Christmas In The Cove. Carol Ross
deep end. The first to hold her breath while swimming the entire length of the pool under water...
A giggle sounded. “Can I do it again?”
“Absolutely. Good job, Georgie. You’re doing great.”
“Fearless,” a familiar voice said near her left shoulder, startling her.
“Eli, hi.”
He came around and sat beside her on the bench. “Reminds me of a girl I used to know. She would literally jump off of anything, no matter how high, as long as there was water to land in below.”
Aubrey gave him a casual smile even as her heart kicked hard against her rib cage. She focused on the pool where George was now practicing his freestyle stroke from one corner of the pool to the other.
“Really?” she said, her tone dubious.
“Really. She’s all grown up now, but I don’t think she’s changed all that much. In fact, now she jumps out of helicopters and allows herself to be lowered by cable onto sinking boats or to the sides of cliffs to help people who are stranded.”
“Wow. It sounds to me like she totally rocks.”
“Oh, she does, but...” His mouth formed into this adorable half frown as he glanced around as if to confirm no one would overhear. “Between you and me? I think she might be a little crazy.”
She couldn’t stop the smile playing on her lips even as recalling the memories tightened her chest with emotion. They used to call each other crazy after some of the stunts they’d pull together: jumping off cliffs and bridges, swimming across icy-cold rivers, exploring treacherous cliffs and caves.
His head dipped until his mouth was only a few inches from her ear. “But then, I’ve always been a little partial to crazy.”
Aubrey felt her cheeks grow warm as a blast of heat flooded her bloodstream. Apparently twelve years had done nothing to weaken her body’s response to Eli Pelletier. She was going to have to draw on her much more dependable brain when dealing with him. Luckily, her brain was stronger than her heart, and knew better than to fall under his spell. Her brain she could trust.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, glancing at him again. He didn’t appear to be here to swim, attired as he was in soft, worn jeans and a faded blue-and-gray Gonzaga Bulldogs T-shirt. His black hair was damp and he’d draped a soggy rain jacket over the bench beside him. She turned her attention toward Eleanor who was now bobbing in and out of the water like the dolphin Aubrey had nicknamed her after.
“I came here to talk to you.”
She frowned. “How did you know I’d be here?”
“Alex told me. I ran into him this morning and he mentioned that he’d talked to you. I had already stopped by your place and tried your phone. He told me you can always be found here on Tuesdays and Thursdays when you aren’t on duty.”
“That’s true.”
“You always loved teaching lessons.”
“I have. I do. Ever since Jason Redmond almost drowned in the ocean. I’ve done other stuff, but teaching the world to swim is still my goal.”
“I remember,” Eli said. “That was your...? Let me think... Second summer as a lifeguard on the beach, right?”
“Yep. I was fifteen.” The first time she’d ever done CPR on a real-life person. Changed her life.
The episode still sometimes woke her up at night. As she’d executed compressions on Jason’s cold, blue, bony chest, time had seemed to shift into slow motion. It had felt like hours before the ten-year-old finally gasped and coughed out the ocean that was literally choking the life out of him.
“And that’s when you started teaching the free lessons, right?”
“Stretch out your arms, Georgie,” she called to the little boy. “Reach really far... That’s it. Good job!
“Yes. Thanks to Betty. You remember Betty Frye, right?”
She felt like she was giving back to the pool that had helped to make her who she was. Unfortunately, she was only one person and the need was great. And because her beloved pool was falling into ruin, attendance was way down.
“Of course. Betty was great.” Betty used to run the pool and coach the swim team. The competitive swim league where she’d flourished throughout her youth had disbanded years ago.
“She was. She loved this place as much as I do. She helped me restart the program.”
Eli was looking around as if just now noticing his surroundings. “It’s looking a little sad these days, huh?”
She nodded. “Betty passed away two years after I left for the Coast Guard. The program fizzled out after her death and the pool has been on a slow decline ever since. If it wasn’t for the St. Johns, it would probably be closed already.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
Aubrey explained how Alex and the St. John family had made a series of donations to keep the pool open, but without the revenue it needed, it was only a matter of time before it closed for good.
“No one wants to swim here anymore. People are taking their kids to lessons in Astoria or Lancaster. Without the revenue...” She trailed off with a sigh.
“This is a tragedy. I had no idea. So many great memories here.”
The comment turned her insides to mush because she knew how those memories were intertwined with hers. She, Alex and Eli had been nearly inseparable for years and they’d spent countless hours here at the pool.
Keeping her eyes on her still-swimming charges, she smiled and said, “I don’t remember ever not knowing how to swim. I spent so much time in the water when I was a kid, I thought it was normal. I didn’t realize until I was way older that not everyone lives part-time in the water.”
“I know what you mean. When I moved here, I was happy to join you. I don’t know if I would have passed ‘A’ school on my first attempt if Dad and I hadn’t moved here—if I hadn’t met you. I give you so much credit for pushing me in that way. In a lot of ways actually.”
Aubrey felt a warmth spread through her at the comment. He’d pushed her, too. She’d had the same thoughts about him when she’d entered the brutally difficult rescue swimmer school. As the only woman in her class, she’d often told herself to imagine the guy next to her was Eli. If she could swim as far as Eli, then she could swim as far as him, too. There were days that thought had been what literally kept her afloat.
“Yeah, I kind of feel that way about you, too. So many races in this pool.”
“What’s your time these days in the 500 meter buddy tow?”
She told him.
“Wow. I still think there’s a chance you might, in fact, be part mermaid,” he teased, referring to the nickname he’d given her when they were kids. “Alex and I used to just marvel at how long you could stay under.”
Before she could respond he twisted around on the bench again. “There has to be something that can be done...” She felt heartened by his reaction. Less silly about her own plans.
“I, uh, actually have a plan.”
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. “Let’s hear it.”
“I know it probably sounds insane... You’ve heard about this Christmas contest going on in town?”
“I have. It would be tough to miss.”
“That’s good.” She grinned. “That means I’m doing my job as co-chairperson. You may or may not have also heard that I’m a little over the top about the whole thing?”
“‘Obsessed’ I believe is the term I heard.”
She