Guarding Your Heart, page 7
Katelyn walked her out to her car, their arms around each other. “You have no idea how glad I am that you’re going to be back in Baytown, even if it’s just for a few months. And I hope this doesn’t upset you, but I know your mom is going to be thrilled.”
She laughed and said, “Oh, I sat up late last night talking to my parents, so I know how excited they are.”
Katelyn hesitated, and she watched her friend closely. “What is it, Katelyn? I get the feeling there’s something else you want to say.”
“I know you might not be ready…you might not ever be ready, but while you’re here, I hope you’ll consider coming to one of the American Legion Auxiliary meetings. I know your mom has taken great comfort in those, and all of us belong so you know lots of people.”
Expecting to feel great pain at the reminder of the loss of her brother, she instinctively put her hand to her heart, but after a few breaths, she realized that while the heartache was still there, it was not as overwhelming as it had always been. Surprised, she shook off the thought, and offering a noncommittal nod, said, “I’ll think about it. We’ll see.”
With another tight hug goodbye, Katelyn whispered, “One more thing. I also hope you’ll renew your friendship with Callan.”
This brought another twinge to her heart, and she did not reply. Kissing Katelyn’s cheek, she climbed into her car. She turned up the music, knowing she had a two-hour drive ahead of her, and the last thing she needed before her first day on the job was to spend two hours thinking about the Baytown she remembered from years ago and the boy she used to love.
9
Sitting in the conference room, Callan listened as Jeff ran the weekly meeting. The Station Chief liked to keep meetings to a minimum. He and Jeff were Maritime Enforcement Specialists. Jarrod and José were Boatswain’s Mates. Tanisha was their Information Systems Technician, while Bryce and Sharon were Marine Science Technicians. A new Machinery Technician was expected to show up soon. Others filled more of the chairs, all focusing on Jeff’s instructions. The station was very small, but they worked cohesively to make sure their jurisdiction of the Chesapeake Bay was safe and secure.
Turning his attention back to Jeff, Callan listened as the Chief called for a volunteer to teach cold water survival techniques to the high school Kayak Club. He knew it had been a while since he had taken on that role, so he threw his hand up to volunteer. Looking over, he chuckled as Jarrod’s hand had also gone up.
With a quick notation, Jeff said, “You can both do it. It should only take one Saturday morning, but I hear they have a very active group, and their sponsor wanted them to have the information from us.”
More duties were assigned, and each gave quick oral reports on the calls they had responded to over the week. The last several days were filled with only routine calls and monitoring, for which he was glad. As the meeting came to a close and the group disbanded, Jarrod called out, “José and I are going to Finn’s. You want to go?”
Nodding his agreement, the three men headed into the locker room to change out of their uniforms. A few minutes later, jeans and sweatshirts donned, they climbed into their vehicles and drove the two minutes it took to get to Finn’s. Parking along Main Street, they walked through the familiar red door into the warm interior of the pub.
Jarrod and José immediately headed to the dartboard on the right, joining a group of men that were already there. Callan walked over to the bar, offering a chin lift to Aiden and Brogan who were both working that evening. The two tatted, dark-haired MacFarlane brothers were so similar in looks but opposite in personality. At least they had been. But with Ginny around, Brogan is more laid back. With Lia, Aiden is more responsible. Hell, we’re all changing. Sliding onto a stool between Jason and Gareth, he grinned as Katelyn placed a platter of nachos in front of her husband.
“Gareth, it must be nice to get personal service,” he joked. Looking over at Katelyn, he said, “You look beautiful. Motherhood agrees with you.”
Accepting the beer from Brogan, he ordered a pub burger from one of the servers who walked by and then turned as Katelyn offered him a hug. She moved back to the seat on the other side of Gareth and said, “Mom and Dad wanted to babysit tonight, so I told Brogan and Aiden I’d come in for a while.” Popping a nacho into her mouth, she said, “I’ve got news for you, but your mom might already know it.”
Chuckling, he took a drink from his beer and said, “I’m never around enough to get a lot of gossip from my mom. What’s up?”
“Sophie’s going to move back to Baytown. Well, at least for a couple of months.”
The glass of beer in his hand, on its way up to his mouth, halted. He looked her way, his brow lowered, and asked, “She’s moving back here? I thought she was getting…well, her dad had mentioned that she might be getting…” The word engaged stuck in his throat, and all he could do was stare at Katelyn.
Katelyn was watching him closely and added, “She’s not engaged. In fact, she’s not dating anybody right now. Free as a bird, you might say.” Her voice was lilting, drawing his attention, but she looked back down at the plate of nachos and continued popping several in her mouth.
Not engaged? Moving back to Baytown?
“So, are you gonna leave him hanging or actually explain what you’re talking about?” Gareth asked, shoulder bumping her.
Wiping her hands on her napkin, Katelyn leaned forward and held Callan’s gaze. “As far as who she was dating, that’s not my story to tell. But as to why she’s moving back to Baytown, that will soon be common knowledge. A couple of months ago, she opened up her own design company, but it’s been a struggle. The Dunes Resort has just hired her to do the interior designs and staging for one of the large beachfront houses that’s going to be in Southern Living. Plus, she gets to do the designs on one of the condos they want to put in their marketing material. So, she’s moving back for several months while she does that.”
Nodding, he barely noticed when the server set his pub burger and fries in front of him. Before he had a chance to ask Katelyn any more questions she was called to the back by Aiden.
He felt Jason’s perusal as he picked up his large burger and took a healthy bite, barely tasting it. Silently chewing, he was startled when Gareth said, “Do you think she’ll be able to handle being back here? I know I wasn’t here in Baytown when you all were growing up, but Philip’s presence is something that I’ve had to face since I ended up falling in love with Katelyn. Even though she and Philip were very young when they made their vows to be engaged, I had to deal with her coming to terms with her own grief before we could move forward as a couple.”
Callan nodded, thinking over his words carefully before saying, “I’ve never told you this, but I’m really glad you came into Katelyn’s life. She’s a good woman and deserves the best. At one time I thought that was my best friend. But when he was taken from us, I can’t think of another person besides you that I would want her to be with.”
Gareth stared at him for a moment, his gaze warm, then nodded slowly. “Thanks, man. I mean it. That means a helluva lot to me.”
They ate silently until their platters were almost finished. Jason tossed his napkin to the bar counter and said, “It’s my understanding that you and Sophie have a past.”
Callan took another long drink of his beer, aware that he had Gareth’s attention as well. Swallowing before replying, he said, “Like a lot of us around here, we were sort of a high school couple. Not like Grant and Jillian, because Sophie was a few years younger than me. But it meant a lot to me, also, when Philip told me that he thought I was the right person for Sophie. But…well hell, when he died it pulled the rug out from under all of us. I lost my best friend, we all lost one of the Baytown Boys, Katelyn lost her fiancé, and Sophie lost her beloved brother. We were all young and grieving, and I can’t say that any of us handled it the way we could have. The rest of us guys scattered back to the ends of the earth with our deployments. Katelyn didn’t date for a long time, but,” he glanced toward Gareth and said, “even though she struggled when you first came around, she finally learned to open up her heart again, which is what Philip would’ve wanted. Sophie had just finished high school, and I think Baytown was just too painful for her.”
Swallowing past the sudden lump in his throat, he added, “A lot of things were too painful for her.” Catching their questioning eyes, he cleared his throat and assured them, “I understood. I really did. The timing sucked all the way around.”
Shaking his head, he continued, “She went away to college, came home for holidays, and then got a job in Richmond.” He paused before heaving a great sigh. “Fuck. She pretty much told me at his funeral that being around anyone in the service was just too hard…too much of a risk. She needed to guard her heart.”
Jason shook his head and said, “Fuck, Callan. I’m sorry.” The sentiment was echoed by Gareth.
He shrugged. “It hurt…hurt like hell. But then I was heading back overseas, and for all I knew, I wouldn’t be coming back either. How could I want that for her? How could I want to tie her to someone who wasn’t around?” Scrubbing his hand over his face, he added, “I wanted us to stay friends if nothing more, but I was away with the Coast Guard, and she was away with school and a job. Sometimes what we hope for just doesn’t happen.”
“And now?”
Shaking his head, he said, “The best I can hope for is that we can renew our friendship while she’s here.”
Gareth chuckled and said, “At the risk of sounding like Katelyn, I’d say you never know what the next couple of months can bring. Who knows? Maybe she’s ready to come home. Maybe she’s ready for something more.”
Katelyn walked out and moved straight into Gareth’s arms. Looking up at him, she said, “I’m done here, so if you want to go on home to baby Finn, that’s fine.”
Saying goodbye to them, Callan ordered another beer. Jason clapped him on the back and moved toward the dartboard. When Brogan set the beer in front of him, he said, “Aiden mentioned that you were wondering about staying in the Coast Guard or getting out.”
“I’m still trying to figure everything out,” he said. “I’ve gotten used to being back in Baytown and don’t really want to get deployed somewhere else.”
“You think with Sophie being back in town, that’ll help you make up your mind?” Aiden asked, popping up beside his brother.
“Damn, you two. You’re looking for gossip about as much as the girls do.” The three of them shared a laugh, and then he shook his head slowly. “At the risk of a bad pun, I’d have to say I have no idea if that ship has sailed.”
“Well,” Aiden said, “a couple of months is a long time to rekindle those feelings.”
The two brothers were called down to the other end of the bar, but Brogan lifted an eyebrow in a silent question. Nodding, he said, “Yeah. See you there.” He threw some money down, and with a wave of his hand, walked out into the cold night air.
An hour later, a semi-circle of men stood in the Baytown cemetery. The same men that gathered every year on Philip’s birthday. Callan kept his eyes on the headstone, knowing Brogan, Aiden, Mitch, Zac, and Grant were doing the same.
Simultaneously, they lifted their beer cans, popped the top, and took a drink. “To you, Philip. Happy Birthday,” they said in unison. After a moment, they headed back to their vehicles, another year marked since they lost their friend.
Thirty minutes later, Callan was back home, showered, and standing at his window looking across the alley toward the Bayles’ house, where Sophie’s room was now dark.
Will you be able to handle coming back, Sophie? Will Baytown finally give you the respite you’re looking for or simply do more to churn up your grief?
Turning, he walked back into his bedroom, sliding under the sheets. Sleep did not come easily as thoughts of her and Philip filled his mind.
Buddy, I know the last thing you’d want would be for Sophie to avoid Baytown. If anything, you’d want her to be as happy as she could be. Maybe, just maybe, I can help with that.
One hundred miles away in Richmond, Sophie lay in bed unable to sleep. It was Philip’s birthday, and just like every year, she thought of him continually. Climbing out of bed, she walked to the linen closet in the hall and looked to the top shelf. Reaching up, she pulled down a plastic tub and carried it into her bedroom. Pulling off the top, she peered inside.
Digging through the memorabilia, she pulled out a photo album. She climbed back onto her bed and turned on the light on her nightstand. She began flipping through the pages, smiling occasionally as the memories moved back through her mind.
Fishing off the pier, walks on the beach looking for sea glass, birthday parties…and in most of them were the friends that she had held so dear and the brother that meant everything to her. Jillian and Katelyn…the Baytown Boys…and Philip’s best friend, Callan.
In the dark of the night, she was no longer able to pretend that the pull toward Baytown was not strong. She had let so much time pass, afraid to be in Baytown without Philip, that if she was not careful her friends were going to become strangers.
She settled on a picture in her photo album, one of Philip and Callan in high school, with their arms around each other after winning a game. Her fingers traced the outline of Philip’s face, his smile wide. But then her eyes drifted to Callan, and she found herself focusing on him. Dark hair, dark eyes, already a worldliness about him.
She lay back on the bed after pulling that picture from the album and held it close to her heart. Philip, would you have been disappointed in me, to have turned my back on Baytown? She already knew the answer to that and sighed deeply. I wonder if I can learn to be in Baytown without you there.
Rolling over, she lay the picture on her nightstand, propping it so that the two men were staring down on her. As she drifted off to sleep, she thought, Maybe, just maybe, Callan can help me with that.
10
“Okay, let’s review,” Callan said, standing at the front of the classroom, looking out over the fifteen eager teenage faces. The high school classroom looked the same as when he had been there, perhaps with new, light blue, glossy paint covering the cinder-block walls. The long, industrial, fluorescent light fixtures overhead had not changed. But some of the desks look newer. Bringing his thoughts back to the subject at hand, he prompted, “The four stages of cold water immersion are…” He pointed to one of the girls in the front row with her hand up.
“Cold shock,” she said. “That’s in the first three to five minutes.”
Nodding his head, he said, “That’s right. And what’s the most immediate response to that?”
She replied, “Panic. The person can gasp, which can suck in water. Hyperventilate. Um…and they could have sudden changes in heart rate and blood pressure.”
“Good, good. In the second stage?”
This time, another member of the high school Kayak Club answered. “Short term swim failure. That’s like in the next thirty minutes after you end up in the cold water. You lose your ability to grip and you can’t move very well. Even if you had a flotation device, you might not maintain a grip on it.”
“You guys paid really good attention,” Callan commended. “Okay, who can tell me the third stage?” He looked at one of the shy members, who had not said much, and called on them, wanting to draw them out.
Her voice, hesitant at first, grew stronger. “Long-term immersion hypothermia. That happens after the first thirty minutes, and how fast it occurs depends on the temperature of the water, how much clothing the person is wearing, and even body type. It’s when your body loses heat faster than it can produce it, and it affects your organs. That’s usually when you lose consciousness and drown.”
He smiled and nodded. “Great. And the last stage?”
Another teenage boy replied, “Post immersion collapse. That can happen during or after you get rescued. You’re still in danger even when you’re out of the water because your blood pressure can cause a heart attack. And if you’ve got water in your lungs, then that’s not good. And your heart is struggling as well.”
Callan looked to the side at the Kayak Club sponsor and complimented, “You got a really good group here.” Turning back to the class, he said, “The best thing you can do to protect yourself is to be prepared. I know that you’re taught to always have a flotation device, but you often go kayaking in the warmer weather, so your clothing is light. For cold weather, your clothing can make a big difference.”
Jarrod, who came with him, moved to the front of the room to take over, dressed appropriately for cold weather kayaking. He said, “As Petty Officer Ward said, your clothing can make the difference between survival and death. You can see I’m wearing a PFD, personal flotation device, and why is this most important in the cold water immersion?”
One of the students answered, “Because you can’t swim very well when you get really cold. Your mobility slows down, so if you have a PFD, then you can keep your head above the water even if your arms and legs aren’t moving well.”
Jarrod grinned widely and nodded. “Perfect. Also, clothing. As you can see, I’m wearing a long-sleeved thermal shirt underneath this outer long-sleeved shirt. If you layer the clothing, that will keep your body heat in for longer periods of time. Thick socks will protect your feet, and thermal pants underneath your jeans will protect your legs. The idea is to hold in your body warmth as long as possible.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knit cap, settling it on his head and pulling it down over his ears. “Making sure your head is covered will also go a long way in keeping body heat from escaping.”
The class continued for thirty more minutes as they showed a short film on how to position themselves once in the water to retain as much body heat as possible.
At the end of their time, Callan asked, “What is the single most important thing you should always remember when boating or kayaking in cold weather?”
