He carried her up the beach and until they reached the trees. Her head was buried in his shoulder and he could feel her breath on his neck. The only warm thing about her was the air she exhaled: her hips which he encircled with an arm felt like ice, and her whole body was continually racked with shivers. Her breath came in short gasps.
'Kirsten? Come on, we're going to the car. Come on, hold onto me..' he put her down very gently but still retained a firm grip on her waist. They began to move again, Kirsten drifting wordlessly by his side. The party had moved inside by now, and they skirted the edge of the lawn so as not to be seen from inside. Sandy hoped and prayed that the few clothes he left in his car normally were still there- he usually kept some things to put on after surfing, and he couldn't think of any reason why they should not be there now. But then, he thought, he couldn't think of much else apart from the fact that Kirsten was probably reaching the stage of hypothermia, if that had not already been passed. The car lights flashed when he pressed the button on his key, and it occurred to him that it was very lucky the keys hadn't been submerged in the sea along with the lower part of his body. He opened the boot with one hand while supporting his wife with the other, and with relief he caught sight of his bag. He climbed into the boot and half-dragged, half-lifted Kirsten in after him. The boot was large, although height wise they had to kneel or crouch. Kirsten sat watching him as he leaned over the back seat to turn on the heating in the car, and then as he knelt back down and looked at her. His eyes were wide with concern. He moved over so he was right in front of her:
'You need to get that dress off. I've got…something you can put on, even though if you weren't at the point of freezing to death you would probably rather wear nothing than this:' he pulled a hoodie out of the bag: it was grey and covered in dirty marks. It was an old surfing hoodie that had probably never been washed in its life, unless the occasional dip in seawater can be classified as a wash.
Kirsten felt Sandy take the bottom of her dress and she knelt up on her knees to try and make things slightly easier in the limited amount of space they had. He pulled the dress up over her thighs, peeling it off her body like a second skin. She knelt down again and, all the while looking at him in the eyes, lifted her arms. He pulled the dress up over her stomach and then over her shoulders. Then it was completely clear off her body, and he tossed it into a corner off the car. He looked at her, kneeling helplessly in front of him, and he loved her so much He peeled off his own soaking trousers and then pulled his wife's body towards him.
'I'm so sorry.' She whispered.
'It's ok. It's fine. Come on, put this on.' He put the jumper over her head and pulled it down: the material swamped her slight frame and ended on her thighs, however Kirsten felt warmer almost instantly and the violent spasms soon reduced to gentle shivering. Sandy, meanwhile, pulled on a pair of boardshorts he found crumpled at the bottom of the bag. At another time he would have found the fact that he was wearing half a tux and boardshorts quite amusing, but at that specific moment his appearance wasn't the first thing on his mind.
'Shall I go and find Seth and Ryan, and we can go home?' he asked his wife. The image of her husband walking into the party dressed like he was made the corners of Kirsten's white lips turn up in smile.
'I think, knowing Seth, he would pretend he didn't know you.' She moved over to where Sandy was sitting and wrapped her arms round him.
'Let's just stay here.' He smiled at her as she buried her head in his chest and drew his legs up so they encircled her body. He kissed the top of her head:
'Are you ok? You don't have hypothermia? Or pneumonia...Christ, I didn't think of that one.'
She replied simply: 'I've got you.'
Sorry this is a short chapter, I thought I might as well post it because I haven't updated for ages. Thankyou so much for the reviews.