Swim Again (7 page)

With nothing to do, I hung out with Kaz that day, all the way up until practice.  OK, yes I was interested in seeing what other kind of pampering he had in store for me.  I also used him to get rid of the rest of my anger for Brayden.  And boy had his listening skills improved.  I didn’t feel ignored or sidelined at all.  I didn’t know I had missed that feeling.

Kaz practiced at a pool in Pinewood, the older facility that we used when we were kids.  After creating two Olympic gold medalists, in the same year, Staden got their state of the art aquatic facility.  As soon as that happened, all of the college swimmers made the much closer, and super nice, pool their home. 

“Here we are,” Kaz said as he parked his truck.  “Home of champions.”

“You think they’ll put statues of y’all in front?” I joked.

“And you.”

“If you found Brayden’s vandalized, you’d know who did it.”

Kaz chuckled.  “Yeah, Mark.”

“Why Mark?  Oh, due to the fight that he and Brayden had.”

“Yeah…”

“Well, he’d have to get in line.”  I secured my scarf around my neck and inhaled.  “Let’s go.”

The inside hadn’t changed.  It was smaller than Staden—a smaller set of benches on the side, not as much wide open space to walk or stand, not as many swimming lanes, and the lights weren’t as bright.  We were lucky, however, that it was an indoor pool thanks to the college’s football team.

When Kaz went to put his stuff in the locker room, I thought how odd it was to be one of the only people in there not working.  Winter work outs were activities of my ancient past.  I turned to the water.  It was so still and calm.  No one yelling and screaming.  No water flying everywhere.  No me turning around to the board to see I missed my chance of Olympic dreams by one second. 

“Mauri!” Mark cheered.  I turned around to give him a hug.  I did not remember him as being so bubbly.  “Kaz broke down the situation.”

“I’m not here to try and take your place,” I said.

He dismissed my comment by waving.  “Agh Mauri.  I am not like that.  I don’t mind at all.  In fact, I may be able to get him to do more things with you.  Does he listen to you?”

“I already told Kaz all I would be here to do is repeat what you say.  I’m sure there’s nothing new for me to add.”

“Well, two sets of eyes are better than one.”

“We’ll see.”

Mark let me know that his wife
did
say hi to him for me.  Then he teased me about getting insider information from the competition.

“You’re married to Brayden’s coach though,” I said.  “You should have the ultimate pass.”

“Oh, no.”  He shook his head.  “She will not budge.  Won’t even talk about flight accommodations with me.  But I heard that you dipped your toe into a couple of practices.”

“One and concentrated on the internet the whole time.”

“You had to have watched Brayden a few times.”

“I peeped up every once in a while.  If Kaz gets back into the same shape—”

“I am in the same shape baby,” Kaz said, breaking up the conversation.  “Watch me work.”  He splashed some water on himself then dove into the pool and began doing laps.”  I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to handle seeing him too long out of the water.  His abs… and then there was his shorts, which he hung, low across his hips.  Note one: keep Kaz in the water.

“I’ve got him on autopilot,” Mark said.  “He
is
working hard; I can’t refute that.”

“I see,” I said.

“Most of the mistakes he realizes he makes.  When you were in there, you knew too.  I’m simply here for him to confirm those thoughts and have ideas bounced off of me.  So the job is pretty simple.  Watch and wait.”

You don’t have to tell me that again.

Mark and I took a seat on the metal bleachers and chatted about my family, and how Kaz had been improving.  We turned our attention to Kaz when he was finished warming up.  Mark had him do some vertical jumping exercises, where Kaz would go down to the bottom of the pool and practice quick kicks after pushing up.  He also practiced diving and merged it with the skills used in the dolphin kick exercises to develop a strong start.        

“I’m so tired,” Kaz said as he reclined his head onto the headrest in his truck.  He sat on the passenger side.  After practice I let him know that I was chauffeuring him.

“That looked tiring,” I said.  “So tiring that
I
feel the burn in
my
legs.”

“It’s way past burning.  I don’t know if I have control of them anymore.”

“So am I dropping you off at your house?” I asked. 

“No,” Kaz said.  “Your mom wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t visit as soon as I could.”

“Well, if you’re not on cheat day, you will be.  She’s going to make you stay for dinner.”

“That’s what I want.  Good luck helping me get up once I sit down.”

“Then my dad is going to offer you a drink.”

“I’ll take a non-alcoholic version.  Got to save some space for the holidays.”

“Are you sure you want to go today?  We can always go next week.”

“I’m sure.”

“Hey mom,” I called out, walking into the house with Kaz behind me.  “I’m home.”

“I’ll be right down Maureen,” Mom said.  “You better have my son in law with you when I get there.  I heard he’s back in town, and I heard you saw him.  Why didn’t you tell me?”

My mom trampled down the stairs and turned the corner.  She was in shock.  “There he is!  Oh, my you have grown haven’t you?”  Mom said with her arms wide open.  Kaz ate the attention up and still had his arm wrapped around her shoulders after they hugged.

“I
knew
I would see you again, Mr. Kaz,” Mom said.  “This time, we’re not going to let you go that easy.”

“Good,” Kaz said.  “And we have some big news to break to you.”

“You’re engaged!” Mom said and dropped her chin.  She patted Kaz on the hand. 

“Almost,” Kaz said.

Haha.  Almost.  Don’t give me a reason to start that dream.

Kaz was waiting on me to say something.  “It’s your news to tell.”

“Oh, well I’m going to give the most outstanding contribution that I can give to the world and be Kaz’s coach.”

“Well, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration for that task,” Mom said. 

“These statements are from
le mind de Kaz
,” I said. 

“Well, Kaz,” Mom said, tilting her head up at him.  “I thought all of those years of practice taught you to go for the win, not second place.”

“Wow,” Kaz said.

“You’re selling yourself short,” Mom continued.  “Something like wife and mother to your kids would be a little bit more deserving for Mauri’s description.  Food for thought.  Don’t worry.  We’ll work on it.”

We laughed and headed to the family room.  Kaz claimed the reclining chair and fell asleep.

Mom came and sat by my side.  “How is Brayden?”  She knew exactly what she was doing.

“We broke up,” I whispered.

“When?  You didn’t tell me.”

“Yesterday.”

“I’m sorry,” Mom said.

“I know you’re not though.”

“OK, I won’t deny that.  You’ve been wasting time with Brayden for too long.  I’m sure it hurts to realize what you already knew about him.  You may be sad, but look at all of the opportunities you have now.  Kaz isn’t going to hold you back.  And you know I won’t judge you if you moved on in record time.”

“
Mom
.”

“I’m just saying.  Think about it.  I’ve got that mother’s tuition.  You’ll thank me later.”

He wasn’t supposed to come back.  Not like this!  I had him down and out.  He
wasn’t
a factor anymore.  He paid for what he did.  Paid for the embarrassment I had to endure.  Now, he’s walking around town like he runs it.  Over in Pinewood swimming his way to the top.  Well, he won’t for long.

“Kaz,” Dusty said as I took a step into his house.  “What brings you here?”

“Man, I don’t know what to do,” I said and invited myself to recline on his couch.  “You called it back at that restaurant.”

“Mauri.”

“Yeah.”

“You love her.”

“I think so.”

“You know so.”

“I know so.”

“But you’re worried about her being Brayden’s ex?” Dusty said.

“No.”

“I mean you kept your enemy close, literally.  And he took your girl.”

“She wasn’t mine.”

“She was.  And now you don’t want to get into a game with Mauri’s heart because Brayden will try and spin it that way.  If he wins, you’ll lose her.  But you can’t stand to not be around her.  I see you stalking her favorite eateries.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I said.  “I’ve seen her every day for a week now.”

“But that’s not enough—seeing her once a day for five minutes.  You’re in the pool the rest of the time.”

“How did you become so insightful?”  I said.  “You were the party king.”

“I have my ways,” Dusty said.  “So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“You do know you have to apologize.  What you said last time would drive any sane person away.”

“But that will bring up all of the emotions and make her sad all over again.”

“If you want her, it’s the only way.”

Kaz was elated when I told him I’d continue to help him.  We had to meet just about every day, making me fight to resist him more and more.  He was a great guy, and he seemed to have changed, but I didn’t want to jump into something too fast.  I didn’t want to use him to rebound from Brayden.  Brayden.  That was so strange.  The week before exams, he was always around; after we broke up I hadn’t seen him.   And I was glad.

Like almost every day after practice, Kaz was hungry, so one day we went off schedule and went out to eat instead of back to his place.

“How are you and Mark getting along when I’m in the water?” Kaz asked while we waited for our food to arrive.  “Are you two pretending to live in harmony?”

“No, it’s great,” I said.  “We both see your flaws, like how you keep rotating a bit too far over on your freestyle.  And the turns you keep making too early.”

“I know.  I know,” Kaz said.

“Do you think you’re scared of getting too close to the other side because you don’t want another leg injury?”

“No.  I don’t think about it.  I don’t think about anything but making the turn.”

“And you need to get faster at it.”

“I agree.  But I’ll need some personal assistance from the turning champion,” Kaz said.

“If I got in the water—”

“It would help you get over it.  And it would help me too.”  He flashed his teeth. 
Keep it together.
  “Listen, Mauri.  I felt so bad the way I left you and shut you out...” 

His smile became concern.

“What’s wrong Kaz?” I asked.

“Brayden.”

Brayden came over, didn’t say hi, or ask permission to scoot me over and sit next to me on my side of the booth. 

“Hey babe,” he said.

“Brayden, we’re not together anymore,” I said.

“I thought hard and long about what confused you,” he said.  “Why you felt like you didn’t need me.  After I gave you everything you wanted, including that car you drive.  The one that’s parked outside.  And never did I think
he’d
be the problem.”  Brayden set his sight on Kaz.  “So what’s up Kaz?  Come back to my city to get more of my seconds?”

I gasped.  “Excuse you!” I said.

“I’m speaking truth,” Brayden said.  “And pipe down, you’re being obnoxious.”

“I knew not to give you—”

“Brayden, I thought your mother raised you to be more respectful than that,” Kaz said.

“I should ask the same about yours,” Brayden said in a hushed voice.  He leaned over the table.  “But I know she taught you to screw every woman in sight including your elders.”

Kaz chuckled and leaned down to meet him.  I joined in just so I could hear.  “That’s funny, coming from you,” Kaz said.  “The one who put discord in Mark’s marriage.”

“You’re not so innocent either Mr. Kaz.  She slept with you too.”

“What?” I said. 
What?  Kaz never told me this.

“Yeah, Mauri,” Brayden said.  “He forgets things that inconvenience him.  Kaz was the reason for the breakup too.  Mark knew his wife was cheating.  Dakota had ‘private’ practices with Kaz when her husband was out of town.”

“Private as in swimming,” Kaz said.  “And I never slept with her.”

“Yeah, swimming in what?” Brayden said.  “Mark caught you first, Kaz.  Then he turned a blind eye because you were his champion.”

“That’s not true,” Kaz said.

“What part?” Brayden said.  “I got blamed for everything because of you Kaz.  My dad couldn’t look at me until Dakota told him the truth.  Mark still hates me.  I would have been on top a lot earlier, but of course, he decides to drop me and stick with his
Olympic winner.
  We all know how that turned out.”

“You got a lot of nerve Brayden,” Kaz said.  “You hired that guy to get rid of me didn’t you?”

“I’d
never
do that,” Brayden said.  “Don’t you put
anything
else on me.  I am going to beat you at your best.  And you’re going to say you gave it all you got; Brayden was the better man that day. 

“Unfortunately, as you may have heard, some of my wins are followed by ‘but if Kaz was still competing would the outcome be the same?’  I hate that.  I really do.  So I came over here to warn you.  You better be ready.  And Mauri, you’re going to wake up one day and see the truth.  And I might cut you some slack.  Let you get a taste of what you missed out on.”

“Brayden,” Kaz said.  “I’m only going to tell you this once.  You need to leave now.  Leave Mauri alone, and don’t ever think about contacting her or me again.  Tell your dad to do the same.  Tell him the truth, y’all aren’t together anymore.  And I’ll do my part.  I’ll be ready to embarrass you again.  But if you don’t, neither of us will be defending any sort of title.  I doubt they’ll allow me to swim after I put you in the hospital.”

“You better be ready,” Brayden said as he was scooting over to leave.

I narrowed my eyes, looking sideways at Kaz then leaned over the table and whispered.  “What happened here?  Did you two just…  I thought there was a fight about swimming between Brayden and Mark, not a cheating scandal.  Why didn’t you tell me Dakota slept with Brayden and did whatever with you?”

“I didn’t want.  We didn’t want the whole thing to get out and—”

“What did you do with her?”

“She came onto me a lot.”

“And,” I said.

“I pushed her away,” Kaz said.  “It felt so wrong, but then we kissed on a couple of occasions.”

“Did she—?”

“She tried, but I didn’t let her.  I broke away and then she went after Brayden.  I tried to tell him what she was doing, but Brayden didn’t want to hear it.  He said I was jealous.  So in the end he got caught, Mark chose me, and his family was furious.”

“And that’s why you hate him,” I said.

“He tried to throw me under the bus after I tried to help him.”

“This changes things, Kaz,” I said.  “It sounds like Brayden and/or his family were the perfect suspects.  They wanted to hurt you.”

“Yeah, but remember their alibis were solid.”

I sighed. 

“I know,” Kaz said.