“For now, I’m just circling. Learning the language of food. But someday, I want to be one of those lights—somewhere by the water, where people can eat and share and connect. I want to be a link in a story that’s as old as time.”
I sighed. “That’s a beautiful dream.”
“And you? What is it that you want?”
What did I dream of? To be loved. To be happy. But wasn’t that what everyone wanted? My dream felt ordinary next to Alex’s.
“I’d be happy if I could swim,” I said.
He looked at me, as if he were considering what my cheek would feel like, resting on his palm. “That’s not a big thing to ask of the world.”
I turned away, unprepared for the tenderness of his words. “It is when you’re afraid.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. It wasn’t just swimming I was afraid of. Despite Ma Anga’s prophecy, I wasn’t afraid of dying. I was afraid of dying without living.
This time, the silence made me uneasy because Alex wasn’t looking at the lights. He was still looking at me.
“Maybe you’d consider a trade-off?” he said. “I’ll teach you how to swim. One lesson every night. In exchange, you help me in the kitchen. An hour or two every day. My sous-chef, the guy who was to bunk with me, had to skip this charter, and I could use an extra pair of hands. What do you say?”
I considered his proposition. Apart from the scheduled activities, I had plenty of free time.
A voice much like Dolly’s chimed in:Time you’re supposed to use getting to know Nikos.
But he’s not around, and I promised myself that I would learn to swim.
“Deal,” I said to Alex.
“Great.” He pushed himself off the railing. “Let’s get started.”
“What? Now?”
“You have ten more nights to learn in the luxury of your own private pool. After that…” He shrugged.
“You’re right.” I ticked off the dates. We were already on night number four. “I don’t have my swimsuit on though.”
“You don’t need it.” Alex dragged two swim mattresses out from the bunker and placed them side by side. “Come lie down.”
I stretched out beside him and we stared up at the sky.
“Um, what are we doing?”Maybe taking swimming lessons from a chef isn’t such a great idea.
“We’re learning to float.”
“How exactly are we learning to float?”Yep, definitely a bad idea. A chef’s sole purpose is to ply you with food. The more you eat, the more you sink.
Alex chuckled. “Did you ever watchThe Karate Kid?”
“Yes.”
“You remember the part where Daniel thinks Mr. Miyagi will teach him karate, but he makes him do all the chores instead? Wash the car, sand the floor, paint the fence.”
“Wax on, wax off.” I made the hand motions that went with the famous line.
“That’s what we’re doing. Stargazing. Looking up at the sky. Shoulders back, head up, arms and legs easy, letting the mattress support our weight. That’s how you do the back float.”
Hmmm. Maybe Alex knows what he’s doing, after all.
I relaxed and let myself open up to his instructions.
