The Shore Page 17

  The waves were big and turbulent and current was strong, and she quickly realized it was pulling her more than she was swimming through it. The waves buffeted her about. Twice she ended up with a mouthful of water and was left coughing.

  She renewed her efforts and finally saw Owen bobbing and splashing haplessly a dozen yards away. Her arms were beginning to feel weak with exhaustion, but she kept swimming and forced her legs to kick even harder. She was not going to let him drown. Not when she should have stopped him from going in, in the first place. Just as she reached him, his head slipped beneath the waves. She dove down, grabbed his arm, and kicked hard to haul him back up. Eyes closed, his head burst out of the water and he gasped for air.

  “Owen!”

  Owen’s eyes opened with surprise. In desperation he grabbed her arm and held tight as he started to sink again. Avery kicked hard and pulled him to the surface again, but the effort to keep them both afloat was exhausting her. “Owen, I’ve got you, but you’ve got to help me! Owen?”

  His eyes bulged with panic and he coughed and sputtered. His hands were locked on her arm, and she had to keep kicking and stroking to stop from being pulled under.

  “Owen, you’ve got to help!” she gasped. “Try to swim!”

  Instead, he disappeared once again beneath the choppy surface, his hands on her arm like a death grip. Exhausted from battling the waves and his panic, Avery felt herself start to sink.

  Nine

  Lucas was bummed as he strode up onto the sand. All morning the waves had been getting larger and larger and the surf better and better. He wasn’t ready to give up surfing for the day, but the riptide had come out of nowhere and the currents had turned squirrelly and it just wasn’t safe to stay out any longer. The red danger flags were up along the beach and lifeguards were busy calling everyone out of the water. He put his board down, shook his head, and pounded water out of his ears.

  “Lucas!”

  Polly was running down the beach toward him. “Owen is drowning! Avery went in after him!” She pointed out toward the ocean.

  Lucas instantly looked for a lifeguard, but they were all a hundred yards down the beach trying to pull a bunch of kids out of the rough surf. He turned in the direction that Polly was pointing and saw heads bobbing in and out of the waves and arms flailing and splashing. Lucas grabbed his board and started to run. He passed Polly and kept running down the beach until he could see Avery swimming directly out from where he was. Then he splashed into the water and started to paddle as hard as he could.

  She’s crazy! You never try to save a person by yourself. Especially without some kind of flotation device. Every year almost as many people drown trying to save drowning people as those who actually drowned. Now I’ll have to save two people instead of one.

  His thoughts were angry and chaotic, but his strokes were strong and purposeful and the surfboard surged through the waves. He saw Avery and Owen at the top of a wave, Avery struggling to stay afloat and Owen hanging on to her to keep from going under. Classic. Frickin’ classic! Lucas’s fury only helped him paddle harder to reach them.

  He was a dozen yards away when Avery’s face broke to the surface and she gasped for air. Owen came up beside her, clawing at her before they both went back down. Lucas dove off the surfboard. Avery and Owen were about three feet under. Lucas grabbed Avery and pulled, scissor-kicking toward the surface. He got her to the surface, where she gasped for air and gave him a startled, panicked look.

  Now it was her turn to grab wildly at him.

  Smack! It was the only circumstance in which he could ever imagine smacking a woman, but their lives depended on her paying attention.

  It worked. Avery gave him a startled look.

  “The board!” he shouted, shoving the surfboard at her. “Hold onto it!”

  Avery appeared to understand. She was about to reach for the board when Owen burst to the surface behind her and grabbed her around the neck, yanking her head back. Avery let out a garbled shriek. Lucas knew Owen was out of his mind and only trying to save himself, but he couldn’t let him take Avery down again. Owen had his left arm wrapped around her neck like a vise, though. Lucas struggled to break his grip.

  “Owen, I can save you, but you have to let go!” he shouted.

  Owen either didn’t hear or didn’t understand because he kept thrashing and pulling on Avery.

  “I’m sorry about this, man,” Lucas shouted, then grabbed Owen by the throat. Owen’s natural reaction was to let go of Avery and grab Lucas’s arm, which was just what Lucas wanted. Lucas yanked him toward the board.

  “Yo!” someone shouted nearby.

  Lucas turned his head. A female lifeguard was swimming toward them with a bright orange rescue tube.

  “Know what you’re doing?” she shouted at Lucas.

  “Yeah,” he yelled back. “Used to be a lifeguard.” He gestured at Avery. “You take this one. I’ll bring the other one in.”

  “Gotcha.” The lifeguard slid the rescue tube under Avery’s arms and began to swim away, towing her. The trick was to swim parallel to the shore and out of the rip tide before trying to go back in.

  With Owen holding on to the surfboard for dear life, Lucas began to follow the lifeguard. He knew he was running out of energy. Rescuing someone when you’ve been sitting in a lifeguard chair all day and were fresh and strong is one thing. Rescuing someone after hours spent surfing is another.

  They got out of the rip current and Lucas stopped swimming for a moment. He knew he had to rest before trying to swim through the breaking surf. A look toward shore showed people gathering to watch. The riptide had been sudden, and there were rescue efforts up and down the beach. One man waded out into the water and helped the lifeguard pull Avery up onto the shore. At least she’s safe.

  “Oh, man.” Still clutching the surfboard, Owen groaned beside him.

  Lucas turned. “You okay?”

  “You kidding? I’m alive, dude. I’m great.”

  Lucas was relieved that Owen had come back to his senses. It would make what was going to happen next a littler easier. But not much. Anyway, it was time.

  “No matter what happens, don’t let go of the board!” Lucas yelled. “This is going to get hairy.”

  Before he had learned to surf, Lucas had learned to bodysurf. Now he waited, treading water, for the right wave. When it was nearly upon him, he began to kick hard. The wave caught him and Owen and carried them toward the shore at a breathtaking pace.

  That was the easy part. Now he just had to get ready for—

  Crash! The wave broke half a dozen feet before he expected it to. The next thing Lucas knew, he and Owen were tumbling and flailing like rags in a washing machine.

  He and Owen were rolled, beaten, and battered in the surf. Lucas’s face was slammed painfully into the sandy bottom. His arms were so tired, they were useless—just a couple of rubber bands flopping around.

  Two more waves smashed him. He lost Owen. Running low on breath, he couldn’t figure out which way was up. The undertow was dragging him backward. Just as Lucas began to think he was going to be sucked back out into the deep, he felt arms lifting him, pulling him.

  A few moments later he found himself on the beach, coughing and spitting out seawater. He could feel sand everywhere, scratching his eyes, in his ears, and in his shorts.

  “You okay?” someone asked.

  “Yeah,” Lucas gasped, then coughed up more seawater. “What about the other guy?”

  “He’s okay.”

  Lucas sighed with relief and closed his eyes, remembering the feeling of being on the bottom and the undertow pulling him. He would have drowned. He was certain of it. He’d been a few seconds away from the end.

  “Lucas!”

  He opened his eyes again. The blurry image of Avery loomed over him. All he could think about was how close they’d all come to dying.

  “Don’t ever do that again,” he muttered, and closed his eyes.

  “What?” she as
ked, faltering.

  “You didn’t know what you were doing. You could have gotten us all killed. You almost did.”

  “I was only trying to help,” Avery insisted, but Lucas could only think of how close she’d come to drowning. Suddenly he realized he couldn’t stand the thought of losing her.

  “If there’s ever a next time, don’t,” Lucas said.

  Avery’s face went tight. She turned and ran off. Lucas knew she didn’t understand what he’d meant. But he was too tired to get up and stop her.

  April was watching TV when her roommates started to come into the house. Something was wrong. Owen and Avery were soaking wet and shivering even though it was a hot day, water dripping from them in rivulets. Owen looked white, and Sabrina and Polly were hovering close to him as if he might teeter over at any moment. The two boys Sabrina took care of were trailing behind them. Avery’s eyes were red, and April could tell that some of the drops on her cheeks were tears, not seawater.

  Fred, who had been in the downstairs bathroom double-checking the plumbing, came out to see what was going on.

  “What happened?” April asked.

  “Owen nearly drowned,” Sabrina said.

  “Avery went to save him and she nearly drowned,” Polly added.

  “And Lucas saved both of us,” Avery finished. Her face was flushed, and her eyes were puffy. Scratches on her neck oozed little droplets of blood. April had a brief vision of kissing Curt, and with it came some of the most intense guilt she’d ever felt. What had she been thinking?

  “I’d be dead meat without those two,” Owen said, looking grim and coughing.

  “Seriously, I probably would have drowned if Avery hadn’t gotten there when she did. And then it would have been both of us if Lucas hadn’t shown up. I swear this is it, I’m going to stop drinking.”

  “You went into the water . . . drunk?” April asked in disbelief.

  “You believe it?” Owen chastised himself. “Like it was just waves, right? Who thinks about riptides? I swear, not another drop of liquor will ever touch these lips.”

  “Owen, please,” Sabrina scoffed.

  “You’ll see,” Owen said, and April definitely heard a determination in the words that had not been there before.

  The front door opened and Lucas trudged in, looking shaken and pale. Like the others, he, too, was shivering. Without a word he crossed the living room and started to open the door to the downstairs bathroom.

  “Lucas?” April had never seen him like that before.

  “Sorry, right now I need a hot shower,” Lucas muttered, and closed the door behind him. A second later they heard the shower start to run.

  April watched as Avery gazed longingly at the bathroom door. “Can you believe that?” Avery said in a low voice. “He just saved two lives and all he can say is he wants to take a shower.”

  The memory of coming out of the ladies’ room at The Seashell and seeing Avery and Lucas embracing was still fresh in April’s mind. That girl is head over heels, April thought. I wonder if she even knows it.

  Sabrina left to take the boys home and the others started to go to their rooms to wash up. April climbed the stairs quietly. She took a shower and changed into fresh clothes. She felt weird. Just now, being in the same room with Avery made her feel awful. She knew she’d done a bad thing with Curt and wished she could ask Avery’s forgiveness. Feeling at loose ends, she tried to turn some of her thoughts into poetry in her notebook. But it all came out jumbled, and she finally shut the notebook and headed back downstairs, too antsy to stay cooped up in her little room.

  Downstairs the group—except for Avery and Lucas—had reassembled. Everyone was showered and changed into street clothes and, as if to put the earlier events behind them, the conversation was about what to do that night and on the nights to come.

  “I still think we should plan to have a big pre-Battle of the Bands dinner on Saturday,” Polly said.

  “No!” the others shouted in chorus.

  “We could have a wake for STF afterward,” Owen suggested, apparently feeling like himself again.

  There was a knock on the front door and Martin stuck his head in. “Owen, we’re heading over to see Gear Shift. You coming?”

  Owen glanced at Sabrina, who’d dropped the kids off and returned. He clearly wanted her to give him an excuse to stay, but she turned her head and faked a yawn.

  Owen shrugged. “Yeah, let’s party,” he said, getting up and leaving with his friend.

  As soon as the front door closed, Sabrina turned toward April. “See? He’ll be drinking again in five minutes.”

  April thought of the way Owen had earlier looked at Sabrina. “It doesn’t have to be that way. Maybe if you went too. I’ll go with you. It would be good to get out.”

  Sabrina mulled it over and slowly rose to her feet. “Oh, might as well go check out the band. But if they suck, we’re out of there in five.”

  April smiled to herself. She was starting to understand Sabrina. The girl would never admit that going had anything to do with Owen, but this time, maybe it did.

  Lucas took a long shower and then rested in his room for a little while. Partly because he was really shaken up by what had happened with Avery and Owen, and partly because he wanted to avoid being in the spotlight. By the time he went downstairs, Avery, Polly, and Fred were in the kitchen talking about watching the Friday night fireworks. Polly asked if he’d like to join them. He said he would.

  He’d rather be outside, anyway, instead of stuffed into some smoky club. More than that, though, he wanted to talk to Avery, to apologize for snapping at her before. She’d only tried to help. It wasn’t her fault.

  As the sun set they walked down to the beach with a cooler and sat on the sand drinking and waiting for the show to begin. Despite the warm, calm air, the waves were still big and rough. Now that he was on his second beer, Lucas began to relax. He sat next to Fred, and Polly was next to Avery. So far, Lucas had not been able to catch her eye.

  “I wish we could have agreed to have a pre-Battle dinner,” Polly said, her voice laced with disappointed. “I just thought it would be fun, especially since the end of summer is almost here. We could have ended with a dinner just like we started with a dinner.”

  “Sort of neatly bookend it, huh?” Lucas asked.

  “Exactly!” she said, seeming pleased that at least someone understood the symmetry she had been going for. “I mean, I really don’t see what the big deal is. I’d do most of the legwork.”

  “I know how you feel, Polly,” Fred said. “It’s a drag when you’re trying to make someone happy and you’re not appreciated.”

  Lucas suspected that Fred wasn’t speaking in general terms. The remark was aimed at Polly. The cool evening breeze began to pick up. It felt good on his skin and he breathed in deeply.

  “It’s a little chilly,” Polly said. “I’m cold, I’m going back to put on something warmer.”

  “Do you want me to walk you?” Fred asked, his voice hopeful.

  Lucas watched as Polly glanced uncertainly at him and Avery. He sensed she would have enjoyed Fred’s company, but was afraid what others would think.

  “Sounds like a nice offer,” Lucas said, to encourage her.

  “Well, okay,” Polly said.

  Fred smiled broadly and jumped up.

  With Fred and Polly gone, it was just him and Avery. Her hair was blowing in the moonlight and she’d had the foresight to wear a sweatshirt. Lucas longed to reach out and touch her. She was looking out at the water. Lucas knew it was time to speak. “You know, they actually make a cute couple.”

  Avery nodded, but didn’t say anything. Lucas knew she had other things on her mind.

  “I’m sorry I blew up at you before,” he apologized.

  “No, you had every right to,” she said. “I could have died out there. Owen, too. I had no business acting like I knew what I was doing. You were right to be mad.”

  “No, I wasn’t. You were just trying to do
the right thing.”

  Avery grew quiet. “Seems like I’m always trying to do the right thing,” she said. “At some point I stopped being a kid and became the ‘right thing’ young woman.”

  “About the time your mother died?” he guessed.

  She nodded. “I really miss her sometimes. Especially when I realize that I’m sort of stumbling through life with no idea what I’m doing. I used to think I knew. Before this summer, I thought I knew. But something happened here. I know this is going to sound dumb, but this summer the world became a bigger place.”

  “I understand,” he said.

  “Did that happen for you too?” she asked.

  “Well, not in the same way. For me, the world’s been a big place for a while already.”

  “Because of your famous economist parents?” Avery asked.

  Lucas felt a moment of surprise that she knew, then nodded. It wasn’t so shocking that she’d figured it out. Just like she’d figured out that he worked for Habitat for Humanity. “When I was younger I got dragged around to a lot of international conferences.”

  “Must have been exciting,” Avery said wistfully.

  “Well, in a kid kind of way,” Lucas allowed. “Like, who gets madder when you push all the buttons in the elevator, the French or the Germans?”

  “And the answer is?”

  “Both. It’s the Italians who just think it’s cute.”

  Avery laughed, and Lucas moved closer and put his arm around her shoulders. She didn’t resist.

  “So, have you decided?” she asked.

  “Decided what?” he asked.

  “If you’re going to do what your parents want you to do,” she said.

  Again, she’d caught him by surprise. “Yes, I . . . I think I owe it to them to give it a shot. Then, if I’m not happy, at least they’ll know I tried. What about you? Have you decided?”

  She didn’t answer. He could feel her uncertainty and confusion and he wished he could do something to ease it. Her life had not been easy, and he wondered what she would have been like had things been different. Probably the same Avery, but perhaps a little surer of herself. Maybe even sure enough to not feel she needs Curt.