And it was clear that there were some parents who would not be venturing anywhere near the water, who were much happier to stand there on the beach, sipping their iced teas and watching the kids as they played.
We hung out in the water with the kids for a while longer, and then the food started coming off the grill, so we waded back in. I supervised the children with Amy at two of the picnic tables while the other adults ate, and then everyone dispersed again.
I waded back out into the water, planning to just take a quick dip to cool off, but one of the dads was coming back in with the stand-up paddleboard.
“Hey,” he said. “You want to give it a try?”
“Sure,” I said. He slid off and held the board for me so I could climb on, then he handed me the paddle.
It was actually easier than I thought it was going to be, and I paddled my way out past the dock. Lily was there, sitting on one of the jet skis, giggling.
“Wait,” she was saying. “How do I make this thing go again?” She looked at me and smiled. “I must be crazy to try riding this, right? But if you can do that and make it look so easy, I should be able to do this—I don’t even have to stand up!”
I laughed and continued to paddle on. It might be nice to do this again when I could really spend some time out here, maybe paddle all the way across the lake or something. I paddled out to almost the middle and stopped, looking around, feeling almost like I was on my own little island out at sea.
As much as I wanted t
o stay out there longer, I knew I should get back, so I slowly paddled to the right until the board was turned back to the beach. I could hear an airplane overhead and the shrieks of laughter from the kids back on the beach. The sun was warm on the top of my head and my shoulders, and I had a smile on my face as I paddled back in. This was so much better than living in the city, being able to be out here, in nature, with no traffic or skyscrapers, no concrete, no hordes of people hurrying to their next destination. This was exactly what I wanted, exactly where I wanted to be. My mother might have thought I had made a huge mistake moving out here, but so far, things had really been working out quite well.
“Look out!” someone shouted. It took me a second to realize that they were talking to me; Lily seemed to have completely lost control of the jet ski. I tried to paddle away from her, and I thought I had managed to do so, but the thing jerked sharply to the right, clipping the end of the paddleboard, sending me flying. I might’ve gone flying over the jet ski completely if I hadn’t been attached to the board, but I ended up colliding with Lily and hitting my head against something hard before I toppled into the water. There was the shock of the cold water going up my nose and into my mouth, the sharp pain on the side of my head, and then everything went dark.
I had what felt like the worst headache I could ever recall having. I opened my eyes slowly, and my vision blurred for several seconds before finally coming into focus. There seemed to be dozens of eyes staring down at me, faces of people I didn’t know. No, wait—I did know them. Some of them, anyway. There was Cole, the closest to me, and then Amy, Becca, and then some of the parents from the school.
I was lying on my back in the sand, on the beach.
“What happened?” I said, trying to sit up.
Cole rested his hand gently on my shoulder. “Don’t try to move yet,” he said. “You’re fine, but you should stay lying down for now. Lily collided with you on the jet ski. She’s okay, too, but you hit your head and got knocked out.”
I groaned inwardly. “I’m okay,” I said, wanting the crowd to disperse, wishing more than anything that this hadn’t happened. And then Lily was there, soaking wet, looking close to hysterics.
“Allie, are you all right?” she kept asking. “Oh my God, is she okay?”
“I think she’s okay,” someone murmured.
I lay there for another moment, and then I slowly eased myself up to a sitting position. Lily kneeled down next to Cole.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I don’t even know what happened, I thought I had better control of that thing.” I didn’t know if her face was wet because she hadn’t dried off completely or if she’d been crying. Either way, I had a feeling she looked worse than I did.
“It was an accident,” I said. “And I’m fine. Just... a little sore, that’s all. I’ll be fine, though, really.” I tried to give her a smile but felt a wave of nausea roll through me.
“You’ve probably got a mild concussion,” Cole said. “Which means we definitely want to get you home and into bed. You’re not going to drive; I’ll drive you back, and we can figure out how to get your car later.”
He stood up and then leaned down and scooped me up. Amy and the other teachers were there, looking on with worried expressions, as were the rest of the parents, but it was the children that I felt bad about; they looked terrified, and I wished that they hadn’t seen that happen.
“You don’t have to carry me,” I said.
“I know, but I’m going to.”
And he carried me up the beach to the parking lot, a few of the kids trailing after, Declan right there, looking on anxiously. Cole set me down when we got to his car, and I got in slowly, my head still throbbing. Declan climbed into the backseat, and then Cole went back down to the beach to talk to Becca and Kris. Amy had gone over to my car and retrieved my keys and my purse, which she set on the floor by my feet.
“You sure you’re all right?” she said.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I think it was probably a lot worse than it looked. I just need to go home and rest a little bit, and I bet I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”
She looked as though she wanted to believe me but didn’t quite. “And Cole’s a doctor, remember?” I said. “If there’s any issue, he’ll be right there.”
“That’s true,” she said. “You’re in good hands. Okay, well, I’ll check in with you later, okay?”