Page 23 of Serenity Falls

‘O-kay.’

Jules turns away and starts unwinding his long hose. Dad looks at her and mouths, ‘Iced coffee?’ with a helpless shrug.

Sadie rolls her eyes. ‘I’ll make it,’ she says.

‘You sure?’

‘Yeah, you can load the dishwasher.’

While Dad starts grabbing plates, Sadie sets about making Jules his coffee. ‘Y’know, iced coffee is literally like normal coffee with ice in it,’ she tells him.

He pulls a face. ‘Coffee is hot. It’s meant to be drunk just shy of scalding. On this hill I shall die.’

Sadie stirs the milky coffee, tips it into a long glass, then takes it over to the fridge and dumps a good amount of ice into it. She stirs it again. ‘Better than a swimming pool, I guess.’

‘Ouch.’

‘Too soon?’

Her dad makes a ‘so-so’ motion with his hands.

Sadie smiles. Then she walks back across the kitchen and steps outside. Once again, the heat hits her like a sledgehammer.

I am never going to get used to this, she thinks.

Jules is kneeling by the side of the pool, arranging the hose. The balloons, now slightly deflated, are still bobbing at the shallow end.

‘Iced coffee,’ she announces.

‘Thanks.’

Sadie puts the glass down on the garden table. Jules looks up and smiles at her. ‘I’ll get this thoroughly cleaned, balance the chlorine levels, leave the filtration running. That’ll take a couple of hours. Should be fine to swim in by this afternoon. Bet you’re eager to take a dip, right?’

‘Not really.’ She folds her arms and squints at him. ‘You ever had this happen before?’

He sits back on his heels. ‘Usually, it’s animals. Raccoons, rats, pets. They fall in. Can’t work out how to get back out.’

‘Armadillos?’

‘Can’t say we ever had one of them.’

‘No people?’

‘There was this old lady, couple of years ago. Didn’t put her glasses on and just stepped right in. Sank like a stone. No one found her for a week. Man, she blew right up.’ Jules holds his hands wide to demonstrate.

Sadie swallows. ‘Nice.’

‘And years ago, this little kid fell in his family’s pool and drowned.’

‘A kid?’

‘Yeah. Real sad. Must be almost thirty years ago now. My dad was running stuff back then. I was in high school. But I still remember it.’

‘What happened?’

‘His mom was out. Grandma wasn’t paying attention or something. Kid wandered off. By the time they found him, it was too late. I always tell people: you got kids, you put a gate on.’ He shakes his head. ‘Cute kid. I’d see him with his mom, riding his scooter. He used to wear this cowboy hat like that cartoon character from the Winsom movies … what’s he called?’

Sadie stares at him. All the saliva seems to have evaporated from her mouth.