching from the ground, wary of anyone taking off with his fiancé.

People are starting to disperse when another smaller aftershock rumbles through the ground. This is unnerving. I haven’t had enough time to recover from the initial quake, and these aftershocks are shredding my nerves.

The doctor crawls in by Belle’s feet and crouches down as Garcia closes the door. Then they work at getting Mattie into the back seat, standing him on his good leg and backing him up against the open door. Garcia runs around to the other side and crawls across the back seat. Hooking his arms under Mattie’s, he pulls and Major steadies the leg. They hoist him in, and Mattie cries out in pain.

Mom is crying—sobbing, really. Mattie is like a son to her. He and Taye have been best friends since they were in grade school. I look around for my brother and find him sitting with Kimber on the ground. I hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t helping with Mattie or Belle.

“Mom, go make sure Taye and Kimber are okay. I’m going to get my car so we can follow them to the hospital.”

She nods and shuffles toward them, and I call to Major and Garcia, asking them to wait a second so we can follow.

“Just a minute,” Major says, jogging to me.

“I’m walking you to your car. People are starting to realize what’s happening, and if they can’t get to their car, they might get pushy.”

He takes my hand and leads me right to my car.

“How did you know where I was parked?”

“Watched you walk in. The text, remember?”

It feels like a lifetime ago that he sent me that naughty text.

“Shit, I don’t have my purse. I left it inside,” I say, turning to the restaurant.

The sound of my alarm echoes off the buildings, and I look back at Major, who’s holding my keys out for me to take. He also hands me my purse.

“What the?”

“I had it tucked in the back of my pants. You were going to leave it at the table when we got up.”

I roll my eyes and kiss him chastely on the lips.

“You’re a life saver. Literally.”

“Yeah, so I’ve been told. Get in and lock the doors. I’ll walk along and guide you through the parking lot until we get the others.”

I get in and lock the doors. Major walks alongside me as I slowly ease the car down the street the short distance to our group.

What a fucking nightmare. I grip my steering wheel, keeping one eye on Major while I turn up the radio, but it’s just static. Shit, that’s worrisome. How big was this damn earthquake? I crack my window and call to him, “Hey, there’s no radio reception. What do you think that means?”

Major looks at me with unreadable eyes. “It means this is bad, Violet.”

He points to where he wants me to drive my car. When I’ve pulled up next to his SUV, I unlock and hop out to help Mom and Kimber. Mom is still looking like shit. I ease Kimber off the ground and whisper to Taye, “Is mom okay?”

“I don’t know, I’ve only seen her like this once, and that was when Dad died.”

“Maybe it’s like PTSD or something? Reliving tragedy?”

Taye shrugs and helps Kimber into my car.

“Mom, you need to get into the car now. We have to take Mattie and Belle to the hospital.” She looks at me with no affect, flat and completely expressionless.

“Mom?”

She still doesn’t respond, but she lets me lead her to the car, where I put her in the front seat and buckle her seatbelt because I’m not sure she’ll do it herself.

“I’ll ride with Major since he doesn’t really know Mattie and Belle. Garcia can go with you,” Taye says, kissing me on the forehead.

I watch him jog around Major’s car and get in. They begin to ease down the cracked street. It’s really hard to drive with people milling around and the serious damage to the roads. It looks like a war zone with all the smoke and people with tattered clothing wandering aimlessly.

A few people tap on the windows, asking for a ride. I want to stop and help them, but there’s only room for one more in my car, and I’m not comfortable picking up strangers. Especially when I have a pregnant woman in the back seat—not that anyone would dare mess with her with Garcia back there, but still.

When we get far enough away from the beach, I expect Major to lead us toward the closest hospital, but he’s not going the right direction.

“He should have turned back there. He’s not going the right way. What’s he doing?” I say out loud to no one in particular. I’m just voicing my frustrations.

“He’s going to the base hospital,” Garcia says.

“What? We can’t get on base without prior approval, and Belle’s not married to Mattie yet. She’s not considered a military dependent.”

I only know these things because I grew up on bases like Camp Pendleton all my life. It was a pain in the ass to have sleepovers and boyfriends. Everyone had to get approval to come onto the base, and a lot of boys weren’t into that kind of intimidation. I usually met my dates at the movie theatre or the mall.

“It’s a natural disaster. Major has special clearance, and all of you have background files from your pasts, except doctor what’s his name and you, Kimber.”

“No, actually, I just divorced a Marine. They should have something on me too.”

I glance in the rearview mirror to see what Garcia thinks of this news. He’s surprised but doesn’t seem concerned.

“I hope you don’t have any preconceived opinions about Marines. I’m a pretty good guy, ya know,” he says, lacing his fingers with Kimber’s.

“No, I don’t think all Marines are douchebags. Just Caleb,” she says, smiling up at him.

“Is he stationed here?”

Kimber nods a quick yes.

“Is this his baby?” he says, placing his hand on her belly.

“Yes. He doesn’t want kids though.”

Frown lines cut deeply into his forehead, but doesn’t press her any further. He senses it’s painful for her to talk about.

“Everybody have their driver’s license?” Garcia asks as we pull up to Camp Pendleton’s main gate. Everyone answers yes and starts to dig them out of pockets and purses. Mom is still quiet, but not quite as robotic. She retrieves her license and hands it to me, and Kimber and Garcia pass theirs up too.

We crawl along behind Major, and I watch his window go down. The military policeman looks inside quickly and waves him through. When I pull up, I expect a full questioning when I roll down my window, but he bends down and looks at my mother and then me and quickly glances at Garcia and Kimber in back.

“Evening, Mrs. Washington. Follow Major Steele. He will lead you to the Naval Hospital.”

“Thank you,” Mom says, and the MP straightens up to wave us through.

“He recognized you, Mom,” I say.

“Yes, your father was a legend here, and we spent a long time living on this base. The only reason he didn’t recognize you is because you’ve grown up so much since you went to college.”

“That guy probably wasn’t even in the Corps when I went to college, Mom.”

“True, you’re probably right.”

The hospital isn’t far. Major pulls up to the emergency room entrance and we park in the garage directly across the street. Garcia helps Kimber out and they start to walk toward the hospital, but I rest my hand on my mom’s shoulder before she gets out.

“Mom, is everything okay? You seem a little out of it.”

She looks out the window, avoiding eye contact with me. “I was in another earthquake a long time ago, and this has brought back some painful memories.”

“You were?”

“Yes, but now’s not the time to talk about it. We need to get inside and check on Mattie and Belle.”

We sit in silence for a second. Whatever happened must have upset her a lot to make her so quiet about it. She opens her door first, and I follow. We make our way into the brightly lit hospital. It’s more modern than I remember. I think they must have remodeled since the last time I was here. The front of the building is all glass. One whole panel has cracked and fallen to the ground. Out front, Marines are securing the area around the glass and holding people back. A beautiful open atrium just past the emergency area is also being heavily guarded, where a multilevel Plexiglas piece of artwork has fallen from the ceiling, breaking into several enormous colorful pieces.

Taye is at the admitting desk giving them as much information as he can about Mattie and Belle. Mattie’s easy. All they need to do is pull him up in their computer system, but they have nothing about Belle. Garcia and Kimber are talking to another admitting clerk. He’s insisting they check her out and make sure the baby is all right. This Garcia guy is getting straight As from me in the caring boyfriend category.

I settle my mom in a chair and walk to where Major is quietly standing with his hands in his pockets, staring out the window.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” he says, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me close. “They took your friends to the trauma center. A building on base collapsed, and I know this place is packed, but they’ll be seen much faster here than if we had tried the civilian hospitals.”

I rest my head against his chest. “Thank you for thinking of that. Are they saying anything about the earthquake?”

He reaches up to rub the back of his neck. “Yes, it was a six point five—lots of damage, buildings down, and they’ve already reported ten casualties.”

“Oh my God,” I say, covering my heart with my hand.

“What about your house? Is there someone you can call to check on your house?”

“No, I don’t socialize with my neighbors. My housekeeper is the only other person with a key.”

“Well call her, make sure she’s okay, and have her go check for you.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Why?”

“Let’s just make sure your friends are all right. I’ll worry about my house later.”

He kisses me on the top of my head.

“We should sit with my mom. She’s right over there.”

“You go ahead. Take care of her. I’ll just stay here.”

I step out of his grasp and look into his eyes.

“You okay?”

“Yes, I just don’t care for hospitals.”

I chew on my lip and try to read what’s going on behind those big blue eyes, but he’s too good. I’ve got nothing. I stand up on my toes and softly kiss his lips before going to sit with my mom.

She’s been watching us, and she’s watching me approach now.

“He’s a good catch. Don’t throw that one back, Vie.”

“Well, I haven’t exactly caught him yet, we’ve only been out twice, and I did just meet him yesterday, Mom.” Whatever was bothering her seems to have disappeared as quickly as it came. She’s back to her pushy, sassy self.

She flicks her hand away dismissively. “I fell in love with your daddy the moment I saw him at a movie theatre. I was on a date—a really crappy date. I looked over and saw your daddy paying for popcorn, and my heart skipped a beat. It actually skipped a beat.

He was the most handsome man I’d ever set eyes on. He sensed me looking at him and turned to look at me. What I saw in his eyes was so captivating, I just walked away from my date.”

“What? You never told me that story. You just ditched your date for Dad?”

“Yep, never said a word. It was like he cast a spell on me and reeled me right in with a magic fishing line.”

“What did you say to him?”

“I said hey, and he said hey, and he handed me a box of popcorn, took my hand, and led me into the theatre.”

“Just hey? That’s it, and you guys were on a date?”

“Yep, he never let go of my hand during the movie, he drove me home and kissed me goodnight, and the rest is history.”

“Wow, why didn’t you ever tell me that story before?”

“Because I know that kind of love doesn’t happen very often, and I didn’t want you to expect it to happen that way.”

“You should have. I probably would have avoided a lot of shitty relationships if I thought it was supposed to be so easy and romantic.”

“I’m sorry, honey.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad you told me now.” I look over at Major. He hasn’t moved a muscle.

“So, what do you think? Is he a keeper?” she asks.

“Maybe. He seems to have some issues, but he’s kind and caring and smart—”

“And good in bed,” she says with a wink.

“Yeah, definitely good in bed.”

“That’s really important, you know,” she says with a stern look.

I laugh, “Yeah, Mom. So you’ve always told me.”

I slide my hand over hers on the shared arm of the uncomfortable metal waiting room chair and look at Major. It wasn’t love at first sight with him. Hardly. More like supreme irritation at first crash, but he’s grown on me a lot. There is something about him that I can’t quite put my finger on though. Something just below the surface like a warning bell or caution tape that says Do not enter or Proceed at your own risk.

“Mom?”

“Yes, Violet?”

“What happened in the other earthquake?”

I can feel her stiffen next to me, and she slides her hand out from under mine.

“I never told you, but when your father and I first met, I got pregnant right away. We were careless, and he didn’t think he could get anyone pregnant. Anyway, I was about two months along when I figured it out. I told him, and he was over the moon. He already had a ring and he was going to ask me to marry him, so the pregnancy just sealed the deal. And then we had an earthquake. I was carrying laundry downstairs when it hit, and I fell.”

She takes a deep breath in and blows it out.

“Oh, Mom, I’m so sorry.” I reach for her hand again, and she turns to me, her eyes brimming with tears.

“It’s all right. it was a long time ago. I haven’t thought about it in years, but tonight just brought back some old feelings. We went on to have you and your brother. We were blessed in so many ways, and I had a lot of wonderful years with him. I can’t complain.”

I hug her tight. It’s strange to realize that my parents had secrets. Taye and I thought we knew everything about our parents. Mom untangles herself from my arms after our brief embrace and stands up. “I’m going to the restroom. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.”

The television in the waiting room is showing coverage of the damage in the city and surrounding areas. Thirteen deaths so far and hundreds injured. This is awful.

“Garcia took Kimber back to see a doctor. Her baby is fine,” Major says from behind my chair, startling me.

“Oh, good. I’m glad he insisted on having her seen.”

Especially after hearing my mom’s story just now.

“Your mother looked upset. Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she had a bad experience with an earthquake in the past. She’s all right though. Have a seat,” I say, patting the chair next to me.

“No, that’s okay. I’ll stand.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why won’t you sit? You’ve been running around for a couple of hours helping everyone. You should rest.”

“I don’t like hospitals,” he says, pushing his hands deeper into his pockets.

“Nobody likes hospitals, Major. Sit,” I say again.

“No,” he says, avoiding my eyes.

“Is it because of the germs?”

This captures his attention. “What do you mean by that?”

“It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? I mean, do you dislike hospitals because of the germs?”

“Nobody likes germs, Violet,” he says, throwing my logic back in my face.

I roll my eyes and sigh.

“Let’s go out and sit in my car then. You need to rest,” I say.

He extends his hand to me just as Garcia, Kimber, and my mother return to the waiting room.

“Oh, Kimber, I’m so glad everything’s okay,” I say, hugging her.

“And thank you for insisting she be seen, Garcia.”

“Has anyone heard anything about Mattie or Belle? Oh my gosh, has anyone called their parents? I didn’t even think to do that.”

“The hospital called Mattie’s mom and dad, but they don’t have Belle’s information,” Garcia says.

“I’ll call her mother,” I say, taking my phone from my purse. “It’s dead, damn it.”

“We can charge it in your car,” Major says.

“Oh, good idea. Are you guys staying?” I ask Garcia and Kimber.

“We sort of have to. You’re our ride,” Kimber says.

“Oh yeah, well we could try to run you back to the hotel, Kimber but I don’t know what kind of traffic we’re going to run into or what condition the hotel is in.”

“You can just bring her to my house. It’s close and I already called. There’s no damage,” Garcia says.

I tip my chin down and lift my brows. “Impressive, Garcia. You’re quite the gentleman, aren’t you?”

“Always.”

“Is that okay with you, Kimber?” I ask.

“Yeah, sure. Will you let me know what’s going on at the hotel though? If I hear something first, I’ll call you too.”

“Of course. Mom, are you staying here?”

“Yes, I can’t leave Mattie. You go ahead. I’ll be fine here until you get back.”

I kiss my mom on the cheek and we head outside to the parking garage. Major’s SUV is still parked in front of the ER entrance. He suggests we take his car since it’s bigger. All four of us pile in, and he points at a phone charger. Thankfully, we have the same phone.

I plug it in and wait for it to charge enough to make a call and dial Belle’s mother, Marjorie. She’s hysterical, and rightly so. She got a ride back to the hotel from the restaurant, thinking that Belle and Mattie would have gone back there when she couldn’t find them. But the hotel had sustained serious damage, and nobody there had seen Belle. I gave her directions and reminded her that it’s a Naval hospital on base and she needs to have identification to get in. I hope she was paying attention, but I doubt it. I could hardly understand her between sobs and cellphone interference.

The damage to the roads is random. Some are fine, others are complete rubble. We make it to Garcia’s house, and just as he said, there is no visible damage. We let them out and promise to keep them updated on Mattie and Belle. I watch them until they’re inside his cozy bungalow. I like the way they look together.

“Do you mind if we check on my house before we go back since we’re so close?”

“Of course not. Let me text Mom and let her know we made it to Garcia’s.”

We drive in silence after I send Mom a text . Halfway to his house, he slides his hand over my bare leg and squeezes it. It feels like he’s nervous, maybe worried about the condition of his house?

When we turn off the main road onto his street, it’s pitch black dark. The main road has a few traffic lights still working, but the residential streets and houses are all dark.

He drives slowly with his bright lights on, counting each driveway as it comes into view until he reaches eleven. He turns into his drive, and his grip on my thigh relaxes. It looks fine as far as we can tell with our limited field of vision.

“Do you mind if we go in?”

“No, I figured we would.”

He opens the garage door, and it lifts automatically, so the house must still have power. When he pulls inside, everything still looks okay. A few things have shifted out of place and fallen onto the ground, but there’s no structural damage. Major takes a few minutes to replace the wayward rakes and shovels before going inside.

Inside appears to be in order as well. There isn’t really anything that could have fallen, no knickknacks on shelves or crooked pictures. He straightens a vase in the foyer that looked perfectly fine to me before deeming the house satisfactory overall.

On the way back to the hospital, he fidgets in his seat and adjusts his seatbelt several times.

“You okay?”

“Yes.”

“You seem a little nervous.”

“I’m not nervous,” he says, but he sounds offended.

He’s quiet for a couple of miles. I keep looking at him out of the corner of my eye, checking on him. He is so nervous. I don’t care what he says. His mouth his body language speak volumes.

We turn into the hospital parking garage, and he shuts off the engine.

“I think you and your mother should come and stay with me. The hotel isn’t habitable. I had it checked out, and it’s not safe. We can go by and see if they’re able to get any of your things, but it’s been closed for business until further notice.”

I turn in my seat and pull my knee up so I can look directly at him.

“How did you find all of that out? And when?”

“I texted a friend of mine who works in security at your hotel.”

“I don’t think you really want us staying with you.” I have to say it. He’s obviously been stewing about this since we left his house. I’m no psychiatrist, but I’ve pretty much diagnosed Major with OCD.

“I just extended you an invitation, didn’t I?”

“Yes, after miles of adjusting your seatbelt and trying to get comfortable in your own car. Major, it’s okay. We can find another hotel. Actually, I’m sure the wedding’s going to be postponed, if not because of the earthquake, then Mattie’s and Belle’s condition. We’ll probably go home tomorrow.”

“Violet, I want you and your mother to stay with me. I have no reservations about it. You may be going home tomorrow or the next day, but you’ll need somewhere to stay until then, and it only makes sense that you both stay with me.”

For the first time since I met him, I can read emotion on his face. His blank, flat affectation is gone and tension is vibrating in his eyes. He is being very stubborn about this, however, so I accept his invitation.

“Okay, if my mom will come, I will too, but I’m pretty sure we will be going home tomorrow.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”