Just in time to see her fall again, hitting the water with a loud smack. I make a face; that had to hurt. A wave crashes right on top of where we are swimming, distracting me for a second.
When she doesn’t resurface immediately, I look around for her board.
Fuck.
I can’t see it anywhere.
Turning myself around, I keep looking.
Fuck, where can he have gone?
“Margot?” I call, panicking.
I sense movement about ten feet away. I see a flash of pink right before she surfaces in a spray of white water, coughing and choking. She flails a little bit, pushing the wet hair out of her eyes, going under for another second.
I don’t think. I start swimming towards her, calling out her name. “Margot!”
She comes back up just as I reach her. We make eyecontact but she looks like she’s a little confused and disconcerted.
“You’re okay,” I promise. “You’re okay. Come with me.” I tug her into my arms and swim for shore, although it is a struggle to hold onto her and swim with one arm. When my feet hit the sandy bottom of the ocean, I feel a strange sense of relief.
Margot coughs a few more times as I pull her onto the shore and put her down just out of the water’s reach. “Hey. Are you okay? Look at me.”
She nods, sucking in deep breaths. Her voice is pure gravel. “Yeah.”
Untethering myself from my board, I sit down beside her and pull her into my arms. She’s cold, much colder than me. She barely weighs anything. I press a kiss to her forehead, only just now feeling the weight of the adrenaline that kicked in.
My heart pounds. I’m sweating even though I’m not hot.
But Margot is safe. She’s right here, in my arms
“Fuck,” I mutter into her hair. “Jesus, that was scary.”
She raises her head and I see tears in her eyes. She clears her throat. “Sorry.”
I shake my head. “There is nothing to apologize for. It’s just… for a second, I thought I had lost you. And that thought almost killed me.”
Her eyes well up and she nods, falling against my chest. “Sorry.”
“We need to get you warmed up. You’re freezing.” Pulling back from her, I stand up and help her to her feet. “Let’s go back to the house.”
Above us, the first lick of lightning splits the sky in two. A few fat droplets of rain fall onto us. Margot covers her face and takes off toward the house at a run.
I follow a little slower, weighed down by my thoughts.
What if something bad had happened to her?
What would I have done?
My chest tightens.
I realize, in that moment, that I’m in love with Margot. I love her so, so much. I can’t even think about all the things that could have happened to her today.
Fuck. Just considering what almost happened makes my heart wrench in my chest.
She stops just before she reaches the door, shivering and looking back at me. And I pick up my pace without thinking about it, because she might need me.
And that’s more important to me just now.
