Page 103 of Beauty and the Bayou

“I’m not strong enough to hold him and paddle much longer.”

Her voice was edged with panic and Sawyer reacted to it, fear and frustration surging through him.Sawyer wrapped a big arm around Juliet’s waist, hugged her and Cooper to his side, and kicked off with everything in him.He got them to the boat and Gabe was immediately there, hauling Cooper onto the deck and then Juliet.Sawyer pulled himself up.

Adrenaline still pumping, Sawyer surged to his feet.Cooper was wrapped in Gabe’s arms.Sawyer hauled Juliet to her feet and crushed her to his chest.

That’s when the shaking started.

He wasn’t sure if it was him or her, but his entire body was quaking within seconds.The life jacket was in the way of getting her up against him fully.He pulled back and started to unbuckle her.

But she knocked his hands away.“No!”

He looked into her face for the first time.

She was ghost white, her eyes were huge, and her breathing was too fast.

“Jul—”

“I’m not taking it off,” she said firmly.She grabbed the end of one of the buckles and pulled it tighter in fact.

Right.She was still out on the boat.She’d just fallen in.Okay, she’d just been pushed in.

Sawyer dragged in a deep breath.He reached under the nearest seat and pulled out another life jacket.He wrapped it around her and the one she had on, tightened it, and then set her on the bench.He wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

He’d been fine, having a great time in fact, when she’d been sitting stiffly and safely in the middle of the boat.The moment she’d moved, he’d freaked.That was a problem.The people in his life couldn’t just sit still all the time.But clearly he wasn’t over the overreacting after all.

She sat still, staring forward.

He glanced at Cooper and Gabe.The little boy was cuddled on his dad’s lap with his sister right next to them, her hand on his back.

“Stell?”he asked, his voice gruff.

She looked over her shoulder.

He gestured toward Juliet.The little girl nodded and moved back a row to sit next to Juliet.She took Juliet’s hand and Juliet let her.

It was sweet.And Sawyer hated it.He wanted to be the one comforting her.

But he had to drive the boat back.

He was also the one who’d pushed her into the bayou because he’d overreacted to her leaning over the side.

And he’d frozen up once in the water.He hadn’t grabbed her immediately and gotten her back onto the boat.He’d panicked.He’d freaked out.And, with a weaker right side, she’d had to try to tread water while holding onto a scared little boy in the bayou that not only was she scared of, but that she hadeveryreason to fear.

He’d lost Tommy because he hadn’t been there.

But he could have lost Juliet today and hehadbeen there.Right there.

Sawyer forced himself onto the seat at the back of the boat, started the engine, and turned them for the docks.

She hadno idea how to feel.

Wet.

That was mostly how she felt at the moment.Andnotin a good way.

The ride back to the Boys of the Bayou dock seemed forty-seven hours long.The rumble of the airboat and the droning sound that cancelled everything else out put her in a bubble with her thoughts.She was vaguely aware that Sawyer had sat her on a bench, put her headphones on her, and wrapped her in a blanket.She felt Stella’s hand in hers.She knew that Cooper was with his dad.She didn’t have anyone to worry about.She knew that Cooper was physically okay.He’d been dunked under the water briefly, but she’d gotten to him quickly.But in the back of her mind she was concerned about his mental state.He was clearly a worrier.Something the two of them had in common.She’d seen him reaching for the hat that had blown off his head and she’d panicked.He’d been reaching too far and the deck of the boat had been slippery, so she’d grabbed the back of his vest…

And Sawyer had pushed them all into the bayou.

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