Leaving enough room for Amelia and her animosity to step through, I keep my arm outstretched so she knows the way.
I follow her into the kitchen and open the fridge.
The sun has already made its descent. The sky is a vibrant orange and pink, and I figure it's nice enough to swim in the pool for a second time today.
Removing my shirt, I toss it on the counter.
"What are you doing?" Amelia asks as she fills her tumbler with water.
"I'm going swimming. Care to join me?"
"I just ate."
She's so quick with the rejection that it's comical.
"Pretty sure that's an old wives’ tale."
"Are you just saying this or do you secretly hope I might drown?"
"Nah, I'll give you mouth-to-mouth if it comes to that."
"Before or after I'm unconscious?"
She's back to the snappy confrontation we know so well, and I live for this.
"You seemed rather eager and cognizant when I offered to do a lot more with only my fingers."
"Which we will not be doing again." She extends her pointer finger like she’s disciplining me.
I think neither of us believe that, so I respond with, "Whatever you say."
When I cannonball into the pool, I wait for Amelia's bedroom light to turn on. I calculate a seventy-percent chance she’ll join me in the next ten minutes.
When her room illuminates the backyard in a yellow glow, I realize she could be applying for more jobs or putting on her bikini. I'll find out in a few minutes.
Maybe I’m not as tempting as I assumed, because she's not out here yet.
But then her bedroom light turns off. And soon after, the sliding glass door opens, and she tiptoes outside.
"I figured we better go over some parameters for the reunion, because I have a busy couple of days ahead of me."
"Whatever you say," I repeat as I did in the kitchen. "No belly flop?"
"Ha," she humors me by sticking her foot in the water to gauge the temperature.
"It's warm," I say.
"Probably because you peed."
I sweep my palm across the surface of the water and collect a nice wave that splashes onto Amelia's dry body.
She shrieks and steps back like I splattered her with acid.
"You are incapable of behaving like a grown man even for a minute, aren't you?"
"Maybe."
She shakes off the droplets and uses the stairs to acclimate to the water. We're in the shallow end but where my shoulders are below the surface, she's letting each limb adjust to the temperature.
