“Yes, there’s a damned good chance. But if it helps you find that safe spot again, so be it.”

He tied a rope into a loop, fastened it to the boat’s bow, let it hang in the water.

“Well, shit. I did not see this coming.” Caitlin stripped down to her bra and panties. “You sure this isn’t just an excuse to get me naked?”

He laughed. “Only your soul, my friend.”

She stood on the metal bench, felt the goose bumps on her arms reach for the sun.

“Take a second,” he said. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Caitlin nodded, took a last breath, then plunged feet first into the cold. The bottom came faster than expected. Her bare heels touched a mix of grass and loose soil, maybe eight feet down at the most. She blew out to stay submerged and opened her eyes. The murky water around her melted into the searching sunlight above, not much visibility side to side. Her body’s shock gave way to acceptance, and she listened to the distorted sounds of life above. A perfect kind of white noise, a faraway memory, a fetal innocence.

She put herself back in her father’s pool and admitted what she hadn’t said to Canton. While down there staring at the sun, she’d blown out all of her breath and waited. The oxygen depleted, her chest convulsed, and the overhead sun went wavy. Seconds from collapse, she knew her answer: she could die right then, or she could live. Completely up to her.

That day, the weight of Troy’s attack had nothing on the need for one more breath.

Now, on the bottom of Lake Lemon, she made the same choice. She took one last look at the lovely blue above, brought her arms down, kicked to the surface, and broke into daylight.

Scott treaded water next to the boat. “Ready to swim?”

“Try to catch me,” she said, then launched into a crawl stroke.

Her body pumped full force, one arm up, the other down, legs kicking, everything in synchronicity, a steam locomotive bound for glory.

No fear, no thought, only experience.

She took a breath, head out of the water, eyes open to the shore. Fifty feet to go. She’d left Scott behind, but nothing mattered. She fought on until her hands touched something reedy, green, alive. She lowered her feet, crawled through four feet of vegetation, hit earth, and didn’t stop. She ran twenty feet, jumped, both arms in the air, screamed in pure joy. “Woooooooo!”

She turned to see Scott reaching the shore as well.

“That was really stupid,” he said, already shivering.

“So stupid,” she said, yelled at the lake again. “Wooooooo!”

Scott joined her primal scream.

When they ran out of air, she turned to him. “Now how do we get our clothes?”

He smiled and pointed out to the boat, breathless.