Page 6 of The Roommates

“A brand new place would take work too. Construction. Decisions. Here, we know what to expect.”

I wasn’t sure we did.

“Come on. This is our dream.” Tanner tossed the words out that always made me cave.

Voices bounced around the cavernous room as our first students filtered in. This was our youngest class at five to seven years old, so we only allowed six students into the course. We needed to keep an eye on all of them, but I also hated turning new enrollments away. Part of growing would mean hiring more coaches.

“It wouldn’t hurt to look more closely into it,” I said.

His grin was back. “Wicked.”

“Mithter Manthell.” The call rang out. Thethin place of thes’s in my name told me who it was, even though the acoustics in here distorted voices.

I turned to see Edward, one of the smaller boys, running toward me, grinning broadly enough to show the gap where his two front teeth were still growing in. I pushed aside my mixed reaction to Tanner’s news, and crouched to bring myself to eye level with Edward. “No running near the pool. What’s up?” I asked. Someday I’d have kids of my own—I’d always wanted a family—but for now, I was content to teach other people’s children.

“I practithed all week. I can do my doggy paddle now.” He’d been struggling with that.

“That’s fantastic.” I moved to the edge of the water and dropped in, gesturing for him to drop in. “Show me.”

For the next hour, we worked with the kids on basic strokes, but just as much we let them have fun. Tanner would require structure from anyone who advanced to higher level classes, but for the beginners, I insisted we keep swimming playful rather than a chore.

The news about the building lingered in my head, as well as my mixed feelings. Why wasn’t I as excited as Tanner? My life had been a lot of drifting from job to job and interest to interest, and nothing had given me stability except this. I loved what we were doing, and we’d been planning this for so long.

This must be trepidation. The kind of uncertainty that came with a dream becoming more real.

The entire situation stayed on a loop in my thoughts as we wrapped up class, and headed back to Daria’s. I arrived a moment before Tanner, hesitated at the door, then reminded myself it was okay to walk inside without knocking. We had keys for a reason.

Daria was in the kitchen, and looked up when I walked in. Her friendly smile melted into furrowed eyebrows when she met my gaze. “What’s wrong?”

Did she somehow know I was struggling with uncertainty? Tanner hadn’t seemed to notice anything.

“Nothing’s wrong.” Speaking of… He joined us. “In fact, everything’s fucking awesome.”

“Oh yeah?” She sounded genuinely curious. Then again, most things she did were genuine. One of the things I liked about her was her sincerity. I liked a lot of things about Daria, though. If I weren’t so hung up on Tanner, and she weren’t a student’s parent, I’d entertain a lot of fantasies about her.

Tanner laid out our opportunity to buy the building.

“That’s amazing.” She smiled warmly. “My offer still stands if you need help with paperwork or another set of eyes on your business proposal.”

The grin Tanner gave her was one of those that always made my heart skip. “We may take you up on that, once you’re done with your work crisis.”

“You know where to find me.” She grabbed her coffee mug, and headed downstairs again.

Tanner turned to me. “I’m sorry if I was abrupt earlier.”

“You weren’t. This is important, and you’re right—we’ve been planning it for so long.”

His grin was back, turning my insides to mush now that it was focused on me. “I’m not going to just dive into this or move forward without due-diligence. And I’m not doing it without you.”

The words should’ve warmed me further, but they added to an unease I still didn’t feel I’d identified. “Let’s go make plans, then.”

4

daria

Dayone of my non-existent vacation was in the bag.

The girls called when they got back to their hotel, and I could see the pink in Harmony’s cheeks. I reminded her to have Alana help her with sunscreen tomorrow, then listened while she told me all about her day. About meeting Cinderella and all the rides she went on and how Daddy won her a giant, pink Minnie Mouse.

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