Swimming Naked

by Laura Branchflower

  “Any minute.”

  “Tell me when he’s gone.” He set the milk container on the island, yanked up his book bag, and left the room, Knight at his heels.

  She was still processing Logan’s sudden departure when the door opened again. This time it was Phil and Liam coming into the room.

  “Gaah,” Liam said as soon as he saw her.

  Lina’s heart jumped. “Hi, Liam.” She watched Phil remove his coat and hat. “It’s really not cold enough for all those clothes.”

  “I kept the car cold,” Phil said. He crossed to her, kissing her softly. “Okay?”

  “Yes.” She smiled at Liam, who was reaching out toward her. “Hi.” She held out her own hand.

  He gripped two of her fingers with his hand, a hand that was a small version of Phil’s. His wrists were almost as large as hers.

  A baby giant, Lina thought. Logan had been smaller. He’d inherited Phil’s height but not his bulk. Liam had clearly inherited both. “He’s strong,” Lina said when Liam continued to hold her fingers in his viselike grip.

  “He’s smart. He doesn’t want to let you go.” He leaned in, kissing her again. “Are we alone?”

  “Logan’s upstairs. The SAT class was canceled. Has he eaten?”

  “Not yet. The nanny gave me something for him. It’s in the diaper bag. Where’s Katie?”

  “She went to a yoga class. She should be back soon.”

  “Yoga?” Phil raised his eyebrows.

  “She thinks she’ll like it. I hope she does. Are you going to change?” Her gaze shifted back to Liam, who was staring at her like he was trying to memorize her face.

  “I’ll…uh…take him with me,” Phil said.

  Lina knew he was waiting for her to offer to watch him, but she couldn’t, not yet. “Okay. I’ll set the table and make the salad. Does his food need to be heated?”

  “I don’t think so.” He looked down at the diaper bag. “I usually just serve it to him cold.”

  “I’ll check.” Lina took the diaper bag from his shoulder. “You go.” She watched them leave the room, releasing a breath when they were out of sight. Baby steps.

  ***

  Phil hesitated at the top of the staircase, debating whether or not to take Liam to Logan’s room. The door was closed, which wasn’t unusual, but he wasn’t sure that forcing a meeting was a good idea. “Not today, buddy,” he said aloud to Liam before continuing to the master suite. Before they reached it, Logan’s door opened just enough to let Knight out. The dog rushed to greet them, his tail wagging.

  “Daw!” Liam yelled excitedly. “Daw!”

  “That’s right. Dog.” Phil crouched down, maintaining his hold on Liam, who began to half slap, half pat Knight. “Be gentle,” Phil said, gripping his hand and running it down Knight’s coat. “See? Gentle.”

  Liam let out a squeal of laughter when Knight licked his face.

  “He likes you,” Phil said, smiling in reaction to Liam’s obvious delight. “Come on,” he said after a few minutes. “Daddy has to change.” As he came to his feet, he saw Logan’s door close. He’d obviously been watching them. He took Liam’s hand. “Let’s go meet your brother.”

  “It’s Dad,” Phil said moments later, tapping the back of his hand on Logan’s door.

  Seconds passed with no response. Phil was about to knock again when Logan’s voice came through the door. “I’m busy.”

  “Open the door.”

  Another pause. “No.”

  Annoyance bubbled in Phil’s chest. “It wasn’t a request.”

  The door opened. “What do you want?” Logan snapped.

  Phil was taken aback by the anger and defiance radiating from his son. “Excuse me?” He took a step closer to Logan, staring into his eyes. “What did you just say to me?”

  Logan dropped his eyes. “I was doing something,” he mumbled.

  “Look at me,” Phil said, waiting for him to raise his eyes before continuing. “Don’t ever talk to me with that tone of voice again. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes,” Logan answered.

  “You don’t always have to like me, but you will show me respect. Is that clear?”

  “Yeah,” he mumbled.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I said yes,” Logan answered.

  A movement against Phil’s leg reminded him he wasn’t alone. He scooped up Liam from the floor. “This is Liam.”

  Logan’s gaze shifted to the baby, no discernible expression on his face.

  Liam rested his head against Phil’s chest as he took in his brother for the first time.

  “You can hate what I did. You can even hate me, but you can’t hate him. He’s as innocent as you are in all of this.”

  Logan’s gaze returned to Phil. “May I go back to my homework now?”

  “Yes, but I expect you at dinner.”

  ***

  Katie returned home with Matt, bursting into the kitchen uncharacteristically excited after her first yoga class. “All those stupid sports teams you and Dad forced me to join and the whole time that was waiting for me. I can’t believe you never took me or even suggested I go.”

  “Hi, Matt.” Lina touched his arm.

  “Lasagna?” he asked, his eyes lighting up when he saw the lasagna cooling on the stove. “Your food is the reason I stick around.”

  “Yeah right,” Katie said, shoving him in his side. “Seriously, Mom, that was, like, amazing. I’m going to be an instructor.”

  “After one session you think you’re qualified for that?” Lina teased.

  “I meant eventually. I’m going to go every day. It’s only two hundred a month for unlimited. I can join online. I just need your credit card.”

  “I bought you a two-week pass. If you still want to join at the end of it, we’ll talk about it.”

  “I’ll want to. And what do you mean talk about it? What’s there to talk about?”

  “Whether or not you need to go every day for one. Two hundred dollars isn’t cheap.”

  “I bet you spend a lot more on Logan’s lacrosse. And Megan’s, too, when she played. This is the first thing I’ve found that I like. Why do you only worry about money when it comes to me?”

  “I’m not worried about the money,” Lina assured her. “If this is something you really want to do, you can do it. But you may find three or five times a week is enough.”

  “It won’t be.”

  “All I’m asking for is a week,” Lina said. “If you still want the unlimited after two weeks, we’ll do it.”

  “I will.” She rewarded Lina with a rare hug. “I loved it. Now I understand why you and Grandma do it all the time. Is that a diaper bag?” Katie asked, spotting Liam’s diaper bag on the counter. “Is Liam here?”

  “He’s upstairs with your dad.” She’d barely gotten the words out before Katie grabbed Matt’s hand and led him from the room.

  To Lina’s surprise, Logan appeared a few minutes later. It was clear from his downtrodden expression something was wrong. “I was going to bring you a plate.”

  “Dad said I have to eat down here,” he said, avoiding her eyes.

  “What?” She was at his side, running her hand down his arm. “When did he say that?” Just like that, her little boy was back.

  “A few minutes ago.” He brushed a tear from beneath his eye with the back of his hand.

  A surge of protectiveness flowed through her. “No.” She shook her head. She normally tried to support Phil’s decisions, wanting to provide a united front to their children, but not this time. She wasn’t forcing Logan to be around Liam until he was ready. “You don’t have to stay down here unless you want to.”

  “Dad said—”

  “Don’t worry about your father. I’ll deal with him.”

  It was apparent when Katie returned to the kitchen, still wearing yoga leggings and a baggy sweatshirt, Liam perched on her hip, she no longer had an aversion to babies, or a
t least not one baby in particular. For his part, Liam seemed equally infatuated, babbling away as he smiled adoringly at her.

  “Looks like you have some competition,” Lina said to Matt, who was trailing a few feet behind them.

  “He’s so cute. I just want to squeeze him,” Katie said. “Aren’t you?” She nuzzled his neck, eliciting gurgles of deep baby laughter.

  Lina’s annoyance at Phil took a temporary reprieve as she witnessed Liam and Katie’s obvious bond. “He really likes you.”

  “He loves me,” Katie said. “Don’t you, Liam? Don’t you?”

  “Ay, Ay,” he said, fisting her hair.

  Katie’s eyes widened. “He’s trying to say my name. Did you hear that? Say Katie, Liam. Katie.”

  “Ay, Ay,” Liam repeated.

  “Is he trying to say my name?” she asked excitedly.

  “I think so,” Lina said. He was smart. She could see the intelligence in his eyes.

  “He said my name,” Katie told Phil as he came into the kitchen holding the high chair Lina had bought earlier in the week. “He can’t say K, so he just calls me Ay.”

  “Dadda,” Liam shrieked, pointing at his father.

  “That’s right. That’s Daddy. I’m Katie, and that’s Matt.” She turned him to Matt. “Do you want to hold him?”

  “No. I’m good.” Matt held up his hands, taking a step backward.

  “He doesn’t bite,” Katie said. “Just hold him. I want to take a picture.”

  Lina stepped beside Phil, who was setting the high chair beside his chair at the head of the table. “Did you tell Logan he had to eat with us?” she whispered, not wanting to be overheard by Katie and Matt.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I told him he didn’t.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because we agreed we wouldn’t force this on him. Telling him he has to come to dinner is forcing it on him.”

  “You weren’t there for the conversation that led to that decision.”

  “I know I wasn’t, because if I had been, that decision wouldn’t have been made,” she fumed.

  “Fine,” he bit back.

  Katie monopolized Liam’s attention and the conversation during dinner, allowing Lina to stay virtually silent. Phil hadn’t said a word to her since their exchange, and although he was interacting with the other three at the table, she could tell he was upset. He hadn’t looked at her once. They’d had disagreements in the seven months since they’d reconciled, but until tonight none that reminded her of their fights about Katie, when she’d felt such anger toward him.

  Lina was in the midst of cleaning the kitchen when Phil told her he was taking Liam home. “I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”

  “Phil?” Lina called as he disappeared into the mudroom.

  “Yes?” He stepped back out into the kitchen. Liam was straddling his side, once again bundled in his coat.

  “You’re going to leave without letting me say goodbye to him?”

  “I didn’t think you cared.”

  “Of course I care.” She squeezed Liam’s hand. A vision of Kim came to Lina’s mind. “I’m coming with you,” she said, deciding in that moment that she didn’t want Phil alone with Kim when he was clearly still upset with her.

  “What?” Phil frowned. “Why?”

  “Because I want to. I want to see where they live.”

  “Lina—”

  “I’m coming with you,” she insisted.

  “He’s asleep,” Lina said less than a minute into their drive.

  “Katie wore him out,” Phil said.

  Lina’s gaze shifted from Liam to Phil as she settled back in her seat. “I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier. He was upset, and I think I internalized some of his feelings.”

  “It’s fine.” His hands tightened on the steering wheel.

  “No. It’s not fine. I don’t like the distance I felt between us tonight. I don’t want to go back there.”

  He placed one of his hands on her thigh. “We’re not going back anywhere.”

  She slid her palm over the back of his hand. “You were mad at me during dinner.”

  “No. I was frustrated at the situation. I wasn’t mad at you.”

  “Logan will eventually come around. Liam has a charm to him that pulls you in.”

  “Does he?”

  “He’s endearing,” Lina said. “Logan won’t be immune to it. Look at Katie. She’s crazy about him.”

  “I didn’t see that one coming.” He squeezed her thigh. “Thanks for sticking around tonight.”

  “It was better. The first time was more of a shock. It’s hard knowing…” She trailed off, not wanting to mention Kim.

  “I know.”

  He turned off the highway onto a winding road leading back through the luxury town house community. For the first time since leaving their house, Lina regretted her decision to accompany him. She didn’t want to be anywhere near Kim.

  “Are you okay?” Phil asked.

  “I asked to come.”

  “That’s her place on the end. The one with the red bricks. I’ll just be a minute,” he said as he put the car in park.

  There was a tree in the front yard, but with the branches bare of leaves, Lina had a clear view of the front door. Her heartbeat accelerated as he reached the porch. She hadn’t seen Kim since she’d run into her at the wedding of one of Phil’s associates. She’d been pregnant with Phil’s child at the time. The door opened before he knocked. Lina’s stomach clenched as soon as Kim came into view. Despite the winter temperatures, she was wearing compression shorts and a tank top, her lean body on full display. She’d clearly lost all her baby weight. She looked incredibly fit and more beautiful than Lina remembered. It was going to take a long time to erase this image of Kim from her mind.

  “What a skank!” Adele said the following day.

  “Shh.” Lina frowned across the table at Adele. “We’re in a restaurant.”

  “Does she think she’s in a movie? Tell me where she lives. I’d love to go over and smack the shit out of her.”

  “Adele,” Lina warned. “I’m going to have to censor what I tell you in public if you can’t control your responses.”

  “Did Phil call her out on it? He better have.”

  “When I commented on it, he just said she was probably running. He seemed completely unfazed by the whole thing. I honestly don’t even think he noticed what she was wearing.”

  “He noticed.”

  “No, I really don’t think he did. He was intent on giving her Liam and getting back to the car. He knew I was waiting.”

  “You know what this means, don’t you? It means you’re going to go with him from now on. You should probably go up to the door with him, too. She’ll open the door in lingerie and you’ll be standing there beside him. Can you imagine?”

  “Unfortunately, I can,” Lina said, an image of Kim in her shorts and tank top flashing in her mind. “She looks like she spends all of her free time in a gym.”

  Adele raised an eyebrow. “Oh please. You do spend all your free time at the gym. You have an amazing body. There is no forty-two-year-old that has a better body.”

  “I do not spend all my free time at the gym. I do yoga at the yoga studio and run outside, unless it’s raining and then I use the treadmill in the basement. I don’t even belong to a gym.”

  “You are sooo literal—just like Phil. My point, if you’ll let me make it, is you’re probably fitter than ninety-nine percent of the female population.”

  “I’m fit—I realize that—but a fit forty-two-year-old can’t really compete with a fit thirty-two-year-old. That’s the point I’m trying to make.”

  “You don’t have to compete with her. Phil could have had her, but he chose you, remember? You’re the one wearing his obscenely large rock on the third finger of your left hand.”

  “It’s not obscenely big.” Lina frowned as she studi
ed the one-carat diamond on her finger. “It’s not even big.”

  “Oh my God. I’m kidding. Have you completely lost your sense of humor? You used to get my dry wit.”

  “Sorry, but I’m not really in a joking mood when I’m discussing my husband’s ex-mistress.” Just saying the word “mistress” made her stomach churn.

  “I realized the other day that I’ve finally forgiven Phil,” Adele said. “I no longer have the urge to punch him in the face when I see him.”

  “That’s good to hear.” Lina checked the time on her phone. “I need to get home. I shouldn’t have even met you. I have hours’ worth of work left today.”

  “Relax. William said you’re doing well.”

  “He did? He said that?”

  “His exact words were ‘she’s doing great.’”

  Lina didn’t feel like she was doing great. She felt completely overwhelmed.

  ***

  Phil, flanked by his clients and two of his associates, stepped out of the elevator into the lobby of Hendrix, Wolff, and Pearson LLP late that morning. “Phil.” Tom Hendrix greeted him immediately before leading them to their conference room, where several of their lawyers were already assembled.

  The case involved a property dispute between a real-estate developer, Phil’s client, and a homeowner association. Both sides were hoping for a resolution before their court date the following week. They had just taken their seats when Kim swept into the room.

  “Sorry I’m late,” she said breathlessly, setting her things in an empty chair. “Babysitter issues.” She slipped off her jacket, revealing a formfitting cream dress. The scent of her perfume filled the air. Phil was the only male present whose eyes didn’t linger on her.

  “I picked the wrong law firm,” one of his clients whispered beside him.

  “Oh, Phil,” she said, pinpointing him with her stare. “I forgot to give you this when you were over the other day.” She lifted a shirt enclosed in a dry cleaner’s plastic. “I had it cleaned.” It was the shirt he’d left at her house after the applesauce incident with Liam.