Divine Read Free

her
splotchy face and the eye-to-chin black streaks on her cheeks from
her makeup. Mentally, he kicked his butt. In the face of what he
experienced, he paid attention to others. Living by this philosophy
kept him grounded, so said Dad. He had enforced it on him and
Travis. Don’t ever be so self-absorbed, you don’t see another’s
pain .
    “Sure do,” he said, liking how she distracted
him from his worries. “It’s right here.” He pulled his hand out of
his pocket and rubbed his thumb over the tip of his forefinger.
    Silence. A long moment passed. Afraid his
joke didn’t work and would backfire, he tried to recall a funny
story from the book he kept on his nightstand. His memory failed.
He couldn’t draw on any of the tales he usually dumped on his
friends.
    She let out an odd noise. The corners of her
lips twitched and a full out laugh exploded. A sound so striking,
he lost his footing and braced a foot behind him to regain balance.
Darn, if something odd didn’t hitch inside him. Weird. And
scary!
    She plopped on the bank where he’d sat and
flung a rock across the water.
    Six hops! Admiration filled him. “Wow,
you’re pretty good.”
    “Thank you. I’ve had lots of practice. I’m
the best.”
    “Oh, I don’t know.” Skipping a rock six times
on the first throw put her on his awesome list, yet he wouldn’t
concede to her being the best. “Let me try.”
    “Try?” She laughed. “Please, you’re a guy.
You’ve been out here in your Sunday best for hours practicing. I
bet you’ll skip the rock across the river.”
    Matt’s chest swelled. He’d sure like to carry
out what she said. “I’ve never done it.”
    “You will today.”
    Long, flowing hair, more the color of the
setting sun than a blazing red, danced around her shoulders. She
smiled, and her eyes twinkled.
    He tapped the pad of his finger on her perky
nose. “I like the way you think.”
    “I’m glad someone does,” she said on a half
giggle and sniffles.
    An awkward quietness ensued. He didn’t know
whether to pat her on the back or run.
    “Let’s see what you got,” she teased,
removing the thick-aired tension.
    He pulled his arm back, ready to impress the
girl—where’d that come from?—and slung.
    Two hops. He dropped his chin. “It’s
not my day.”
    “Well…” She picked up a rock and stood. “For
one, you didn’t hold your mouth right.” She stuck her tongue out
the corner of her mouth. “And, you didn’t angle your shoulder in
the direction you wanted it to go.” She twisted her body, her hair
bouncing around her neck, making all kinds of unusual fantasies pop
into his mind. “Then sling it.”
    She slanted her head, reared her elbow back,
and rolled her wrist. The rock leapt from her hand and skipped the
water’s surface.
    Eight hops. Envy hit him square
between the eyes. “Amazing!”
    “Your turn.” She jerked her head around,
searching the ground. “I’ll find you a rock.”
    He grabbed a stick and jabbed it into the
dirt. Getting beat by a girl. What has this day come to?
    “There’s a pile of them.” She pointed to the
edge of the water to the pebbles he wouldn’t touch because reaching
for them would put his life in danger. With no branches to use as a
safety line, one misstep could end deadly.
    Again she topped him, not letting the risk
scare her off.
    What if she didn’t know about the river’s
threat? Didn’t know about the instability of a river’s edge? The
ground could give when you least expected. Worse, the changing
undertow played tricks, gentle as a kitten one minute, rough as a
lion the next. “You shouldn’t—”
    Her body tipped forward. A blood-curling
scream blasted the air.
    Matt froze a beat before a sudden burst of
energy blasted him to his feet. He toed off his shoes, bolted past
the no swimming signs, and leapt into the roiling, lukewarm
water.
    The girl’s arms flailed to the surface.
“Help!” She sputtered as the tendrils of death jerked her out