Page 107 of Knot Your Problem, Cowboy
I turn back to the fence post, gripping the hammer harder than necessary. Need to focus. Can’t spend all day watching her like some kind of stalker. That’s Cash’s job. Just need to secure this last section.
When I look back up, not even ten seconds later, she’s gone.
The bucket is on its side, feed scattered everywhere.
Every single goat is perched along the natural rise in the ground, necks craned as they peer over the edge at the five-foot drop into the deep riverbed below.
Ice floods my veins, colder than any winter storm.
“Sophia!”I call out.
Nothing. Just the wind through the grass and my own blood roaring in my ears.
I drop everything and vault over the fence line into the pen, boots sliding in the mud as I race to the edge. The slope is nearly vertical here in this section, all loose dirt and exposed roots, and below?—
The river is moving fast enough to take down a full-grown steer. The banks are sheer clay walls with nothing to grab on to. If you go in, you don’t come out without help.
I can’t see her. Just ripples. A disturbance in the current that could be anything.
A sound, so faint I might be imagining it, then a splash. Maybe her voice, cut off by water.
That’s all it takes.
I launch myself down the slope without thinking, half sliding, half falling until I hit the water like a sledgehammer. The cold knocks every thought from my head except one: Find her.
The current immediately tries to claim me, pulling me downstream toward the rapids. I fight against it, diving under, eyes burning in the murky water. Can’t see more than a foot in front of me. My hands sweep through nothing but silt and branches.
I surface, gasping. “SOPHIA!”
Just the rush of water that suddenly sounds like mocking laughter.
I dive again, deeper this time, lungs already protesting. The water is so dark it could be midnightdown here. My hands search, finding nothing, nothing, nothing?—
I breach the surface and spot hair floating like silk ribbons in the current.
My heart squeezes.
Frantically, I swim over and grab her, hauling her against my chest as I kick desperately for the edge of the river. I’m gasping. She’s limp in my arms, a rag doll.
“Don’t you dare,” I call out. “Sophia, do you hear me?”
The current fights me for her, trying to tear her from my grip, but I’ll die before I let go. I fight to get us up the bank, using strength I didn’t know I had left to haul us both up the muddy slope. All I can see is her face, too pale, too still.
I lay her on the grass, hands shaking as I tilt her head back, check her airway. She’s breathing… Just.
I drop to my knees beside her. “Don’t you dare do this to me.”
Her eyes flip open, wide and unfocused. She coughs violently, water sputtering from her mouth as her chest heaves like her lungs can’t decide whether to work or give out.
I push the wet hair from her face. “Sophia, hey. Look at me. You’re okay. Just breathe.”
She wheezes in another breath, then coughs again, deep, racking, like it’s clawing its way up from her ribs.
I shift her onto her side, steadying her with onehand on her shoulder, the other rubbing circles on her back. “That’s it. Let it out. You’re safe now.”
Her fingers clutch the grass, nails digging in. She’s shaking all over.
“You hit your head?” I ask, gently running my hand over her scalp, checking for anything bleeding or swollen. “Sophia. Talk to me.”
