Chapter 14

Saturday was a swimming party in the afternoon, and that morning I tried on my swimming suits and realized that my favorite didn't fit really well anymore. I'd filled out even more in the three years that I'd had it, and while it wasn't immodest, more of me showed above the top than used to show, because I had more of me up there. I never had to go to a doctor to get the kind of figure that gets men's attention, it just grew naturally, and though there have been times when a man's regard has warmed me with the thought that he found me attractive, I really didn't want to look like I was falling out of my suit with Yirmeyah there ... or even when he wasn't.

I went to Philane's, the store where I worked, and looked through the swimsuits and found one in green that matched my eyes and of course went well with my skin, and which covered what it ought to even where I'd expanded as I'd matured. The cost was reasonable with my employee discount, so I bought it and hurried home to eat lunch with Mama and Daddy. I was just in time, for they'd moved it up to accommodate the party.

By the time the guests began arriving I was in my suit, sitting beside the pool with a short robe on and a book in my hand. It wasn't a very big party, just three or four friends – and Yirmeyah, who was my date for the day even though we'd been on a date the day before. We'd been doing that more and more lately, having multiple dates in a week, sometimes on succeeding days. It hadn't been anything we'd planned, just something that happened as we grew closer together. The last time we'd talked about it, the day before up on the Crest, I hadn't been able to report any change, though I did care for Yirmeyah a lot and didn't want ever to hurt him, and had come to the place where I could easily wish to love him.

Yirmeyah came early, with something, probably his swimming trunks, rolled up in a towel. I saw him walk through the den on his way to what we'd set aside as a changing room, and my heart did a couple of flip-flops and I felt again that weakness and warmth in my belly that I'd been feeling sometimes when I saw him ever since that day when I'd simply been myself and he'd blushed upon seeing me. I closed my book, knowing that I wouldn't be able to concentrate, because anyway there were people splashing in the pool already, and I shucked off my robe and dived in off the edge of the pool. I dove down to the bottom, and touched it with my fingertips, and kicked up to the surface and shook my hair out of my eyes. I paddled over to the edge and hung on with one hand while I used the other to comb my hair back off my forehead, and with it being so wet it stayed there and hung down my back, spreading out on the surface of the water, as I could see when a few tendrils floated around my sides.

I was just preparing to take a breath and go under again, when Yirmeyah came out the sliding glass door, took a few short running steps, and dove in himself. It wasn't anything like a neat and professional dive, but by the time he came up for air he was a long way across the surface of the pool and stroking strongly. His tanned hands and forearms and face and neck were a startling contrast to the rest of him, which was all white, as though it never got any sun. I'm white all over, but I have to be careful of the sun for I don't tan, just burn, and then I look ugly and peely until the sunburn's healed. Yirmeyah clearly tanned well, but didn't bother to work on a tan. I remembered when I'd surmised that he never swam, but clearly I'd been wrong then, because however messy his swimming was, he obviously wasn't any stranger to water.

Without thinking about it I just watched as he reached the other side of the pool, took a quick couple of breaths, and started back, stroking messily but strongly through the water. He must have seen me when he turned around, for partway across he ducked under water, and the next thing I knew he came up beside me like a whale, coming partway out of the water. He hung on the edge of the pool by one hand as I was doing, and grinned at me, the water running out of his hair and down his face.

"I didn't know you could swim so well," I told him.

"Shoot, Cass, I growed up with swimmin' holes and Lake Tawakoni. I been swimmin' sincet I was a button." His voice and diction were pure Texas, though I don't think he realized it, since usually unless he got excited or tired he spoke almost like the rest of us, except for the accent. All I could think was that he was so thoroughly enjoying himself that he had reverted to his youth and was talking as he'd talked while swimming with his friends.

"Well, you learn something new every day," I said, "but this is something I somehow never expected to learn about you." I ducked my head, partly from a sudden shyness and partly out of playfulness. "I missed you."

He briefly put his hand on my shoulder, something he'd never done before, and for that instant of contact I felt what seemed like an electrical shock going through me. "Just overnight, Cass?"

"Just overnight, Yirmeyah, but after yesterday we're closer than we were, I think, and I did miss you."

"Well, the truth is, Cass, I missed you too." And then he splashed me with some water, and dove underwater and popped up a few feet away. "Catch me if you can, Cass!" he called, and dove again.

I dove down to try to find him, and almost did, but by then everyone was diving and dodging and chasing and someone got me, and then I got someone else, and for 20 minutes or so the party was general. Eventually I got winded, and hauled myself out and sat on the edge of the pool, my feet dangling in the water. Daddy came out and sat beside me after a few minutes. He watched the play, which was beginning to slacken as others got tired too. Yirmeyah crawled out on the opposite side of the pool and lay on the tiles, where I could see his chest heaving as he tried to get his breath back. It was the first time I'd seen him without a shirt and pants, and I realized that while he wasn't big, he was wiry, and I knew that if he exerted himself he'd be strong. No doubt he'd gotten his muscle working on his father's farm.

And then I realized that I was looking at a mostly naked man, thinking of his body, and I drew in my breath and jerked my eyes away and I could feel the heat in my face. I looked down, and I wasn't just blushing from the neck up – I was red above the top of my swimming suit too. I looked over at Daddy, and he was looking at me with a little smile on his face.