credit.â
Others werenât so understanding.
âYou looked well enough when you were asking for volunteers,â Maxwell had said acidly. Heâd been photographed with a toilet brush and wasnât happy.
Lizâs allies on council had also felt let down. âEven if youâd taken a couple of painkillers, showed your face for half an hour and then gone home,â Susan Blackmore had confided in the cafeteria. âSnowy won some serious brownie points by default.â
It had been a hard day, bracketed by two sleepless nights, but the worst was still ahead. Steeling herself, Liz knocked on the door.
âItâs open,â 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. âMind putting the pool lights on?â
Liz flicked the switch and the water shimmered into viridescent relief. Cast into shadow, his expression was impossible to read. âThought Iâd get some training in while I waited. Come on in.â
âOh. Sure.â 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.
âAre you too tired for this, Liz?â
God, yes, to the bone . âNo, Iâm fineâ¦you?â
âIâve always been a night owl. Itâs the early mornings that kill me.â
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 poolâs edge and green light stippled the broken surface of the water and dappled his pectorals.
âTodayâs lesson is about trust.â
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. âTrusting yourself. I want you to do torpedoesâarms stretched out in front, kicking and holding your breathâwithout using a board.â
âBut thatâs going backward.â Using the flutter board, sheâd already advanced to turning her head to the side and taking big breaths. The next stage was adding the arm movements sheâd been practicing independently. The book said so. âLosing the flutter board comes last, surely?â
âThink of this as a confidence check.â
âMy confidence is fine.â
âYou always look confident,â he agreed. âBut we wonât know for sure until we take away the buoyancy aid. And Iâd rather test that now while we still have time to make adjustments.â
âIâmâ¦sorry I didnât make it yesterday by the way.â There, sheâd said it.
âHey, 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 werenât feeling well.â His voice was very gentle. âSure youâre okay now?â
She hadnât been sick and didnât deserve his sympathy. âIâm fine,â she said abruptly. âLetâs do this.â
The water rippled as Luke moved closer. In the luminous green half light his irises were a shifting, shimmering gray.
âWhen youâre ready.â
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. âIâm sinking.â
âYouâre not.â
Liz tried again. Again the fear sent her stumbling to the surface after a few kicks. Breathing hard, she faced him. âThis is ridiculous. I still need the flutter board.â
âNot for
Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Danica Winters, Casey Dawes