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“Walked?” Her eyebrows raised as she looked at my boot. “On a fractured ankle?”
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“I’m sure that’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one.”
I dropped my head, truth spilling free before I could censor. “I’ve had worse. Please. Don’t worry. You and your family have already been so nice to me. I’m fine. Truly.”
For a moment, she didn’t reply.
She just stared at me as if she was as in-tune as her daughter and could sense things I would never say. Finally, she nodded. “So you were discharged early, and you came here?”
I fidgeted. “I-I wanted to come and say thank you. Again. For everything.” Throwing a quick look at Neri, she popped up, took a breath, then vanished underwater again.
I added quietly, “I know I shouldn’t have come. You’ve already done so much, but I...” I shrugged all while my eyes stung. “I...”
These people had saved my life, but now I was trespassing in their garden.
Why would they help me further? Why did I think I’d be safe here when it was their legal obligation to hand me over to the authorities and let them deal with me?
Air was suddenly hard to come by.
I squeezed the back of my neck.
A giant splash wrenched my head up and spun Anna around.
Water went flying, followed by a girl’s squeal.
I stood frozen as Jack tossed his daughter into the sky, letting her rain back into the pool with a waterfall of droplets. His t-shirt lay discarded on a rock. The same rock he’d probably just jumped from.
Neri screamed a war cry and launched herself onto her father’s back, scrambling to his shoulders and grabbing fistfuls of his hair. “I win. I win—”
Jack ducked underwater, taking Neri with him.
Anna rolled her eyes. “I live with water babies. I swear. Been on the ocean all day and spent most of that freediving on the reef and what do my beloved husband and daughter do when we get home? Go straight back into the water.”
Jack appeared again, swiping his face free from wetness. “Aslan! Hey. You found us then!”
Neri swam between her father’s legs and popped up in front of him, waving at me. “You’re staying for dinner, right?” Spinning in the water, she faced her father. “Go pick up more Nemo burgers. Aslan wants one.”
“No. I’m fine,” I rushed. “I don’t expect—”
“I have a hankering for pizza.” Jack winked. “Homemade with lots of mushrooms and mozzarella.”
“Yes!” Neri swam to the sandy shore and jumped out of the pool. “I’ll go get changed and help you make them.”
She tore off into the house, leaving me alone with her parents.
One dry and wary.
One wet and welcoming.
No one said anything for a long moment.
Jack clambered out of the pool, grabbed his t-shirt and looked me up and down. “I figured my clothes would be too big on you. For your height and build, you’re slightly underweight.”
I didn’t know how to respond so I just tipped my chin in acknowledgment.
Glancing at his wife, they shared a look before Jack pinned me with a stern stare. “Do you know why I gave you our address, Aslan?”
