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“I love you, Miles,” I said, bunching my hands into fists, the tears streaming down my face. I wasn’t going to get myself eaten without putting up a fight.
Just then the unthinkable happened. Miles stood up on the kayak and jumped. Once in the water, he started thrashing like crazy, generating an incredible amount of splash.
“Over here, you stupid son of a bitch!” Miles screamed. “I’m over here!”
The shark kept coming. I raised my hand in the air, ready to punch it, but the shark swam past me. I got a glimpse of its long, gray body as it slid by within a foot of me, and then it picked up speed.
It was heading straight for Miles.
“Miles, no!”
Miles stopped splashing and climbed back onto the kayak.
Or tried to.
I knew what was going to happen before it happened. Miles had put his entire weight on one side of the kayak and attempted to lift himself up. The kayak pitched and capsized, throwing him back in the water.
“Miles!”
I watched in mounting horror as Miles struggled to flip the kayak back, losing precious time as the torpedo-shaped predator closed the distance quickly.
He’s not going to make it in time,I thought with dreaded certainty.
Miles seemed to have come to the same conclusion. In the last few seconds before the shark attacked, he gave up on righting the boat. Reaching for the wooden oar floating next to him, he raised it briefly and rammed it down. A tremendous splash of water erupted. I caught glimpses of a powerful tail thrashing.
“Miles!” I screamed, pushing off and swimming in his direction as fast as I could. The churning water stilled, and at first there was no sign of either Miles or the shark. Only the overturned kayak. Then Miles burst out of the water, gasping and clutching a heavily mauled paddle.
“Miles, oh my god, Miles!” I said when I reached him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, squeezing my hand briefly while we treaded water. “Quick, help me with this before it comes back.”
We righted the kayak and he steadied it while I climbed in, then he handed me the paddle and carefully pulled himself in.
“Are you okay, babe?” Miles said, hugging me tight and looking me over, concern written all over his face.
“Yeah, thanks,” I said, giving him a big kiss. “You saved me, Miles. You saved my life. That was extremely brave of you.”
“I was just being selfish,” he said with a sly grin. “There was no way I was going to let anyone, or anything, have a piece of you. I need you all to myself.”
“I could have lost you today,” I said, caressing his face. “You know that, right?”
“Nah. The shark never had a chance.”
“Yeah, right.”
“But we better head home before it comes back with a few of its friends.”
I nodded. “Where’s the other paddle?”
“Shit, it must have fallen out.”
We scanned the surface around us, but we could not locate it.
“That’s okay,” Miles said. “How about you navigate while I paddle?”
“I can do that.”
We started moving toward the shore, but with only one paddle the going was slow.
