In A Heartbeat. Janice Johnson Kay
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trip because their parents had volunteered to chaperone. Jenna didn’t have a shy bone in her body.
Anna reached for her water bottle and took a drink—tepid but wet. The coolers still held unopened cans of soda and bottles of water on ice that couldn’t have entirely melted, but she felt too lazy to get up.
“Couldn’t they just have taken the kids to a local school?” her husband asked idly, not at all put out. With his hands clasped behind his head and his legs outstretched, he didn’t look any more ambitious than she felt.
“You’d think so,” she agreed. “Except Melissa did promise we’d go down to the riverbank after lunch. There’s supposed to be a trail alongside.”
“It’s after lunch,” he pointed out.
“Mmm-hmm.” Wincing as Josh and another boy collided and crashed to the ground, she kept her eye on them until they jumped up, laughing and running back into the game.
“Some of the kids are heading that way,” Kyle observed. “Is anyone paying attention?”
Anna straightened, seeing that he was right. And, no, Melissa was refereeing a dispute between several quarrelsome boys, and Kimberly, one of the young assistants, had organized three-legged races that were winding up with most of the participants collapsed on the grass, giggling. Linda—no, she’d seen her escorting two girls to the bathroom facilities, such as they were.
“Maybe a parent,” she began uncertainly.
“I don’t see that little redhead.” Kyle sat up. “The girl?”
“Molly? Her mother’s here. She’s probably with—”
But she wasn’t. Anna spotted Molly’s mother, Shana—no, Sonja, that was it—right away, sitting at another picnic table texting or playing a game on her phone, her head bent over it. Molly had been in Josh’s class last year, and a couple times Anna had chatted casually with Sonja at special events.
Already on his feet, Kyle said, “I’ll go on ahead, just to be on the safe side. I can catch any eager beavers.” He set off at a trot across the field toward the band of trees along the Snoqualmie River.
For a second, she let her gaze linger on him. Unlike a lot of the other fathers, his body remained lean and athletic. By their mid-to late-thirties, so many men had started dressing to hide some softness around their waist, or had developed frown lines on their faces. Maybe stress did that; Kyle never seemed to feel a smidgen.
Disturbed by how acid that thought had been, Anna automatically checked on her daughter and the four boys. All were well.
A whistle shrilled and, like everyone else, she turned to the camp director. “Everyone, find your group leader! Time to head for the river, but stick with your adult.”
Kids who had been spread across the field, including those who had been drifting toward the river trail, ran back to the adults. Just as the boys and Jenna reached her, Anna heard a woman say, “Anyone see Molly?”
She turned. Sonja was scanning the area.
“A couple of the girls went to the bathroom,” another mother said.
“No, they’re back,” someone else said.
Anna stood. “Kyle thought some kids might have started toward the river, so he went ahead.”
The whistle blew again. “Everybody, freeze!”
The kids became as still as statues, eyes wide. “Parents, is anyone from your group missing? Do you have an extra?”
Kids and parents sorted themselves out. Only one child was missing: Molly Kendrick, who, with that bright head of hair, would have stood out, anyway.
Hyperventilating, Sonja cried, “But I was watching! I just...”
Just let her attention stray. Which almost any parent did on occasion, although this was a poor time and place to take her eyes off not only her daughter, but also the other three children she was supposed to supervise.
Skin tight beside her eyes, the middle-aged director, a wiry, energetic woman, said, “Anna, can you take my group, too, while I make sure your husband has found Molly?”
“You bet.” Smiling, she collected the additional three girls and said, “Okay, let’s start that way, but stay together.”
Melissa jogged ahead, disappearing into the trail through the trees. The rest of them followed in a clump.
Where was Kyle? If he’d located Molly, Anna thought he’d have ushered her back to join the group. On a tinge of fear, Anna glanced over her shoulder at the parking lot. Could Molly have wandered that way? Been lured into a car? The river wasn’t the only frightening possibility.
Seeing that Jenna was lagging, Anna said, “How about a piggyback ride, kiddo?”
“I’m tired.” She still napped and, really, had held out well today, considering.
Anna crouched to let her climb on, after which she walked faster. The older kids had no trouble keeping up. The nine of them reached the trail first, plunging into the cool, shadowy depths beneath the trees.
A minute later, José said, “Did you hear that?”
“No—” But then she did. It sounded like sobbing. She broke into a run, the kids thundering behind her.
She saw the river first, green and higher than it should have been in late June. All the rivers were, after the exceptionally rainy spring and early summer they’d had. Close to the shore, the water was clear enough for her to see rocks beneath the surface, which seemed placid, except...well, those ripples might be deceptive.
The supposed riverbank trail seemed to be partially overgrown with blackberries and other nuisances like salmonberries. But a small beach allowed passage along the water.
The screams reached a crescendo. Jenna bouncing on her back, Anna raced upstream toward Melissa, who crouched with her arms around the sobbing girl. Oh, dear heavens—Molly was soaked, head to toe. She’d gone into the water. Anna’s next thought was overwhelming relief. They’d come so close to a tragedy.
Somebody brushed by her. Sonja. She raced to her daughter and dropped to her knees. “What were you thinking? You know the rules!”
Molly cast herself into her mother’s arms and cried even harder.
Melissa straightened, her gaze going to Anna as she waited for her to approach.
Only then did Anna feel a faint drumbeat of apprehension. Where was Kyle? Shouldn’t he be here, too? Unless, once he was sure Molly was safe, he’d gone looking for other strays...
But she knew. She knew, even before Melissa drew her away from the boys, who stared in fascination at the girl who would be in so much trouble.
“Molly says—” Melissa swallowed. “She says she was being swept away, but Josh’s daddy went in the water after her. That he threw her toward the bank, but when she turned around he was being carried downstream. Then she couldn’t see him at all. He’s probably made it to shore somewhere, but I called 911 to be on the safe side.”
Anna began to tremble. “Kyle can’t swim.”
* * *
NATE IGNORED THE first two calls from his ex. He was having an intense conversation with another of his “angel” investors, who was on the fence about taking this opportunity.
“Send me what your analysts have, and I’ll take a look. But you know I’m leery of anything geared to the young twenties. Hell, I don’t understand most of it. Or them.”
Nate laughed. “Who does? But the money is in that market, whether we like to admit it or not.”
“Yeah, yeah,” John Reynolds grumbled, a note of humor in his voice. “Let me look, and I’ll call you back.”
“Good