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Skylar tosses in, “I’d also say you have to be atleasteight years old before you can go in alone. Got it?” Olivia nods her head. “And this will be fun! I’ll teach you how to swim freestyle like a crocodile, breast stroke like a sea turtle, and to swim on your back like an otter.”
“I can do that!” she says with pride. “Daddy teached me how to float on my back.”
“Hetaughtyou how to float? That’s great!”
It’s not lost on me the way Skylar takes every single moment and turns it into an opportunity to teach Olivia something. She never corrects her language, just models the proper way to say the word. Come to think of it, she never makes people feel like they’re doing wrong, just shows them through her words and her actions how to do it better.
By the end of the week I realize she’s been schooling me, too. Skylar’s been the consummate professional. You’d never know anything went down between us just a few weeks ago. She’s moved past it. Either that or she’s a damn good actress.
Maybe Skylar is an expert at compartmentalizing her life. Maybe she’s put me in a box markednot happeningand moved on. If she has then kudos to her. Lord knows I’ve been trying to do just that and failing miserably.
She leaves right after the three of us eat dinner together on Friday night. I should be glad things are getting back to normal, that’s what I keep telling myself, but the house feels so quiet and empty every time she walks out the door.
“Did you learn anything new today, Libby?”
“Hmm...” She does this cute thing now where she puts a finger on her chin whenever she’s thinking. “I floated like the otters…Oh, and I paddled like a doggy to safety swim.” She shows me how she raises her head high while paddling her hands in quick strokes.
I noticed before that Skylar used zip ties to fasten the floaty noodles I keep in the shed onto each stair railing, giving Olivia something to reach for in case she ever finds herself struggling in the water.
“Were you able to swim to the noodles?”
“Yep!”
“That’s great.”
“Daddy, I want a purple lavender bathing suit like Skylar.”
“You don’t like the suits Grammy bought you in Disney?”
She shrugs even though she was out of her mind happy with those suits just a week ago. “I like Skylar’s better.”
Skylar took Olivia shopping with her the morning after I opened the pool. She didn’t bring any bathing suits from home, she said, and figured she needed a few new ones for the season.
The suit Olivia is referring to is a favorite of mine, too. It’s about as simple as it gets, a one-piece with straps that criss-cross over her back. It’s not too low cut in the front or high cut on the bottom. It’s actually modest compared to what you see on the beaches these days, but she looks like a goddess in it.
Long legs, posture as straight as a ballet dancer’s, the subtle curves of her hips and breasts. I had to look away when I first caught sight of her coming out the pool, rendered stupid from one look at that body with her long hair dripping wet down her back.
Olivia tugs on the hem of my shirt as if to say:Uh, hello, earth to Dad.
“I can ask Skylar to help me look online for a kid-sized one that looks like it, ok?” When she nods, I go back to loading the dishwasher but there’s a knock on the door.
“Max?”
“Hey! Haven’t seen you since you got back and we were just in the neighborhood for happy hour at that new craft brewery on Shady. Figured we’d pop in.”
Weincludes Max, Nadia and Lexi the lawyer. He called me a few days ago, and when I told him I was busy getting the pool opened he mentioned a barbecue referencingthe girlslike we’re a foursome. I blew him off, so right now he’s being an annoying prick, otherwise known as his idea of being helpful.
He walks past me. “Hi, Libby.”
“Hi, Max,” she answers, fist bumping my friend like they’re best buds. “Who’s that?”
“This,” he pulls Nadia in close, “is my girlfriend, Nadia, and this beautiful lady is Lexi, a friend of your dad’s.”
Olivia looks to me. “You got a girlfriend?”
I shoot Max a look. “Lexi is a friend of mine.” I walk over and give her a total bro hug, like with no bodily contact whatsoever, then introduce her to my baby. “Lexi, this is my daughter, Olivia.”
“Oh my God, aren’t yousocute!” Olivia smiles at Lexi while simultaneously managing to look confused. I want to tell Libs:I feel youbecause I don’t know what the hell is going on either.
