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I cocked one brow at her and turned to Teddy. “Want to go out there with me? We can practice your kicks like we do in the pool.”
He scanned the open water. “I go swim? Like the pool?”
I nodded. “Yeah, like we do in the pool.” I held my arms out, giving him the choice.
He stepped into me, and I scooped him up, but the poorlittle guy clung to me for dear life. “Teddy, I got you, bud. I won’t let go. I promise.”
He nodded but only loosened his grip slightly.
Tina and Callie followed us out a few yards, and when the water hit my ribcage, I coaxed Teddy to loosen his grip further. Eventually, he let me put his lower body horizontally in the water while I supported his upper body.
“Look at you swimming.”
We stayed out in the water until Teddy’d had enough, then Tina and I sat with him on the beach blanket while Callie did the water slide a few more times.
Tina leaned into me, bumping my arm with her shoulder. “Maybe next time we can take them to Bear Cove.”
At her words, my whole body tightened and ice ran through my veins.
“No,” I snapped. Sitting ramrod straight, I pinched my eyes closed and sucked in a deep breath. In for four, out for eight. But it didn’t help. It never did. I didn’t know why I’d bothered to try. My heart was still racing. What the hell was wrong with me?
Tina placed her hand on my bicep, and instantly, my muscles started to relax.
“What’s wrong?”
“The cliffs at Bear Cove are dangerous. I—” I shook my head. “It’s not safe.”
“Okay.” She was quiet, leaving unspoken questions hanging in the air between us.
What if she didn’t take me seriously and took the kids there by herself? That thought had my stomach pitching.
“Tina, promise me you won’t go there.” I cringed at the desperation in my voice.
Her gaze locked on mine. “I promise.”
“That’s it?” Or was she saying it to appease me? Her expressionwas open, concerned, and full of sincerity, but still. “No questions why?”
She shrugged. “I trust you. If you say it’s dangerous, then I believe you.” She assessed Teddy, who was happily eating Goldfish and playing with a few dinosaurs, and turned back to me. “And if you want to tell me what upset you so much, I’m happy to listen. If you don’t, that’s okay too.”
All the air escaped me then. This woman. She constantly surprised me. I held back a laugh at how ironic the situation was. For the last nine months, I’d wished people would stop asking me how I was or what I was feeling or whether I needed to talk, and now I wanted nothing more than to tell this woman everything. Even the things I thought I didn’t want her to ever know.
“Remember the day in the grocery store?”
She glanced over with a smile. “You mean when you hounded me until I agreed to let you give my kids swim lessons?”
“You’re welcome, by the way.” I waved over to Callie, who stood on the platform at the top of the slide, waving excitedly at us.
“This is the happiest I’ve seen her since we moved here.” Tina waved back, and once Callie turned, she squeezed my forearm. “You have no idea how grateful I am that you’ve given her this.”
I shrugged. Funny thing was, I thought I was saving Teddy that day. But from where I was standing, it seemed as though we all needed a little saving. I rubbed my chest, willing the ache there to dissipate.
Tina’s brows were raised, and she was watching me, expectant. She wouldn’t push, but she was waiting for my explanation. Why I demanded they never go to Bear Cove.
“Everyone makes at least one bad decision in high school, right? It’s like a rite of passage. But when we’re young anddumb, we don’t always understand that those bad decisions could have life-threatening consequences.” I swallowed over the lump in my throat. “I knew the cliffs could be dangerous, even without adding alcohol to the mix. It’s why I made sure we never brought it with us when we hung out there.”
Beside me, she inhaled sharply, likely already understanding where I was going.
Other kids our age used that spot to party. It was more of a hangout spot for us. Being deep in a cove and far from the main roads made it the perfect place to hide out.
