Chapter 11:

His legs hung beneath the surface, his arms out spread. He wasn't moving at all. Her mind screamed with possibilities. He drowned while she'd been sleeping away the morning. He was murdered in the middle of the night. Or maybe, he was attacked by sharks, but she didn't hear any screaming if that was the case. Or did he hit his head or jumped in the water to kill himself? She should have never left him alone on the boat outside all by himself.

She knew that boating accidents happened all the time but was never part of one and it scared the hell out of her. She scurried around the deck, looking for things to throw into the water just in case he was still alive. She heaved some lawn chair cushions over the railing and she tossed two-rubber bumpers along with a blown up floatty tube at him. The body remained immobile now floating father out in the water. She grabbed a life ring from the stern of the boat, she knew she'd have to jump in and swim out to him to see.

'If you don't want to drown, don't go near the water.' She remembered Niles telling her that when she refused to go on a trip with Maxwell and the kids one year. Now look what happened to him. The body seemed to be going farther and farther out.

"I have to hurry." She slipped on the life ring and held on tight. "This suppose to help me?" she looked down at the thin plastic and she shook her head. Her hands were shaken and her inside twisting but she had to do this. "Here goes." Drawing a long deep breath, she gathered all her strength and began down the ladder. "I'll never get there in time."

She quickly descended the steps. Her nightgown billowed out around her floating on the surface. The cool water shocked her at first. It crept up her bare skin. She was nearly there, her fingertips just inches away from his head.

Suddenly, he popped up out of the water so fast she screamed.