I watched as the man with the cart came back into view. This time he was carrying an armload of foam kickboards, which he hauled to the shallow end and dropped onto the deck, scattering them about with his foot. As he started back inside, another kid—about the same age as the last ones—walked out onto the pool deck. The man stopped and talked to him.
“Wait, I definitely know that kid, though,” Chris said. The guy shook the kid’s hand, clapped him on the back, and they went into the shadows. A few seconds later, the kid came out, hopped on a bike, and sped away.
Chris pulled himself out of the water and stood on the deck, watching the boy go. I scrambled up the ladder and stood next to him, shading my eyes from the sun. “Who is it?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “I know him, though. I want to say his name is Sam.”
We watched until the kid rode out of sight, then got our towels and dried off. “So maybe you do know that guy, then. Maybe he’s Sam’s dad. Or cousin. Or brother or . . . or uncle?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. Something in the back of my mind is telling me they’re not related.”
“Maybe he’s a mentor.” I pulled on my wrap and felt so much better covered up.
“Or maybe he’s not,” he said.
He slipped his shoes on, draped his towel over his neck again, and hustled back inside the center. The man was straightening the free weights on their shelves. Chris examined him, a pained look on his face.
“This is dumb,” I mumbled.
I walked over to the check-in desk, where a bored-looking woman was doodling on a piece of notebook paper, her phone trapped between her ear and her shoulder.
“Excuse me,” I said. She looked up. I tried pasting on my best fake Nice Nikki smile. “I’m wondering if you can tell me who that guy is over there.” I pointed toward the man while trying to remain inconspicuous. “I think he’s someone who used to live on my street. I want to say hi if he is, but it would be really embarrassing if he isn’t. You know?” I let out a breathy laugh.
“Hang on,” the woman said into her phone. She held it facedown on her shoulder. “What now?”
I fought the urge to snarl at her. “That guy,” I said, pointing again. Chris had noticed I’d gone missing and was watching me, a look of horror on his face. “I think I know him, but I want to be sure before I’m all, ‘Heeeey, how ya doing?’”
“Oh.” She glanced at the man, who had moved on to refilling the disinfectant spray station. “That’s our equipment manager. Heri.”
I felt my stomach drop. “Heriberto?” I asked, though I was positive my faked persona had faded away.
She nodded. “Yeah, that’s him. Heriberto. I haven’t been working here very long, but I want to say his last name starts with an A.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Wrong guy.” She went back to her phone call.
I turned to Chris. We had matching expressions on our faces.
I felt one side of my mouth pull up into a smile. “We found him.”
12
IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE to watch Heriberto from the car without being totally conspicuous, so instead we headed back to the pool deck and situated ourselves so we could see inside the building. Mostly, Heriberto carted equipment from one place to another, wiped things down, checked lockers, and sat at the check-in desk to give the receptionist a break.
In other words, completely boring shit.
I was pretty sure from the sound of his breathing that Chris had fallen asleep.
I slathered sunscreen on myself to keep from totally frying, but the sun was easing up as the afternoon began to be pushed away by evening. Every so often, when the lifeguard began eyeing me too suspiciously, I hopped around in the pool. As stakeouts went, this wasn’t a particularly bad one.
Of course, the only other stakeout I’d ever been on had ended with the two of us totally lip-locked.
I had a hard time forgetting about that stakeout. I had a hard time forgetting about that kiss.
I started to get hungry, so I decided to wake Chris. I knelt down by the side of the pool, scooped up a handful of water, and flung it at him. His head jerked over toward me half a second before I released the water. He jumped, nearly toppling over his lounge chair with the movement.
“What the hell?”
I couldn’t help laughing. “Time to wake up,” I said.
“I wasn’t asleep.” He was brushing at the water on his chest, like he could dust it off. I could see goose bumps on his arms.
“Okay, sure. You were just resting your eyes.”
He tipped his glasses down and peered at me over the top of them. “My eyes were wide open, for your information. I was relaxed.”
“So relaxed you were snoring.” I tied my towel around my waist and finger-combed my hair.
“I wasn’t snoring.” He got up, making a huge deal out of the fact that his towel was wet. He leaned over and said through his teeth, “I was trying to blend in.”
I snorted and cocked my head to one side. “You blended in, all right. Blended in so well, if Heriberto noticed you, the only thing he’d be worried about is you boring him to death.”
“Har-har,” he said under his breath.
We were silent as we made our way out to our cars, which were parked near each other. “You want to get a burger or something? We can make a game plan for trying to figure out why you were searching for Her—”
“Shh,” he said, grabbing my wrist.
“What are you—”
I didn’t get to finish. He pulled me in, spun me so that my back was pressed against the sun-warmed door of his car, and leaned in so close our noses were touching. He caressed my cheek with one hand, the other planted on the door next to my shoulder. I could feel the warmth of him, and that, combined with the warmth of the car door, made me instantly start sweating.
“He’s right behind us,” Chris whispered, his breath puffing against my lips. I flicked a look over his shoulder. Heriberto was standing at the far corner of the building where there were no windows, smoking a cigarette. From this angle, I could see he had a tattoo snaking up his throat, but I couldn’t tell what it was.
“He’s just standing there,” I said.
But he wasn’t just standing there. He was staring in our direction, his hand absently raising and lowering the cigarette.
“He’s watching us,” I said.
Chris moved his palm around to the back of my neck, slipping his warm, dry hand up under my wet hair. “Put your arms around me,” he said. I hooked them behind his neck, which pulled me up closer against him. Our hips were touching, my legs bursting into rainbows. I was suddenly aware of my breathing. I let my eyes drift shut as I momentarily melted into him. “He still watching?”
A glance, and then I nodded.
Chris let out a short sigh. He pressed his lips together, thinking. Heriberto had stubbed out his cigarette, but he wasn’t moving. He continued watching us. “Oh, for crying out loud,” Chris said. He pulled me in closer, resting his chin on the top of my head and swaying a little bit, as if we were just entangled in a long hug good-bye. My insides melted into a giant, swirling rainbow puddle at my feet. I felt completely engulfed by him. The hug lingered, and then he was reaching around me to open the car door. “Get in.”
I hesitated, but not to be difficult. I just needed a minute to let the rainbow set me back down on the ground. I had so many feelings welling inside of me. Exasperation that it was always so difficult between us. Fear, because our lives were always in danger. Sadness that these moments between us always felt so right, even though I knew they were only out of necessity.
I stepped out of his way, then slid into the car. He shut the door behind me and came in through the other side.
“I drove myself,” I reminded him.
“We’ve been here all day, and he was definitely watching us, ever since we got out into the parking lot.”
“So? People have to go to the parking lot to get their cars.”
“Think about it, Nikki. If we suspect Heriberto is the one behind the hit-and-run, he knows who I am already. And probably you, too.”
I studied his face. A trickle of sweat was etching itself down one temple. “So maybe he wasn’t behind it, then,” I said. “He didn’t even notice us until now. Could be you were looking for him for a totally unrelated reason.”