Page 69 of June 7

"Oh, my God. You sound exactly like my mom." Melanie followed Tara out.

She looked around the office, but Chad had already left while her world fell apart. There was no one else to keep the pool open for the adults. Only one lifeguard needed to be on duty. They never had more than twenty-five people come to rec swim.

Alone in the pool house, she had fifteen minutes to decide what to do. The last thing she wanted was to stay the evening while the adults swim. On the other hand, she was the manager and the only one who could pull more hours to keep the pool open.

Her stomach cramped. Liz had always been the one to shield her from working with the adults.

She groaned, grabbing the phone. Knowing Liz's number by heart, she waited for her best friend to pick up the phone.

"Hello."

A greeting filled with misery made her regret her selfishness for not wanting to work tonight. She sat in the chair by the computer.

"How are you?" she asked.

"I feel like I'm dying."

She clicked her tongue. "Can I get you anything? Soup? Medicine?"

"No. I'm going to try and sleep until my stomach feels better." Liz sighed. "Mom told me there's a twenty-four-hour bug going around, so I hope to be up and better tomorrow."

"Don't push it."

"I'm sorry I baled on you. Did you get Tara to stay over at work?"

She raked her teeth over her bottom lip. "No, she had to go pick up her son. I'm going to stay."

"Oh, Daisy, no."

"I'll be okay."

"You can't. Bane doesn't want..." Liz dry heaved. "I need to go. Call Bane. You can't be alone."

"Go. Go. Take care of yourself." She disconnected the phone, not wanting to make things worse for Liz.

A knock came behind her. She looked at the clock. Shit.

Walking around the counter, she opened the door. "Come on in. We're keeping the door shut to keep the chill out of the locker rooms today. But, it a comfortable eighty-two degrees in the water."

That's another problem she'd face tonight. She couldn't keep the door locked if she was at the pool. There was no one to run back and forth to let anyone in who showed up late—and adults always showed up late.

It wasn't safe to leave the door open. There was no one in the office since she was here alone. Anyone could walk in.

The last adult walked through without saying a word to her. She looked toward the stairs to see if there were any stragglers and found Bane taking the steps three at a time.

"What's keeping you?" He looped toward her. "You're late."

"Sorry. Liz is sick." She stepped inside the building. "I have to watch over rec swim."

"There's no one else who can do it?"

She shook her head. "It's for three hours. I'll get off at seven o'clock."

"I'll stay."

She walked around the counter. "You don't have to. I'll be okay."

"Where are you going to be?"

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