Page 74 of Broken Grump

He shrugs. “Suit yourself.” Then, he reaches for Luna’s hand, which she happily gives him. “Let’s go! The pool is right this way.”

Before following them, I look over my shoulder at Betsy.

“Have fun, miss.”

“Thank you.”

“I was just kidding around before,” Hayden mutters from behind me after I join them in the back room that’s surrounded by glass windows. “You look great.”

“Thanks.”

The subtle smile on his face makes me feel weak at the knees.

Next, his attention is fully on Luna, which I appreciate. He skillfully dives in first before standing up and holding his toned arms up to catch her.

“Don’t worry. I promise I’ll catch you.”

There’s that “p” word again.

Luna ditches her robe but resists jumping in.

“Don’t be scared. I’ve got you. Nothing will happen. You’re perfectly safe.”

For a moment, I pretend like he’s saying those words to me, and my heart melts. However, I’m careful to bring myself back to reality and focus on my daughter.

“You’ve got this, baby!” I cheer.

“Yep. Come on. After you do it once, it won’t seem like such a big deal.”

She hesitates a little more before finally taking the plunge.

As he assured her, he catches and holds her above the water as she flails around trying to get her hair out of her eyes.

Oh. I maybe should’ve thought about that.

“Can you bring her over here?” I ask, siding on the side with my legs submerged and digging through my purse for a hair tie.

“Absolutely. But I want you to swim over there, Luna.”

She looks at him like he’s crazy. “I can’t—”

“Uh-uh! I don’t want any of that word for the rest of the day. Today, you can swim. I’ll show you.” He instructs her to get on her stomach and hold her arms out. Then, he holds her torso on either side and directs her over to me.

“Mom! I’m kind of swimming!” Her smile may be below the water, but it’s as bright and radiant as ever.

“I see that, baby. Great job!”

When she’s close enough, I pull all of her thick hair back in a ponytail, and then I let their lesson continue from there.

The whole time, he’s incredibly kind, patient, and gentle with her.

“Look, this is what you’re going to eventually want to be able to do.” She’s resting for a bit with a floaty around her waist while he demonstrates how I’ve seen athletes during the Olympics switch from arm to arm while shifting their heads at the same time.

“Wow.”

It all looks way too complicated for me to do.

“But we’re just taking baby steps for now, okay? First, I want you to know how to doggy-paddle. Can you picture that? How would a dog look in the water?”

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