The Swim Team Ch. 07

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

You need to read chapters 1-6 to get background on the characters and story.

All fictional characters participating in any fictional sexual activity are 18 years of age or older.

This chapter has not had the benefit of an editor other than myself.

Chapter 7

I heard the car pulling up to the house. The girls were home from school. I tossed the dress in the case, flipped it closed and kicked it back under the bed. I would have to deal with this head on. That was the way to get things done. Just suck it up, focus, and do it. I strode out into the living room just as the door burst open. Linda and Brenda ran in and almost barreled me down on the way to their room.

"Daddy!" Brenda stopped just short of hitting me. "What are you doing here?"

I heard noise coming from the back yard, turned, and spied several teen-agers filing into the patio from the side gate. I glanced back at my daughter. "I live here."

"Oh. Well, the team is over for swim practice. Our first meet is next week, and we need to get ready." She started to step around me. "We need to get our suits."

Fuck. That was today, wasn't it? A pool full of teenagers practicing for the upcoming meet. It's always something.

Brenda and Linda made a beeline for the bedroom, and the door closed before my brain could engage my mouth to say anything. Great. The talk will have to wait. Again. I stepped toward the front door to close it when a sports car pulled up to our walkway. The driveway was already full of cars from the other swimmers. I did a double take when the driver exited the vehicle.

Speedo Boy himself. Mark Landry closed his car door, this time dressed like a prep school big shot complete with a sweater draped over his shoulders, carrying a leather athletic bag, and looking like a rich kid heading into the gym. I met him halfway up the walk.

"Mr. Landry, what can I do for you?"

"I'm here for practice," he said as if it was common knowledge. "We have a swim meet next week. I have to get ready."

"From what I understand, you're no longer on the swim team."

"I will be in time for the meet." The little prick oozed more confidence than I could have mustered at his age.

"Somehow I doubt that. Not from what I've heard."

"No, really. It's all being arranged right now. No biggie. I'll be back on the team by Monday. So, if you'll get out of my way, I need to practice with the team."

"If you want to swim, Mr. Landry," I thrust my hand in my pocket to keep from punching the arrogant prig, "I suggest you get your dad to open the natatorium for you. There's no way you're so much as dipping one toe into my pool." I stepped closer to him and brought my height to bear, looking down into his arrogant eyes. "I know what you did," I said through clenched teeth, "and you're damn lucky you didn't pull that shit with my daughter or they would never find your body."

I swear I heard him swallow, though he was careful to keep his expression neutral. "I didn't do nothin'," he said as though he'd rehearsed it. "They have no case. H-Hell, it's probably already been dismissed."

My ears rang as the pressure in my blood vessels increased. The hand in my pocket wanted so desperately to come out and play. "Even if you win the case, you and I both know you're guilty. So does everyone else. You're done. Either way, though, you're not welcome here."

He squared his shoulders and I worried for a second that he might try to force his way past me. "Don't think I'm afraid of you, old man," he said with as much bluster as he could. His eyes said something entirely different and I almost chuckled. "Because I'm not."

"I don't really care if you are or not," I said in a monotone. "Just know that I'm not afraid of you, either. Now I suggest you leave before I call the police to have you escorted off the property. You're not worth any more of my time."

He stood there for a second before turning with a huff and stomping toward his car. He chucked his bag in the back seat and turned to face me. "This isn't over, asshole. You haven't heard the last of me. I can make your life miserable. For you and your dyke daughter."

He was squealing tires down the street before I could get to him to throttle him. Arrogant prick! How dare he show up at my house as though nothing was wrong? And to insult Brenda... My brain couldn't form a sentence worthy of my anger. This will not stand.

I turned back to the house to see the curtain in Brenda's window drop back into place, and I wondered how much of the exchange she heard. As I approached the front door, another car pulled up, and a young man of about 25 or so hopped out wearing a pair of athletic shorts and a shirt with the school's logo on the breast. He smiled in a genuine, but deferential way, like a teacher placating an older parent, and flashed his impossibly white teeth. He was damn good looking. So good looking that, if I were gay, I'd go for him. Adonis-like physique on a compact frame and chiseled features under skin that has seen just the right amount of sun. He raised his hand as he approached me. "Mr. Brandford. Good to see you again. I want to thank you for supporting the team this way."

"No sweat, coach." I clasped Coach Thomas' hand with a quick pump. "Desperate times and all that."

"Well, a lot of parents are in the same situation and they're not stepping up like this."

"They have their own problems, I'm sure." Kelly and Dennis popped into my mind, which was unfortunate because Speedo-boy had managed to get my mind off it for a moment. "And it's no problem or hardship for me. Besides, most of the team swim here all the time anyway."

"That's what I hear," coach said. "Can I see this legendary pool?"

"It's right this way." I gestured to the side gate. "I think most of the team is already in the pool anyway." I pushed the gate open. The last batch of kids through it had not secured it behind them, so I made a note to remind them of the security rules here. I couldn't have some stranger wander into the pool and get hurt. That would put the kibosh on the swim team's season for sure. "Say, what's up with the Landry situation? He's not back on the team, is he?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it," coach said. His eyes narrowed. "That...young man," he gagged at the term as though eating soap, "will not swim for me, I can assure you. But his dad is working every angle he can to get him reinstated. The principal wants to--how did he say--revisit the issue Monday. Why do you ask?"

"He showed up here to train."

"He didn't!"

"Did. I ran him off, though. Told him to get his dad to open the natatorium if he really wanted to swim."

Coach barked a laugh. "I'd have loved to see that!"

"He drove off literally seconds before you pulled up."

"Better off without him around." We rounded the corner into the patio where the kids were finishing hanging the lane ropes and placing starting blocks. I had the ropes, but no blocks, so they must have brought them from the school. Brenda does think of everything. "Wow," coach said. "That is one nice pool!"

"It was my wife's idea. We finally built it when Brenda was a baby. I think we've gotten our money's worth out of it."

"Olympic?"

"Just. If we wanted any bigger, you'd get your feet wet opening the patio door. As it is, we don't have much of a back yard."

"You still have a nice patio and pool house. This is a fantastic setup. I'm so jealous! I have to swim in my complex's community pool, and it isn't half this size. And it's full of kids all the time."

"I remember being young." I smiled. "Well, I'll leave you to your charges, coach. If you need anything, I'll be right inside."

#

I went to my room to get into something more comfortable as the sounds of the coach's whistle indicated training was beginning. Thankfully, the coach's arrival helped defuse my anger at Speedo Boy's gall. I shucked my shirt and had my undershirt halfway off and covering my head when I ran into someone in the hallway.

"Oh, Jeez! I'm sorry," a familiar feminine voice said.

I pulled my shirt the rest of the way off to see Linda in her Speedo sitting sprawled on the floor. "Linda! I'm sorry." I knelt beside her. "I thought everyone was out by the pool. Are you hurt?"

"Only my pride." Her smile brightened the room. "Why am I such a klutz around you?"

"Uhm, I'm contagious?" I laughed. She laughed. We caught each other's eye and I felt my world narrow.

I stood and offered her my hand, but I must have pulled her to her feet too quickly, because she stumbled into my chest, her warm hands grasping my abs. "See? I'm utterly unstable." I stepped back and her fingers traced the lines of my muscles as her hands fell. "Well, I'd better get out to the pool or coach will have me doing extra laps."

"Like that's punishment for you?"

"Well..." She beamed before laying a finger across her lips. "Don't tell him." Her smile grew brighter as she backed toward the patio door. Her gaze dropped from mine, down my body before she turned around and disappeared through the door.

I watched her go, the blood leaving my brain and heading to other areas. I had to shake myself loose from the trance she put me in before heading into my room. It felt good to get out of my business clothes. It had only been a week, but I found I like wearing comfortable clothes all day. Coaches whistle blew every few minutes as he ran the team through some kind of drill. I didn't watch, though the shrill sound carried through the glass of the closed window as though I was standing poolside. First, a series of whistles, followed a series of splashes.

The team was dedicated. They clearly didn't want to let down the school, the coach, or their parents. They all had parents to cheer them on and support them. Sure, some may only have one, but still, those are someone's kids. And to think that I could have had another one...the thought rose unbidden to my consciousness, no matter that I didn't want to think about it. Along with it came a wave of emotions that threatened to inundate me. Feelings I had forced down by keeping busy all morning now had free reign. Anger, betrayal, sadness, melancholy, frustration, disappointment all warred in my mind and weighed down my heart, and all centered on one person. Carrie.

All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball. I felt my life fraying at the edges and only one stray tug would unravel everything about which until yesterday I was so certain.

More whistles.

More splashes.

It wasn't the first time I questioned my life. I thought back to the time I almost lost Carrie. It was before our wedding, shortly after we left from our Destin spring break. I don't remember what started it, but Carrie and Kelly had a major disagreement and weren't speaking the whole drive back. Later that night, when I asked what the fight was about, Carrie didn't want to answer.

"It's...I thought...I..." she kept catching herself. "I don't want to talk about it."

"But Carrie, I hate seeing you like this."

"What? I can't feel anger? I'm forbidden to feel indignant when a supposed friend..." she caught herself again. "Don't tell me how to feel!"

"I wasn't. I was just..."

"Just leave me alone, okay?" With that, she slammed the door to the bathroom. She didn't come out for more than an hour, and when she did, her eyes were puffy and bloodshot. "I'm going to mom's," she announced. I didn't see her or hear from her that evening, or the next day. For the next several days, she wouldn't answer the phone or come to the door. Her mom didn't say anything or offer any answers, but she took messages that Carrie never returned. I tried talking to Kelly, but she said Carrie was shutting her out, too. Carrie was cutting all of us out of her life.

Carrie, Kelly, and Dennis' graduation ceremony was just a day away and still no word from Carrie. On top of that, my boss called me into his office to let me know that because of corporate restructuring, my position had been eliminated. I saw it coming, but it was still the worst timing ever. I had already signed the contract on the property I had been looking at. With my future with Carrie in doubt and my financial future in trouble, I panicked. I enlisted in the Army Reserves. I figured I would earn enough money during training to keep myself afloat and maybe I could make some job contacts once I was assigned to the local reserve station.

I attended the graduation, if for no other reason than to support Kelly and Dennis. If Carrie didn't want me there, well, that was just too bad. I watched her cross the stage, take her paper roll, shake the dean's hand and exit. That was all I saw of her that day. She disappeared when the procession was over. Kelly, Dennis and I celebrated with dinner, although it was a muted affair. I told them about enlisting.

"You did what?" They both shrieked in surprise.

"I lost my job. We're in a recession. Besides, they have some excellent benefits and I could get my master's degree paid for."

"But you? A soldier?"

"What? I'm fit."

"Yeah, but could you kill someone?"

"Dude it's not like we're at war or anything."

Kelly changed the discussion. "What about Carrie?"

Bile rose in my throat. "What about her?"

"Did you ever talk about this with her?"

"No. She dumped me before I got laid off."

"She didn't dump you." She said it so matter-of-factly, with such an air of certainty that wondered if I heard her correctly.

"What do you call it when you stop seeing someone, talking to them, caring about them, and start avoiding them?" I couldn't control the flood of anger that forced the bitter words from my mouth. "If she didn't dump me, she has a strange way of showing that she cares."

"Barry," Dennis tried to interject.

"No, Dennis. You know what she's done. She's done it to both of you, too. She's cut all of us out of her life." I took a deep breath before I started cussing.

Dennis thankfully changed the subject. "When do you leave?"

"Monday. I have eight weeks at Fort McLellan in Alabama. Then twelve weeks skills training at Fort Gordon in Georgia."

Kelly looked scared. "Barry, you shouldn't be making serious decisions like this right now. You need to give Carrie some time. She'll...calm down. She'll remember that you love her and she loves you. She'll come back."

"I admire your faith. But I have my own life to worry about. I have no job and bills to pay. And the woman who should be standing beside me has abandoned me."

"Are you sure you didn't sign up just because you're in pain?"

"Don't do that," I said through my teeth. "Don't psychoanalyze me. And don't patronize me either. It's just six months, anyway."

"Plus two weeks every summer and a weekend a month..." Dennis chimed in.

"Whatever. I can handle it."

And I did handle it. For the training anyway. After I graduated my skills training course, I was assigned to my reserve unit, which just happened to be going on its two-week exercise as soon as I arrived. During the exercise, I was injured when a Gama-Goat amphibious vehicle overturned with me inside. My leg was broken in several places requiring pins to set the fragments. The doctors said I might not have full function of that leg again. The Army couldn't get rid of me fast enough. Fortunately, because it was duty related, I got medically discharged with disability pay and health insurance for life.

When I returned home, my future was no more certain that it had been when I left, and now I was a sporting a full-length leg cast and crutches. I set about building my house. I figured with my disability pay and the money I set aside in training, I could at least begin construction on my own house, and once I found a new job, I'd have plenty of money to finish it. I didn't need a wife to have a home. I could make it my place. Built to fit me. The good news is the doctors were wrong. I did heal and I didn't lose any motion in my leg. Aside from a slight dent in my thigh, no one would know I crushed it.

It was more than a year after Carrie's graduation before I saw her again. Dennis and Kelly came around to check on me often but not so much as to get annoying, and to see the progress on the house. We never talked about Carrie. I moved into the house just as soon as I had a roof on it and worked on it alongside the builders to get it finished. My cast was gone and so was most of my limp. I had found a job writing code for a marketing firm and the pay was good. I was on track to catch up to my master plan, aside from the part about marrying the love of my life.

It was an early summer's day when I left the banging and sawing at the house to do my physical-therapy-mandated walk round the neighborhood. I did a brisk four-mile walk in just over an hour, and I hardly felt the pins in my leg at all. The sweat was running off my forehead and stinging my eyes, and I thought I was seeing things when I saw a strange car in what would become my driveway once it was finished. I approached slowly, wiping the dampness from my brow and trying to peer into the windows without looking obvious.

When the door opened, the air left my lungs. She emerged from the small car like a flower blooming; her skirt billowing around her still gorgeous legs in the soft breeze. It might have been my imagination, but I would swear a bevy of doves followed her out and trumpets sounded. She was wearing sunglasses as I approached, and she removed them with one hand, her eyes locked on mine. God, she was beautiful. The air grew thin, the ground tilted, and I had to take gulping breaths to keep from passing out.

"Barry!" She said when I had to brace my hands on my knees to keep from falling over. "Are you okay?"

"Stop," I barked holding one hand up. "Don't touch me. Don't come near me. I can't..." It took every ounce of strength I had not to run and embrace her, to sweep her up in my arms and spin her around. But along with the euphoria of seeing her, came the pain of not having seen her for so long. That was followed by a rush of memories that made my blood boil.

"Barry, please..." She twisted her hands together as she rocked on her feet--desperate to come to me but trying to respect my space.

"Wait." I took a series of deep, cleansing breaths, blowing them out slowly. "I need water." I stepped toward the house and she turned to follow. "No. You wait here. Please. I'll be back in a minute."

I couldn't get inside fast enough. In one second, all the anger and hurt evaporated and all that remained was a shell of confusion. I raced to the fridge to get a bottle of water but veered over to the sink to spray my face with the hose. I rested on my left elbow over the sink as I sprayed the cool water over my neck and head.

Why was she here?

What did this mean?

Am I not over her? I thought I was over her. One look at her, however, and my world crumbles. I silently cursed my weakness--my mouth forming the words as I put the dripping spray hose back in its place.

"Barry..."

My head whipped around, flinging drops of water and sweat all over the counter. She was standing in the doorway, the sunlight back-lighting her, making her look like an angel.

"Barry, I'm sorry." Her mouth tried to say more, but the words seemed to fail her.

I let her stand there and struggle for a few eternal moments, thankful for the twenty feet between us. If I engaged her, if I let her explain, it would be like letting her off the hook. I wasn't ready to do that. I remained silent.

"I...I know there's nothing I can say that will make the past year go away. I have no excuse to offer. I was wrong to walk away. I know that now."

I was at war with myself. One side wanted to rush and embrace her, the other wanted to slam the door in her face. Do I accept her, or do I reject her? One path would expose my heart again. The other would leave it eternally empty. "What do you want from me?"