Page 53 of Absorbed

Maybe he’ll realize he was a jerk and call today.

You’re a dumbass if you think he ever really cared about you.

She pulled at a piece of skin on her thumb, slowly tearing it away until it bled.

When Stacey looked up, the little boy Tiffany pointed out was bouncing his way around the shallow end of the pool. She sucked on her injured finger, inspecting it again.

If he comes to see me today, I’ll know I overreacted.

She glanced toward the deep end. The sunlight glared off the surface of the water as a little girl in a Minnie Mouse swimsuitwalked to the end of the board and jumped off. She swam to the edge. In line next to go off the board were two older boys.

Focusing back on her hands, Stacey picked at another loose cuticle, this time on her right pointer finger.

She heard the thump of the board followed by a splash. Out of the corner of her eye she saw two arms slapping and two feet splashing toward the ladder.

Stacey examined her left hand more closely.

There were splash sounds around the pool, some loud, others not so much, all as familiar to Stacey as her own breath. But when a quieter sound—the sound of a small body hitting water, a figure so petite it didn’t bounce the board at all—made its miniscule splash in the deep end, Stacey’s ears perked up. The hairs on the back of her neck raised.

She looked at the deep end again. The bright sunlight danced on the surface as a single ripple moved across the top of the water.

Stacey stood and pulled her sunglasses up to try to see better. The reflection of the light was so bright she had to squint. Beneath the ripple, near the bottom, was someone so small she thought maybe she was only looking at the drain itself.

The girl in the Minnie Mouse suit stood on the side of the pool looking down, both hands over her mouth.

Reaching for her whistle, she realized she was so distracted she never put it on that morning. It was buried in her locker. “Tiff!” she shouted at Tiffany’s tower.

Tiffany made eye-contact, then jumped to her feet.

Scanning the water again, she realized the body was not coming back up. Stacey tugged on her towel. Double rolled, it barely loosened. She ripped it away harder. The towel fell into a heap on the deck.

Tiffany blew her whistle.

Stacey jumped feet first from her tower, dropping into the deep end two feet from the small child.

Her left arm encircled his tiny chest. She pushed her feet hard against the bottom of the pool.

The two reached the top within a few seconds. Both gasped for air. With the boy tight to her side, Stacey paddled with one arm and scissor-kicked her legs to the ladder.

The small girl stood by the ladder, her face pale.

The boy slowly pulled himself up the rungs. Stacey lifted his waist from behind.

“Braydon, are you okay?” the girl asked, eyes wide with fright as she put her arm around him.

The boy sputtered water and nodded, his lips purple.

“What were you thinking?” Stacey spat as she climbed from the pool. “Where are your parents?”

“I’m sorry! Please don’t call my parents!” The sister’s voice rose several octaves. “It’s my fault. I told him the diving board was fun. Our parents aren’t here. We live down the street.”

The crying girl trying to comfort her little brother was no more than seven. She didn’t know better, and neither did he. Stacey should have been watching, made sure he didn’t go off the diving board in the first place. Tiffany had warned her about the boy.

If he’d drowned, it would have been my fault.

Stacey dropped to her knees. “Listen…don’t cry, okay?” She cleared her throat, trying to halt the quiver in her own voice, and rested a hand on each of the kids’ shoulders. “I’m sorry I got so upset. You’re justnot ready for the diving board. You’ve got to be able to get yourself out.”

They both nodded sheepishly. “Are we in trouble?” the little girl asked. “Do we have to go home?”

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