When I Fall in Love(42)
The boat began to sway in the water.
Casper glanced at Emma as the rocking lurched the boat, and panic lit across her face one second before she shouted, “Stop!”
But the starboard side, led by Annalise, injected too much power into their strokes to stop, and they dug in hard.
The boat rocked low, and then, just as Casper thought it might right itself, Claire lost her balance. Jensen, her husband, grabbed for her as she tipped over, and the action surged the boat farther to the side.
They took on water, and with Titanic-style certainty, the boat swamped.
The temperature of Lake Superior, even in June, could scrape the breath from a polar bear; it slicked all thought from Casper as the boat overturned, trapping him underneath. On instinct, he pushed away, surfaced fast, and searched for heads.
He spotted his father treading water. “Dad!”
“I’m fine! I have your mother!”
Casper ducked back under the boat, checking for trapped paddlers. Please—
He came up again, the cold like daggers against his skin.
Jensen was pushing the boat toward shore while Kyle grabbed paddles. Casper put his feet down and realized he could touch bottom.
He did a quick count and came up with the right numbers. Ahead of him Raina carried two paddles, wading in. Beside her, Nathan held Annalise’s arm. She fell, got back up.
Casper came around behind the back of the boat. “Jensen—let’s tip it over.”
Jensen stood at the head, and Kyle manned the middle as they flipped the boat. Jensen towed it in to shore.
The cold had numbed Casper’s legs and he fell, too, as he waded in. His crew sat on the shore, some of them in towels. They eyed him with a look that might make him turn around and head back out to sea.
“I gotta get out of these clothes,” Nathan said, holding a shivering Annalise in his arms. “Sorry, Casper. I’m not sure we’re quite cut out for this.”
“Mr. Decker—”
“I’m with Nathan,” Eli Hueston said. “I think I’m too old for the polar bear plunge.” He took Noelle’s hand and headed toward their car.
In a moment, Casper’s crew had dispersed. Even Jensen abandoned him in favor of hot cocoa with his wife.
Casper, his hands shaking, stood on the shore, staring at the dragon boat, the seats soggy, paddles and wet life preservers in a heap.
“Now what?”
He looked over at the voice. Found Raina, a towel wrapped around her, shivering.
“Are you just going to let them give up?”
“I don’t know. I mean—we were a disaster. Darek always organized the team. We won two years ago.”
“And we will this year too.” She said it through chattering teeth, but something about the fire in her eyes found the few still-lukewarm spots inside Casper.
“We will?”
“Listen. You got me all excited about this dragon boat thing, and now I’m wet and cold, and you’re telling me you’re going to give up?” She turned and began to walk away. “I should have guessed.”
“What’s that mean?” He ran to catch up with her.
She just kept stalking across the shore.
“Raina. What did I do? I thought we were getting along the other night.”
She pursed her lips, sighed, looked away. Then finally back at him. “We were.”
He raised an eyebrow, hoping for more.
“It’s just that I’ve had an epidemic of people—guys—letting me down lately, and I’m kicking myself for believing this might be different.”
Oh. Wow. She knew how to hit a man in the throat.
You’re the poster boy for the Christiansen family. He didn’t know why Amelia’s words latched on to him at that moment or why his body moved almost without thought. But he darted after Raina, catching up, then standing in front of her.
She stopped, frowning. “Hey—”
“I’m not giving up. You’re right. I started this, and I’m not going to let one mistake shoot me down.” He glanced at their wounded dragon boat, moored like a Viking ship on the rocky shore. “We can win this if we learn to paddle in sync.”
She made a sound that resembled laughter, or maybe disbelief, but her face was solemn.
So maybe the sound had come from him, something deep inside he’d been trying to escape.
Would escape, someday, once he figured out how.
He looked at her, at the way she held her towel nearly over her head, gripping it at the base. “Can I buy you a coffee?”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
“Please?”
She sighed again, seemed to consider him, and then said, “Okay. But if you offer me a ride on your motorcycle, I’m outta here.”
Huh?
But she was already stalking toward the coffee shop.