"I knew you were keeping something from me." I smiled at him, but became serious almost immediately. "Do you think we still have an upper house to come home to?"
"I hope so," he said. "I think so. It's a good sign that we still have power." He stared out the window. "I don't see any construction debris floating around. That's a good sign, too. I hope."
The underwater room was untouched and intact. We put off surveying the damage and showered and dressed, him in his clothes from the day before. I was surprised how comfortable we were with each other.
He took my hand. "Ready to face the worst?"
I smiled at him. "Bring it on."
He grinned. Together we climbed the stairs until we came to the sealed door. He pushed me behind him in the stairwell. While I appreciated the heroic gesture, it wasn't reassuring.
"Are you sure it's safe to open? If the upper floors are gone, couldn't we be flooded?"
He grinned over his shoulder at me. "We can't stay down here forever."
I arched an eyebrow. "Can't we? Eventually someone will come looking for us. We'll call out and ask for help."
He laughed. There was none of the usual morning-after awkwardness about us. Maybe it was dimmed by the excitement, thrill, and camaraderie of surviving the storm together.
"The house is built so that once the waves calm, the portal sits above the water level. There's a sensor that tells us it's safe to open the door. See." He pointed to a green LED on the door.
With the solemnity of archeologists opening a pharaoh's tomb, Eli broke the seal of the watertight door and opened it.
It may have been irrational, but I braced for a river of salt water to pour down on me. Fortunately, I remained completely dry.
Eli poked his head out. The tension left his shoulders. His posture relaxed. "Amazing! I can't believe it."
"What? What!" I tried to look around him.
"The house is completely intact. Untouched." He whooped and turned around, catching me in his arms and pulling me off my feet into a bear hug.
We laughed until we cried and had to wipe our eyes with the backs of our hands. He took me by the hand again. We walked out together.
The hurricane shutters had done their job. The house was sealed tight. Not a window had cracked. There a few fine lines in the plaster of the walls that I hadn't noticed before. But that was it. The air conditioning hummed along with the fridge. It was just another day in paradise as far as the house was concerned.
"I'll get the shutters." Eli flipped the switch.
A motor purred. The shutters rolled up. Sunshine streamed in. We stood there beaming in the middle of it.
"I'll check the second floor and the boathouse. Make sure the rest of the house is sound before I go," Eli said as he headed to the boathouse door. "Then I'll be on my way." He threw the door to the boathouse open and froze. His good mood evaporated. "Shit."
I came up behind him and peered around. The house may have been untouched, but half the boathouse was missing. Along with the boat.
We stared in stunned silence. Apparently I had cursed myself by saying I'd never get together with Eli even if he was the last billionaire on earth. Fate was laughing at me.
I brushed past him out the door onto the half a dock that remained. "No!" I glanced back at him. "Are we marooned?"
"Not if I can help it." His expression clouded over and became so dark I almost preferred the storm. "I'll call the harbor in Suva, report the damage, and ask someone to send a boat for me."
"Us," I said.
"You still have a couple of days of vacation left. There's no need for you to cut it short. I'll be back for you at the appointed time." He pulled his phone from his pocket and stepped back into the house and all the way through to the deck outside the living room.
I stared at the remaining half of the boathouse. God had left us a rowboat. An air cushion. And a funny looking two-person marine vehicle of some sort that looked kind of like a fish. Maybe a barracuda, if I was guessing. It looked like a one-off custom thing. I wondered why Eli didn't want to take the fish?
I sighed heavily, equally upset about the missing boat and how eager Eli was to leave. Resigned, I went inside to get breakfast. After all, we still needed to eat. There was a stack of gourmet breakfast burritos with warming instructions in the fridge. All I had to do was microwave as many as we wanted.
While I did the microwaving and set the table, I watched Eli pace the deck, gesticulating wildly.
Oh, no. Return of the douchebag.
He finally slammed his phone into his pocket and came inside with a look like thunder on his face. "The storm hit Suva hard, too. Particularly the marina. Almost every boat was damaged to some extent. If not completely destroyed.
"They won't be able to send someone out until tomorrow at the earliest. Maybe longer." He looked a little sheepish and definitely frustrated. "I'll have to stay."