Page 20 of Secrets (The Sins Trilogy 2)
“I have a great coach.” This is just the first step, but it’s still an accomplishment, and I’m too thrilled to stay still in the water. “I thought it’d take weeks to learn to float.” Which is why I tried to force it, like somehow if I jumped into the water over and over again, my body would figure it out. But the patient way was better.
“Told you.”
“I don’t know why I never learned.” More precisely, I can’t remember. But I’m certain I never took lessons or anything. If I had, my body would’ve known exactly what to do, just like it does at the piano.
“You were busy,” he says.
“You think?”
“Traveling around. Life. Not everyone can swim anyway.”
“Can you teach me to swim freestyle?” Julie and I watched the last Olympics together, and freestyle looked like the most natural stroke.
“How about the breaststroke?” he says, looking down at my chest. “I could teach you that in an afternoon, and we wouldn’t even need a pool.”
“Har har har. I know it has nothing to do with boobs. And it looked really awkward on TV. Like swimmers were slamming their chest against the water to come up out of it and propel themselves forward.”
Tony chokes. “Slamming their chest to come up and propel forward!” He laughs, his head thrown back. “That’s too hilarious. Not to mention, you’re describing the butterfly, not the breaststroke.”
I poke him in the ticklish spot on his side. “Laugh all you want. That’s how it looks to me.”
“I’ll teach you how to do freestyle, but the lesson’s over for now.”
Wait, what? I hold on to his arm, stopping him from leaving the pool. “But why? I’m doing so awesome!” I make myself float. “See? Totally ready for more.”
“We’ve been at it for ninety minutes, and you’re tired.”
“No, I’m not,” I say, even though now that he mentions it, my muscles are starting to feel kind of rubbery.
Holding my hand, he pulls my floating body slowly toward the steps. “We don’t want to overdo it. There’s tomorrow and the day after and the rest of the week…and month…and year. And it’ll be better for you to learn a bit at a time. There’s some value in consistent practice rather than doing a lot at once. Wasn’t that how it was when you studied the piano?”
I scowl, not liking that he’s making another great point to make me exercise patience. Although I don’t remember exactly how I learned to play the piano, I do know that you can’t make up for a skipped practice by just doubling or tripling the next session. We wade over to the ladder together. “All right. We can chill, I guess.”
“I knew you could be reasonable.”
“You mean agree with you?”
He grins. “One and the same.”
We get out of the water. Tony gestures at the private booth by the pool. “Want to shower?”
“I need some real shampoo and conditioner,” I say, running my fingers through my tangled hair. “I’ll head upstairs to wash, and join you down here for lunch?”
“Okay.” He brings a towel out of the booth and wraps it around me. I walk away, feeling the weight of his gaze on my back. I smile, but then let out a soft breath at how heavy my legs feel when I get to the stairs. Wow. I guess I did do enough for the day. It wasn’t that bad when I was in the water.
Still, I’m feeling pretty triumphant. Being able to float is a big deal. Next time someone pushes me into the pool, I’m going to come right back up.
