Chapter 5

Alba really shouldn't be going swimming with Wesley. Yet he was an interesting man, and anything that got him staying positive and moving in the right direction was okay by her. Besides, she didn't have any plans right now. Alba reached her onsite apartment and changed into a demure one-piece, grabbed a cover-up and a towel, a book and a pair of sunglasses, and slowly walked over to the pool area. She could see him already in the water. She stopped at the edge and smiled down at him.

When he noticed her, he turned, stood up on his good leg, and said, "There you are. I figured you chickened out on me."

"Nope, I'm here." She walked over to the closest chair, dropped her towel, book, and sunglasses, then peeled off her cover-up and walked over to the steps, and slowly made her way down. As she sank under the water and reappeared soon afterward, she noted, "It's cooler than I expected it to be."

"It's not cold at all once you get moving around," he countered. "It's really nice."

She nodded, made a clean dive under the water, and came up a good ten feet away. As her face crested through the water, she murmured, "It really is refreshing, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. I wonder why you don't come more often."

"I tend to think of it as more for the patients," she replied, giving him a bright smile, "like you."

"Probably it is, during the day," he noted, "but what about after that?"

She nodded. "There is an after that every day, every evening, where the pool is available. No lifeguards or orderlies or attendants are assigned here after 5:00 p.m. though. Unless by special permission maybe. And, of course, there are often patients in the hot tub. Sometimes Shane comes down himself and has to bring somebody in for muscle cramps."

Wesley winced at that. "Honestly, muscle cramps are the worst."

"They can be, no doubt about it. You won't have to worry about it here though. They attack them as quickly as they know about them."

"I hope so. Most of those issues I've already suffered through."

"And you're doing better now?"

"Yes." He nodded. "Of course Shane has got a much harder program for me here, so maybe I'm speaking too soon."

She laughed. "It's possible," she murmured. "Sometimes we expect to be doing just fine and then find out that it's not quite so easy."

"You're right," he confirmed, "but still, I'll take what I can get right now."

"Exactly. And, if you don't mind, I'll do a few laps."

"Go for it," he said. "I'm still trying to figure out how to do that."

"I've seen people without any arms do it," she shared, looking at what remained of his left arm. "Maybe yours is more of a roll problem. I don't know, but one guy goes through the water as if he's a dolphin," she stated. "It's really amazing to watch."

*

And, with that,Alba dove back under the water and started doing laps, with a clean, crisp front crawl motion that he both admired and was jealous of. He thought about what she'd said about the one guy with no arms. That would be brutal, and yet he could imagine it. He'd certainly seen videos of other people who struggled with various injuries, and yet they still managed. Maybe Wesley really was making a bigger deal out of this than it should be. And, with that thought in mind, he went under the water to just give it a try.

And was absolutely amazed that, although it took some new body movements, he was doing okay. Instead of trying to use his good right arm, he put it against his side and just rolled through the water, using his head to cleave through as he moved forward. When he came up for air, she was watching him.

"How was it?" she asked him.

"That," he murmured, "was fantastic." And he pushed off and went back under again. He barely heard her laughing above the noise of the water, but it was something that he really needed to try. After he wore down, which didn't take very long at all unfortunately, he came to the pool's steps and sat down.

And there Shane stopped him and said, "You have a very interesting way to work through the water."

"But it worked though," he stated excitedly.

"It did, indeed. And, with you having one working method," Shane pointed out, "then everything else will slowly get easier." He waved a hand in goodbye and added, "Now that you're in good hands here, enjoy your pool time." And, with that, Shane walked away.

Feeling he'd been given a pat of approval that he didn't even realize he needed, he headed back to diving in and out of the water, more like a porpoise than a human, but it felt so freeing to move the way he wanted to. By the time he was tired for the second time, he pulled out of the water and sat on the steps, realizing that Alba had gotten out of the water and was sitting poolside in a chair.

"Hey," he said, giving her a smile. "That worked out pretty well."

"Looked like it did," she agreed, returning his smile. "Honestly you looked as if you were totally in control."

"Well, I was when doing that part at least," he murmured. "There's an awful lot more to learn. Or to relearn, as it were."

"There'll always be more to learn," she murmured.

And once again he got one of those little gems of wisdom from Alba. He nodded slowly. "And sometimes," he replied, "you just need to see other people's perspectives to realize how things can work."

"Exactly." She nodded. "And I'm thrilled to see that the idea worked, although I can see that just from your legs alone, you shouldn't have any problems swimming properly. You just have to figure out how to adapt your rhythm."

"Maybe," he muttered, "but I have to tell you that I'm too tired to worry about it today."

She chuckled at that. "I am not surprised." She shifted her sunglasses onto her face and stared around her. "It's a pretty spectacular day," she murmured.

"It is. It really is." He sat here, regaining his breath. "And now the problem is, I have to get changed in order to make it up there for dinnertime."

"You and me both," she replied.

And that was just one of the really good things about her. She didn't expect him to complain about it taking him longer. She didn't expect it to be something that he would look at her and say, Oh, well, it's easy for you. It's not so easy for me. It was just one of those things that wasn't even an issue. She acknowledged that he would have a harder time getting changed than she would, and that was just the way it was.

What a unique view, and he still wasn't sure what to do with it. Yet he was pretty happy that it lent that level of normalcy about everything here. "I suppose I should get a start on dressing for dinner."

She nodded. "If you want, I'll meet you up there."

He looked at her. "Don't you have somebody to eat with?"

"Meaning that, if I do, I should go with them instead of with you?" she asked, a soft smile on her face.

He winced. "I'm not sure that's the way I intended it."

"And the fact that you're not sure that's the way you intended it is an even bigger problem," she pointed out, chuckling.

He groaned. "It seems everything's always taken the wrong way."

"It's not always taken the wrong way," she clarified. "Here we're very literal, so, if you need to say something, then just come out and say it."

"And that's a lesson I have yet to learn, I gather." He shrugged and stated, "I would be delighted to meet you for dinner today."

"Good," she said, as she stood up and snagged her towel. "I'll see you in what, twenty minutes?" She turned and looked at him. "Or do you want to shower first?"

He looked at his watch with the slip on elastic band and tilted his head. "A shower would be good, but I think I would rather do that at the end of the evening. And then I can go straight to bed."

"Makes sense to me. So is the twenty-minute time frame workable?"

"It is." He watched her leave and then realized that the last thing he wanted was to be late. So, if he didn't get a move on, that's what he would be.