Sophie needed to stay afloat both in her job and in the water. Of course, her next lesson started with her face first in the water. After the floating exercise, Matthew’s face transformed and his eyes lit up. This was one expression that filled her with dread.
“I’m going to teach you the flutter kick.” He brought the trusty kickboard from the edge of the pool. “I would like you to watch my legs. This is what we’re aiming for.”
He thrust himself off the edge, his muscular arms extended forward as he held the kickboard. He put his face in the water and began kicking, churning up the water with his feet.
He stopped and stood up in the middle of the pool, about ten feet away. “Are you paying attention?” he barked.
She jolted. “Yes.” He’d caught her focused on his dreamy body.
He swam back and she concentrated on his precise movements and not entirely on his physique.
“Did you see what I just did?” He wasn’t even breathless when he returned to where she sat on the step.
“Yes,” she said slowly.
“Think of how quickly a butterfly flutters its wings. I need you to do short, quick little kicks, churning up the water. Fluttering.”
“I see.”
“Kick from the hip and not from the knee. It’s a whole leg exercise.”
She swallowed. “There is one issue. You kicked to the middle of the blooming pool.” Like a show reel, memories of drowning slid into her mind. “I’m not a middle-of-the-pool kind of girl yet.”
“We’re aiming to reach the middle of the pool. But today is your lucky day.”
“Lucky?” Sophie roared with laughter so loudly, that children splashing on the other side of the pool stopped to watch her. “Then why don’t I feel at all lucky?”
“It’s a lucky day for you because you’re going to use the kickboard, but again you’ll do the exercise over the step.”
A feeling of immense gratitude filled her. Oh trusty step! How close they’d become. First the floating and now flutter kicking.
Matthew issued his hideous instructions of how to flutter kick and then it was her turn.
She face-planted into the water and left no time to think about her actions. Her body hovered over the step with the kickboard in front of her. The sensation of suffocating was overwhelming. Her legs sailed up and her stomach somersaulted like she was on a rollercoaster. The kickboard was an animal, and she was the trainer.
She fought to gain control of the board as it wobbled and wriggled in her grip. She threw off a surge of panic. I can do this. I will be the kickboard’s master. I will be in control.
There was a slight weight placed on the board. It was Matthew, steadying the board to help. As she struggled with the kickboard, a thought sprang into her mind.
She wanted to thank him. Give him a Christmas present. As she thrashed and churned the water, her mind worked simultaneously. He liked cars. He liked tequila. He liked dolphins. He loved swimming. What else, what could she get him?