Swept Away (14 page)

Several of the passengers helped Lily gather the life jackets, paddles, and loose equipment. The boat barn was well organized, and now that she had a better understanding of what the various items were it was easy to find where everything went. Once they got the gear stashed, except for the heavy rafts, and Cody’s paddle, all they had left to do was wait.

* * * *

Carson sent Fisher and Ross to help the kids with their raft. Cody was preparing ropes and getting ready to hit the water at his command. The missing kid’s name was Nate. With light brown hair and green eyes, he stood about 5’9” and weighed around 120 pounds. A skinny kid without a lot of body fat wouldn’t last long in the cold water. If they didn’t find him in thirty minutes, someone would need to call Search and Rescue.

Cody rowed them as close to the spot of the flip as he could without danger of being carried past it. Carson studied the current, trying to determine the path it would have carried an unsuspecting swimmer. A hidden boulder about two thirds of the way across the river split the current, sending the majority of the force to the left, but there was a chance the kid caught the smaller current to the right side. He thought he saw a flash of color, a faded orange that could be a life jacket. Hopefully it had done its job.

Without hesitation, he dove into the water, swimming with the current to the spot where a tangle of blackberry bushes could have snagged the kid. Carson grabbed one of the thicker vines and pulled himself up into the direction in which he saw the orange. Ignoring the cuts from the thorny bush, he listened. He thought he heard a sound, like someone crying.

“Nate!” Carson called. “Nate Smith, can you hear me?”

“Go away!” The kid was sniffling. “Please don’t come any closer.”

“Nate, it’s going to be okay.” Carson tried to keep his voice as calm as possible while preparing for anything. The kid could be in bad shape if he didn’t want anyone to see him. “I’m here to help. Just stay where you are and I’ll get to you.”

“No. Don’t,” the kid pleaded.

This could be bad. But at least he was talking. He sounded scared, his voice a little squeaky. But at fourteen, that was normal.

“I need to know the extent of your injuries, so we can get help.” Carson inched his way closer. Not an easy task considering the overgrown vines. “There are plenty of people here who can help you.”

“Don’t bring anyone else. Okay.” Nate’s voice sounded a little stronger. Like he was reaching deep down to find his strength.

“Let’s just see what we’re dealing with here.” Carson could feel solid ground beneath his torn knees.

“No. Don’t look,” Nate insisted. “I’m naked, okay!”

Carson bit back a chuckle. The kid must have lost his shorts.

“And you’re afraid I’ll feel inferior,
” Carson teased as he popped his head through the clearing. The kid was huddled beneath the torn life jacket. Half of it
clung to the thorns where the kid had crawled out of the water, and the other half barely covered the shivering body of poor Nate. But the kid did crack a smile at his little joke.

“Are you hurt?” Carson plopped down in the dirt next to the boy.

“No. Just stupid.” Nate shook his head, wiping his eyes with the backs of his hands. “I can’t believe I lost my shorts.”

“Happens all the time,” Carson assured him. “It’s happened to me more times than I’d like to admit.” So he’d lied to the kid. He’d lost more than his share of hats, a few pairs of sunglasses, even a sandal or two, but never his shorts. “It’s kind of like an initiation. You’re now officially a brother of the river.”

“Yeah?” Nate offered a tentative smile. He still had the problem of getting back to the other side of the river. No guy wants to walk through thorns without protection.

“As a matter of fact, in order to graduate from guide school, you have sacrifice an article of clothing to the river gods.” Carson wanted the boy to feel comfortable, but there was still the problem of wardrobe. He would have gladly given up his own shorts, but there was no way they’d fit. The kid was even skinnier than the description given to him.

Carson took off his wet shirt and offered it to kid. He turned his back so Nate could have some shred of pride. Being fourteen was hard enough.

“Okay, I’m ready. I look like a dork, though.” Nate stood there, dripping wet, with the shirt worn over his hips. “It looks like I’m wearing a skirt.”

“No, man, a kilt.” Carson did his worst Scottish accent. “Like a warrior. You ever see that movie,
Braveheart?
”

“Yeah. Sure.” Nate’s smile was barely visible beneath the flush of embarrassment that covered his adolescent face.

Carson found an easier path to the river bank. He shouted at Cody on the other side where his brother waited with the boat. By the time he navigated across the current, the kid had almost recovered his sense of humor.

Cody brought the raft alongside the shore, and tossed the bow line to Carson. He held the raft steady while Nate stepped into the boat. Cody offered his life jacket since Nate’s was shredded. There was no way for the kid to refuse. There were few things Cody was anything but lackadaisical about—safety was one of them.

A quick ferrying across the river reunited Nate with his group. They had been on a private trip. One of his buddies had an older brother who was a guide, and they’d thought they could just figure it out from watching YouTube videos. Not too smart.

“So guys, you thought you’d have a little fun on the river today.” Cody looked each boy in the eye. “Well, let me tell you something. The river is like a woman.”

This could get interesting. Carson just hoped his brother would keep the conversation rated PG-13.

“You’ve got to show her respect. Always.” Cody had them hooked already. “You may think you can control her, but a smart man learns to work with her. Now that doesn’t mean you’re totally at her mercy. You guys take geometry in school?”

“Yeah,” they all kind of grumbled about it.

“Well, geometry is important in running the river,” Cody explained. “You have to understand which angles you want to take when approaching an obstacle, like that rock back there.”

The boys were riveted to his every word.

“But there’s physics, too. You have to understand force and motion.” Cody the professor. Who would have thought? “But mostly it’s about being in tune with the river. Understanding her flow. Her moods…”

Carson had to admit, his brother had a way with people. He wouldn’t be surprised to see all of them signed up for the next junior whitewater school.

No. He wouldn’t see them. Thanks to Lily, he knew the business would still be standing when he returned. And seeing how Cody rose to the task today, Carson was starting to feel better about his brother being able to take on more responsibility. He was the kind of guy who would just go with the flow, until he was needed to step up. Maybe he just wasn’t being challenged enough.

He left Cody in charge of educating the youths, and herded poor Nate up to their store. A new T-shirt and some shorts, if they had anything small enough, would help the kid restore his dignity. He could use a change of clothes himself.

He met Lily on the way. She looked relieved to see the kid was all right. She’d made a lot of progress since her own adventure in the river. He hoped this wouldn’t open that fear back up for her, because he wouldn’t be here to help her regain her confidence.

* * * *

Lily’s heart flipped at the sight of Carson. His hair was wet and plastered to his head, his shorts were torn, and he had cuts all over his back, chest, arms, and legs. Had he pulled the kid from the claws of a mountain lion? “Oh, Carson, look at you, you’re a mess!”

“You should see the other guy,” he joked. “That blackberry bush didn’t stand a chance.”

“We should get you cleaned up.” Lily envisioned a hot bath and hours to spend kissing each and every scratch. Yeah, right. The only way that would happen would be if he was unconscious.

“Nah, I’m all right,” Carson insisted. “I need to take care of this guy first. I figure if I outfit him head to toe in Swift River gear, it’s like free advertising.”

“Good plan.” Lily tried not to look at the smeared blood from all the scratches and cuts. She felt a little lightheaded. What kind of mother was she going to make if she couldn’t stand the sight of a few boo-boos? “What can I do to help?”

“Hey, Nate,” Carson called the kid over from where he was looking through the racks of shorts with little enthusiasm. “Come meet a good friend of mine. Lily’s probably a much better judge of fashion than I am.”

Lily shook the boy’s hand and noticed he blushed from his forehead to his knees. He was wearing Carson’s wet T-shirt and a beach towel wrapped around his waist. She could sympathize with the kid for feeling a little foolish for having to be rescued. But she couldn’t think of a better man for the job.

“Let’s get you outfitted.” Lily took Nate to pick out a T-shirt while Carson headed toward the staff bathroom to clean himself up. “I’m thinking with your green eyes, this one will look really good on you.” She pulled out a faded olive T-shirt with the Swift River logo on it and held it up to him. She found a tan pair of shorts with a green abstract leaf pattern. “These will go with the shirt. What do you think?”

“They’re okay.” Nate took the shorts but shook his head. He put them back and pulled out a different pair. He glanced in the direction that Carson had disappeared. “These are kind of like Carson’s.”

“Then they’re definitely cool.” Lily sensed a bit of hero worship coming from the boy. Yeah, she could relate to him on that one, too. She noticed a few scratches on the kid’s face and arms, but he didn’t look quite as cut up as Carson. “So what happened to the two of you? Did you wrestle with a barbed-wire covered bear?”

“No. Just blackberry bushes,” Nate said. “I fell out of the boat and got caught in the bushes. I lost my shorts and shoes. Then I tried to climb out of the water, but my life jacket got caught in the thorns.”

“So did Carson find you in the water?”

“No. I made it out of the river.” Nate dropped his voice to a near whisper. “But I was kinda scared. And naked.”

“I know the feeling.” Lily wanted to reach out to this kid, pat him on the shoulder, and feed him milk and cookies. “Hey, why don’t you go try those on? The changing rooms are back there.”

As Nate went to get dressed, Lily went to check on Carson. The employee bathroom was coed, so she just walked right in and found him at the sink, rinsing his cuts and swearing under his breath.

“Here let me help you.” She took a paper towel, wet it, and started to dab his forehead.

“No. That’s okay. I’ve got it.” Carson pulled away. This time she wasn’t going to let him get away with it.

“You have no problem jumping in to help a stranger.” Lily pressed gently on the cut above his eye. “You’ll dive into freezing cold water, climb through thorns, but when it comes to letting someone help you… Why, you’re just a big coward.”

“I am not.” Carson said defensively. “I just don’t need…”

“Yes, you do.” Lily blew gently across the wound. His eyes flickered shut, and it was all she could do not to press her lips against his skin. But she backed off. “I’m going to get some antibiotic cream.”

“I’ll just take a shower when I get home.” Carson opened his eyes, but he didn’t look at her directly.

“Yes, but if I know you, it won’t be until you’re sure Nate is safe and sound and dressed and fed.” Lily grabbed the first aid kit from under the sink. She washed her hands again before tearing open a packet of antibiotic cream. She dabbed ointment on each cut, starting with his face, and moving to his neck. He winced, and Lily wondered if it was from pain or from the fact that she was touching him and he couldn’t escape.

Lily couldn’t understand why he was being so difficult. He was a big man, a strong man. He could tame a wild river, fix a wayward fence, and he didn’t think twice about rushing into a raging river or barreling through a tangle of thorns, yet the prospect of getting close to her made him more skittish than a squirrel in the middle of a country road.

There was a large gash on the back of his neck. He groaned as she applied the ointment. But it didn’t sound quite like pain. The hairs stood up and oh, how she wanted to taste him. Touch him. Take care of him. She took a bandage out of the first aid kit and placed it over the cut.

“I’m sure that’s not necessary.” Carson’s voice was far from his normal confident tone.

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that.” Lily wasn’t going to back down. Not this time. “You can’t even see how deep the cut is. But it’s not as bad as the one on your calf.”

Lily knelt down to examine his leg. So muscular, tanned, and perfect except for the gash in his left calf.

“I think you might need stitches,” she said, pressing a piece of gauze against the cut.

“No. I’ll be fine. Just leave it.”

“I don’t think so.” She grabbed two butterfly bandages from the first aid kit. “We’ll try this.”

She pulled the paper backing from one side of the bandage, applied it to the cut, and stretched it across the wound. “Hold still.” She exposed the rest of the adhesive of the bandage. One down and maybe two more to go. She opened the second bandage and repeated the process at a slight angle from the first. She reached for a third bandage but Carson pulled away.

“Why are you so afraid of me?” Lily asked. “Do think I’m going to seduce you right here in the employee restroom? Some guys wouldn’t mind being used for sex.”

“You don’t want me.” Carson pulled away from her. Again.

“You know, I’m sick and tired of people telling me what I want.” Lily slammed the first aid kit closed. “Like I can’t figure it out for myself.”

“I didn’t mean…”

“Hush.” Lily shoved the box under the sink. “I know what I want.”

She turned and glared at him.

“I want you.” She bit her lower lip. “I want you, Carson. I want sex.”

He closed his eyes, then let out a breath. “You deserve better.”

“You’re right. I do deserve better. I deserve someone who isn’t afraid to touch me. Someone who wants to be with me.”