I laughed, flipping onto my back to float. "There are lots of things you don't know about me yet."
"Like what?" Holly challenged, swimming closer.
"Like the fact that I was the regional diving champion three years in a row in high school."
"No way!" Holly's eyes widened. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
I shrugged, still floating. "It never came up."
"What else don't I know?" she pressed, genuinely curious now.
Drew swam up beside us. "She plays a mean game of backgammon. And she can recite the entire script of 'The Princess Bride' from memory."
Holly looked delighted by these revelations. "What else?"
"She makes the world's best sourdough banana bread," Drew continued. "And she once drove across three states to rescue a dog she saw on a shelter website."
"Eden?" Holly guessed.
I nodded. "She was scheduled to be put down the next day. I couldn't let that happen."
Holly's expression softened. "That's how you are with people too, isn't it? You see someone in trouble and you want to help."
Her insight caught me off guard. "I guess so," I admitted. "Sometimes to a fault, according to your uncle."
Drew mock-frowned. "I never said it was a fault. Just that it occasionally leads to... interesting situations."
Holly looked between us, sensing something unspoken. "Like what?"
Drew and I exchanged a glance. This wasn't the time to get into my side activities.
"Like the time I convinced your uncle to take in a 'stray' cat that turned out to belong to our neighbor," I said instead. "He wasn't pleased when Mrs. Garcia came looking for her precious Fluffy."
Drew laughed. "That cat had been pampered its entire life. I should have known it wasn't a stray when it turned its nose up at the perfectly good tuna I offered."
The conversation drifted to other topics as we swam and floated in the protected cove. Eventually, the sun began to lower in the sky, and we reluctantly climbed back onto the boat.
As Drew started the engine, Holly came to sit beside me, wrapped in a towel with her hair dripping down her back.
"Thanks for today," she said quietly. "I really needed it."
I put my arm around her, pulling her close. "We all did."
"I'm sorry I've been so moody the past few days," she continued. "It's just... hearing about Mom wanting to give up her rights... I always thought someday she'd get better and things would go back to normal."
My heart ached for her. "I know, honey."
"But there isn't really a 'normal' to go back to, is there?" she asked, looking up at me with eyes too wise for her years. "Even when I was little, things were never really normal with Mom."
"No," I admitted. "Your mom has been struggling for a long time."
Holly was quiet for a moment, watching the shoreline approach. "Do you think she'll ever get better?"
The question hung between us, weighted with hope and history. I chose my words carefully.
"I hope so, Holly. I really do. But addiction is a powerful force, and your mom has to want to get better. We can't make that choice for her."
Holly nodded, as if this confirmed something she'd already known. "I think that's why I got so upset. Not because she wants to give up her rights, but because... because I wasn't surprised."
