Free Mr. Unforgettable by Karina Bliss

credit.”
    Others weren’t so understanding.
    â€œYou looked well enough when you were asking for volunteers,” Maxwell had said acidly. He’d been photographed with a toilet brush and wasn’t happy.
    Liz’s allies on council had also felt let down. “Even if you’d taken a couple of painkillers, showed your face for half an hour and then gone home,” Susan Blackmore had confided in the cafeteria. “Snowy won some serious brownie points by default.”
    It had been a hard day, bracketed by two sleepless nights, but the worst was still ahead. Steeling herself, Liz knocked on the door.
    â€œIt’s open,” Luke called. She found him in the pool, a splashing shape in the deep twilight. A wash of lazy jazz spilled out of the speakers. “Mind putting the pool lights on?”
    Liz flicked the switch and the water shimmered into viridescent relief. Cast into shadow, his expression was impossible to read. “Thought I’d get some training in while I waited. Come on in.”
    â€œOh. Sure.” Self-consciously, Liz slipped off the tracksuit covering her lime bathing suit. Should she mention yesterday first? As she hesitated, her left foot caught in the pants and she grabbed the back of a deck chair.
    â€œAre you too tired for this, Liz?”
    God, yes, to the bone . “No, I’m fine…you?”
    â€œI’ve always been a night owl. It’s the early mornings that kill me.”
    She stepped down into the bright water, barely cooler than the sultry summer night. In one corner of the courtyard, a shrub bloomed among the tropical plants. Cestrum nocturnum , Queen of the Night, its small, trumpet-shaped white flowers only released their heady perfume after dark.
    Luke picked up the flutter board at the pool’s edge and green light stippled the broken surface of the water and dappled his pectorals.
    â€œToday’s lesson is about trust.”
    Liz sank a little lower in the water. Mentally, morally and politically she supported the camp but emotionally she was a traitor.
    Luke tossed the flutter board aside. “Trusting yourself. I want you to do torpedoes—arms stretched out in front, kicking and holding your breath—without using a board.”
    â€œBut that’s going backward.” Using the flutter board, she’d already advanced to turning her head to the side and taking big breaths. The next stage was adding the arm movements she’d been practicing independently. The book said so. “Losing the flutter board comes last, surely?”
    â€œThink of this as a confidence check.”
    â€œMy confidence is fine.”
    â€œYou always look confident,” he agreed. “But we won’t know for sure until we take away the buoyancy aid. And I’d rather test that now while we still have time to make adjustments.”
    â€œI’m…sorry I didn’t make it yesterday by the way.” There, she’d said it.
    â€œHey, you more than did your part. Councillor Maxwell told me you were the recruiting officer. Of course, he was complaining about you not showing up, but later I heard you weren’t feeling well.” His voice was very gentle. “Sure you’re okay now?”
    She hadn’t been sick and didn’t deserve his sympathy. “I’m fine,” she said abruptly. “Let’s do this.”
    The water rippled as Luke moved closer. In the luminous green half light his irises were a shifting, shimmering gray.
    â€œWhen you’re ready.”
    She took a deep breath and launched herself forward, her fingers automatically grappling for the board and not finding it. In a panic she stopped kicking and stood up. “I’m sinking.”
    â€œYou’re not.”
    Liz tried again. Again the fear sent her stumbling to the surface after a few kicks. Breathing hard, she faced him. “This is ridiculous. I still need the flutter board.”
    â€œNot for