He laughed outright. "You sure are sassy, beach bunny," he said, looking better than he had since I had found him.
I felt oddly lighthearted as he gently braced my finger. I had always been one to shy away from conflict, but sharing barbs with him had become almost comforting. Of course, the fact that our banter was more teasing now than outright hate, helped too.
"This is going to hurt," he said, looking at me.
"I know."
"No, I mean, it's really going to hurt. I'm going to set the bone."
"What?" I screeched, ripping my hand from his grasp.
"I'm going to set it," he answered calmly, but seriously.
"But how? You're not a doctor last time I checked," I stuttered out.
"Kimberly, I've taken multiple first aid classes and I've had to do this once or twice over the years."
"Really?" I doubted.
"Yeah, really, little Miss Doubtful. The nearest hospital is an hour and forty-five minutes away, in the foothills, so we’ve all had to learn more medical training than usual. Now give me your hand," he coaxed.
I reluctantly handed my hand over.
"Do you live near the ocean?" he asked out of the blue.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"Just trying to take your mind off this," he said, indicating my hand. "Think you could work with me?"
"Oh," I said, feeling like a dope. "Um, yeah, we live about as close to the beach as you can get. My mom inherited her grandmother’s house when I was a baby. It's old, but I love it," I said, feeling a wave of homesickness as I thought of the seaworn house I had spent almost every night of my life at.
"That must be cool," Mason said.
"It's definitely got its perks. It was hard when I first got here to camp to fall asleep at night, since I'm used to the crashing waves putting me to sleep…" My words trailed off as he pulled my finger and pushed the bone into place. Waves of pain rolled through me as I gasped for breath.
“Holy frick all,” I complained.
"Is it cold living on the water during the winter?" he asked, wrapping my finger deftly.
It took several minutes for his words to register and for his face to come back into focus. By the time I could think about answering his question, he was done with my finger. He studied me with sadness and gently kissed the bandaged digit.
"It's all good," I said, copying his words from earlier.
"Kimberly, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry you're hurt, and I'm even more sorry I got us into this mess."
"You didn't do this," I said, confused.
"I told Rick I’d protect you and I failed—him and you."
"Oh, yeah, because you caused the rain? And oh wait, you caused the trail to erode out from underneath us, that’s right. Don't be a martyr, buddy, it doesn’t become you. Besides, if we're handing out blame, I'm the first that should step forward. If I would have checked on Alyssa, maybe I could have headed her off before she decided to run off."
He laughed. "Talk about martyrs. None of us could have foreseen that."
"Yeah, well, did you foresee the mountain collapsing out from under us, Mr. Know-It-All," I pecked back.
He smiled at me and I saw through his ploy.
"Thank you," I said, holding up my throbbing finger.