Page 15 of Shining Pearls
I wanted nothing more than to bolt out of this chlorine-scented, echoing chamber of fright, but I was determined to do what was best for my daughter. She had suffered enough this past year, so I refused to do anything that would add to her heartache. It had become obvious since my return that eliminating Josie from her life was confusing and painful to the sensitive child.
After Josie helped the old woman out of the pool and grabbed two large towels for them to dry off, I sensed the moment she saw us. Her expression betrayed the fact that she didn’t wish to see me any more than I wanted to see her, but to her credit, she lifted her chin and walked directly toward us.
As she approached, my throat became parched, and I desperately wanted to run out the door of this horrible place and never return. I’d always been frightened of the water and how it could pull you down into its depths, never to release you, but now I was adding an association of my husband’s mistress to the mix.
Openly scanning her up and down as she walked with water droplets trailing down her skin, I searched frantically for flaws, but came up empty. She had a swimmer’s body with long, lean, and strong limbs. The smattering of freckles across her cheeks was duplicated on her shoulders. Even without a trace of makeup, her face was fresh and alluring.
I don’t know what I’d been hoping to discover by coming here, but this flawless athlete wasn’t it. My plan had been to speak from my heart, rather than giving her a rehearsed speech, but now that she was here in front of me, my mind went blank, and I wished that I had planned something to say.
Hannah broke the awkward silence for us by yelling, “Aunt Jo!” before lobbing herself at the woman, not caring that she would get all wet from hugging her. Josie bent down to the child’s eye-level and wrapped her into a loving embrace. She squeezed her eyes shut as she hugged my daughter, and it dawned on me then that she truly cared about my little girl.
Becoming uncomfortable with the open, heartfelt exchange, I stared at my feet and waited for them to break apart. When they finally did, Hannah revealed the reason I had given her for this visit. “Mommy says I can continue my swimming lessons with you!”
“Oh,” Josie’s eyes widened at this news before they darted to mine. I gave her a half-nod to confirm the child’s words. “That’s great, sweetie.”
The endearment slipped naturally off her tongue. I could tell the moment she realized what she had said because she looked once more to me, but with an apologetic look this time.
The woman was obviously frightened by how I would react to her obvious emotional connection with my child. The way everyone was tiptoeing around like they were on eggshells around me made me feel like the Wicked Witch of the West. The fact that the woman’s bond with my child did, in fact, annoy me a great deal made my emotions churn even more.
I wanted nothing more than to rip Hannah away from Josie and ban them from ever seeing each other again. That would be an incredibly selfish maneuver, though, and would risk emotionally damaging my innocent child more than she already had been by the last year’s tumultuous events.
Instead of following that base urge, I plastered a smile onto my face. “Yes, there’s too much water surrounding us in this town for Hannah to not be able to swim, and I hear you’re the best teacher in town.”
My voice sounded wooden, despite my intent to insert some enthusiasm into it. I bit my lip because I had managed to grossly understate Josie’s talents in the water. She had been Olympics-bound and was one of the best swimmers in the world. Referring to her as the best teacher in our little town was probably incredibly insensitive and insulting.
I cringed as I looked at her to gauge her reaction. If she was annoyed by my words, she hid it well.
“I would love to continue working with Hannah in the pool.” She grinned down at my daughter before turning her attention back up to me. “You’ll be amazed when you see the progress she made over the summer.”
It was like being punched in the gut. I hated missing any of Hannah’s milestones, but having this woman be the impetus for my daughter starting to conquer her fear of the water was especially heartbreaking. This was worse than when she’d been a toddler and I had picked her up at daycare after a long day of work at the bank only to find that she had taken her first steps while she was there with them.
As much as I tried to put on a brave face, I feared that it appeared more like an uncomfortable grimace, so I decided to make a quick exit before things became any more awkward between us.
“Wait! When would you like to schedule Hannah’s lessons to begin?” Josie called out to our backs as I tried to scurry my daughter out of there.
Turning back, I said, “I’ve changed my schedule to work shorter days, in order to have more time to focus on my family, so any evening after school gets out will work.”
“Tuesdays at 4?” she offered.
I nodded in answer, before turning back around and hightailing it out of there with my daughter in tow.
As we walked outside into the bright sunshine, I took a deep breath of the familiar, briny air. It was wonderful to escape the strong smell of pool chemicals.
My hand was still clutching Hannah’s when she beamed up at me and said, “I can’t wait ’til Tuesday.”
“Yeah, me neither,” I said flatly, wondering what I might have just agreed to do.
13
Josie
Tuesday was looming like a dagger hanging precariously over my head. As much as I was looking forward to spending some quality time in the pool with Hannah, I was incredibly nervous about the awkward tension and barely-contained hostility that emanated from Claire when we were in the same room.
Aunt Mimi and Dean both expressed concerns about my agreement to teach Hannah. They were both of the opinion that Claire might be intending to find some way to get even with me for sleeping with her husband.
“I’m not nearly as scared of her as I am her sister,” I revealed to Dean as we sat on Aunt Mimi’s front porch swing on Monday night.
Dean chuckled and nodded his agreement. “Meg is small, but frightening.”
