Page 24 of Forced Proximity
Gross.
“Reins.”
As soon as he said it, I remembered Eugene using his last name.
“Finnian Reins sounds like a historical romance name,” I teased, going for lighthearted when my entire being felt heavy.
“My mom was a big romance reader.” He chuckled as he stepped over a log, then held his hand out to help me over. He kept hold of my hand as we continued to walk along the river. “She loved historical romance. She was a big Julie Garwood fan. The day she died, she had literally been doing a reread of her favorite one, Saving Grace. I remember her having it in her hand when she’d boarded the plane.”
“I love that book!” I cried. “I’m sorry to hear about your mom. Is your dad still alive?”
“No, but my grandfather is,” he muttered. “We don’t see each other much. He kind of broke down after Mom passed, and he’s severely agoraphobic now. Barely leaves his house. And since he lives in Alaska now, I don’t have the time to just pop by.”
“I’ve always wanted to go to Alaska,” I admitted. “Where in Alaska does he live?”
“Near Fairbanks.” He pulled me to a stop. “Do you hear that?”
I paused with him, trying to hear anything over the thunder, and heard a soft squeaking cry.
“Is that a child?” I asked.
He paused and twisted around, trying to pinpoint where he could hear the sound coming from.
“Maybe that way,” I suggested as I pointed back the way we came. “Kind of anyway.”
He jerked his chin toward the way we’d come, and then said, “Let’s go check it out.”
We backtracked, stopping periodically to make sure that we were still going the correct direction, and ended up almost back where we’d come from.
Though, this time, we were perilously close to the river.
“There!” I pointed.
I could see a flash of red in the tall grass near the opposite bank of the river, and started to wade out.
“I’ll go…”
“No,” I said. “You hold the rope. If I start going, you at least have a chance of pulling me back. If you start going, you’re going until you can get out yourself.”
He grunted. “You have a point.”
“With the rain, it’s flowing pretty good,” I said. “I can get over there just fine, but I won’t be able to swim back holding anyone if a child is what I’m hearing. So you’re going to have to pull me.”
He jerked his chin. “Tie this rope around your waist.”
I did as he instructed, and he tied his own end into a loop before he pulled the loop up over his forearm. “Be careful.”
I took a running start and leaped into the river head first, swimming hard from the moment that my body hit the water.
I’d swam in high school, and though I hadn’t done it much since, the basics had stuck with me and my body and muscles knew exactly what to do.
When I crossed to the other side, I was way off course, but that was to be expected when you’re swimming across a flowing river.
I walked back up the shore and searched for the red I’d seen in the bushes, only to come up short when I finally got to the red.
It was a woman wearing a red hoodie and jeans.
Definitely not a baby.
