Page 29 of Estranged Heart

“You said you come here all the time. Do you only come to dip your feet in and stare at the sky?”

“Pretty much. It’s usually more relaxing and peaceful than this.” His lips turn up into a grin.

Chuckling, I rest my hand on his knee without meaning to. My body gravitates to him without warning. I can fight it all I want, but my heart will keep thinking before my brain does and it’ll happen regardless. “It’s much better in the water. Get in and see for yourself.”

His eyes hook onto mine, his muscles tensing beneath my fingers. “I can’t swim.”

“Really?”

“Okay, that’s a lie. I don’t really care for it. I like it better up here.”

“You sure?” I jump back, leaving a wet hand print behind on his shorts.

He looks down at the spot and back at me. “Positive.” He closes his eyes and leans back again.

“Suit yourself.” Dipping myself under the water, I swim in a circle and come back up for air, hating how my lungs keep holding me back.

“You swim pretty well for someone who hasn’t done it in a while.”

“Some things are easy to pick back up. How do you know how to swim if you hate the water so much?”

Rolling his eyes, he shuffles his shoulders. “I never said I hate it, only that I’d rather be up here. The water is more admirable when I’m not in it.”

“Bet I can change your mind,” I blurt out, not sure what I mean by it.

“Doubt it. No one else has before.”

“You still didn’t answer my question. How do you know how to swim?”

His eyes open and he squints at me. “My mom forced me to have lessons when I was younger because she never got the chance to learn. She always had a fear of the water and didn’t want me to as well.”

“What does she say about you letting all that hard work go to waste?”

His face falls. “She uh . . . drowned when I was only ten. I guess she had a reason to be scared after all.”

“Shit.” Guilt strikes me in the chest. I always know when to say the wrong shit, don’t I? “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay.” His jaw tightens. “You couldn’t have.” He scoots back further, sitting in criss-cross position. “Anyway. It’s kind of why I don’t get in the water. If she was leery of it, then maybe I should be too. That, and like I said before, I like it better up here.” His drifting eyes tell me there’s more he’s not telling me, and as much as I want to know what that is, I don’t want to push him.

“Fair enough. I’ll join you where you are then.”

Before he can scoot over to make room for me, I lift myself up and sit beside him, wetting him more than the first time.

“You know, I stay a lot drier when you’re not here.”

Laughing, I bring my legs together, scooting away from him a little. “You’re at a lake. You’re expected to get a little wet.”

“And that’s why I dipped my feet in.”

“Not enough. You need a friend to jump up beside you after swimming and soak one side of your shorts.”

His eyes crinkle in the corners. “Oh, so we’re friends now?”

“You’ve been to my work, I’ve been to yours, we ate desserts together, and you recommended a good book for me to read. Now we’re sitting side by side at the lake after you shared something personal with me. I’d say we’re closer than a lot of people I went to school with.”

A smile spreads across his face. “Well, it’s hard to argue with you when you put it that way. You going to go back to swimming soon?”

I shake my head. “Being dry sounds better at the moment.”