No, Carrie should have been inside resting, not out here in the heat. As he looked at the ledge, he realized Carrie wasn't here, either, so he kept looking. Instead, he found her far below, swimming with the wild waves from distant boats breaking over the shore. The sunlight shone off the water and glistened on her skin, almost glowing, and its brilliance nearly blinded Robbie, forcing him to blink so his eyes would stop watering. When they had, he gasped, completely taken back. His wife, someone who'd always been so modest, was skinny dipping. He started to yell at her, asking if she'd lost her mind, but then, as he kept looking, found himself mesmerized by the way the water sparkled on her skin as she danced around, a smile on her face. More than once, she threw her arms wide, exposing her breasts to the world, something so un-Carrie. Her smile was wide and infectious, and when she laughed, that didn't sound like Carrie, either, but almost musical. The logical part of Robbie said he should go to her and figure out what kind of madness had laid claim to her, but that logical side was no match for Carrie's beauty, suddenly more free than he had ever seen it as her hair rippled in the wind in its own sort of dance. From time to time, the waves sank enough he could see her rounded belly, full of the beautiful child they'd created together, a child he couldn't wait to welcome. "Carrie," he whispered, feeling the shoes slip from his grip. Some part of him heard them thunk atop the ground, but he paid them no mind, not when his whole world danced below and the view was so breathtaking. She was moving farther and farther out when suddenly her body disappeared beneath the water. He waited, his breath caught, but she did not resurface. "Carrie?" he said, his voice a little louder as whatever spell had lain claim to him suddenly released him. It was then he sped down the incline, more than once almost falling. Although he glanced frequently at the water, he didn't see Carrie. It was as though she had never been there, and that troubled him all the more. He couldn't run fast enough, yet the world blurred past as he kept his gaze trained on the water, waiting for her to resurface. Before he'd reached the bottom, she came up once but just as quickly sank again, and while Robbie should have felt a little more at ease seeing her head above the water, he didn't slow.
