Once I return to the pool, the misery I felt during my conversation with Della is completely gone. Gone and swept away by the water. Apparently, I’m a simple being with simple needs if a single inground, outdoor pool changed my day’s outlook.
The early afternoon sun beats down on the pool, meaning I’ve chosen the hottest time of the day to be out here, but all bets were off when Sebastian showed me literal paradise.
Thinking about my bodyguard draws my attention to the fact he’s no longer out here. I pause by the cement’s edge, taking a quick sweep of the pool area, along with the massive grassy stretch of land to the side, not spotting him anywhere.
Oh well.
I steal the lounge chair closest to the pool’s edge and kick my flipflops off. Without testing the water again, I plunge in, taking an immediate dive, my body slicing neatly through the water, wetting every single part of me like some awakening bath. It’s there, I sigh, more content since the second I hugged Della goodbye and followed Erico out to his car.
The water’s warm from the sun. If it was chilly, I likely wouldn’t care anyway. Dipping my head, I bask in the chlorine-filled water, my long hair becoming weightless beneath the surface.
Even after years of not swimming, instincts return, keeping me buoyant as I first complete a circle of the massive pool, and then end up on my back, eyes shut against the sun’s gleam.
As I bob, sound of steps approach, so I spin until I’m facing the opposite way and angle my head back, blocking the sun with a hand. Sebastian returns with a towel in one hand and a water bottle in the other.
From my back, I swim toward him, only realizing the closer I get, how much of me is on display. Parts of my body even Erico hasn’t seen. The triangle top and string bottoms doesn’t hide much, but it was the only swimsuit I found in that massive closet. The plain black is exactly what I would have personally chosen for myself, and I wonder if it was Erico himself who chose it or one of his staff.
Sebastian drops the towel onto the chair by my shoes, and then the water bottle, after holding it up to me. “Stay hydrated.”
Then he lowers to the lounge chair beside mine, one leg on either side, his elbows resting on his knees to keep him upright. The heat is much too cruel for the rolled-up black shirt and cargo pants he’s wearing but somehow, he makes it work. When he was inside, he must have gotten his sunglasses because he lowers them from his head to his eyes, giving him such a dangerous guise to his appearance, I physically feel it in my core.
I finish my swim on my stomach, hiding my chest beneath the water until I get closer to the edge and lift my hands from the pool.Thanks,I sign to him.
He replies, “No problem.”
Closer, I catch how his skin is reddening from the heat already. Considering how he’s dressed, I wouldn’t mind company in the pool. I wonder if he’s allowed to. After all, how much is Erico allowed to complain when he basically forced this guy to hang out with me? We may as well both take advantage of it.
Can you come in and swim with me?I sign, but based on the lowering of his brows, it was much too fast. I repeat, slower this time, but he only shakes his head, his expression pinching in embarrassment.
“Still didn’t catch that, sorry.”
This time, I go very simple and point to him and then the water. Twice until he understands.
“Can I swim with you?” When I nod, he adds, “I can’t, no. But it’s okay, Ariella. If it’s company you’re looking for, I’ll be here.” He gestures to the chair he’s on.
After witnessing the drama between Aurora and her once-personal bodyguard, I guess I get why he needs to maintain the distance.
I complete another pass of the pool before returning to the edge closest to him. I go for water, but then end up in a one-sided conversation about his nephew, in which my signed responses become more and more complicated, simply to challenge him.
* * *
For easily an hour, we talk back and forth. Me, signing, and Sebastian switching between vocals and hand gestures, depending the length of his sentences. I’ve alternated between the water and sitting on the pool’s edge to give my body a break from the chlorine.
After I asked about his nephew, he asks me about my own family, even if there’s not much to say. He tells me about his induction and training into theFamigliaand how his father was a guard, his grandfather, and so on. His family has a long history with Erico’s, but nonetheless, he’s enjoying his life now. He asks me about my music and the piano, and once again, I keep those details to a minimum. I don’t invite him to listen, even though the thought crosses my mind because not only does that disrupt the tentative non-friendship boundary between us, I’m reminded of what Erico said to me.
“One day, I hope to hear you play.”
Dare I think it, Sebastian’s gaze remains unwavering. Even through his sunglasses, I feel him watching me every time I take a lap around the pool, and I’m not sure how to feel about it. Sebastian’s cute in a puppy dog way, and I love being able to speak with him in a less awkward method than texting or writing notes, and his easy friendship is an added bonus.
After another dip around the pool, Sebastian offers to retrieve food, and I nearly agree if it wasn’t for the abrupt shade that powers its way around the side of the house and toward us. The shade isn’t from clouds that suddenly turn grey, or my mood becoming depressed.
Erico’s large steps brings him around the mansion to the poolside, where he’s staring us both down. Sebastian scrambles to stand, leaving the relaxed state he’s slowly found himself in over the passing hours. I, meanwhile, slip right beneath the water and tread a few feet away from the edge, keeping one uncertain eye on my husband as fury rolls off him in thick, pointless waves.
Whatever he’s about to say to me, it better be with kindness only.
At the pool’s edge, he’s staring down at me. Bearing, is more like it. His eyes unblinking, his mouth flat, jaw tight until, after a long minute, hedoesblink. Then his gaze slides to the left toward Sebastian and he jerks his head. “Leave us.”
Sebastian quickly steps around the lounge chairs, but before he’s gone entirely, I lift my hand, palm toward him, fold my fingers down, and then lift them open again in the sign language representation forgoodbye. Sebastian nods, telling me he understood. Just because Erico’s decided to be a dick doesn’t mean he can’t get a proper acknowledgment.