As Penny stood on the rocky bank of Pinedrop River, a chill ran through her despite the late afternoon sun. If only she could take her own advice and run far, far away from her present fear, back to the safety of the familiar.
But she didn’t have that luxury, unless she wanted to disappoint Beverly.
“Nervous?” Colt peered down at her, concern etched into his tanned forehead.
“Why do you ask? Can you hear my teeth chattering?” She tried to muster a playful laugh, but it caught in her throat.
“Kind of, yeah.” He flashed his dimpled smile. But rather than impish and teasing, it radiated a warm, sympathetic quality that caused her pulse to quicken.
Her hands clenched around the smooth handle of her oar as she directed her gaze to their guide—a lean, muscular woman with long blond dreadlocks tied in an orange bandana on top of her head. No matter how many times she’d assured Penny that white water rafting was perfectly safe, Penny couldn’t calm her rampant heartbeat. It pounded in her ears above the rumble of the river as it charged downstream with deadly urgency.
“Do you think Roxie knows what she’s doing?” Penny watched the guide go over last-minute details with a young trainee by the water’s edge.
“Without a doubt,” Colt said with confidence. “She’s rafted the class-five rapids of Futaleufú River in Chile twice.”
“And class five… that’s pretty difficult?”
“Oh, yeah. The one time I did that run, I barely made it out alive.”
The laughter in his voice didn’t quite match the severity of his words. He must have noticed her horrified expression, because his features instantly softened. “You’ll be fine, I promise. Roxie is the best guide they’ve got. Plus, you have me.”
Penny frowned. “No offense, but that’s supposed to assuage my fears because…”
“Because I’d never let anything bad happen to you.”
The serious glint in his eyes caused her breath to falter. Swallowing hard, she dropped her gaze to the tips of her rubber-soled water shoes.
As their group loaded into the flimsy-looking raft, Penny’s stomach flipped. She’d feel much safer if it resembled an actual boat, with a sturdy floor and tall, protective sides. Instead, they’d be barreling down raging rapids in a glorified inner tube.
Her legs froze, unable to propel her body forward.
Colt appeared behind her and placed a reassuring hand on her lower back. “Sit on the starboard side.” He tipped his head toward the right side of the raft. “I’ll sit behind you.”
Penny followed his direction, cringing as the pliable material shifted under her weight. What would it take to poke a hole in the bottom? A sharp rock? A wayward stick? She nervously gnawed her lower lip as she settled behind a teenage boy who seemed amped up on too much sugar and youthful naivete.
Growing up, Penny never bought into the childish belief of invincibility. Her father raised her to assess the risk in everything, prioritizing safety first and foremost. When other parents were teaching their children not to run with scissors, her dad extolled the virtues of a brisk walk, and never while holding a pointed object of any kind. Unless you wanted to poke an eye out.
Penny flinched as the remainder of their party got situated, bobbing the raft up and down as the soles of their shoes squeaked against the thick rubber. Counting herself and Colt, the guide and trainee, a middle-aged father and his teenage son, and a giddy couple on their honeymoon, their group totaled eight.
Another raft of eight set out a few minutes ahead of them and a third would follow shortly after. Then, assuming they all survived, they’d enjoy a simple barbecue and s’mores in the evening.
But presently, even the thought of food made Penny queasy.
After Roxie doled out a few more safety reminders—using rafting lingo that sounded like a foreign language—Penny sucked in a breath as they set off on their foolhardy adventure.
For the first few minutes, the current carried them along at a peaceful pace, and she found the rhythmic refrain of the oars splashing into the water rather soothing.
But as they rounded a bend in the river, her pulse spiked, matching the uptick in the current’s intensity. The raft lurched over rough waves, dousing her arms and legs with a chilly spray.
Fear crawled up her spine, and she jolted as Colt laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay? If you’re too scared to row, set the oar in the bottom of the boat, and I’ll pick up the slack.”
Nodding gratefully, she tucked the oar by her feet and gripped the rope so amusingly dubbed the chicken line.
As they thrashed in the water, pummeled on all sides by unrelenting waves, everyone but Penny seemed to be having the time of their lives. Hoots, hollers, and peals of laughter collided in a cacophony of boisterous excitement as they hurdled toward their inevitable demise.
How on earth could they be enjoying this? Didn’t they realize it was the preamble to their eventual doom? Surely, she couldn’t be the only rational person on board. Glancing over her shoulder, she gaped at the look of pure exhilaration plastered across Colt’s handsome features.
“Woo-hoo!” he shouted with an inexplicable grin as a frigid spray drenched his face. He wiped the water from his eyes with his sinewy forearm, before deftly dipping the oar back into the torrent. The muscles in his biceps flexed against the strain, but Colt appeared to be loving every single second, as though he were built for this precise moment.
Her neck craned, she watched, completely mesmerized, as his body rocked back and forth, in tune with the violent throws of the river. How did he look so at peace in the midst of the chaos?
“Try it!” he shouted over the thunderous roar.
Penny blinked, startled from her trance. “Try what?”
“Hoot, holler, howl… let loose.”
“No, thanks.” She shook her head, flinging water droplets from her loose strands of hair.
“C’mon,” he cajoled. “Try it one time. It’ll help. I promise.”
She squinted at him dubiously. But, then again… what could it hurt? She was already terrified out of her mind. It couldn’t make things any worse.
Swiveling back around, she inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with a rush of crisp air. Could she actually do this? Letting loose wasn’t exactly in her repertoire.
Before she could change her mind, she tilted her head back and bellowed, “Woo-hoo!” with every ounce of strength she possessed.
Tension escaped with her words, replaced by a surge of endorphins.
“Thatta girl!” Colt whooped in approval.
Laughing, she tried again, projecting from deep within herself. And to her delight, everyone else in the raft joined in, as if cheering her on.
Bolstered by their support and her newfound bravery, she reached for the oar, determined to pull her own weight. But the second she let go of the chicken line, the raft plunged over a steep drop. Roxie shouted for everyone to hold on, but Penny wasn’t quick enough. They smacked into the pool below, the force of impact launching Penny from her seat.
Before she could process what happened, icy water filled her nose and mouth, shocking her senseless. Buoyed by her life vest, she broke through the surface and heaved in a desperate gasp for air along with another mouthful of water.
White-tipped waves smacked her face, their harsh sting bringing tears to her eyes.
This is how she would die. And she’d never even been in love.
Overcome with emotion, she wanted to cry, but the glacial temperatures and crippling fear left her too numb to do anything but try not to drown. And so far, she wasn’t doing a great job.
“Lawn chair!”
Completely disoriented, she thought she heard Colt shouting something, but it didn’t make any sense.
“Lawn chair!” The strange command came again, more urgent this time. But what did it mean? Was it possible she’d passed out and was experiencing a delirious dream? Wasn’t her life supposed to flash before her eyes? Instead, she got an incoherent hallucination. Just her luck.
“Lean back and bend your knees!” the figment of her imagination shouted.
Suddenly, a hazy memory of Roxie’s safety briefing sprang to her mind and on impulse, she quickly obeyed.
The new position gave her instant relief from the bitter surge trying to force her under.
“Hang on. I’m going to get you out of here.” Like a vision, Colt appeared by her side, linking his arm with hers.
“There’s a fallen log protruding from the bank up ahead,” he hollered over the deafening swell. “I’m going to steer us toward it, but I need you to work with me, okay?”
The river continued to drag them downstream at an alarming rate, and Penny stared into his unflinching gaze, unable to speak. Was this really happening? What was he doing here?
“We’re going to be okay. But I need you to trust me. Can you do that?”
Without hesitation, she nodded.
“Good. Don’t fight the current. It’ll wear you out. We’ll gradually work our way toward the edge. Just stay with me.”
After what felt like hours of struggle, but probably only lasted a few minutes, Colt latched on to a branch, summoning all his strength to pull them toward the log and out of the swift current.
“Hang on. The raft will be here any second.”
As Penny clung to the massive tree trunk, Colt’s muscular arm braced around her shivering body, the reality of the situation washed over her.
Colt Davis had just saved her life.