He either missed or ignored her joke. “Exactly! And I allowed myself to forget that. There was bad weather and a sharp turn and I didn’t think one bit about your safety, which I should have, because you don’t have the experience to recognize the danger!”
What is driving this self-reproach? “Accidents happen. This one worked out with no harm, so there’s no reason to get upset, OK?”
“No, not OK! If I give a monkey a gun and it shoots someone, it’s my fault, not the monkey’s!”
Katie reached out from under the blanket – damn, the room air was cold! – to grab Carson’s hand in hers. “As much as I don’t appreciate being the monkey in your example, please let it go. Everyone is fine. The worst thing that happened is that my cell phone is probably dead. And, in case you managed to forget a large part of the day’s events, you more than made up for any errors – real or perceived – by being Johnny-on-the-Spot. It took real guts to jump into the water after someone.”
Carson looked down and shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. I trained to do that in the service and it was just a natural reaction,” he said, his nose twitching a few times. He did not, however, let go of her hand.
“Natural reaction or not, if I’d have been on out there alone, or with anyone else, I probably would have drowned. So thank you – I’m very grateful you were there.”
Carson unclenched his jaw and the color flowed back into his lips. “When you fell in the water, I waited to see where you would come up, and when a few seconds passed and I didn’t see you I really thought you weren’t going to come up at all, and” – he failed to suppress a catch in his throat – “it scared me right down to my bones.”
“Well, for a second I didn’t think I would come back up either. That’s where the ‘thank you’ part comes from. Do you feel better now?” she asked, wiggling his fingers playfully.
“Yes,” he said, a tiny and embarrassed grin peeking through his somber expression.
“Good,” she said, pulling her hand away. “There is something I do have an issue with, though,” she told him, making her face match the stern tone of her voice.
“What’s that?”
“Well, I was a little out of it when I was on the boat, but I remember the EMTs coming into the cabin, the ride to the hospital, and being in the emergency room. What I don’t remember is the EMTs or the ER staff removing my clothes, yet I’m lying under this blanket stark naked. Maybe you could fill me in?”
“I took them off on the boat,” Carson said, as if it were obvious. “The first thing you do with a hypothermia victim is to get them out of any wet clothes. Water steals heat faster than air.”
“So you removed the clothes of a barely-conscious woman in front of the passengers and crew of the boat?”
Carson opened his mouth once or twice. “Well, I – yeah, of course, but it was because it was a medical emergency! I mean, I did it in the wheelhouse, so it was only the captain, and he was too busy bringing the boat in. I didn’t know how bad off you were, so I just did it.”
Katie exerted significant effort to maintain her severe look and tone. “You thought I might die, and you wanted to make sure everyone remembered me with no clothes on?”
“What? No! It’s the proper procedure! You can look it up in any first aid book!”
Katie couldn’t torture him any longer, even though she was enjoying herself. She flared her nostrils and pushed her lips together in a slight pout, knowing most men found the look irresistible. “I usually wait until at least the third date before getting naked in front of a man, but, since we’re clearly past that, did you at least like what you saw?”
Carson got the joke then, and his shoulders fell in relief. “I was a perfect gentleman and didn’t peek at all.”
“You got all my clothes off without looking once? Not even to make sure you didn’t grab something you shouldn’t?”
“Uh, well…. I might have looked a little.” Then he laughed and shook his head. He appeared amused and exasperated all at the same time.
“I’ll let you off the hook – this time. But do you think you could hand me the hospital gown hanging on the door?”
Carson complied, putting it on the bed and dutifully turning around while Katie pulled it on, ensuring the perpetually-embarrassing opening in these types of garments was in the back, before sliding the sock-slippers on her feet. “OK, done.” She sat back on the bed and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders.
“Let’s get out of here,” Carson said.
“Like this?” she said, gesturing to her limited clothing. “Plus, the doctor hasn’t released me. Has he released you?”
“No, I was never really admitted. And why do you care if he releases you?”
“Because I’d like to get a clean bill of health.”
Carson scoffed. “I think you’re fine. Let’s go.”
“Two minutes ago you were worried I was headed for the morgue! Now you want to throw me over your shoulder and carry me out of here!” Just then the doctor walked in, his nose buried in a clipboard.
“Miss Barrie, how do you feel?”
“Fine, doctor. Getting warmer every second.”
“Any confusion, nausea, slurring of speech?”
Katie smiled. “Nausea, no. Confusion, normal. And I won’t slur my speech until I get home and open a bottle of wine.”
“No alcohol tonight. It actually lowers your core body temperature, and I don’t want to see you back here later. Probably unlikely,
