Page 12 of Endless
Damn it, Shadow.
I returned my hands to the ledge. "I promise you, there are no sea monsters here. I won't let anything happen to you, you're safe."
Years ago, I said something similar to Mari when I got her to float on her back. She barely knew me back then and trusted me anyway. I was trying not to show frustration toward my own son for not trusting me. Facing fears was different for kids, I knew that.
Daren leaned forward, peering into the pool with a scrutinizing gaze. I wondered then, as I often did, which one of us made him. Rori was obviously mine. But with Daren, it was less obvious.
He was quiet and thoughtful, like Shadow, and a hands-on learner who loved tinkering, like Jandro. Some of his physical features reminded me of Reaper and Daren, the uncle he never got to know and his namesake.
But mostly, he looked like Mari. He sure as shit inherited her fear of water.
"How about this?" I said when he seemed no closer to getting in. "Hold on to me and I'll dip you, just up to your legs. We won't even get your bellybutton wet." A slower approach would probably work best for him, and I poked him in the belly to illustrate my point.
But something else had caught Daren's attention, and I followed his gaze across the pool.
A girl about his age and her mom were entering the pool area together. The girl fidgeted excitedly, her hands moving rapidly as her mother led them to an empty deck chair to set their stuff down. Her mom made some gestures with her hands and it dawned on me that they were speaking sign language.
I looked back at Daren, tickling his foot under the water to get his attention. "Who's that, bud? Do you know her?"
"That's Lily, she's my friend," he said. "She can't hear us, so we have to wait until she sees us to say hi."
"Oh, okay." I turned around again to see that Lily's mom had put goggles on her daughter's head and removed what looked like hearing aids from her ears.
The little girl looked up, and I knew immediately when she saw Daren. A big smile spread across her face, and she waved excitedly at him. Her mother caught on, and I gave a polite wave to her.
Lily snapped her goggles over her eyes, made a quick sign at Daren, then startedrunningto the edge of the pool.
Oh fuck, she's going to slip and fall. I pushed away from Daren's ledge and went toward her, not thinking about how I'd tell her to be careful. I just wanted to be there to help if she got hurt.
It was all for naught, however, as Lily straightened her arms above her head, stacked her palms on top of each other, and made a smooth, perfect dive into the pool. I stopped in my tracks, utterly stunned, and I knew Daren had to be too. I'd been swimming since I could crawl, and I definitely couldn't dive like that at five years old.
"Showing off for her friend," Lily's mom laughed as she approached the pool's edge. "Hi, I'm Anna."
"I don't blame her, that was amazing." I said. "I'm Gunner, Daren's dad."
"Nice to meet you both. We're new to Four Corners, and it sounds like those two really hit it off in school today."
"I'm glad to hear it."
Lily had been frog-kicking underwater on her way to Daren's side of the pool, her head popping up just a few feet away from where he was sitting.
"Wow!" His eyes were big and round as he stared at her. "You're like a fish." He pointed at Lily, then placed his hands behind his ears to wave them like gills as he sucked his cheeks in.
Lily let out a soft sound that must have been a laugh, then signed something at Daren before beckoning him to join her in the water. He looked up at me, that same apprehension in his eyes from before. But now there was something else—determination.
"Yeah, we're still working on the whole ‘getting in the pool’ part." I chuckled at Anna as I made my way back over to Daren's side. Lily turned around as I approached, and I greeted her with a smile and two thumbs up. "Great dive, that was awesome!" I wasn't sure if she read lips, but made an effort to speak slowly and enunciate the words anyway.
The little girl beamed and touched her hand to her mouth, bringing her forearm down in a smooth arc.
"She says ‘thanks’," Daren interpreted for me proudly. "That's my dad." He pointed at me and made another sign with his hand, spreading his fingers wide and touching his thumb to his forehead.
My chest swelled with pride. He learned quickly and was already picking up Spanish words from Jandro. When Mari’s parents came over, Daren and his grandfather Javier were able to have complete, albeit simple, conversations entirely in Spanish. And now here he was, picking up a third language like it was nothing. I couldn’t wait to tell the others when we got home.
“She’s asking Daren to get in the pool with her.” Lily’s mom sat on the ledge a few feet away from my son, dipping her feet and calves into the water and signing as she spoke.
He seemed more determined to try, gripping the pool’s edge in his small hands and staring down at the surface like it was his arch nemesis. I didn’t want to add to the pressure he was likely already putting on himself, nor did I want to embarrass him in front of his new friend. So I moved to the side as he started to scoot, inch by inch, off the ledge.
“Do you want help, buddy?” I asked in a low voice, meant only for him to hear.
