Brenda looked like she’d died and gone to heaven. Although… a thought occurred to me, hadn’t she seen it all before? Hadn’t he ever taken her surfing with him? I’d have to remember to ask him. Then I slapped the idea down: I’d promised myself to quit plaguing him with questions that were only going to piss off both of us.
The two women across the pool were grinning at each other and I swear they gave each other a high five. I could see Sebastian was going to have a long afternoon of being asked to retrieve lost jewelry from the pool. Or maybe, if those cocktails the women drank were alcoholic, he’d end up having to save them both when they threw themselves in the deep end, hoping that he’d give them mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
“I’m sorry, Brenda,” he said, “I couldn’t find it. It probably got sucked into the filter system. I’ll report it to the manager and he can ask the pool guy to look out for it. But it won’t be until tomorrow morning now.”
She shrugged.
“Whatever. So, did you decide which school you’re going to go to yet? UCSD, right? What classes are you taking?”
“I’m working, Bren,” he said, not very subtly.
She pouted. “It’s not that busy.”
He frowned. “I’m not supposed to chat to members.”
“I won’t tell if you won’t,” she said, smiling up at him.
I felt desperately sorry for Sebastian; he was utterly hopeless at trying to blow her off. He really didn’t have a clue. He was far too nice for his own good.
I wondered if he’d appreciate my help: maybe if I attacked her with a pool chair and beat her into putty, she’d be distracted enough to leave him alone. On the other hand, that would definitely draw unwanted attention.
Instead, I tried to focus on the small screen in front of me, but I couldn’t help noticing that Sebastian’s eyes kept flicking nervously in my direction.
Brenda was getting irritated that her wiles weren’t working; and she was bound to notice that he kept looking at me, not her.
At that moment Ches walked over to Sebastian and spoke to him quietly. Whatever he said, Sebastian was hugely and obviously relieved. He picked up his uniform polo-shirt and pulled it over his still-wet body, slipped on his flip-flops and walked off, glancing just once at me and smiling.
But it was enough: Brenda had seen the look.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously and I couldn’t help a nervous swallow. Then I straightened my back and decided that I wasn’t going to roll over and let her walk all over me.
“Where’s he gone?” Brenda snapped at Ches.
“We’ve been told to swap duties,” he lied casually.
I knew for a fact that Sebastian was supposed to be poolside his whole shift.
“They want him in the gym,” continued Ches, sounding utterly convincing. I was glad he was on our side – on Sebastian’s side.
Then he looked at me and grinned, “Hey, there, Mrs. Wilson! How are you?”
“I’m just fine, thank you, Ches,” I said, smiling at him gratefully. “How’s your mom and dad?”
We slipped into our double act as if we’d been practicing it all our lives.
“Good, thanks. Are you writing another article?”
“I thought the staff weren’t supposed to chat to members,” Brenda muttered in a sulky tone.
Ches pretended not to hear her and spoke to me for several minutes before taking up his place in the lifeguard’s chair.
I was totally unprepared for Brenda’s next line of attack.
“So, you’re, like, a writer?” she said, coming and standing next to me, one hand on her hip.
I glanced up and saw Ches’s fleeting look of sympathy.
“Trying to be,” I said politely.
“Aren’t you, like, kind of old to be starting out?”
I was astonished by her rudeness.
“I don’t think it’s ever too late to try something new.”
She sniffed and started reading my notes over my shoulder. I’d had enough.
I closed the laptop and looked her in the eye. “Is there something I can help you with, Barbara?”
“It’s Brenda!”
“Oh, is it?”
“You knew Seb when he was a kid, right?” she said, not the least bit perturbed by my overt hostility.
“Slightly,” I acknowledged.