She's Got a Way (17 page)

“Luke, no offense, but we don't do a lot of plumbing at Briarwood.”

He pushed out of his chair. “All right. Let me see how you did.”

He walked into the bathroom, where the other three girls leaned against the new stalls. They looked tired and hot and sticky, but also triumphant. Good.

He looked at the piping they'd run, checked the connections, tapped on a few things for effect, then nodded.

“Looks good. All right. You guys stand here. I'll go turn it on.”

Eve scooted out the door. “Oh, hell, no.”

“What's the matter, Eve? Don't trust your own handiwork?”

“I trust my own handiwork just fine. It's
other
people's handiwork I'm not so crazy about.”

“Well, you all worked together on this one.” Luke shrugged. “So I say you all stand right there outside that shower stall and see what happens when I turn on the water this time.”

Eve rolled her eyes, but she headed back into the bathroom to wait with the others. Luke walked around to the back of the building and turned on the valve, bracing himself for the sound of sputtering water, but the only sound that greeted him was silence.

He smiled. They'd actually done it.

“Nothing's happening.” Waverly's voice was nervous through the window.

“That's good,” he answered. “Try the handles now.”

He heard shuffling, then metal on metal as one of the girls turned on the faucet. Then there was a satisfying splash as the shower started.

“Oh, my God! It worked!” Eve shouted.

Madison and Waverly squealed, but then Luke heard Sam's voice. “Um, problem.”

“What?” the other girls said in unison.

“It's cold.”

Luke smiled as the girls realized that they had indeed plumbed a shower, but not one with actual hot water.

“Luke?” Madison emerged from the building, hands on her hips. “Did you just design us a cold shower?”

“Nope.” He smiled, and he knew they were going to want to kill him. “Today was shower-building 101. Tomorrow, we add heat.”

“Are. You.
Kidding?
” Sam's eyes looked like they were about to spin out of her head. “There's no
heat
?”

“Well, let me ask you this—did it occur to any of
you
that you had no heat source?”

Waverly scrunched her eyebrows together. “What do you mean?”

“Water doesn't heat itself, girls. Look.” He waved at the faucets. “You want hot water, you need to have a way to make it hot. Tomorrow, we install a water heater.”

Sam flopped on the grass, her arm slung over her eyes. “I don't care. I hate plumbing. I hate this place. I hate water. And I definitely hate—you.”

Luke laughed. “Good. We're right on schedule.”

*   *   *

A little while later, Gabi looked out the huge windows of the dining hall to see the girls trooping down to the water, Luke in tow. All except Sam were in their bathing suits. Apparently the heat had gotten to them enough that they finally didn't care just how frigid the lake water was.

She wiped her hands on a dish towel, dinner prep finally finished. Two hours ago, Luke had pointed to the menu on the huge fridge, then pointed to the ingredients. “Let me know if you need help,” he'd said.

Not a chance,
she'd thought.
No way am I going to admit that I don't have a clue what to do with six chicken breasts, six potatoes, and a bunch of salad ingredients sitting in the fridge.

But she'd figured it out. The chicken was in the oven, a green salad was in the refrigerator, and she'd even made brownies. From a boxed mix, but still. Who said she had no domestic skills?

She headed out the screen door and down to the shore, smiling as she saw Madison, Waverly, and Eve dare each other to jump off the dock. Sam watched from the sand as they held hands and counted to three five times before one of them—Gabi couldn't tell who—finally dragged the other two into the water. When they bobbed to the surface, letting out the requisite squeals, Sam shook her head.

“Idiots,” Sam muttered as Gabi sat down beside her in the sand.

“You don't want to join them?”

“Do I
ever
want to join them?”

Gabi sighed. “Not by choice, no. But it's really hot. You don't want to cool off?”

“Ha.” Sam sent a glare at Luke, who was fiddling with something over by the equipment shed. “If I want to cool off, I'll just go use our brand-new shower. It's very—refreshing.”

He smiled tolerantly. “Cold shower's better than no shower, right?”

“Cold shower?” Gabi was confused. “Why do we have a
cold
shower?”

“Girls forgot a heat source.”

“Girls didn't
know
about heat sources,” Sam shot back.

He shrugged. “They do now.”

Sam growled, which made Gabi laugh.

“It's not funny, Gabi.”

“I know. I'm sorry. I'm not laughing about the situation. Laughing about you growling at Luke.”

“Well, then you would have been in hysterics if you'd heard me earlier. I might have taught him some new curse words.”

Gabi felt her mouth go tight. “I don't think that's exactly the goal here, Sam.”

“Yeah, well, a hot shower was the goal here, and we didn't get that, either.” Sam tossed a pebble toward the end of her toe, missing widely.

“Hey, Sam! You coming in this time?” Madison beckoned from the water.

“Nah, I'm good.”

“Oh, come on, Sam.” Waverly popped up beside Madison. “You never swim.”

“You're not afraid of the water, are you?” Madison tipped her head, and Gabi was struck by how clearly she resembled the meanest of the mean girls in the movie they'd watched in the dorm last month.

Sam drew her knees up to her chest. “Not afraid. Just don't feel like swimming.”

“But you
never
feel like swimming.” Waverly smiled like a Cheshire cat, and an alarm pinged in Gabi's gut. “Come on, Sam. Just come in with us.”

“No.” Sam shook her head. “Go find a turtle to torment or something. Leave me be.”

Madison took three steps toward shore, like a piranha going in for the kill. “Oh, Sam. I really think you need to come swim with us.”

One second later, Gabi jumped in surprise as she saw Eve streak around behind Sam. Then, in an obviously rehearsed motion, Madison and Waverly sprinted out of the water, grabbing Sam's legs just as Eve slid her hands under Sam's armpits and lifted her out of the sand.

Sam screeched like Gabi'd never heard before, and her arms and legs flailed in the air as the girls carried her down the dock.

“Going swimming with the fishes, Sammy!” Madison sang. “You've avoided it long enough.”

“Stop. It. Right. Now!” Sam squawked, and the sound got Gabi's alarms clanging at full volume. “Put me down!”

“Girls!” Gabi yelled. Sam didn't look pissed. She looked terrified. “Girls! Put her down!”

But either they didn't hear her, or they ignored her, because five seconds later, with a mighty heave, they tossed her off the end of the dock. There was an enormous splash, and the girls ran back up the dock toward shore, laughing wildly.

Gabi jumped up, scanning the water. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Luke moving quickly down the lawn toward her. Time seemed to freeze as she watched the spot where Sam had landed, and she silently willed her to stop joking around and come back up.

But ten seconds later, her annoyance turned to terror as the surface of the water stayed unbroken.

Sam was down there … and she
wasn't
coming back up.

 

Chapter 16

Gabi sprinted to the water's edge, flinging herself in a shallow dive just as Luke ran for the dock. She covered the distance to where the girls had tossed Sam in a matter of seconds, but it felt like minutes as she cut through the frigid water.

When she got to the end of the dock, she paused to tread water and get her bearings, then dove under. The water was as clear as glass, but hellishly deep, and her hand went to her throat when she saw Sam's blond hair ten feet down, farther away than she thought the girls had flung her. The girl's arms were flailing, and as Gabi headed toward her, she could see Luke circling around to come up behind her.

As soon as she got close enough to touch Sam, she reached out to pull on her arm, lungs burning. But with surprising strength, Sam streaked both arms toward Gabi and grabbed her neck, holding on so tightly that Gabi panicked. Oh, holy hell! Sam was pulling her downward, and Gabi didn't have the strength to kick them both to the surface.

She tried to lift Sam's arms from around her neck, but couldn't get them loose, and Gabi felt chills rush to her head as her own arms seemed to lose power. Oh, God. Where was Luke? Sam was going to drown them both!

An eternity later, she felt his body close around hers from behind, then felt a painful tug on her hair as he pried Sam's hands loose. He gave Sam a push backward, then sent Gabi toward the surface with a mighty heave. As she floated upward, she watched as if behind a kaleidoscope lens as Luke circled around behind Sam, clamped his arm around her middle, and shot toward the surface with the girl, who'd gone suddenly, frighteningly limp.

Gabi broke through the surface of the water and gulped air, flailing as she tried to convince strength to return to her limbs. One second later, Luke's head broke through, then Sam's.

“You okay?” he huffed. She nodded, not trusting her voice. “Can you make it up onto the dock?”

“Yes.” She had no idea where the strength came from, but she grabbed hold of the dock pilings and hauled herself up to the planks, then reached down to help Luke lift Sam up. Madison, Waverly, and Eve stood on the dock, stock-still, their eyes wide with fear.

“Go call nine-one-one! Now!” Gabi yelled, and after a momentary freeze, the three of them sprinted back up the dock toward the admin cottage.

As soon as they had Sam on the dock, Luke pulled himself out of the water and kneeled next to her, tipping her on her side and clapping her back as Oliver jumped onto the dock from shore.

“C'mon, Sam. Spit it out. The fish need the water, not you.”

No response.

“Sam, honey.” Gabi leaned close to her ear. “Come on. You're gonna be okay. Everything's okay now. Come on. Everything's going to be okay.”

She heard the babble-panic in her own voice, and she knew Oliver and Luke heard it, too.
Dammit.
How had she never known Sam couldn't swim?

Luke continued to thump Sam's back while Oliver held the phone to his ear, but she still wasn't responding.

“She wasn't down for that long.” Gabi looked at Luke. “How could she—”

“Probably panicked and inhaled when she hit the water. Got a lungful of lake.” His voice was calm, but he looked at his watch, then at the parking lot, then back at Sam's face. The alarms went to full-on panic in her stomach as she realized he might be timing Sam's chances here.

She leaned closer to her ear. “Listen, Alexandra Marie. If you don't spit out that water—”

Just then Sam's entire body heaved, and she spit out an absolute gush of water. Then she coughed and gagged and emptied the rest of her stomach over the side of the dock.

“Oh, my God. Oh, my God.” Gabi pulled Sam's head onto her lap. “It's okay. You're okay.” She stroked the girl's hair as Sam took some sobbing, hitched breaths. “You're all right now. It's okay, Sam.”

“Ambulance is coming.” Oliver nodded toward the woods, and Gabi could hear a siren, but it sounded a long way off still.

Luke took Sam's feet and rubbed them hard, probably doing some sort of emergency treatment Gabi had no knowledge of.

“You still have all your toes. Phew.” He leaned over so he could see her face. “Camp legend has it that if you go below the ten-foot mark, the lake monster eats your toes.”

No response from Sam as she lay there, which was far more worrisome to Gabi than if she'd hauled off and sworn at Luke for treating her like a five-year-old. Even
more
worrisome than that was the fact that she
was
lying still, allowing herself to be comforted. The Sam she knew
never
let anybody touch her.

Gabi looked at Luke, who took Sam's wrist and checked her pulse as his eyes traded silent messages with Oliver's. “Let's get a heat blanket on her, just in case.”

Oliver turned and quick-stepped toward the office while Luke wrapped his hands around Sam's feet. Gabi swallowed hard as she watched him.

“Is she hypothermic?”

He shook his head. “Shouldn't be. She wasn't in there long enough. But she's shivering like crazy. Probably a combination of cold and adrenaline dump, but better to be safe than sorry.”

Gabi stroked Sam's spiky blond hair back from her forehead, trying to corral her own adrenaline. What would she have done if Luke hadn't been there? Would she have had the strength to pull Sam out of the water? Would she have even gotten to her in time? Would she have even known the signs of early hypothermia so she could have helped treat it before the ambulance arrived?

She hated that the answer might have been no—to all of those questions.

And as she watched Luke calmly take over, tucking the blanket around Sam, then gently wiping her face with the towel Oliver brought, Gabi was struck by an overwhelming urge to—to what? Hug him in abject relief? She didn't even know. What she
did
know was that the irritated, standoffish man she'd met when she'd gotten out of the van a week ago didn't seem to be anything like the one she was looking at right now.

Luke leaned over Sam again. “Hey, Snarkasaurus—is it true your real name's Alexandra?”