Daredevil’s Run

from meeting his eyes when he took it and let her anchor him as he pulled himself to a sitting position.

Her eyes. Greenish, now, and dark as quiet water, fringed with black and filled with accusation and anger, confusion and pain. Looking into them, he felt the elation leave him. He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay.

Or, he ruefully amended, it would be, if only she could get over her issues, whatever they were-pride, independence, mom, commitment-and realize she needed him as badly as he needed her.

There-he’d said it. Not aloud, but to himself, which was halfway there, right? I need you, Alex Penny. I thought I had everything figured out, things were going okay, my life was on track. But Cory’s right, there’s more to life than a career. And the truth is, I really need you in mine.

“Think you can handle a paddle, Matthew? If you’re not too beat up, you can help me get this boat to shore.” Alex’s voice, rough and cranky as nine miles of bad road, and music to his ears.

“Hand me a paddle,” he said, grinning because he knew how much it must have cost her to ask for his help, even for something like this.

But it was something. Baby steps, he told himself.

Alex hated to admit defeat, but she’d had enough. Enough of this damn run, enough of Matt, and enough of this damn river. Should’ve listened to her instincts in the first place. Why had she agreed to it, when every ounce of common sense had told her it was crazy?

Yes, why did you, Alex? Because…admit it, you wanted to see him again. Yes, you did.

With Sam and Matt helping, she managed to beach the boat at a spot they sometimes used for emergency take-outs because it was a fairly easy hike up to the road-for someone with working legs. The first thing she did, once her feet were on dry land, was call the Rafting Center. She was a little surprised when Linda handed the phone right over to Booker T. He gave her his usual, “Hey, sweet pea,” but Alex could tell he was worried.

“Don’t you ‘sweet pea’ me. Right now I’d just as soon kill you as look at you. How’s Tahoe?”

“Pretty much out for the season, so he’s not a happy man, but other than that, he’s fine. How’re you doin’?”

“’Bout as well as you’d expect, considering this was insane to start with. We’ve got another injured man. Need you to come pick us up.”

“Aw, shoot. Who-”

“Cory went in at Vortex-broke some ribs, I think. Look, there’s no way we’re taking those last rapids-the Falls- with only three able bodies.”

“Three? And…one of those would be Matt, I take it?”

“Don’t push it, Booker T. I mean it.” She scowled at Matt, who was listening to every word and grinning, damn him. And sitting there with the paddle across his knees, his looked as able as any body she’d seen lately. “We’re at that take-out point below Vortex-you know where I mean. You know Matt can’t get up to the road, so you’re gonna have to come get us. How fast can you get here?”

“Uh…got a problem with that, honey. We just got word they’ve closed the road above the Johnsondale Bridge because of that fire.”

Alex felt as if the bottom had fallen out of her stomach. The world went cold and quiet for a moment. Then, realizing three pairs of eyes were watching her like hawks, she hauled in a breath and said brightly, “Bloody hell.”

“Sorry, baby doll. I’ll get the bus up to the take-out at the bridge, but you’ll have to get down that far on your own.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

She disconnected, swearing under her breath, and punched in the number for the fire department. It rang several times before Dave picked up. He listened to her request, then broke the news: all available choppers were out on the fire.

“Unless you’ve got a dire emergency, I can’t pull one off the fire right now. Obviously, lives come first, so if you tell me you’ve got lives at stake, we’ll come and get you.”

Alex hesitated, biting her lip, looking at the three people sitting in the boat, watching her intently. Cory, pale and tight-lipped with pain. Sam, calmly holding his hand. Matt.

“Alex? Say the word.”

“No. No, that’s okay. We’ll make it,” she said. And thumbed the disconnect button.

Chapter 8

Alex tucked the phone back in her waterproof duffel bag and zipped it shut. One way or the other, she wouldn’t be needing it again this trip. It was all up to her now.

She straightened and turned to face the others. But it was Matt’s eyes she held on to as she spoke. “Okay, troops, here’s the situation. The road’s closed because of the fire, so the bus can’t get up here to us. Choppers are tied up fighting the fire, so they can’t pick us up either. So…looks like we’re pretty much on our own.”

“No problem,” Sam said. She gave her husband’s hand a squeeze and let it go. “We’ve come this far, we can finish it. How much farther is it?”

“Not that far…but the problem is, the last rapids we run before the take-out below the bridge-”

“Carson Falls,” Matt said, nodding.

Alex glanced at him, then back at Sam, who said, “Yikes. Falls? That sounds like fun.”

Alex hauled in a breath and tried a smile. “It can be, actually. They’re not that high, but it’ll seem like a mile, going over. And it can be tricky. But normally, see, there’d be a few more people to help navigate. I don’t know if I can-”

“We can,” Matt said quietly. “We’ve done it before, Alex. You and me. We can do it again.”

It had been a while since he’d given in to frustration over his lack of mobility, but right then he desperately craved privacy. Privacy with Alex. To be alone with her and do…well, whatever it took to make her see she didn’t have to go it alone. That she was not alone.

But he couldn’t do that, not with his chair strapped on the back of the boat, and nothing but a narrow strip of riverbank among the rocks even if he’d had access to it. And he couldn’t very well ask his brother and Sam to give them a few minutes, not with Cory in pain and barely mobile himself. So he just looked at her as hard as he could and hoped she’d see the confidence and conviction in his eyes.

Dance with me, Alex.

It came back to him suddenly, that evening at The Corral, when he’d had his epiphany about what this river run was all about, what it meant to him and his future. And it seemed to him he must have known somehow that it was all going to come down to this. This moment. This question. Are you gonna dance with me, Alex?

A gust of wind chose that moment to come skirling up the canyon, bringing enough smoke with it to make his eyes water.

Alex held on to her braid with one hand as she looked up at the sky. “Yeah, but the river’s not the only thing we’ve got to worry about.”

Cory cleared his throat and tried to straighten up, grimaced and had to brace his ribs with his good arm in order to speak. “Hey-for what it’s worth, I’ve had my life saved on more than one occasion, and it happens two of the people who’ve done that for me are right here in this boat.” He coughed, grinned and looked first at his wife, then at Matt, and finally at Alex. “If I get a vote, I can’t think of any three people I’d rather trust to get me home safely than the two of them…and you, Alex.”

Sam laughed the way people do when they’re moved and trying not to let on and said, “Well, shoot, Pearse.”

“What about it, Alex?” Again, Matt put everything he had into his smile, his voice, his eyes. “Are we gonna do this?”