Chapter Ten
Chapter Nine
JESSA
T he cool water was so refreshing against my sun-warmed skin as I floated on my back near the dock. The sky was deep blue between the clouds, and I watched them grow and expand upward, towering over us. Maybe there was something to what C.C. had said about an impending storm after all.
“Cannonball!”
No sooner had I registered the word than Ethan, with knees tucked close to his body and arms wrapped around them, came soaring through the sky. He made impact with the lake and sent a large tidal wave rushing my way. The water rolled over me, and I took it in through my eyes, nose, and mouth.
“Oh my gosh, Jess, are you okay?” I heard as I came up from under the water, coughing and wiping the water away. “I’m so sorry.”
I gave Ethan a death stare and swam toward him with swift strokes and a good dunking in mind.
“Nooo!” he cried as he took off across the lake.
“Coward!” I called after him.
He didn’t reply, and I kept moving in his direction as he swam a perfect freestyle across the surface of the water. I had forgotten what a beautiful swimmer he was. He used to compete back in high school, and I’d gone along with Ellie to a few of his meets.
I wasn’t half bad either, so I took off after him, though I wasn’t as fast.
He paused a few times to look over his shoulder at me but kept swimming.
I stopped and floated the next time he looked back, unsure if I wanted to keep this up.
“Race you to the island!” he cried.
“Hey! Not fair. You have a head start.”
He did a backstroke over to me and faced the island. “On your mark, get set—”
“Big mistake!” I turned on him, grabbed his head and shoulder, and dunked him.
He came up spitting water, and I laughed loudly as he smacked the water in my direction, trying to capture me, but I was already swimming away.
“Cheater!” he cried.
I swam with all my might toward the island, determined not to look back to see if he was on my tail because that would slow me down.
“Aargh!” he cried.
I ignored him and kept swimming.
“My leg!”
That had me looking back, and I realized he was quite far behind.
I cautiously swam back, thinking it might be a trick, but he appeared to be legitimately in pain.
“What’s wrong?”
“I have a cramp,” he said through a mouthful of water as he reached for me, grabbing hold of my shoulders.
I twisted out of his hold and swam backward. “I’m not letting you take me down with you.”
“You’d rather I drown?”
I moved around behind him and slid my arms under each of his into the proper hold for helping someone when they’re struggling in the water.
“Don’t panic,” I said. “Just relax.”
He rested his head against my chest, and his breathing calmed as we floated. I held onto his shoulders, trying to ignore the very firm muscles my hands were gripping and his wet hair brushing against my chin, and slowly swam us backward toward the nearby island.
Once we were where we could touch the ground, we stood, and I placed his arm around my shoulder and wrapped my arm around behind his waist so I could help him limp to the shoreline.
“Oof!” Ethan plopped down on the grass. “Man, I should’ve eaten a banana this morning.”
“Because?”
“Lack of potassium can give you muscle cramps.”
“I thought it was because monkeys like bananas.”
“Why do they like bananas so much?” he asked with a quirked brow.
I shrugged. “How would I know?”
“Because they’re ap- peal- ing.” He grinned.
“Oh, you did not just tell a Dad joke.”
He chuckled as he stretched his leg out.
I scooted closer and reached for his leg, and he recoiled.
“Whoa! What are you doing?”
“I’m helping with the cramp.” I pushed his arm out of the way. “Relax.”
I rested my palms on both sides of his leg and dug my fingers into his calf. “Here?” I looked up at him just as he swallowed hard, and he gave me a nod. His eyes were fixed on mine as I pressed my fingers into the muscle, and he bit down on his bottom lip.
My heartbeat sped up, and I turned away, feeling suddenly thrown off.
Ethan winced when I rubbed the tightened muscle a little too hard, so I lightened my touch and continued rubbing until a soft moan escaped his lips, and we both instantly froze.
I looked up and caught him with eyes closed and lips parted just before his eyelids flew open, and he jerked his leg away from my touch.
“I’ve got it.” His cheeks were red as he brought his knees closer to his chest. “It’s feeling much better.”
His reaction to me touching him was both awkward and confusing. I needed to put some distance between us, so I went to stand by the water.
“We might be stuck out here all night since there’s no way I can swim all the way back right now.”
I stepped into the water. “You mean you’ll be stuck out here all night. I’m fine to swim back.”
His mouth fell open. “You’d abandon me on this island all by my lonesome? How will I survive with no food, no water, no cell phone?”
“If Tom Hanks can do it, so can you.”
“But I have no volleyball for a companion.” He stood up and moved closer. “Please stay with me, Jessa.”
The tone of his voice made goosebumps rise across my skin. “Why would I do that?”
His eyes circled my face, and my stomach did a funny thing when they paused on my lips.
“Because I need you.” He gave me a cockeyed smile, like when he was teasing me, but it didn’t feel like he was joking this time.
I kicked water at him to distract from this conversation, and he stepped into the water and did the same until we were both laughing.
I stared out across the lake at our friends on the shore then looked over at Ethan, and something suddenly struck me. The seemingly unharmed leg he’d been kicking water at me with was the same one he’d said had cramped up.
“You’re such a faker.”
“What?” His eyes met mine.
“Your whole dude in distress thing.” I made air quotes .
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He looked away sheepishly.
“You were a competitive swimmer in high school. You can’t tell me you don’t know what to do if you get a cramp while swimming.”
“Maybe I forgot.” He smirked.
“Whatever. I don’t know what your plan was for pretending to need my help, but it’s been foiled. I know the truth, and now I’m going to tell everyone how you nearly drowned, and I saved your life. And you better believe I will embellish.”
“Okay, wait just a minute. I actually did get a cramp in my leg. Have you no heart?”
“I have a heart, and it’s beating to the tune of ‘Honesty’ by Billy Joel.” I swayed around a little as I sang the chorus, and he shook his head at me, but I saw him smile. I also saw his eyes travel over my body briefly before he turned his attention back to the lake.
I’d never felt anything but confident in a swimsuit before, and I’d been around Ethan tons of times like this, but somehow I felt naked in front of him, and I wished I had a T-shirt to throw on.
A rumble of thunder sounded in the distance. “We should probably get back before that storm rolls in.”
His mouth fell open. “I can’t swim all the way back.”
I walked further into the lake, part of me wanting to hide away under the water from his gaze that was making my skin heat up.
“Jessa! You’re not really going to leave me here, are you?” There was such an achingly sweet sincerity in his voice, and I did my best to ignore how much I liked it.
“Can I add that you were crying like a little girl when I rescued you to my story?”
He smirked. “You can say whatever you want. Nobody will believe you.”
“I think you underestimate my ability to tell a convincing story.”
“Fine. Leave me here. See how you feel when you find out I’ve been struck by lightning.”
Another boom of thunder rumbled across the sky, which made us both step out of the lake. I knew lightning could travel many miles away from the center of a storm, and I didn’t want to risk that.
Ethan nodded toward two kayaks heading our way. “At least someone cares about my life.”
I frowned and wrinkled my nose at him.
We watched as Ellie and Cooper came in separate two-person kayaks.
“What are you guys doing over here?” Ellie called out.
“Are we interrupting something?” Cooper asked as he arrived at the shore and gave Ethan a look I couldn’t quite read.
“I’m saving your brother’s life is all,” I replied.
“Don’t listen to her,” Ethan cried.
I pointed my finger at him, and he grabbed hold of it and twisted.
“Oww!” I yanked my hand away and shoved him to the side. “Next time, I’m leaving you for dead.”
He cackled as the kayaks skidded up onto the grass.
“Are you really hurt?” Ellie asked with concern for her brother.
“Leg cramp. I’m fine.”
“Good thing we came then. We didn’t want you guys stranded out here in the storm. We’re in a Severe Thunderstorm Warning right now, and everyone’s packing up before it hits.”
“See, Jessa.” Ethan looked up at me. “They care whether I live or die.”
I tilted my head at him. “They have to. They’re your family.”
“You’re practically family. Why don’t you care?” He stuck his lower lip out at me.
Cooper climbed out of his kayak, hauled it further onto the grass, and handed each of us a paddle. “Here ya go. Happy paddling.” He climbed into the kayak with Ellie, and they raced off toward the mainland.
I climbed onto the front seat of the sit-on-top kayak.
“Why do you get the front?” Ethan whined.
“Because I care.”
“How’s that?”
“If I’m in front, I can steer us to safety. Nobody’s dying on my watch.”
He chuckled as he climbed on, causing it to wobble, almost making me tip off the side.
“Ethan!”
He let out a laugh. I’d heard his laugh hundreds of times before, but I’d never noticed what an attractive sound it was. I shook my head as we pushed off from the land.
Ethan? An attractive laugh? I was being completely absurd.
“You’re paddling wrong,” he said as we began to move across the water.
“That would be you,” I replied.
“We’re going to the right.”
“Are you blind?” I pointed toward the dock straight ahead of us. “We’re exactly lined up with the dock.”
“We’re drifting to the side.”
“Maybe you took on too much water earlier.”
He lifted his paddle out of the water. “Fine. Do it yourself if you’re so good at it.”
I grabbed the paddle away from him. “Don’t mind if I do.” I proceeded to paddle us halfway across the lake before I finally glanced back over my shoulder at him. His gaze was aimed straight down at my backside.
“Stop that!”
He looked up at me. “What?”
“Eyes up here.” I pointed at my head.
“I’m perfectly fine with my current view.”
“If you want to remain a passenger in this boat then you’ll look straight ahead at the dock and nowhere else.”
“Fine.”
I went back to the mission at hand, but I could feel his eyes on me, burning a path across my skin.
“Are you looking at the dock?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Are you lying?” I couldn’t bring myself to look back at him again.
“Do you really want me to answer that?”
I let out a deep breath and paddled on. There was a lot of commotion happening on land, and I could see Jake’s daughters crying and being held by their dad and Tally.
We got out of the kayak and headed over to see what was happening.
“We can’t leave him,” Nora cried. “He’s family.”
“We won’t leave him.” Jake held his two younger daughters as they sobbed.
“What’s going on, Nora Ephron?” Ethan asked.
Nora’s face was tear-streaked. “Rowdy ran away. The thunder scared him.”
“Which way did he go?” Ethan asked Jake.
“Into the woods.” Jake pointed toward the tree line. “Luke and Penny went that way to look, and Cooper and his buddies headed up that trail.”
“I’ll take the lake loop trail.” I immediately ran for my bag, threw on my clothes, grabbed my phone, and moved toward the trailhead at the edge of the lake.
“I’ll go with you.” Ethan was on my tail, yanking his T-shirt over his head, and my knee-jerk reaction was to tell him I didn’t need his help. But an extra pair of eyes was a good idea, especially considering how dark it was getting from the ominous clouds overhead.
“Rowdy!” Ethan cried, and the sound of others calling out the dog’s name came echoing through the woods.
The pitter-patter of rain falling on the leaves above us would’ve been a soothing sound if not for the sudden wind whipping the branches around, sending smaller broken branches tumbling to the forest floor. Lightning illuminated the sky with a bright flash.
I began to count in my head, and Ethan voiced my very thoughts.
“One-thousand one, one-thousand two, one-thousand three, one-thousand four.”
He kept counting as we followed the picturesque trail along the lake. The rain beating down on the water looked so beautiful.
“One-thousand nineteen, one-thousand twenty.”
Boom!
“Four miles,” he said. “That’s getting a little too close for comfort.”
My phone rang in my pocket. “Hey, Ell, what’s up?”
“They found Rowdy.”
“Oh, good.”
“They found him?” Ethan asked, and I replied with a nod.
“We’re heading out. Are you guys gonna be okay?” Ellie’s voice was filled with worry.
“Yeah, we’re not that far along the trail. We’ll be fine.”
“Be safe. Love you.”
“Love you.” I hung up and headed back the way we came, picking up my pace.
We weren’t twenty steps down the trail when the clouds opened up and dumped rain on us. I’d never been in a monsoon before, but I imagined it would be like this. We were completely drenched as we ran as fast as we could on the muddy path.
Lightning flashed.
One-thousand one, one-thousand two, one-thousand three, one-thousand—
Crack! Boom!
We screamed at the same time from how loud that one was, and it was at that moment that my flip-flop hit a slippery spot, and I suddenly found myself on my backside.
“Jessa!” Ethan reached for me, but I angled away and attempted to get up. As soon as I put pressure on my ankle, I fell toward him, and he caught me before I was in the mud again.
I grumbled. “So stupid. I should’ve watched my step better.”
“It’s okay. We’ll get you out of here.”
We moved swiftly down the trail with his arm around my waist and my arm around his shoulder, limping along beside him, soaked to the bone.
“Remind me to listen to my employees more often,” I managed as I winced through pain. “They said there was a huge storm coming, and I didn’t believe them.”
“Well, who knew it would go from The Simpsons opening credits to the opening scenes of Twister .”
“I love Twister .”
“I know you do.”
“How do you know?”
“I pay attention.”
We exited the wooded path, and I could see my vehicle sitting alone in the parking area. I didn’t like being out in the open, but we moved in that direction. Slow and steady.
Lightning flashed.
One-thousand one, one-thousand—
Boom!
“Do you feel that?” I cried over the sound of the wind and rain.
“I feel it,” Ethan replied.
The hairs on my arms were standing on end. The air was charged with static electricity, and I knew that was a bad thing. The lightning was way too close.
“Crap!” I said as we reached the car. I looked toward the beach area to see if my bag was there. “My bag’s gone. Ellie must’ve taken it. My keys are in there.”
“Are you serious?” Ethan’s eyes widened with panic as multiple bolts of lightning struck way too close for comfort.
My heart raced, my ankle throbbed, and we were stuck in the most severe thunderstorm we’d had in quite some time.
“The park ranger!” Ethan cried. “He lives not far from here.”
“Maybe you should run ahead and see if he can help. I’ll just slow you down.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said. I would never leave you behind. Besides, if I save your life right now then we’re even and you can’t go bragging to everyone about earlier.”
I wanted to laugh, but I felt like crying.
“Deal!”