Playing to Win (Summer Beach Vets 2) - sweet contemporary romance (4 page)

As she stepped out onto the street, Ellie wondered what she was doing. She had been planning to spend a morning with her old friends, PowerPoint and Excel—instead, she was taking a small boy and his rambunctious dog down to the beach to get messy, wet, and sandy—with nothing productive to show at the end of it…

It was what she would have usually called “wasting time” and yet, somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to care. In fact, she thought, remembering Will’s smiling face, she felt strangely good about it.

Will hadn’t been kidding about how bright the sun was on the beach. Even with her hat and sunglasses, Ellie felt like she had to squint in the bright glare bouncing off the white sand. There was a small clump of palm trees at the far end of the beach, near the cliffs, but otherwise the rest of the beach was completely exposed with no cover from the blazing sunshine.

There were a few families on the beach, but there was still more than enough empty space to go around. They found a good spot by the water’s edge, down at the far end of the beach, near the clump of palm trees. Ellie spread out a couple of beach towels and sat down on one to watch Will run and play with Milo. It was wonderful seeing a smile light up that small face again and the boy’s laughter was infectious. He had brought a ball for Milo and seemed to be playing a game where he would throw the ball and then he and the dog would race to see who got to the ball first.

“D’you want to give it a burl?” asked Will, coming over and holding the ball out to her.

“No, I…” Ellie looked at his eager face. “Okay. What do I have to do?”

“Just throw it,” said Will, looking puzzled. “Haven’t you ever played fetch with a dog?”

“No,” said Ellie, standing up and brushing the sand off her legs. “I’ve never had a dog. I wasn’t allowed any pets growing up.”

“No pets?” Will’s eyes were round. “That’s awful!” He threw his arms around the Labrador who was sitting, panting happily, next to him. “Milo’s my best friend. I tell him everything—and we do everything together. Didn’t you feel lonely without a dog?”

Ellie gave a rueful smile. “To be honest, I never thought I liked dogs that much. I mean, I
do
like them, but I never thought much about spending time with them. My parents always told me that dogs are dirty, messy things which cause a lot of trouble, so I guess I always sort of avoided them.” She laughed. “This is the first time I’ve been to the beach with one.” She held her hand out for the ball. “Okay, so I just throw it, huh?”

Milo barked excitedly, bouncing around her. Ellie drew her arm back and then lobbed the ball as far as she could down the beach. The dog took off, kicking sand back with his hind legs, as he bolted after the ball. Neck stretched out, tongue flapping from his mouth, legs pumping like crazy. He overtook it, twisted around in mid-air, and scooped it up in his mouth, all without breaking his stride. Then he was racing back up the beach, an expression of sheer delight on his doggie face.

Ellie felt the corners of her own mouth tugging upwards as she watched him. It was hard not to smile at Milo’s happy exuberance, his pure enjoyment of such a simple activity. She’d never experienced that before. Everything she was used to was measured and assessed and planned and judged. She was always worrying about mistakes she had made in the past or organising things for the future… and yet, watching Milo now, she suddenly didn’t want to think about the past or the future at all. Was this what they meant by “living in the moment”? Whatever it was, the dog’s uninhibited enjoyment was infectious.

He dropped the ball at her feet and bounced backwards, his tongue out, his eyes bright, watching her eagerly. Ellie picked up the ball again, hardly noticing that it was covered with dog drool and sand, and tossed it out again. She laughed as she watched Milo galloping after it. After a second’s hesitation, she took off after the dog and ran down the beach, chasing the bouncing ball as well. She was giggling and feeling totally silly as she ran alongside Milo, splashing through the waves, but it was exhilarating. 

When Ellie finally slowed down, she was surprised to find that she had run a fair way up the beach. She was wet and covered with sand. Her ponytail was a tangled mess and her leg muscles were sore from the unaccustomed exercise. But she was flushed and smiling, and had never felt so alive. She blinked. It was almost like coming out of a trance—like the one she had been in when she was eating that bacon and egg roll. She felt like she was bursting with renewed energy and optimism.

And happiness, she thought. I’m happy. But it was a totally different feeling to when she had gotten straight A’s at college or been promoted at work. She just felt happy… Here. Now. For no specific reason. Milo whined softly next to her and looked anxiously back up the beach towards the clump of palm trees.

“All right, boy,” said Ellie. “We’ll head back to Will. Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s fine.”

The dog started trotting eagerly back in the direction they had come from and Ellie fell into step behind him, thinking,
I can’t believe I just talked to a dog
.

They arrived back at the beach towels and Ellie flopped down next to Will, who was busy scooping and patting sand into a mound. Milo immediately went up to him and began licking Will’s face enthusiastically, stepping in the mound at the same time.

“Milo! You’ve just ruined my sandcastle!” cried Will indignantly, trying to turn his face away from the dog’s wet tongue.

Ellie smiled as she stretched out onto her back next to them. She was exhausted from the running. She covered her face with her hat, then relaxed, feeling the hot rays of the sun warming her bare legs. The fronds of the palm trees nearby rustled in the breeze. Her eyelids drooped. She could hear Will and Milo next to her, the boy shouting the dog’s name in exasperation every few minutes as the Labrador kept destroying his efforts. She sighed, closing her eyes, feeling her body relax even more against the warm sand…

“MILO!”

Ellie jerked awake. For a moment, she thought it was simply Will admonishing the chocolate Lab again, then she realised that there was a different note in his voice. It wasn’t exasperation. It was fear.

Ellie sat upright, looking around. She was alone on the beach towel. A few yards away from her, Will was standing at the water’s edge, waving frantically at something in the water.

“MILO!”

Ellie narrowed her eyes at the sea and, after a moment, made out a dark brown shape in the water. It was Milo, swimming steadily, out beyond the waves. She sprang up, but before she could say anything, Will suddenly plunged into the sea and started swimming out towards the dog.

“Hey!” Ellie cried, running to the edge of the water. The waves gushed around her ankles. “Will! What are you doing?”

The boy didn’t seem to hear her. He was looking only at his dog and shouting as he tried to swim through the waves. Ellie gasped as she saw a big swell suddenly engulf him.

“
Will!
” She waded into the sea up to her waist, straining her eyes.

A minute later, she saw Will’s dark head break the surface of the water. He was coughing and spluttering, trying to stay afloat, but Ellie could see that he was struggling. He bobbed up and down, going under and coming back up again. His head turned suddenly back towards the beach and Ellie caught a glimpse of his wide, scared eyes.

“Will! Hold on! I’m coming!”

Ellie plunged into the surf. The water wasn’t very cold, but it was still a shock as she was suddenly immersed up to her chin. She started swimming, cutting through the waves, heading for the boy. She was a fairly strong swimmer, but these waves were powerful—much more powerful than what she was used to. She felt them buffeting her body as she rose and fell with the swell. The fact that she was wearing clothes didn’t help much either. Her denim shorts quickly became waterlogged and the drag added to the resistance underwater. It took all her effort to stay on course. By the time she reached Will, she was panting from the effort.

“Will! Are you okay?” She grabbed the boy around his waist with one arm and helped him stay afloat while treading water with her other arm and kicking with her legs.

He coughed and nodded. “Y-y-yeah.”

“What were you doing?” demanded Ellie.

“I was w-w-worried about Milo! I thought I s-s-saw a shark! Sharks eat dogs, y-y-you know. I w-w-wanted to rescue him.” He coughed again.

Ellie glanced around. Milo was happily swimming back to shore a few dozen yards away from them, his ball clamped in his jaws. He must have come out into the water to retrieve it. Ellie shifted her hold on Will and turned to start swimming back towards the beach.

For some reason, the shore suddenly seemed much farther away now.
We must have drifted out farther than I realised,
thought Ellie, getting a tighter grip on Will.

“Ellie, I’m scared…” said Will.

“It’s okay, it’ll be fine… ‘No worries’, as you guys say,” said Ellie with a wan smile. “Just kick as hard as you can. I’ll help you and we’ll swim back to the beach together.”

Will nodded and Ellie started swimming towards the beach, pulling him with her. But something wasn’t right. Even though she was kicking strongly and cutting through the water with powerful strokes, they didn’t seem to be making any progress. Something was pulling against her, dragging her back even as she tried to plunge forward.

Ellie felt a prickle of fear run down her spine. She didn’t say anything to Will—she didn’t want to scare the kid even more—but as she fought harder against the water surging around them, she realised the terrifying truth.

They were being dragged backward, out towards the open sea.

Ellie doubled her efforts, trying to kick harder, but she could feel herself being carried backwards in the water, no matter what she did. It was as if she was caught in some invisible current that was dragging her swiftly out to sea. Her muscles were quivering as she strained against the tide. Already, her legs were starting to feel rubbery, her arms flailing slightly as she tried to pull herself and the child through the water.

She felt so tired… so exhausted…

A swell rose up suddenly in front of her and caught her unprepared, salty water gushing into her mouth, up her nose, and stinging her eyes.

Ellie choked and spluttered, losing hold of Will. She splashed and floundered, treading water frantically. Panic clamped its fist around her throat and squeezed tight. She couldn’t see, couldn’t get her nose and mouth clear of the surging water, and she felt her body sinking… going under…

“Ellie!”

A strong hand caught her arm and pulled her upwards. Her head broke the surface and she gasped, choking and coughing. She blinked, shaking the water out of her eyes, and saw Dan in the water next to them. He was holding onto Will with one arm and treading water, his grey eyes watching her with concern.

“I… I’m okay,” Ellie gasped, paddling next to him.

“Can you swim a bit if I help you?” asked Dan. “But not back to the beach. That way—parallel to the shore. Towards those waves.” He jerked his chin to the right, where the white crests were breaking against the shore.

Ellie nodded, too exhausted to answer. She turned her body and slowly started moving through the water with Dan swimming steadily beside her, pulling Will with him. She did as Dan directed and kept parallel to the beach. She found to her surprise that it was actually slightly easier because she was no longer trying to swim directly into the current. In fact, as she neared the breaking waves, she felt the drag against her body lessen until she could no longer feel a current pulling her out to sea. Instead, she felt herself rise and fall with the waves as she was pushed slowly back towards the beach.

A few minutes later, Ellie staggered out of the water and collapsed on the sand. Her legs felt like jelly and her whole body was trembling. Dan set Will gently down next to her, then ran back up the beach towards their towels. He was back in a minute, accompanied by Milo.

Will cried as he put his arms around Milo’s neck and hugged the dog close. Dan wrapped the boy gently in one of the towels, then turned to Ellie and draped the other towel around her shoulders.

“Th-th-thank you,” Ellie tried to say, although only a hoarse whisper seemed to come from her throat. She couldn’t understand why her teeth were chattering.

“Ellie? Can you hear me? Are you okay?”

She blinked at him. Everything felt like it was coming from far away. She knew she was sitting on the beach with Dan and Will next to her, but it was almost as if she was watching herself from high above. His voice seemed faint and muffled. She wanted to answer him, but her tongue felt like a lump of wet cotton wool.

“Ellie? Ellie!”

She felt herself slipping under again. No, she wasn’t in the water anymore, but this was almost the same… she was sinking… sinking… the world became dim around her…

“OW!”

Ellie jerked upright, rubbing her chest. She glared at Dan.

“Sorry,” he said quickly. “You looked like you were about to pass out.”

She looked down at her chest, where the skin above her sternum was red from being pinched.

“It’s a first-aid trick,” explained Dan. “Very sensitive area. Sharp pain works as well as ammonia under the nose.” He peered at her and touched her arm. “You all right?”

Ellie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Yeah… I think so.”

“What the hell were you thinking?” Dan demanded. His grey eyes were angry now. “You don’t go swimming on an unpatrolled beach! And to take a child out with you—”

Ellie felt a surge of anger. It warmed her, brought feeling back into her body, focused her mind again. She sat up straighter. “I wasn’t swimming for the fun of it!” she snapped. “Will went out after Milo and he got into trouble—so I was trying to rescue him. It wasn’t my fault!” Yet even as she said it, Ellie felt a twinge of guilt. Hadn’t she volunteered to bring the kid to the beach? So she should have been supervising him the whole time, not dozing off on the sand. If she had been watching Will properly, he would never have got the chance to go into the ocean in the first place.

“I’m sorry,” said Dan in a calmer voice. “I was coming down the path to the beach from the cliffs and just saw you out in the water. I didn’t see exactly what happened.”

“It’s true,” Will piped up. “Ellie came to rescue me!”

“And what were you doing out in the water, mate?” Dan ruffled the boy’s hair. “You should have known better.”

“I was scared Milo was going to get eaten by a shark! I saw a fin—I swear!”

Dan sighed. “All right. But no more swimming without the surf lifesavers on the beach, you hear me, mate? And don’t throw the ball too close to the water so Milo won’t be tempted to swim out.”

Will nodded and stood up. Dan helped Ellie to her feet and the three of them made their way slowly back to the clump of palm trees and the remainder of their belongings. Milo was already bouncing eagerly around Will, brandishing the ball in his mouth, obviously hoping for another game of fetch. Ellie was glad to see that the boy seemed to have recovered from his traumatic experience already—chattering and laughing with the dog. Certainly a lot better than herself! She hugged her towel around her. Her wet clothes were clinging to her body now in a really unpleasant way.

She stole a glance at Dan. He was wearing nothing but a pair of board shorts and the water droplets glistened on his bronzed chest, trickling down over the muscles of his flat stomach. His wet shorts were clinging to him too, but they simply highlighted his muscular physique and toned legs.

Wow, she thought, I was right. As a male beach model, Dan took some beating. Then she flushed and looked away. She couldn’t believe what she was thinking. What was wrong with her? She had just nearly drowned and here she was leering over some guy’s hot body? Not just “some guy”, the little voice in her head said coyly. Dan. Dan’s hot body.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Oh. Uh… um… yeah,” Ellie stammered, going bright red. She saw Dan look at her curiously. She wondered wildly if he could read her treacherous thoughts in her face. She scrabbled for something to say. “Uh… are there really sharks out there?”

He nodded. “Yeah, there are about a hundred and eighty species of sharks in Australian waters.”

“
A hundred and eighty
?” Ellie stared at him. “My God, if I’d known that, I’d have thought twice about diving in the water!”

“Most of them aren’t dangerous. In fact, most shark attacks on humans along this coastline only come from three species—the tiger shark, the bull shark, and the great white.”

“That’s three enough for me,” said Ellie, making a face

Dan laughed and shook his head. “People get so worked up about shark attacks when, actually, you’re more likely to be killed in a car coming to the beach! There’s been about one fatal shark attack per year in Oz in the last fifty years—compared to like fifteen hundred deaths a year on Australian roads. In fact, at the beach, you have a greater chance of dying from skin cancer or drowning than from a shark bite.”

“Really?” Ellie gave him a sceptical look.

He nodded towards the open sea. “About three hundred people a year die from drowning in Oz—and a lot of them get caught in a rip current, like you did.”

“Was that what it was? It just felt like something was pulling me out to sea and I couldn’t fight it,” Ellie said, shuddering at the memory.

“That’s where most people go wrong—they try to fight the rip current and they become exhausted and drown. The most important thing is to stay calm and keep floating… easier said than done, I know,” he said wryly. “On the patrolled beaches, the surf lifesavers will come and rescue you if you wave to attract their attention. If there’s no one around, then your best bet is to try and swim parallel to the shore, towards the breaking waves, and hopefully you’ll be able to swim out of the path of the current.”

“How d’you know all this stuff?” asked Ellie in amazement. “Were you one of those beach lifeguard people?”

Dan chuckled. “No, Craig did a lot of that when he was younger. Volunteered as a surf lifesaver. I haven’t… but like most Aussies, I guess, I’ve been around beaches all my life. Was taught all this stuff about beach awareness and water safety from the time I was an ankle-biter.” He reached forward to ruffle Will’s hair again. “Which is why you should have known better, mate!”

Will gave them a sheepish grin. They had reached their original spot near the palm trees now and Ellie wondered if Dan would leave them. She felt slightly wistful. 

“You sure you’re okay?” Dan touched her shoulder gently.

Ellie felt a tingle shoot through her. It was ridiculous how sensitive she was to the slightest touch from this man! “Yes, fine. Just desperate to have a hot shower and change into some dry clothes.”

Dan draped an arm around Will’s shoulders. “I’ll take Will and Milo home, if you like. Then you can head straight back to your place and get out of your wet clothes.”

“Thanks.” Ellie looked at him gratefully. “And… thank you for coming to save us.”

“No worries.” Dan smiled. “Lucky I was coming down the cliff path just then. In fact, I’ll take Will back that way—this exit is closer to Will’s house. But you’ll have to head back to Beach Road, I’m afraid…” He turned away with Will, adding over his shoulder. “See you on Monday.”

Ellie froze. “Monday?”

“Didn’t you know? I’m coming down to the resort,” said Dan airily. “Supervising that photo shoot of your menagerie for the brochure.”

“Oh… oh, yes, the photo shoot.” To be honest, Ellie had completely forgotten about it. Which was totally unlike her. “Wasn’t Craig supposed to come? I thought he’s the vet on-call for the resort.”

“Yes, but Craig’s away on this long weekend with Sara. He won’t be back until Tuesday. So he asked me to step in.”

“Oh. Yeah. Right…” Ellie felt even more stupid. “Well, um… I guess I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Looking forward.” Dan gave her a grin which made her stomach do that backflip thing again. Then he and Will were gone, walking towards the path that led up through the cliffs and out of the beach, with Milo bounding beside them.

Ellie watched them go for a moment, then gathered up her flip-flops, hat, and other items and started making her own way back across the sand to the other entrance on Beach Road. The beach seemed to be a lot emptier now—maybe because it was lunchtime and many families had left in search of food. Ellie was glad. At least there wouldn’t be so many people around to observe the silly grin on her face as she thought of seeing Dan again on Monday.