Page 13 of The Pretender
“I disagree. What’s yours?”
“Pink, but a soft version. Not hot pink.”
“I bet you look nice in that shade.”
“You’ll find out. My wardrobe is full of it.” I nudge his arm. “Do you wear other colors besides black?”
“I have some gray and navy.”
Snickering, I lift my cup. After taking another sip of the cooling coffee, I say, “I bet you’d look amazing in cream or winter white.”
“Winter white? As opposed to summer white?”
“They’re different. Summer white is crisp and clean. Winter white is softer and cozy.”
“I doubt I could pick out the difference. You’re into fashion then?”
“I like to look nice and put together.”
“And you do.”
The flight attendants come back through to take our breakfast orders. I decide on the quiche and Balt gets the same.
“I know your trauma, so I guess I should tell you mine,” I say.
Balt nods, looking interested.
“I nearly drowned when I was twelve. We were on vacation at this cabin up in the Dells.”
“The Dells?”
“Wisconsin Dells. It’s a tourist area. We were boating and I was dancing and just goofing off. I lost my balance and fell overboard, and I panicked and swallowed a ton of water. My family wasn’t looking at me when I fell so it took them a few minutes to realize what had happened. My brother Nantes jumped in after me, but I was sinking. I was so terrified that I was making it worse, taking on water and unable to fight my way to the surface.”
“My god.”
“Fortunately, Nantes grabbed me and got me back on the boat. It was close at that point, but he did CPR and I coughed out the water. I haven’t been swimming since.”
“Fair.”
I shrug. “It sucks a little, but any time I’m completely immersed in water, I panic. I can’t soak in the tub too deep, and it took a while before I was comfortable having water on my face at all. Like in the shower.”
“You’re doing better now?”
“Showering is fine, but I haven’t really tested anything else. My mom took me to therapy for a while, but the therapist said the only way to really get over it is by doing it again. No thanks.”
“Understandable.”
“Yeah, so don’t ever suggest we go swimming. My family would know something was off.”
“Thank you for telling me.”
“Sure. Other than that, I’m pretty normal, I think. Friends call me quirky, but in a loveable way. Oh, I probably have ADHD but I haven’t bothered to get diagnosed.”
“Why not?”
I shrug. “It doesn’t interfere with my life, so I just deal with some of the effects.”
“Like?”
