His two fingers gently squeeze my forehead skin together as he does something with a tube of something in his other hand. “Siri swam past me as I was rowing out to get to your canoe. She didn’t respond when I called out to her, but she was wearing a life jacket and she didn’t look hurt, just rattled.

“She left you here unconscious. It’s unacceptable. I’ll have to have a word with her. I have to eventually have a word with you too. You’ve both violated so many safety rules, and I’ll have to suspend your canoe privileges for at least forty-eight hours.” His hands retreat from my vicinity for a moment. They return with a jumbo bandage.

Really not looking forward to the big mirror reveal back on land.

Zarar delicately removes the packaging and places the thing on my face.

I reach up and touch it before catching his eye. “How hot do I look now on a scale of one to ten?”

Zarar clears his throat. “How do you feel, Jamie?”

“Like I want to get the hell out of these freezing clothes.”

Zarar picks up a walkie and brings it to his mouth without breaking eye contact with me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those up close. “Terry, we have a code seven, call the doctor, please.”

The device crackles and then Terry’s Long Island voice comes through. “Roger that, heading to the phone as we speak.”

He lowers the device, and ever so quietly says, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Roger that, over and out,” I mumble back as he settles himself onto a boat plank and begins to row.

Terry meets us at the shore. “Oh my gawd, what happened? You look like a murder victim, are you okay?!”

I blink from the bottom of the boat. “Always nice to hear.” From my vantage point I can see Terry, Zarar, and the sky.

Terry waves her hands around. “Don’t answer that. Z will fill me in. He’s going to take you to my cabin and we’ll get you sorted. I’m going to go find Siri. We’ll meet at my place.” She exits view.

Siri’s not here? Zarar extends his arms and bends toward me.

“What are you—” I start. He squats down and scoops me up like I weigh ten pounds. “Gah!”

Pain rockets through my cranium with the movement. I reach up, pressing my palms into the sides of my head. My clothes pull downward on my legs. They’re heavy and full of the lake.

Slowly, Zarar starts walking us up the path through the forest to Terry’s cabin.

I let my head loll back and watch the trees go by.