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I cocked a brow and chuckled, surprised by this woman’s ability to find the positive in any situation. Callie stepped into the great room from the hallway, pulling my attention from her mother.
“I don’t need swim lessons.” She crossed her arms. “My daddy taught me to swim.”
I swallowed thickly. There was no way I could argue with that. So I tried another angle.
“I was thinking,” I said, roughing a hand down my face, “since you know how to swim, maybe we could pretend I’m teaching you. You can show me how good you are, and if Teddy sees us having fun, then maybe he will want to try it.”
Her brows pulled together, and she looked from me to Tina and back again, seemingly unconvinced.
“He doesn’t know how to swim like you do,” I pushed on. “He really needs to learn in case he falls into the lake again. Which, by the trouble your mom says he gets into, seems likely.”
She rolled her eyes. “Grammy says he’s trouble with a capital T.”
“I superman!” Teddy shouted, bolting into the room wearing just his underwear, a cape, and a mask.
Tina shook her head. “Let me go see if he’ll at least put a pair of regular shorts on.”
She disappeared in the direction Teddy had sprinted off to, leaving me alone with Callie, who was now assessing me with a glare that outdid my mom’s.
Another idea struck me. “Has your mom taken you guys to Pointe Beach?”
Callie slowly nodded.
“Have you gotten to try the big slide?”
“No.” She looked to the ground and shuffled her feet. “I couldn’t pass the swim test.”
Exactly what I was hoping for. “I can help. If we work hard, maybe you’ll be able to pass it before the end of the season.”
“Really?” She cocked her head as one eyebrow rose.
“Yup. My siblings and I were all riding the big slide by the time we were six.”
She huffed out a sigh and let her arms drop. “Fine. I’ll do it. But I wouldn’t hold your breath on getting Teddy in the water.” With that, she trudged off down the hall.
While I waited for Tina and the kids, I took in the great room. It had cathedral ceilings and a stone fireplace built into the far wall. The pictures lined up along the mantel caught my attention, specifically the military portrait, but I kept my feet planted. Standing in this home was awkward enough. I did not need to add to that sensation by getting a good look at the man I couldn’t save. Sometimes, I still wasn’t sure whether it was that deployment, when I couldn’t save Hughes, that fucked me up the most, or whether it was my last deployment, the one that ended my career.
Once we were all out back, and Callie and I were in the pool, I relaxed. I didn’t have high expectations for the kid, but I was pleasantly surprised by her determination from the very beginning. What I didn’t expect, though, was to be so distracted by Tina’s laugh. She laughed with her whole soul, holding nothing back, and I found myself staring on more than one occasion.
As I watched Tina and Teddy toss a ball back and forth, my attention zeroed in on the way Teddy threw with his left hand. Strange what a person’s mind focused on after such a jarringloss. I pinched my eyes closed, pushing away memories of that day, but they flashed through my mind, regardless.
Fighting to stop the bleeding in his shoulder—the shrapnel had hit a main artery. Blood covering my hands.
Yelling, telling him he wasn’t going to die. That I wouldn’t need to tell his family anything.
His blood pressure continuing to drop even after we stopped the bleeding. Hughes losing consciousness.
Realizing a moment too late that he was bleeding internally. Performing CPR even though I knew it was pointless.
I should have recognized it. Maybe I could have saved him. But the nicked artery in his shoulder put him at high risk of bleeding out. That had to be the priority.
The telltale gurgle. His last breath. Succumbing to the knowledge that there was nothing else I could do for him.
I’d caught sight of the pistol still positioned on his left hip. He was left-handed. That was what my mind fixated on after losing him—that he was left-handed.
“Did you see that?”
I shook my head and turned to face Callie, who was kicking while holding on to a pool noodle. “You’re doing great. Perfect kicks.”
