Page 7 of Swinging for the Deep End

“Such a sweet boy,” Maryanne says.

I nod and gently close the door on her.

I lock the door and spin around.

“Still want to stay home?” I ask my son.

Saxon rolls his eyes (another Hunter move). “I’d rather be at school than deal with the crazy bird lady.”

Saxon stomps off, finding his normal morning attitude.

Just outside the door I hear Maryanne attempt to make some bird noises.

I nod.

Yeah… this is just a regular morning in my life.

What does a single mom who was once poised to be an Olympic swimming sensation do for a living…?

I park behind the large, kind of ugly, brown building like I always do.

I mean, this is an old gym with updates on the inside.

It’s not some fancy pants gym with a million windows and an odd building shape.

The key to this place?

The pool.

Yes, that’s right.

The former championship swimmer is a lifeguard.

Seems almost cliché and fitting, huh?

It works for me.

I more or less get to manage the pool and schedule.

Things tend to work around my life, which means it works around Saxon’s life.

If I have to admit it - and keep the cliché going - the pool is my happy place when I’m not home with Saxon.

I walk through the back door and make pleasantries with Keith (the tech guy who keeps saying he’s going to get in the pool but never does). I hip bump with the secretary. Dorothy is pushing eighty and works out more than anyone else I know. The hip bump thing is recent - she had a bad hip and went in for a replacement surgery. First day back on the job she insisted on smacking hips with me to prove her new hip was stronger than mine.

As I walk through the office door to head to the pool, Dorothy claps her hands. “Oh, yeah, I forgot. Piper. Brian is here. Looking for you. Something about the pool.”

“He can find me,” I call out.

Brian.

The director of the gym.

He had to have some fancy title.

As I get closer to the pool, the smell of the chlorine leaks into the air.

I take deep breaths and smile.

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