We climbed out and grabbed our towels off the bench near lane six. We’d used the same bench every Saturday for almost two years now.
The lifeguard on duty gave us the same little nod she always did. Ben waved back as if she were an old friend.
“Fries after?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“The embarrassingly large order?”
“The embarrassingly large order.”
That was Claire’s phrase.
The lifeguard on duty gave us the same little nod.
***
My late wife had started the phrase the summer Ben turned four. She said it for the first time when we sat at the poolside café patio after our son’s swimming lesson.
Claire had spent an hour in the shallow end teaching him to float on his back, her hand under his shoulder blades, her voice steady and low.
“Just breathe, baby. The water wants to hold you.”
And when he finally floated on his own, she cried a little and pretended she wasn’t crying.
