Chapter 4 #4
“I’ve never knew people cheered so much at swim meets,” he told me. “Can he really hear you underwater?”
“He can if I yell loud enough. GO CHARLIE!!!”
“Wow,” Annie said to me back at our campsite in the gym in a break between events. “My friend was voted ‘Loudest Girl’ in high school, but I think you could take her.”
“Too much?” I asked Luke, who laughed again. I unzipped the cooler. The only time I ever got so animated when was Charlie was swimming. I hadn’t known it was in me.
“I’m enjoying the cheering,” he told me. “I hope you know that once Charlie gets a little older, he’s going to kill you.”
“He’ll have to catch me first. He’s slower on land.” Charlie was having a great meet, second in 50 fly, fourth in 100 back so far, two best times. His individual medley, or IM, was coming up.
I took out a Ziploc and handed it to Luke. “What’s this?” he asked, looking at me curiously.
“PB and J,” I answered. “I made you a sandwich.”
“Thanks, Em,” he said, opening the bag and taking it out. I saw Annie looking at me. It was just a sandwich.
“How was the hotel?” I asked her.
“As bad as I expected,” she answered, just as Macdara said, “So fun!” Annie burst out laughing. “It was ok,” she amended. “I wouldn’t pick it for a honeymoon spot.”
“That’s the marriage trip, right?” Charlie asked, mouth full of sandwich.
“Charlie, please don’t talk with your mouth full,” I directed. “Yes, it’s the trip you take with your new husband or wife after you get married. To, uh, celebrate together.”
Annie laughed again. “Where did you go on your honeymoon, Mommy?” Macdara asked.
“Greece,” she said, looking a little dreamy. “It was magical.”
“Where’s Milos today?” Luke asked her.
She looked away. “He’s in Chicago.”
Macdara looked unhappy. “I wish Daddy were here,” she said wistfully. “I’m going to call him.” She reached into her swim bag and pulled out a new iPhone.
“She has her own phone,” Charlie told me, sotto voce. “Can I have a phone?”
“No, you don’t need a phone,” I told him.
“Neither does Macdara,” Luke said to his sister.
“When you have kids, you can decide about their technology. She needs it for school,” Annie dismissed him.
“Sure,” Luke answered, rolling his eyes. This was clearly a conversation they had run through before.
“He’s not answering,” Macdara said, putting the phone back into her bag. Luke ruffled her hair. “Don’t mess up my bun!” she told him, smoothing it down.
Luke looked grim and I raised my eyebrows in a question to him, but he shook his head. Hmm.
I looked around the crowd of the Shark parents. Someone here had to know how to fix a water heater, and maybe I could get some tips. Ah ha, here was a likely victim. He had unthinkingly worn his work hat from Jason’s Plumbing.
I sidled over. “It’s Jason, right?”
The man looked up. “Yeah…Emily?”
“Yes, hi! Great to see you again. Listen, I don’t mean to bother you, but my water heater went out this morning, and I almost died of hypothermia in the shower. Any ideas about what I can do to fix it myself?”
“Fix a water heater yourself?” Jason shook his head. “I don’t know about that. Is the pilot light out?”
“No, it’s lit, I checked.” And had the dirty face to prove it!
“Is it making any strange noises? How old is it?”
“It’s quiet, and it’s probably older than I am.”
“You’re what, eighteen?” He laughed.
“Let’s say it’s twenty-plus years old. I inherited it from my grandma, who wouldn’t have bought a new one unless the old one was on fire or something.”
“Best guess is that it’s the heating element, but I’d have to take a look.” That was what I had picked up from Google, too. Shoot.
“How much do you charge for estimates?” I asked quietly, and bit my lip.
“No charge for an estimate, and for a fellow Shark parent I’d only charge you for parts if I can fix it, not for labor.”
“Wow, really?” I was overjoyed. “Can you come by and check it out?”
Jason the water heater hero took my cell number and promised to be in touch soon. “But the average lifespan of a water heater is definitely less than twenty years, so don’t get your hopes up,” he told me. Too late. I almost skipped back to my chair, I was so pleased with him and myself.
“That’s Jason, and he’s going to give me a free estimate on the water heater!” I crowed to Luke. “And only charge me for parts.” If he could fix it.
“That’s great,” he said, eyeing Jason. “Jason’s Plumbing,” he read off the other man’s hat. Luke stood and stretched and I turned to Charlie.
“Pal, eat up,” I said to Charlie. “You swim soon. Drink some water.”
“Gatorade?” he asked hopefully.
“No, we are not buying Gatorade. Water is just right for humans. Would you like me to tell you why?”
“NO!” he shouted, making me laugh. Charlie was a little over my lectures on human physiology.
Annie’s friend Kyra, whom I recognized from the Athletic Complex, edged up to our chairs. “Luke Whitaker, I didn’t expect to see you here!”
“Hey, Kyra,” he answered. She flashed a huge smile at him.
“So funny that you came today!”
“Not really,” Luke answered briefly. “My niece is swimming.”
“That’s so sweet that you’re so interested! Were you a swimmer too?” she asked, giving him a huge onceover. “You’re so tall. How tall are you?”
“Six-four. I never swam on a team.”
“He did football, basketball, and baseball,” I offered. “It wasn’t like you weren’t athletic,” I told him.
Annie and Kyra stared at me. What? I had known him back then. Everybody knew he was a three-sport varsity athlete. Right?
“I’m walking over to the snack bar,” Kyra announced. “Join me?” she asked Luke, smiling hugely again. Her teeth were oddly gigantic.
Wait, was she flirting with him? Was “join me at the snack bar” some kind of weird swim meet pick-up line? Gag!
“Can I get Charlie a Gatorade for the ride home?” Luke asked me quietly.
“He’ll love you forever if you do.” I started to reach into my pocket for my money, but he took my hand. He was holding my hand.
“I’ve got it.”
Kyra shot me a look over her shoulder as they walked away. I was surprised she could take a deep breath in those skinny jeans and tight top. Good thing they weren’t walking that fast.
“So, where’s Kyra’s husband?” I asked Annie casually. Super smooth.
“Oh, they’re—” she lowered her voice to a whisper— "getting D-I-V-O-R-C-E-D.” I was pretty sure most of the kids at the meet knew how to spell.
“Hey, Emily, Annie.” It was Neil and his devil spawn, Ellis. Ellis looked at me a little fearfully. Good. “Are these your seats?”
I didn’t want them to sit with us.
“Yes, please sit!” Annie urged him.
Charlie watched Ellis warily. “Hi Charlie,” Ellis said. “You looked great in your hundred back.” He was obviously making an effort. I could give him points for that.
“Thanks,” Charlie answered when I poked him.
“How’s the meet going for you, Ellis?” Annie asked.
The kid shrugged. “He’s doing well,” Neil answered for him. “He dropped a second in his hundred butterfly.”
“That’s great,” I commented. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.
Or against our nephews. “Good luck on the rest of your events, Ellis.” I smiled at him in the most non-threatening way I knew.
“Charlie, you about ready to go do your hundred IM? Do you have to hit the bathroom first?” The answer, as always, was yes.
“Don’t go barefoot! Wear your flip flops! ”
Charlie stood behind the blocks, waiting for his race to begin.
He looked over at me and I gave him a thumbs-up.
“You have this, pal,” I said under my breath.
The 100-yard individual medley had four parts: a lap of butterfly, a lap of backstroke, a lap of breaststroke, and finally a lap of free.
As always, Charlie flew through the butterfly and backstroke legs, even with the fastest boy in the pool in lane four.
Then came the breaststroke. I waited for him to come almost to a halt as he usually did when the breaststroke lap reared its ugly head, but suddenly he started to move!
His shoulders came up and pushed forward as he drove his hands through the water, and his kicks snapped.
What was happening? He was flying! The last lap was 25 yards of freestyle, and he looked a little tired to me, but he still moved like greased lightning.
I looked at his time and almost fell into the pool.
Mother Mary, he had been seeded eighth, but had just dropped almost five seconds and came in second. Second as a seven-year-old!
“Dude, you killed it!” I said as he came out from behind the blocks.
He gave me a weary high five and we walked back to the chairs, Macdara, Luke, and Annie trailing behind us. “I have to get ready for the relay,” he told me.
“Sweet pea, you’re not going to do the relay today.”
“Why not?” Macdara demanded. “I’m doing the girls’ relay.”
“We have to get going,” I explained. “We can’t stay for the finals.”
“But he made the finals in all his events, didn’t he?” Annie asked.
“I have to get back,” I said shortly.
“Whatever you have to do, I’m sure it isn’t as important as Charlie’s swimming!
He made the finals!” Annie admonished me.
Uh, taking care of my sister with an incurable disease?
Keeping a job so that we didn’t starve? For a woman whose main responsibility seemed to be organizing the coffee orders after spin class, it probably was hard to comprehend.
Luke turned to her. “Ana?s, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said sharply. “Be quiet. She said we have to go, and we’re leaving.” He started picking up the lawn chairs and folding them shut.
I turned to see the tears in Charlie’s eyes. “Pal, we talked about this, remember? I have to get back to your mom—”
“You have to go work in your stupid whore bar!” he yelled.
Dead silence fell around our chairs.
“Charlie, get your bag,” I said quietly. “We’re going now.”
I stuffed our things back in the tote bag, not really seeing what I was grabbing. I could hear Charlie sniffing behind me. I hadn’t made eye contact with anyone yet.
Charlie had put on a sweatshirt and his flip flops, and the three of us walked out without saying a word. Luke loaded up the back of the car as I handed him the gear. I couldn’t look at him either.
We got into the car and shut the doors. I stared straight ahead, willing myself not to cry the tears of humiliation welling in my eyes. “Why would you say that?” I asked. My voice was shaking.
“That’s what Rivers said! That’s what his mom told him!”
“Do you know what you called me?” I asked.
“It’s someone bad,” he answered.
“Don’t you ever talk to me like that again,” I told him. “Not ever again. Do you know why I work there? It’s just a bar, Charlie, and I’m doing my best—” my voice broke. “I’m doing my best for you and your mom, Charlie. Don’t you talk to me like that.”
“I’m sorry,” he muttered.
“He didn’t mean it,” Luke said softly. “He didn’t know what he was saying.” I could feel him looking at me but I turned my head to the side and closed my eyes—Cassie’s trick.