Coming Up Daffy by Sandra Sookoo Page A

mischief and something stronger. “So, Mr. Kincaide, do you wanna try kissing me now?”
    The playful mystery vibe she put out was like an invisible fishing line and he’d been completely hooked. “You don’t have to ask me twice.” He sidled closer. Just as he reached out to embrace her, the boulder she stood on shifted. With a loud sucking sound, the ground gave way. Big chunks of brown earth crumbled around the boulder. As if in slow motion, Alice lost her balance. Her arms windmilled. A fearful expression lined her face and then she tumbled down the bank. She hit the water with a surprised squeal. She floundered, grabbing at exposed tree roots, branches or anything nearby, but the current plucked at her body as if she were a child’s doll. Before Mark’s horrified gaze, the creek pulled her away from the bank and yanked her beneath the churning, muddy water.
    â€œAlice!” Time accelerated and left him standing in a haze of disbelief. Mark’s gut clenched. He darted down the property line, running parallel with the creek. “Alice, can you hear me?” With his heart in his throat, he frantically scanned the water hoping to see a glimpse of her red raincoat. “Alice!”
    I can’t lose her. Not like this.
    He vaulted a clump of weeds. Mud pulled at his boots, but he continued on with determination, his gaze glued to the creek. He prayed like a mad man that she’d surface. Never in his life had he been as scared as he was now. His insides were cold and shaking, his mouth dry. Finally, he caught a glimpse of her bright red coat. Her head bobbed above the water line, so close the whites of her eyes were visible. No longer did her blonde hair gleam like gold.
    â€œMark! Help me!”
    The terror-filled cry spurred him into action. He scrambled down the bank. The water sloshed over his boots. “I’m coming.” With his heart pounding hard in his temples and his stomach full of knots, Mark dove into the angry current.
    Cold water broke over his body, seeping into his clothes, tearing at him with chilly fingers, but he pushed toward the surface. Once he broke it, he swam in a diagonal line toward the spot where he’d last seen her. “Alice!” He spat murky water, blinking to help clear it from his eyes.
    â€œMark!” She wasn’t far ahead of him, clinging to a dead tree protruding from the bank.
    He trained his gaze on the red jacket and put every ounce of energy he had into swimming to her. The current worked against him, the cold sapped his strength, but the urge to save Alice was more powerful than both combined. Slowly, the distance between them closed. “I’m almost there.” Two strokes brought him to her location. He grabbed onto the tree with one hand and wrapped his other arm around Alice’s waist. “I’ve got you.”
    â€œDon’t let go.” Her teeth chattered as she clung to him while her shivers transferred to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck with a strong grip. “Don’t let go.”
    â€œI won’t. I promise.” Not now, not ever. He pressed a kiss to her wet temple. “We need to get out of the water.” He gauged the distance between the tree and both banks of Grady Creek. “I think we’ll be okay, just bear with me and hang on.” The property where they’d gone into the water wasn’t that far away. A few yards ahead, it looked like there was a stretch of shallows that would allow them to climb the banks and regain high ground. His body ached from exertion, his limbs as weak as rubber bands, and his lungs burned, but the need to make sure Alice was okay burned stronger than his fatigue. “Here we go.”
    He pushed off from the tree and swam with awkward one-arm strokes diagonally through the current. When his shin bumped what would have been the natural creek bank had the waterway not been flooded, he whipped Alice around, hoping