The Swimming Pool

by Holly LeCraw

  “Do you want me to get her?” Jed secretly enjoyed feeding Grace, now that he could, since breast-feeding had fallen by the wayside. Giving her a bottle was so simple and concrete. Filling a need that could be filled. But Callie had sat up, and was searching with her feet for her slippers.

  “That’s okay. I’m awake anyway.” Slippers on, she stood up, and started out of the room. But at the beginning of the hallway she stopped, and turned back to him.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I might need you to tell me that story every now and then.” She looked at him steadily. He looked back.

  “Any time,” he said. “I’m here.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Many, many friends, teachers, and fellow writers have helped me to arrive at this page. I am especially grateful to the following people:

  my agent, Henry Dunow, and my editor, Alison Callahan, both of whom are dreams come true;

  Mary Granfield, Karen Leigh Heath, Kathleen Hobson, William Pierce, and Elizabeth Rourke, extraordinary first readers;

  Anne Aaron, Jaime Clarke, Tim Egan, Atul Gawande, Glee Garard Hoonhout, Amy MacKinnon, Tom Perrotta, Michael Rosov-sky, Lara JK Wilson, and Paula Rendino Zaentz, for their encouragement and guidance;

  my in-laws and fellow outlaws, readers and cheerleaders all, especially Teresa Masterson Howe, Dodge Thompson, and Lisa and Sam Howe Verhovek; and also the late Sylvia Howe Thompson, James Murray Howe, and Barbara Burleigh Howe, whose love of family and of the Cape lies at the heart of this book;

  my parents, for their steady love, patience, and faith in me; my children, for making me laugh and getting me out of my head; and most of all my husband, Peter Howe, who really does know me best. This book would not exist without you.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  HOLLY LECRAW was born and raised in Atlanta. She now lives outside Boston with her husband, journalist Peter Howe, and their three children. Her short fiction has appeared in various publications and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

  DOUBLEDAY

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2010 by Holly LeCraw

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

  www.doubleday.com

  DOUBLEDAY and the DD colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  LeCraw, Holly.

  The swimming pool / by Holly LeCraw. — 1st ed.

  p. cm.

  1. Married people—Fiction. 2. Adultery—Fiction. 3. Murder—Fiction. 4. Murder victims’ families—Fiction. 5. Cape Cod (Mass.)—Fiction. 6. Psychological fiction. I. Title.

  PS3612.E337S85 2009

  813′.6—dc22

  2009008314

  eISBN: 978-0-385-53194-8

  v3.0_r1