Oh, I wish I knew.
Just as quickly as I hear Will groaning with pleasure at our conversation, he quickly suggests we carry on to the pump room.
He looks around, almost like he’s expecting something to leap out at us and I feel a moment of hesitation, wondering if he has a big dog or something. But he shifts on his feet and starts to face forward on the path again. “Shall we?” he says, and I feel at ease again.
Nice and slow. Just take it easy.
The little walk, which we complete in silence, does us both good and I sense we can both breathe again, a little easier anyway.
The pump room is joined to what looks like a general garden outhouse.
The door’s unlocked and before Will opens it I can smell the familiar odor of chlorine and other garden chemicals.
Maybe a bit like Will himself. Once that door opens, I don’t expect everything to be so big. So clean and so perfect looking.
It looks like something out of a catalog for space-age pool equipment. All the top of the range, computerized and humming away happily.
“Here it is,” Will announces, and it’s my turn to make a low sound, which is fortunately disguised by the sudden activation of one of the filter’s louder hums as I turn away from Will.
I’ve never seen anything like this, and I can only assume dad’s come here on his own every time to deal with Will’s pool stuff.
“Everything alright?” Will asks loudly, and turning my face slightly I crease a smile, holding a thumb up and spotting the water ph testing equipment, I figure I’ll start with that.
Leave the operating of the space shuttle here for a little while… test some water, scoop a leaf… maybe move onto the indoor pool after that.
I bend down to pick up the water testing kit and feel Will’s eyes on me from behind.
Instead of feeling like I usually would, ashamed or embarrassed, I feel a rush of heat again. I don’t mind that Will’s checking me out from behind… in fact, it makes me so horny all of a sudden I can hardly stand, so I stay perched over and make like I’m rooting around in his pool chemical storage.
By the time I do stand up and turn around, he’s gone.
I see spots for a while, and gathering up the pool chemical and test kit I make my way back up the path to the outdoor pool.
Wherever he went, he left in a hurry.
I tell myself he probably had something to do, he strikes me as a self-made man and most likely has more to concern himself with than staring at my fat ass all day.
But those eyes on me… that sound… He told you to tell him he wasn’t imagining things… he likes you!
Sighing and feeling like I’m walking on air, I make it to the pool and notice an ivy-clad pool house to one side I didn’t see earlier. A kind of shack that in reality is probably bigger than our whole house. The door’s ajar but I can’t see much with the plantation shutters half-closed.
I’m impressed with Will’s place. It’s huge, palatial… but the way he carries himself and the feel it gives off by its presentation makes it feel like a home as well.
Cozy-classy, but on a grand scale. Like him.
I focus on the job, for now, keeping a keen ear out for Will in case he comes back. The doors to the house are closed and I figure he’s doing whatever it is he does for the day.
The water tests perfect, it doesn’t need chlorinating either. If I didn’t know better I’d guess that somebody was having a pool guy come out just to keep him in business.
But a pool girl though? Was that his plan all along?
I bent over, telling myself to stop it with the fantasy already, reaching down I thrust my hand into the freezing water to clear the leaf trap which is empty when I hear that low groaning sound again.
A growl, like an animal.
I lift my head suddenly but can’t see anything.
It sounds like it’s coming from the pool house though.
I make my way to the side of the pool closest to the pool house to check the other leaf trap and bent over on all fours, I hear it again, this time only more intense.
It actually sounds like someone growling my name.
I stand suddenly, turn and look at the pool house again, and I’m certain I can see Will through the shutters.
It looks like he’s…
Oh my.
But it’s too late.
I take a step back and watch the world flip as I tumble, backward into the pool.
The shock of the cold is instant but quickly replaced with a scarier feeling.
My parka is soaking up water quicker than I can try to make my way to the surface.