Page 10 (1/2)

She jerked away, her hair falling in her face as she bolted upright "Huh? What?"

"Cal"

Brontë rubbed a hand over her eyes and yawned "What tiotten into it"

She folded her legs under her and pulled out her phone It lit up for aher face in the darkness, and then winked out "Dah"

"We should head down to the kitchens and grab lunch, then"

They headed down to a quick meal of fresh fruit left on the countertop and soe was starting to s too close to rooetting sick froested they check the store for any other food items, and then they headed back in that direction since there was nothing else to do with the day As they walked,though, Bront&eulass of the lobby s

Logan followed her gaze The sun was shining; the sky was blue A breeze rippled into the building

"This is the first day it hasn’t rained since I got here," Bront&eu forward Her aqua shoes crunched on the broken glass at their feet, and he noticed that the standing water in the lobby had receded, too She peered outside and then looked back at hied He’d just as soon go back to the stairwell and wait for rescue, but she seemed to want to explore "If you like"

Her face brightened "I would Do you think the beach is trashed, too?"

"We’ll soon find out, won’t we?" And he stepped forward through the broken glass, gesturing for her to follow him

She did, and theyat the bright sun after days of low light He studied Brontë as she picked her way across the sand-covered sidewalk toward hiht, she was even more beautiful--not in a traditional way Her hair ith tangles and blew around her head like a messy halo, and her face was round, without the well-defined cheekbones of theand her skin was lovely and she s ever, and he thought she was stunning

"It really did a number on this place, didn’t it?" She raised a hand to her eyes to shield thelanced back at the resort More than half of the ere blown out, and it looked like one wing of the building had collapsed He didn’t want to think about how much that would cost in repairs Palm trees that had lined the driveway had been uprooted and fallen over One had toppled into one of the s on the second floor A car lay on its side in the distance, and junk from inside the hotel was strewn across the lawn A fine layer of sand covered the concrete, gritty under their shoes

"Come on," he told Brontë "Let’s see what the beach looks like"

They crested a dune, and there was the ocean spread out before the and blue and endless, the thin white line of the beach the only thing separating them from it Birds flew overhead There was driftwood everywhere, floating in the water, lining the edge of the surf, and piled up on the sand, but nothing could ruin the sight of that beautiful blue water

At his side, Bront&eueous"

It was, though the same could’ve been said for his companion He enjoyed her unbridled enthusias waves At his side, Bront&euhed wistfully

"What is it?"

"I was just thinking that it figures that we have nice beach weather after my vacation has already been ruined I would have loved to spend a few days just enjoying the sun and sand"

He waved a hand at the e you?"

Her face lit up, then fell again "Shouldn’t we be working on s?"

"We have food We have shelter All we need to do is wait to be rescued If it’ll make you feel better, we can make an SOS on the sand"

She stepped forward into the surf, letting it wash over her ankles, and her eyes closed in pure bliss She tilted her head back, letting her tangled hair whip in the breeze