Page 73 of Once Upon A Second Chance

It’s cold and fast and stronger than it looks, but I’ve already shoved off, cutting across the current with powerful strokes. The kid is struggling, eyes wide and mouth open in a silent scream, choking on water every time she surfaces.

“I’ve got you,” I call, voice as calm as I can make it.

She doesn’t hear me. She’s too far gone.

I push harder, legs burning, lungs tight.

One more reach—

And then I’ve got her.

Small, trembling arms, slippery with river grit and panic, loop around my neck.

She clings like a barnacle, coughing and sobbing, and I shift to hold her above the waterline with one arm while paddling back with the other.

The parents are in the shallows now, half-sobbing themselves.

Someone else has shown up—an older man with a phone pressed to his ear, gesturing wildly toward me. My feet finally touch mud, then gravel, then earth.

I hand the girl over, my arms shaking now from adrenaline and effort.

The mother collapses to her knees, clutching the child to her chest, sobbing thanks I barely hear.

Someone’s patting my shoulder. Someone else presses a towel into my hands that wasn’t there a second ago.

I just nod, dripping and breathless, trying to process what the hell just happened.

“You— you just jumped in,” someone says behind me.

I turn slowly. It’s one of the dads from the school down the road. I recognize him, barely—Brian? Bill?

“I saw it,” he says, eyes wide. “Didn’t even pause. You justwent.”

I meet his eyes, not really knowing what to say.

So I just shrug. “Wasn’t gonna lether drown.”

He laughs, still stunned. “Jesus. You’re a damn hero.”

The word catches something in my chest.

Hero.

I don’t feel like one. Not with everything going on. But I look around, and the people watching me now aren’t staring with suspicion.

They’re staring with awe.

And that? That feels new.

Chapter Sixteen

Penny

The local news article online has the kind of headline you’d expect from a town that once ran a front-page story about a goat getting stuck in the elementary school playground:

"Mount Juliet Doctor Saves Toddler from River!"

The subhead reads even better:"Quick-thinking orthopedic surgeon hailed as hero after daring rescue on Cedar Trail."