“What?” she said, her voice scarcely above a whisper. “Oh, God.....
Oh, my God. Where going to die.”
“No, Gillian. No, baby. We’re not going to die,” Ryan said tenderly,
trying to sound reassuring.
He looked around the room for a minute and tried to figure out what to do.
“Okay now, Gillian, I need you to stay calm and focused,” he said.
Gillian nodded, and he went on.
“I’m going to do the best I can to protect us, Gilly - and,nobody’s going
to die. Okay? Now, what we’re going to do is take this cot here,” he said,
pointing to the small bed under the window, “and tip it on it’s side in the far
corner of the room. That’s as far away from the windows as possible. Then,
we’re going to get in the corner and duck behind it. It’d be better if we
could’ve fit under it, but it’s too small. All right, we’re going to move it on
three. One....Two...Three.”
Gillian and Ryan moved the cot to the corner and Ryan had her climb into
the small cubbyhole they had created. He was about to follow her when he had
a last minute thought. He had noticed one piece of wood left in the fire
place and he fixed it into position across the door to secure it.
By now the cabin, as pitiful as it was, had begun to slowly swaywith the
wind which had become significantly stronger. Just as Ryan was heading back
to Gillian, both of the windows flung open and a mixture of wind, rain,and
mud swirled into the room.
Gillian screamed, but immediately Ryan took action. He slammed the
shutters closed on both window, but it soon became apparent that it wasn’t
good enough. He needed something to secure the wooden shutters from
handle to handle and tie them closed.
Both he and Gillian couldn’t find rope anywhere in the room and hew as
about to give up, when he got an idea. He ripped off his shirt and wrapped it
around the handles of the shutters, tying it with several knots.
It seemed to
work and the shutters where no longer blowing open. But there was still one
more window.
Ryan turned to Gillian, who was now at his side.
“Take off your shirt,” he said. She looked at him with wide eyes.
“Come on, Gillian. This isn’t a come on. I need to tie the other window
closed.”
Wordlessly, she raised her arms and allowed him to lift her shirt
off. Even
in the urgency of the situation, he took his time with slow, deliberate
movements, finally lifting the shirt over her head. He allowed himself the
indulgence of admiring her beauty, and for one long moment, just looked at her.
Gillian had thought that she and Jake would have time for a swim,so she
had dressed with her bathing suit under her clothes. Since the purpose of the
weekend had been seduction, she had worn her skimpiest black, string bikini.
For the first time in longer then she could remember, Gillian actually felt shy
under her ex-husbands roving glances and silently wished she had just worn
her bra, which incidentally would’ve been less revealing then what she had on.
The shutters blew open again and Ryan was reminded of why he had
undressed her in the first place. He tied up the second window and they both
climbed into their cubbyhole. There they huddled, half-naked and a bit muddy.
There was a bright flash followed by a loud crack as lightning struck
something very close by. Gillian screamed and clung to Ryan who held her
close, skin to skin. The cabin swayed and the storm raged outside but,for the
time being, they where safe.
