Page 9 of Swim To Me

“Delilah,” he all but whispers, before I can disappear down the corridor to the changing rooms. “The leisure centre offers swimming lessons on Wednesdays, 6-8pm, if you’d like to learn how to swim in a safer environment with a proper instructor.”

He slides a white pamphlet across the side of the desk, flashing me a borderline cheeky grin, as I gawk at the leaflet and then back up at him.

“Just think about it, Delilah.”

And with that, Grey turns his attention back to the group of yoga goers, leaving me more speechless than I’ve been in years.

Chapter 3

Delilah

“Ican’t even believe you went and tried to teachyourselfhow to swim today…God,anything could have happened to you.” My younger sister, Aurelia sighs, pauses, and then starts up again, spitting crumbs all over my sofa as she shoves another cookie in her mouth.“Run me through what happened again.”

Bypassing the embarrassing details, well, I thinkallof its embarrassing, but still, I repeat the part Aurelia wants to hear most.

“Hehanded me a piece of paper andsaid,‘if you’d like to learn how to swim in a safer environment with aproperinstructor’.”

“Do you think he means him?” Aurelia questions, squinting her eyes at me.

I smooth out the flesh around her eyes with my thumb, once an older sister, always an older sister, and then sigh. “I-I don’t know.”

“Well, what does it say on this pamphlet thingy?”

I shrug, staring straight ahead at the latest weather forecast playing across the TV so I can’t be scrutinised any further by myown sister. We’re in for a week of sun, sun, rain and then some more sun apparently.

Aurelia prods the top of my arm with her scarily sharp fingernail. “Go get it!”

“I’m supposed to be resting, remember?I’mthe one who might have a concussion!”

“Concussion my arse… go and get it!”

Grumbling under my breath, I heave myself off the sofa, snatch the piece of paper from out of the mesh pocket of my gym bag, and place it into her waiting hand.

She licks the majority of the melted chocolate chips from the cookie off her fingers before unfolding the leaflet, but still, I wince ever so slightly to see two smudges beneath her thumb and forefinger.

I leave her to it as she skims the page, busying myself by tidying the almost spotless kitchen. I haven’t been in the apartment much this week, what with the launch of a new book title from one of bestselling authors we work with at the publishing firm. It’s kept me out of the apartment, up to my eyeballs in document sheets, ink, and a swanky cocktail party to celebrate. But still, I find something to do in the kitchen. I have to. It’s the only way to keep my mind from spiralling about today’s events and from glancing into my open plan living room in an attempt to try and telepathically gauge Aurelia’s thoughts.

“Delilah?” she calls after a minute or two, and when I don’t answer straight away, “Delilah?!”

This time there’s something audibly…offin her tone.

“Yeah?”

A loud pattering of bare feet on my linoleum floor is the only warning I get before my sister is throwing herself onto my back, wrapping her legs around my waist like a spider monkey and audibly crushing the pamphlet in her grasp. She shoves it so farinto my face the words become blurry, and I swear I can taste the ink on my tongue.

“He wrote his number! The-the lifeguard! What’s his name again?!”

“Grey,” I mutter on autopilot. “What—”

Aurelia squeals right in my ear. “He wrote his fucking number!”

She moves the pamphlet back enough for me to actually read it, and there, beneath the professional, impersonal typed out words, is a messy scrawl of eleven numbers and his name.

As if I could forget it.

“It’ll just be… it’ll just be so I can ring to book for the swimming lessons,” I hear myself say out loud, even though my mind is setting off at a million miles an hour.

“Yeah, but it’s his mobile number!” Small hands grip my shoulder tightly, shaking me. “You have to ring it. You have to, you have to, you have to!”

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