Page 19 of Rival Hearts

“Someone already did!”

With a burst of annoyance, I brushed the water off my face, but it was fruitless. Maggie’s auburn hair was plastered to the sides of her face, and I was sure we both looked like we were standing under a faucet. Other people were working around them. I knew I should help, but this did seem beyond my limited knowledge.

“We don’t need your help, Grady.”

Her words caused my jaw to clench, and I stormed closer, the geyser of water separating us. I pointed my finger up at the water shooting from the ground. “Clearly, you need help.”

“Not yours. I don’t know why you came back here, but you’re not the town savior.”

“I don’t want to save the town. I want to save your goddamned pharmacy from flooding.” The words spilled out of me, but I realized it was true when I saw Jim emerge from the glass storefront to approach Maggie from behind.

“I don’t need you to save me either!” she yelled.

I shook my head and pushed my waterlogged hair off my forehead. Maggie moved away to speak to her father, and I let out a frustrated sigh.

“Grady!”

I took a deep breath, recognizing the high-pitched tone without having to look. With a half turn, I squinted at Sabrina through the water tumbling between them.

“Grady! I need your help. My nail salon is going to flood. Save me!”

Rotating on my heel, I waded toward her through the rushing water. As I went down the slope, I realized why Maggie didn’t need my help. Her pharmacy sat on high ground. All the water was rushing downhill directly into other businesses on the main street. A truck with sandbags pulled up at the bottom of the hill just as I reached it. Water was already butting against Sabrina’s salon door, but if we could stem the flow, the place might be salvageable.

Grabbing an armful of bags from the truck, I quickly surveyed the angle of the water and threw them down. I heaved more bags off the truck, interlocking them and hoping the rushing water didn’t get any stronger.

“Thank you, Grady. You’re like my knight in shining armor.”

Instead of answering her, I put my head down and got to work. The water was rising at an alarming rate. Level with my ankles when Sabrina had called for help, the water now inched toward my knees.

“It’s not working!” Sabrina cried.

Unlike the train station, the water wasn’t being easily diverted elsewhere. This time, the flood had a mind of its own.

“Biscuits!” Someone up the hill screamed the name. “Grab Biscuits. Her leash broke. Grab her, please!”

I dropped the sandbag at the piercing wail of distress from an older woman at the top of the hill. Who the hell was Biscuits? In the rush of water, down the slope, a brown swirl of fur bobbed up and down, little paws struggling to keep afloat in the torrent. Abandoning the sandbags, a useless fight anyway, I tried to intersect with the dog as it came toward me. At the last minute, the water and the dog weaved away. I lunged for the frayed leash and missed. My foot slipped, and I struggled to right myself, arms whirling for balance, but another blast of water hit my knee, throwing me back. I sank into the wave and then tried to right myself, but the water was too deep and the momentum from behind too strong.

Where was the dog?In the distance, people were calling my name. Was that Maggie?

As I was propelled along by the current, I kept trying to get my feet under me, but it was no use. Every time my foot hit the ground, it was swept up again, the force greater than my ability to right myself or the ground slipperier than I expected. Where was the water taking me? Toward the river, maybe. My heart was in my throat. Would I make it that far without being injured?

Debris floated around me, small pieces and larger chunks. In places, cars were partially submerged. I was a decent swimmer. Even still, I wasn’t stupid enough to believe I couldn’t drown. Allit would take was one blow to the head from something heavy swept into the current.

Up ahead, the water slammed into a house, and pinned against it was the dog, Biscuits, struggling to keep its head clear. I swam sideways against the current, determined to pin my body to the house to grab the dog instead of riding the wave around. I didn’t want to end up in the river—who knew what direction the water would take next? The dog was tiny, easy to cradle in my arms while I figured out a means of escape. I hoped my feet would find purchase on the ground and not slip, causing me to fall into the deepening water.

From the roof of the house, a young boy waved frantically and gestured to the drowning dog.

“I see it,” I yelled and kept paddling, fighting the rush of the water to land in the path of the house. When my body hit the bricks, I let out anoof. My fingers dug into the white bricks, finding purchase, and I managed to get my feet under me. Although it felt like I was wading through waist-deep concrete, I got close enough to the dog to grab it by its bright-pink collar and hoisted it into my arms, out of the water. The dog trembled, and I scratched its head, murmuring words of reassurance. Somehow, we’d get out of this mess. The water swirled around us.

“Grady!” Tyler’s voice carried across two houses to the right, both on higher ground, just outside the rushing water. Kelvin was with him with a long rope in his hand, and one of the reporters from the local paper behind him.

Had they followed me? How had they gotten there? Since I’d slipped, this was the first time I’d had a chance to take in the destruction. The water was getting deeper, but the water’s path was narrower than I’d thought when I was in it. Still, the rope they had probably wouldn’t reach from high ground to me.

“Did you get the dog?” The boy’s voice floated down, caught by the wind.

I couldn’t see the boy above me on the roof anymore. “Yeah, I got her. Are you in the house alone? Not sure it’s safe to stay with all this water hitting it.”

“I’m the babysitter.”

---