Free Wandering Heart (9781101561362) by Katherine Thomas; Spencer Kinkade, Katherine Spencer

do any of that. No point arguing with him. He’s totally inflexible and I’ll just come off as the spoiled diva. If I can just get this scene down to suit him, maybe he’ll relax and lay off a bit.
    Charlotte stepped from rock to rock, considering the director’s instructions and what she would do next in front of the camera. Lost in her thoughts, she looked up to find she had nearly reached the end of the jetty. It suddenly occurred to her that it wasn’t safe out here. The waves struck with a booming sound, and the spray rose in plumes around her.
    She stepped back carefully, feeling slippery green moss under her bare feet.
I went out too far. That was dumb. I’ll have to be careful going back. Step by step, I can make it,
she coached herself.
    She had made it halfway back, feeling almost home free, when a huge wave rose up beside her, curling over her head and crashing down on the rock where she stood. Charlotte would have screamed, but instead she stood mesmerized, watching the rushing water.
    Seconds later, it knocked her off her feet and washed her into the sea. She had no chance to even take a breath. Her body was pulled under the water and churned like a pile of laundry in a washing machine.
    The rocky jetty stood empty, foam ebbing back into the sea.

Chapter Four
    S UBMERGED in the icy cold water, Charlotte didn’t know which way was up. Holding her breath was instinctive. So was trying to swim back to the surface.
    She fanned her arms and legs and felt a rock’s jagged edge with her foot and quickly pushed off in another direction. She wasn’t sure how she had escaped being dashed against the rocks, or how her bones had not been snapped like twigs by the force of the water.
    She was a strong swimmer, but this was something altogether different. She couldn’t hold her breath another second and felt a white-hot pounding in her head and deep in her chest. She felt desperate to open her mouth and gasp for air, as if she were being smothered. But she knew it would be fatal.
    Was she going to drown? Was that what was happening to her? Was this really the way her life was going to end?
    Oh, God … please help me. I don’t want to die. Please …
    Charlotte had not been to church in years, though she had goneas a child with her grandmother and still prayed from time to time. She wasn’t sure where the prayer had come from, erupting from her desperate soul.
    She wasn’t sure if she’d actually heard an answer either. Or if it was just the kind of hallucination a person might have when they’re dying.
    Be strong, Charlotte. You are loved.
    Had she really heard a voice, or was she getting hysterical? Hallucinating due to a lack of oxygen?
    Was that the voice you heard at the very end?
she wondered.
    A current swept her up, tossing her around like a soggy rag doll. She tried but she couldn’t fight it. She finally gave in, surrendering to its force. With all her strength she held her breath one more second. She knew when she let it go, it would all be over.
    Another surge of water lifted her up, flinging her body like a leaf. Miraculously, her head broke through the surface. She tilted her head back, gasping for air and trying to tread water.
    When she was finally able to get her bearings, she saw that she had been pulled far from the jetty. She was relieved that she wouldn’t be dashed on the rocks, but she was so far from the shore now and could feel a strong current carrying her even farther out to sea.
    The current was moving swiftly, parallel to the shoreline. She saw the crew on the beach, tiny specks in the distance. She tried to wave to them, but she was so far out and so tired, the simple gesture was impossible. And hopeless, she realized.
    Stop panicking,
she told herself.
You can survive this. What are you supposed to do if you’re caught in a current?
She tried to remember her swim classes from childhood. All she could remember was that she needed to float, to save her strength.
Sooner or later,