He handed Sierra the phone. As soon as she answered, Mariana let out a scramble of words in Portuguese that were so loud Sierra held the phone away from her ear.
“Mariana, where are you?”
“I’m at the apartment where Tianna is staying. Do you remember her?”
Sierra wasn’t sure if she remembered Tianna. At the moment, it didn’t matter.
“I left you a note, Sierra. You were supposed to come over here. Didn’t you see my note? It was on the door. I taped it to the door.”
“The wind must have blown it off, Mariana. I didn’t see any note when I arrived this afternoon.”
“Well, then where are you? Were you able to get inside the house?”
“No. Well, sort of. I’m upstairs.”
“But we didn’t rent the upstairs. We only rented the downstairs.”
“I know. But I’m here, and it’s fine, and I’ll explain everything later. Are you coming back to the house now?”
“I don’t know. This storm has been so bad. I was thinking of staying here. I don’t like to drive in bad weather. Did your electricity go out?”
“Yes. Did yours?”
“Yes. Spooky, isn’t it?”
Sierra looked at the flickering candles on the coffee table and the way they gave the room a romantic, cozy glow. She didn’t think the power outage was spooky at all. But she couldn’t confess that to Mariana.
“Are you safe where you are?” Sierra asked.
“Yes, of course. What about you? It’s boring being in that house by yourself, isn’t it?”
Sierra wanted to say that she wouldn’t know about that, but again she didn’t want Mariana to catch a hint of Jordan being there with her. She glanced over at him and then looked back at the candle. “I’m doing fine.”
“Then we should both stay where we are and see each other in the morning.”
“Yes, let’s do that,” Sierra agreed.
“Be safe.”
“You too.”
Sierra hung up the phone and handed it back to Jordan. It struck her as ironic that now he was the one listening in on her phone conversation after she had picked up all kinds of details from the call he had just finished with his friend.
“Is everything okay with your friend?”
“Yes.”
“I noticed you didn’t tell her about the collapsed stairway.”
“I had a feeling if I did she would try to drive over here tonight. It seemed better to wait and fill her in on the details in the morning.”
“I take it you and Mariana are pretty good friends.”
Sierra gave Jordan a summary of how her friendship with Mariana had grown over the years and how Mariana had been the initiator of this vacation since her father worked for an airline and got a good deal for them.
“My friends’ wife has a connection like that through her mom. She’s the one who booked this place for us.”
Jordan rested his bare foot on the coffee table. “I sure hope Derek can make it over here, but the possibility is slim. If he can’t catch a flight in the morning, I’m thinking he won’t make the lineup for the rest of the week. I don’t know all the qualifying details; Derek does. I just know that it isn’t looking good.”
Sierra had picked up a few details about Derek and his wife from catching bits of Jordan’s conversations. She wasn’t sure how much she was supposed to know so she asked a broad question. “How is his wife doing?”
Jordan explained about the bike accident, the tests at the hospital, and the surprise discovery of the pregnancy.
“I’ll be praying for them,” Sierra said.
The expression on Jordan’s face softened in the candlelight. “Would you? That’s awesome, Sierra. I really appreciate that. It seems like that’s about all we can do now. It’s down to the wire.”
They talked for another hour about friends and college days and how much things had changed for both of them over the years since they had left college. To her surprise, Sierra opened up to Jordan more than she planned to. She even confided in him how difficult it had been living in an apartment with a married couple and never having her own space since her bed was the sofa.
“That settles one decision for tonight,” Jordan said. “Whenever you’re ready to go to bed, you get the bedroom.”
“I wasn’t telling you about my previous living setup so that I could call dibs on the bed.”
“I know.”
“I’m quite at home on the couch.”
“I know.”
“You’re not going to argue with me, are you?” Sierra asked.
“Not yet.” Jordan smiled. “I’ll wait until something comes up that’s really worth arguing about.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
“Okay. So we’re agreed. When you’re tired, you take the bed; I’ll take the couch.”
Sierra agreed, but she didn’t move. She was enjoying being with Jordan too much to be the one to close out the night.
“You know,” Jordan said, “even though the lights went out, we could still watch a movie on my laptop. I have extra batteries for it.”
“Sure, that sounds good.”
Jordan went to his camera bag from which he pulled out an extra battery. “I don’t know what you would be interested in watching. I don’t have a lot on here. There is one surf movie that you might want to watch. I don’t know. I loaded it because I was going to study how the waves come in at Sunset Beach and see how the lighting is.”
“Sure, we could watch that.”
“You wouldn’t mind?”
“No. I think it would be interesting.”
Jordan seemed to like her comment as he set up everything. He positioned the laptop on the coffee table and clicked through to start the film. At first they were both sitting at opposite ends of the couch. Jordan made the first adjustment and slid toward the sofa’s center, turning the laptop more toward Sierra. “There, can you see it better now?”
Sierra did something that was daring for her. She moved over just a little so that she felt she was close enough to Jordan to appear friendly but far enough away to show that if anything was going to happen between the two of them, it would be through a series of baby steps.
The pillow from the end of the sofa somehow ended up making the move with her, and she held it over her stomach. Slouching down, Sierra rested her head against the back of the sofa. For an old couch with a big bird of paradise print on the cushions, it was pretty comfortable.
“Are you doing okay?” Jordan asked.
Sierra glanced at him in the glow of the candlelight mixed with the blue haze of the computer screen. In a low, contented voice, she answered. “Yes, I’m okay. How about you? Is this comfortable for you?”
He seemed to interpret her signal as an indication that an invisible line needed to be drawn between them tonight. He leaned back. “Yes, this is good.”
Sierra agreed. This was good. Part of her wanted him to reach for her hand or lean closer so that their shoulders touched. But he stayed right where he was, close but not touching. This was just right.
The movie rolled, and they watched by candlelight. If Sierra had been asked to come up with a scenario for a dreamy first date, this would have been it. Tropical storm, collapsed staircase, and all.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jordan heard what sounded like a heckling chuckle.
He opened his eyes and tried to focus in the dim light of the new day. On the edge of the coffee table perched a small, pale green gecko—the source of the noise. The lizard-like creature ran off as soon as Jordan sat up and looked around. Two small candles had burned down to their bases. His laptop was closed. And he was alone on the couch.
Sierra.
Jordan stood and stretched his stiff shoulders. He tried to focus on the clock on the microwave in the kitchen, but it was flashing all eights. Or maybe it was threes. It was too dark to know for sure. The bedroom door was closed, and he hoped his footsteps wouldn’t wake his guest. Rea
ching for his cell phone, he saw that the time was 4:37.
Too early.
He plugged in his phone. Apparently the electricity had been restored during the night because it showed that the battery was charging. That’s when he noticed the quiet. The wind had changed. The storm had subdued. He opened one of the slatted windows on the side of the house, and as he cranked the lever, he felt a rush of cool air enter between the levers. The air was fragrant and refreshing so he went to the other side of the upstairs apartment and cranked those slatted windows open as well. A beautiful cross wind blew through the rooms, and with it came the crashing roar of the waves.
As Jordan stood by the window straining to see the size of the swell in the darkness, he tried to remember when Sierra had gone to bed last night. He recalled telling her that he was falling asleep somewhere during the middle of the lull-inducing surf movie. Sierra had replied that she was falling asleep too. He was pretty sure that’s when she shuffled wearily into the bedroom.
In the early morning light, Jordan returned to the sofa and plugged in his laptop. It made all the usual start-up sounds before he turned down the volume and quietly went to work, editing and organizing the wedding photos since there wasn’t much else he could do until the Island Fix It Man showed up.
Fifteen minutes into his work session the bedroom door creaked open. Jordan turned and saw Sierra padding toward him, wrapped in the thin yellow blanket that had been folded up at the end of the bed.
“Morning. Did I wake you?”
With a sleepy gaze she said, “No, the birds did.”
Jordan listened and heard a distant chittering of tropical birds. “Did you notice that the storm has passed? And we have electricity.”
Sierra flipped a switch, and the kitchen light brightened the whole room. She let out a groggy moan. “How about if I make us some coffee?”
“Sounds great.”
Jordan watched as Sierra shuffled into the kitchen with the end of the blanket trailing behind her. She used one hand to keep her cocoon in place and the other hand to pull a bag of Kona coffee from the cupboard.
“Are you cold? I could close the windows.”
“No, the fresh air is nice. I can put my sweatshirt back on. How do you like your eggs?”
Jordan smiled. “Breakfast too?”
“Why not?” Sierra yawned and reached for her sweatshirt that she had left on the counter. She pulled it over her head and yawned again.
“Are you awake yet?”
“Not quite.”
“You would think the time difference would be working in your favor so you wouldn’t be so jet-lagged.”
“It’s not the jet lag. I’m just not much of a morning person. If given the choice, I’d sleep in till noon every day.”
“Is that what your schedule is like in Brazil?”
“No. Rarely. I’m usually up by seven.”
“I have you beat,” Jordan said. “I stock shelves at a grocery store. Most days I have to be there at four.”
“Four o’clock in the morning?”
Jordan nodded. “It’s not so bad. I have more time in the afternoon for the group of young boys I mentor.”
Sierra tilted her head. “You work with kids too?”
“Yup. Boys who don’t have dads. They’re a great bunch. A little attention goes a long way with them.”
“I know what you mean.” Sierra pulled breakfast fixings from the refrigerator. “I loved working with the girls at the school. That was the program I told you about that was cancelled. I wish I could keep working with them or even start a new program at another school.”
“Why can’t you?”
Sierra hesitated. “I guess the best way to say it is that I’ve been offered a different position. A new ministry. I need to decide if I’m going to take it before I return to Rio.”
Jordan noticed how she had turned her face away from him as she revealed this information and how her shoulders had dropped. He walked into the kitchen and poured milk in a mug while waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. What he really wanted to do was get a better view of Sierra’s face to figure out why she seemed to have taken such a dip. He leaned against the counter as she cracked eggs into a bowl. “I have the feeling you’re not real excited about the new position.”
“It’s a big change.” She didn’t look at him. With small movements she scrambled the eggs with a fork.
“What can I do to help?” Jordan asked.
“Nothing. I need to think and pray this through myself.”
“I meant how can I help with breakfast.”
“Oh. I thought you meant… You could start the toast?”
In an attempt to be clever, Jordan lifted his coffee mug and in a grandiose voice said, “I’d like to make a toast to our morning chef.”
It took Sierra a moment to get his joke, but when she did, a sunshine sort of smile lit up her face. She lifted an empty mug from the counter and clinked it with his.
The drip coffeemaker stopped dripping right then so Jordan filled his mug half full with the fragrant brew and looked toward the window. Daylight was lifting the dark veil of night. An idea came to Jordan. He put down his mug, went to the other side of the room, and turned the sofa toward the front window.
“Front row seats,” he announced. “And this morning our feature film is The Dawn.”
“Nice.” Sierra finished up their food and joined him on the tropical print sofa where they sat comfortably close, watching the morning come slowly. The light came in long stretches across the sand and the water, illuminating the horizon. On each thunderous wave a cap of crystallized white foam appeared and a feather of silver spray curled off the top like a rooster’s tail.
“Two days ago at this time we were floating and swimming in calm waters, watching the whales,” Jordan said. “What a change a couple of days have made.”
“Hard to believe, isn’t it?” Sierra said. “You know, this upstairs location gives you an ideal view of the waves. Too bad you can’t get up on the roof to take pictures right now.”
Jordan went for his camera. Even though the window was dirty after the storm, he wanted to see what he could line up. He clicked a couple of shots and checked them.
“It’s no good. I need to be outside. The glass in this window is distorted.” He turned to Sierra and was struck by her clear expression and the way the light was hitting her. “Do you mind if I take your picture?”
“Now?”
“Yes. You look great there in the filtered light. The crazy colors in that sofa make the perfect contrast.”
She looked at him with a skeptical gaze but tilted her head in a way that he had learned was a universal “yes” and an invitation to capture the shot. He liked that she didn’t put up her hand or turn away. Her relaxed posture in front of the camera was an indication to him that she had a solid self-image. It would say a lot about her if she protested too much or insisted on fixing her hair or posing in what she would consider a more flattering way. Her natural posture and sleepy morning expression were perfect in his eyes.
He clicked four or five more shots and put down the camera.
“So, are you going to send Derek the photos?”
Her question surprised him. Jordan had to admit that the idea had crossed his mind. It would be great fun to show Derek the gorgeous woman with whom he was apartment marooned. “Why do you ask?”
“I have four brothers, remember? I know how these things work for you guys. Plus, I admit I picked up on what you were saying to Derek on the phone last night.”
Jordan gave Sierra a half grin. “It sounds like both of us could give our friends something interesting to speculate about.”
“Are you saying that your social life is about as active as mine and that’s why our friends would be shocked to know we were hanging out together?”
“Pretty much.” Jordan joined her on the couch. “Is that what we’re doing? Hanging out together? I thought we were starting Day Two of our apartment captivit
y.”
Sierra laughed. “True, we have been house-wrecked, as opposed to shipwrecked.”
“That’s a good one. House-wrecked. Even if we weren’t marooned here, my answer is yes. We are hanging out together, and I’d like it if we could keep hanging out together for the rest of our time here.”
“So would I.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
They exchanged the warmest sort of smiles. Everything inside of Jordan made him want to reach over a few more inches and finger the ends of her hair.
She pointed at his camera. “May I take a picture of you? Will you show me how?”
“Sure.” Jordan gave her a mini-course in adjusting the lens and setting up the shot.
Sierra stood and held the camera steady as Jordan struck a relaxed pose. It felt odd being on this side of the viewfinder. He felt self-conscious and adjusted his position as Sierra clicked a string of eight or nine shots.
“Let’s see how they look.” Jordan held out his arm.
“Not yet. I’d like to try something, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure, go for it.” Jordan leaned back and tried to look comfortable as Sierra backed up and took a long shot of him from the backside of the couch.
She took her time and seemed to be having fun. A few minutes later she handed over the camera and asked, “So tell me how they look.”
Jordan pulled up the string of photos as Sierra leaned over the back of the couch and looked over his shoulder. She critiqued the shots before he had a chance to make any comments.
“Too much light. Hazy. Too close. Not bad. That one’s okay.”
Jordan agreed with her assessments. He clicked back to the one she called “not bad.” It was actually pretty good.
“If I give you my e-mail address, would you send me that one?” Sierra asked.
“Sure.” He turned and looked at her over his shoulder. “What are you going to do with it?”
With a flippant grin, Sierra came around to the front of the sofa and took a seat at the other end. She leaned her elbow on the back of the couch. “I thought I’d send it to my friends when you send my picture to Derek. Or, you know, I could always use it as my screen saver.”