Chapter 7 - Hands in Blue Water
The splash was still falling when I realized what I'd done. Water hung in the air under those blue lights and then came down hard on the deck, on my shoes, on Tamsin's hair. My right hand throbbed from the knuckles up. I could hear my own breathing too loud in the echo.
Rourke went under and didn't come right up. For a second there was just churn where he'd hit, white water and the lane rope jumping. Then his dark polo broke the surface a few feet out, near the second lane line. He came up gasping, his head tipped back, his arms slapping at nothing.
Tamsin was already on her knees. She'd dropped when he fell and she hadn't gotten up. Water was soaking straight through her dark pants.
"Rourke," she said. It wasn't a scream now. It was short, panicked. She leaned out over the gutter, her cream sweater stretching, her sleeves dragging in the pool. She grabbed for his collar and got a handful of his polo shirt. The whistle lanyard floated up beside his chin.
He coughed and turned his face toward her, disoriented. His eyes wouldn't focus. He tried to get his hand on the deck and missed, his palm slapping wet concrete. The lane rope had drifted across his chest and he got tangled in it when he moved.
"Grab my hand," Tamsin said. "Grab my hand."
He couldn't. He went under again for a second and came up coughing harder, water coming out of his nose. That sound did something to me. I'd wanted him down. I hadn't wanted that.
Ivy made a small noise behind me. I looked back and she was still by the door side of the deck where we'd stopped. She'd backed up a step from the edge, her bare feet squeaking. She had both hands wrapped around those blue goggles at her neck like she was holding them to keep herself steady. Her towel was on the floor where she'd dropped it.
"Dad?" she said.
That was it. One word. I heard how scared she was of the water suddenly, of what I'd put in it.
I moved. I don't remember deciding. I dropped to my knees beside Tamsin at the gutter. The concrete bit through my jeans. Cold water soaked my sleeves the second I put my hands in.
Rourke's face was pale under the lights. He was trying to tread but his legs weren't working right, and his polo was heavy and pulling him. Tamsin had his collar but she didn't have the leverage, she was sliding forward every time he jerked.
"Let go of the rope," I told him. My voice sounded flat and strange in all that echo. "Let go and give me your arm."
He stared at me. Coughing took him again and he spat pool water. For a second I thought he was going to refuse me, out there in the middle of it.
"Come on," I said. "Now."
I got my left hand under his armpit and my right hand around his wrist. Tamsin didn't let go of his shirt. Together we pulled. He was heavier than he looked with the water in his clothes, and my shoulder burned from the swing. I planted my knee and hauled back.
He came up against the wall hard, his chest hitting the gutter. More water sloshed over the edge and across Tamsin's sweater and my jacket. He got one elbow onto the deck and coughed straight down onto the concrete, his whole body shaking with it.
"Roll," I said. "Roll toward me."
Tamsin pulled his polo while I lifted. We dragged him sideways until his hips were at the edge. He got a knee up, slipped, then got it again. I kept hold of his wrist until he was mostly out, lying on his side in a spreading puddle, coughing and breathing in ragged pulls.
The pool settled behind him. The lane rope drifted back into place. The scoreboard hummed above the bleachers.
I stayed on my knees, my hands in my lap, dripping. My jacket was soaked through to the elbows. Tamsin was crouched over Rourke, one hand on his back while he coughed, her wet sleeves clinging to her arms. She looked at me once, fast, and then away.
May you like
I turned to check Ivy. She'd backed another step from the edge. Her wet hair stuck to her cheeks. She still clutched those goggles, knuckles white, eyes fixed on the man on the deck coughing up pool water.
He was alive. We were all soaked and shaking. Nobody moved to stand.
