Ch 13: All In

For my next session with Luke, I decided to take old Mrs. Rosa’s advice and open up a little. Instead of a raft, I brought a kickboard. This time, I tried not to worry about what I looked like in a bathing suit and hopped in the water. Again, we started with Luke kicking while holding onto the wall.
“We can try the kickboard. It should hold you better than the raft,” I said. Luke looked skeptical at the hard blue board I placed in front of him. I demonstrated how he could start by holding it under his chest and kick.
I handed him the board, and he kicked along the wall. When he started to feel more confident, he ventured further into the middle of the pool while I swam beside him. Soon he was holding the board out and dipping his head in like he had been on the wall.
For a brief moment, he lost control of the board, and he popped his head up with a panicked look on his face. When he realizes the board had just floated a little in front of him, he grabbed it and kicked safely back to the wall. After his scare, he insisted on stopping.
Afterwards, we sat on two deck chairs toweling off. “You’re really making some improvements.” I draped the towel over my shoulders like a cape.
“How did you learn to swim so well?” he asked.
“My dad taught me. And Daniel, actually,” I said. “Daniel’s dad wasn’t around much. My dad would take us to the pool, throw us up real high in the water. We loved it. He’d come to every swim meet and cheer us on.”
“Seems like a great guy.” Luke smiled at me.
“Yeah, he was. He was always there for me, so when he hurt himself, I was there for him.”
“What do you mean?”
“He injured his leg.” I paused, wondering if I should reveal so much to Luke, but like old Mrs. Rosa said, I needed to open up. “I dropped out of college before getting my degree so I could help him. My mom couldn’t do it alone, she had to keep working. I thought about finishing school later, after he died, but the bills piled up. Then Daniel started this business. I guess I just thought I could still help people this way.”
“What did you study?”
“Physical therapy.”
“No wonder you knew what to do with my hamstring,” he said, nodding.
I shrugged. “I miss him.”
“I know what you mean.” Luke’s face looked saddened.
“How so?” I asked.
“It’s nothing.”
“I can see something's bothering you. You can trust me, but I don't want to pry. I just think it might help me know how to train you in the pool.” He looked at his feet, a pained expression on his face.
“I had a sister, Cassidy. We lived with my parents in a house, not this nice, but pretty nice, with a pool in the backyard.” He paused for a minute, and I was unsure if he would continue. “She drowned.”
“How old was she?”
“I was 5, she was 2.”
“Oh, Luke. I’m so sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say. I could hear the strain in his voice as he continued.
“We moved pretty soon after. To a house without a pool.” He started twisting his hands in a nervous gesture. “I never learned to swim. Never wanted to be near the water.” He looked out over the pool. “Now I think I owe it to her. I took this movie role in honor of her.”
“I think that’s great, Luke.” He looked up at me, finally able to meet my gaze.
“Now I realize it’s a lot harder to learn to swim when you’re an adult. So I told Katie, I’m donating half my salary to getting swim lessons for kids who can’t afford them.”
“That’s a great idea.” I patted the back of Luke’s hand in sympathy. He turned over his palm and cupped my fingers. It felt natural and warm, my hand in his. We sat there silently for a minute before he let go and stood up.
“How about tomorrow we go to the beach?” I asked. “I have something I want to show you.”
“The beach usually isn’t my thing,” he said, “but I trust you, boss.”
“Good. You won’t be disappointed.”
I finally felt like Luke and I connected. That day, there was no hiding, no competition - just Luke and I swimming and getting to know each other.
***
Michelle suggested we deserved a night out after all her studying and my breakthrough with Luke. I agreed, and we headed to a bar, Soledad’s, we frequented fairly regularly.
Wearing a pair of black jeans, a shimmery silver top and some booties, I actually thought I looked pretty attractive. Michelle donned a slim black skirt with a small purple sweater. Together we looked like two fashionable young women ready to have some fun. We liked to get dressed up and strut our stuff now and again, planning to meet up with some friends at the bar.
We arrived at Soledad’s a vibrant bar that attracted both regulars and tourists and hosted karaoke every Friday, one of Michelle’s favorite past times. By the time we reached the bar around 9, many of the karaoke regulars were already there along with plenty of other patrons we’d never seen before. The buzz of people talking and drinking filled the room along with the smell of beer and sweat.
Michelle and I ordered drinks and sat at a table, talking with some other people we knew. A man in a beard performed an excellent rendition of a Lady Gaga song, garnering a raucous applause. Next, a group of young women sung a ballad off key, a woman in cowboy boots belted out a country favorite, and then they called Michelle’s name. Our table cheered and once Michelle reached the refrain, we jumped up and started dancing in front of the stage.
I swayed my hips and lifted my arms, enjoying the music and the atmosphere. Michelle was slaying the rock ballad she’d chosen, and I was having a good time. As I walked back to the bar with our other friends, a man at a table I passed slapped my butt and said, “Looking good, baby.”
I swung around, took his pint of beer that was ¾ full, and dumped it on his lap. “Don’t touch me again,” I said. The man sat stunned, looking at his 2 friends next to him.
“What the hell, can’t compliment a lady?” one responded as the man grabbed some napkins to soak up the liquid on his crotch.
“You want a drink in your lap too?” I mocked.
Michelle, seeing the commotion when she came off the stage, ran towards the table and continued to escort me back to our group.
“What happened?” she asked.
“That perve slapped my butt,” I said as we sat down.
“What’s gotten into you? “
I sighed. “I guess I’m just sick of taking crap from men.”
“Is this about Luke?”
I shook my head no. “We held hands today. Just for a minute. But it felt so good. Our hands fit so well together.”
“You mean your man hand and his actual man hand?” she asked, trying to be funny.
“Ha, ha. Yes.” I held my glass with both hands, looking over at her. “Oh, Michelle. How am I ever going to keep our relationship strictly professional when all I can think about is how sexy he is? And now I learn, he wants to donate money to helping under privileged kids learn how to swim.”
“Ahhh… that’s so nice.”
“I know.” I threw my hands up in mock disgust.
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you but sometimes you can be such a bold badass, and I think you should go for it with Luke.”
“Kicking butt is fun, love is harder.”
I was frustrated. I wanted to keep the job with Luke professional, but how could I when I felt like I was falling for him? One thing I knew for sure, now that I understood Luke’s reasoning for wanting to swim, I wanted to help him even more. I was all in.