“Are you going to swim or play?” Jackson called from his perch on the shore. He held a stopwatch like he was an official trainer and sat in a big-armed camping chair. He was taking upon himself the training for my entry back into swimming. And he was taking it way too seriously.

I stood and tried to splash him but he had sat just outside the splash zone. He was getting smarter. “Play,” I said. “Why don’t you come in with me?”

“Because you’re supposed to be working.”

I had taken a six-week break, doctor’s orders. These last two weeks of swimming had been hard but good. It was hard in that I needed to condition my muscles again but I wasn’t having the same pain in my shoulders that I’d had before. Apparently, the stress really had been messing with my swimming. The stress hadn’t completely disappeared at home. We were all trying to find the right balance. The difference was that we were now talking about it.

“Leave her be,” Amelia said from her towel beside him.

“If you can’t beat the time, Moore, just say so.”

I waded out of the water and onto shore. He knew I was coming for him but he just sat there with a smile on. I sat right on his lap. “I can beat the time. I just need someone to race.”

“If you two are going to be gross, I’m leaving. I’m in mourning. I can’t handle lovey couples right now.”

“I’m sorry about DJ,” I said.

She sighed dramatically. “It was never going to work out anyway. He was fourteen years older than me.”

Jackson gave me his confused face.

“College years are like dog years,” I whispered.

He still didn’t seem to get it but, like he often did, accepted that Amelia and I spoke our own language sometimes. He pushed me up and stood. “I’ll race you, Moore, if you’re prepared to lose again.” He took off his shirt and jogged into the lake.

Before joining him, I glanced at Amelia. “You going to be okay?”

“I’m fine. I got another Heath Hall nominee. I need to research him and see if he’s a good candidate for facing his supposed fear.”

“Anyone fun?”

“Hadley, I can’t tell you who. That would break my vow to the mask.” She was taking her job seriously and I was happy. It had kept her busy since she and DJ called it off a few weeks before.

“Well, I have a boy to humble.” I nodded toward the lake. “I’ll be back after I finish beating him.”

“Watch out, I hear he’ll do anything to win,” she said.

I laughed. “He will.”

Jackson smiled at me as I walked into the water. “You ready to be taught a thing or two about swimming, Moore?”

I splashed him and he grabbed my wrists and pulled me into a hug.

“We’re working, not playing,” he said, his lips on my ear.

“Since when?”