He asked me to go along, but I was hoping I’d see you, and…I-I let him go alone. If I’d been there …”
“Stop. You couldn’t have done anything. He’s alive, Jesse. Let’s just concentrate on that.”
Nearby, someone yelled. They were on the far side of the marina, away from the bulk of the commotion. Jesse and Olivia stepped apart. Taking her by the hand, he said, “Come on. There are still people here who need us.”
Together, they jogged to the edge of the water where a woman was standing. “There!” she screamed. Her skirt and blouse were soaking wet and plastered against her flesh. She pointed again and ran a couple steps back into the water.
Jesse grabbed her arm. “Whoa there.”
Olivia trained her eyes on the water. Far from shore, something white floated on the waves. Jesse searched the woman’s face. “What are we seeing?”
The woman jerked away and started to run into the water. “Ma’am, you’re barely standing. What’s out there?”
The woman’s face froze with terror. Her soaking wet hair hung in haphazard clumps around her face. “My daughter!”
Jesse leaned forward, eyes scanning the sea. “I don’t see anything.”
Olivia stared out into the fog and smoke. A waft of wind curled the haze and there, on the other side of the driftwood, she made out a tiny face. She grabbed Jesse’s arm. “Jesse, there.”
He shook his head. “I can’t see—”
Olivia grabbed him and dragged him a few feet into the water. “Come on, I’ll lead you.” The water rose around them, but Olivia kept her wits by keeping her eyes trained on the piece of wood the child gripped.
“I see her,” Jesse cried. “You go on back to shore, Olivia. I’ll get her.” He pushed her back toward the beach. “Go. I don’t want to worry about two of you.”
Olivia stayed in place treading water while she watched Jesse swim like a champion toward the girl. When she realized he and the child weren’t swimming back to shore, Olivia moved out farther. So far, she could barely touch the sandy ground beneath her. Her arms shifted front to back in a semicircle around her.
Jesse was at the massive piece of driftwood. She caught sight of him between the curls of smoke. He was with the girl, but he wasn’t swimming back. Something was wrong. Olivia started pumping her arms, swimming deeper into the water where the two seemed to be frozen. A wave rushed over her face and her mouth filled with seawater. She coughed it out just as she reached the jagged piece of wood.
“Olivia!” Jesse gripped the child with one hand and reached for Olivia with the other. The motion caused his head to go under and Olivia grabbed for him.
“I’m okay.” Her limbs ached. She anchored her chest against the large piece of debris.
The girl’s tiny face was streaked with tears and black smoke. She was crying, silent sobs racking her little shoulders.
“We’ve got you,” Jesse said, and coaxed her to let go of the wood.
She had a death grip and wouldn’t release it. “Maybe we should swim the driftwood in?” Olivia’s mouth flooded with water and she coughed it out.
“It’s too big. I already tried to move it and it wouldn’t budge. We gotta get her to let go.”
Olivia tried to untwine her hands from the wood, but her little digits were slick. She’d found a crack in the wood where she’d dug in. Probably saved her life. “What’s your name?” Olivia said. When the child only stared at her, she asked again, this time with more force. “What’s your name?”
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Olivia looked behind them at the shoreline dotted with pinholes of light from the marina and the rescuers’ headlights. The shore looked to be getting farther and farther away. Olivia’s legs were tiring. She couldn’t keep this up much longer. In the opposite direction and much farther out, the rescue boats were circling. “We’re going to take you to your mom. Do you want that?”
The child looked past them toward the shore.
“Young lady.” Olivia sharpened her tone the way her mother always did when she was in trouble. “Let go of that right now.”
Instinctively, the child released her grip. She slipped into Jesse’s arms, clawing to get a good grasp on his neck. They pushed off the wood. Relieved, Olivia and Jesse swam toward the shore.
The little girl’s mother sobbed hysterically as she ran out to take her daughter. Jesse and Olivia collapsed on the beach, breathless. Someone