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“Well, I just wanted to introduce myself.”
The brunette looked at me from under thick eyelashes. “And so you have.” Then she placed her hand over her friend’s, very obviously. Her lips curled into more of a smile.
Oh. Whoops. Yeah, these two definitely weren’t looking to pick up any guys on the beach. I grinned my apology.
“You ladies have a lovely day.”
“You too, Caleb,” the brunette said.
I walked away to save my pride, resisting the temptation to look at my friends because I had a feeling it would be as painful as staring directly into the sun.
Instead of looking in their direction, my eyes wandered towards the coastline. I noticed a young woman who appeared to be frazzled with her two young children, alone and apparently biting off more than she could chew.
I studied her for a moment or two, watching as her rambunctious children gave her a run for her money. The older of the pair looked as if he was wandering a little further out to sea than was allowed or safe.
I glanced back at the lifeguard post and noticed that there was no one there. A sign read No lifeguard on duty. Swim at your own risk. Had that been there when I passed it on the way to the sexy girls? I must have had my blinders on to not notice.
Turning my attention back to the young kid in the water, I saw that he was venturing out deeper than ever. Forgetting all about the hot girls and my friends, I started jogging towards the woman in distress.
She was spinning around, in a frazzled circle, attempting to keep one hand on her younger child while she scanned the water for her older one.
“Mom!” The male child in the water started flailing his arms in the air. “Help!”
Ah, crap. I increased my pace.
A crowd was starting to form. Several people went into the water, but they looked both reluctant and nervous to go out into the ocean deep enough to rescue the boy and swim back without getting into trouble themselves. The currents could be treacherous.
“I’ve got it!” I bellowed to the mom in turmoil, frantically yelling out to her son to try and swim back to shore. “I’ll get him.”
I didn’t even hesitate. It wasn’t even a process I had to consider. Getting to that kid became my ultimate goal in life. I plunged my body into the water and pushed myself through the waves to get to the boy.
The salty water sloshed into my face and I coughed as I swallowed some of it by accident. Unpleasant, but I had had worse in basic. I just kept moving. No matter what, I had to press forward in fluid movements across the water because time was running out. The boy was bobbing along like a cork, barely treading water. An expression of shock was splashed across his face as he desperately clung to life in order to keep his head above water.
“Grab my hand,” I yelled, extending my arm for him to grip.
The boy fumbled and faltered. His hand swatted at the air, but he couldn’t make it to me. I pushed myself through the waves until I could reach him.
I had been through enough water rescue drills that I knew what to do. A drowning person—even a small boy—could easily drag you under. Once I had a grip on him, I turned him around. “Okay, I have you. You’re safe. Just relax and let me get you to shore.”
“Okay…” he trailed off meekly.
One hand looped around his chest, I used the other to stroke backward toward the shore, kicking strongly. He was a good boy, and although he coughed and sputtered, he didn’t panic and try to fight the water even more.
As we swam back to shore, I noticed that a crowd had gathered around us. The young mother was shifting her weight nervously, sobbing, anticipating our safe arrival back to shore. When I dropped him in the sand, she swooped her arms around him like an eagle protecting her young in the nest.
“Thank you so much,” she craned her neck to glance up at me. “You saved his life.”
It was then that I realized what had happened. All the events had unfolded so fast that I barely had time to process them. I’d been in shock myself, but I was in a zone, focused to get to someone in need.
“It was no problem,” I said as water dripped in beads off my soaked hair and plopped down my chin into the sand below my feet. “I’m just glad I saw him in time.”
“Me, too.” The woman’s eyes filled with tears again. “I’ll never go to the beach without my husband again.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “Something like this can happen in a moment.”
Caleb and Worth approached me, giving me a slap on the back. “Well done, brother,” Worth said.
“Thanks.”
