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Admittedly, I’m at his house more often than he is, especially with Dad and Mr. Fox doing so much business together and Tonia helping out her sister. I don’t mind it. Esmerelda, Silas’s mom, is a lot like Tonia, and I sit in the kitchen with her doing homework mostly and just talking.
“Okay, here we go, Phee,” Ethan starts, walking backwards across the pool.
I keep my arms around his neck as the water gets deeper. He’s smiling, hands hooked behind my back. I’m smiling too, but I’m also a little nervous.
“Not bad, right?” he says.
I’m standing on tiptoe to keep my head above water. “Can we go back to the shallow end?”
“You’ll never learn how to swim if you stay in the shallows, Phee.” He takes another step back, and I hug him tighter when I can’t touch the bottom anymore. “It’s all right. I got you, baby.”
Baby.
That’s new.
I nod, trying to smile, trying to be a little more grown up like the girls he’s used to hanging out with.
“Here, I’m going to lift you up, so you just float on your back.”
“Don’t let me go!” I say, catching my breath as he puts his hands at my back and stands there while I float.
“That’s it. Not too hard, right? Just relax. Don’t forget to breathe.”
“We never look up at the sky,” I say.
“Mhm,” he says absently and traces my belly button.
“It’s weird, right? Human beings, I mean. We’re always looking down or ahead, and it’s so pretty up there. There’s a whole beautiful world right over our heads.”
He looks at me, but I don’t dare turn my head. I focus on breathing, trying to relax.
“Ever been kissed, Phee?” he asks, his hands coming to my hips to pull me upright. We’re at the deepest part of the pool now and I gasp, hugging his neck, trying not to look down at how far the bottom is.
“What?”
He swims us toward the wall, and I feel a little better with its solidity at my back.
“Just a sec,” he says and dashes a little way away.
“Ethan!” I grip the edge of the pool tight.
He reaches out of the pool to grab my bottle of beer and drinks a big swallow. “You don’t mind, do you?”
I shake my head. I just want to get out now. If I look down at my feet floating there, I think I will go into a panic, and it would be very embarrassing.
“Can we get out?” I ask as he swims back to me.
“Oh, baby, you’re cold.” He wraps his arms around me.
“I want to get out.”
“Answer me first,” he says, touching my chin, turning my face to look up at him.
“What?”
“Ever been kissed?”
I search his eyes, the green darker now, his jaw strong with blond stubble dusting it. His coloring is from his mom, but his jawline and nose are all Mr. Fox. That dimple though when he smiles, that’s just Ethan.
