by Aimi Myles
“How are you and Mark getting along when I’m in the water?” Kaz asked while we waited for our food to arrive. “Are you two pretending to live in harmony?”
“No, it’s great,” I said. “We both see your flaws, like how you keep rotating a bit too far over on your freestyle. And the turns you keep making too early.”
“I know. I know,” Kaz said.
“Do you think you’re scared of getting too close to the other side because you don’t want another leg injury?”
“No. I don’t think about it. I don’t think about anything but making the turn.”
“And you need to get faster at it.”
“I agree. But I’ll need some personal assistance from the turning champion,” Kaz said.
“If I got in the water—”
“It would help you get over it. And it would help me too.” He flashed his teeth. Keep it together. “Listen, Mauri. I felt so bad the way I left you and shut you out...”
His smile became concern.
“What’s wrong Kaz?” I asked.
“Brayden.”
Brayden came over, didn’t say hi, or ask permission to scoot me over and sit next to me on my side of the booth.
“Hey babe,” he said.
“Brayden, we’re not together anymore,” I said.
“I thought hard and long about what confused you,” he said. “Why you felt like you didn’t need me. After I gave you everything you wanted, including that car you drive. The one that’s parked outside. And never did I think he’d be the problem.” Brayden set his sight on Kaz. “So what’s up Kaz? Come back to my city to get more of my seconds?”
I gasped. “Excuse you!” I said.
“I’m speaking truth,” Brayden said. “And pipe down, you’re being obnoxious.”
“I knew not to give you—”
“Brayden, I thought your mother raised you to be more respectful than that,” Kaz said.
“I should ask the same about yours,” Brayden said in a hushed voice. He leaned over the table. “But I know she taught you to screw every woman in sight including your elders.”
Kaz chuckled and leaned down to meet him. I joined in just so I could hear. “That’s funny, coming from you,” Kaz said. “The one who put discord in Mark’s marriage.”
“You’re not so innocent either Mr. Kaz. She slept with you too.”
“What?” I said. What? Kaz never told me this.
“Yeah, Mauri,” Brayden said. “He forgets things that inconvenience him. Kaz was the reason for the breakup too. Mark knew his wife was cheating. Dakota had ‘private’ practices with Kaz when her husband was out of town.”
“Private as in swimming,” Kaz said. “And I never slept with her.”
“Yeah, swimming in what?” Brayden said. “Mark caught you first, Kaz. Then he turned a blind eye because you were his champion.”
“That’s not true,” Kaz said.
“What part?” Brayden said. “I got blamed for everything because of you Kaz. My dad couldn’t look at me until Dakota told him the truth. Mark still hates me. I would have been on top a lot earlier, but of course, he decides to drop me and stick with his Olympic winner. We all know how that turned out.”
“You got a lot of nerve Brayden,” Kaz said. “You hired that guy to get rid of me didn’t you?”
“I’d never do that,” Brayden said. “Don’t you put anything else on me. I am going to beat you at your best. And you’re going to say you gave it all you got; Brayden was the better man that day.
“Unfortunately, as you may have heard, some of my wins are followed by ‘but if Kaz was still competing would the outcome be the same?’ I hate that. I really do. So I came over here to warn you. You better be ready. And Mauri, you’re going to wake up one day and see the truth. And I might cut you some slack. Let you get a taste of what you missed out on.”
“Brayden,” Kaz said. “I’m only going to tell you this once. You need to leave now. Leave Mauri alone, and don’t ever think about contacting her or me again. Tell your dad to do the same. Tell him the truth, y’all aren’t together anymore. And I’ll do my part. I’ll be ready to embarrass you again. But if you don’t, neither of us will be defending any sort of title. I doubt they’ll allow me to swim after I put you in the hospital.”
“You better be ready,” Brayden said as he was scooting over to leave.
I narrowed my eyes, looking sideways at Kaz then leaned over the table and whispered. “What happened here? Did you two just… I thought there was a fight about swimming between Brayden and Mark, not a cheating scandal. Why didn’t you tell me Dakota slept with Brayden and did whatever with you?”
“I didn’t want. We didn’t want the whole thing to get out and—”
“What did you do with her?”
“She came onto me a lot.”
“And,” I said.
“I pushed her away,” Kaz said. “It felt so wrong, but then we kissed on a couple of occasions.”
“Did she—?”
“She tried, but I didn’t let her. I broke away and then she went after Brayden. I tried to tell him what she was doing, but Brayden didn’t want to hear it. He said I was jealous. So in the end he got caught, Mark chose me, and his family was furious.”
“And that’s why you hate him,” I said.
“He tried to throw me under the bus after I tried to help him.”
“This changes things, Kaz,” I said. “It sounds like Brayden and/or his family were the perfect suspects. They wanted to hurt you.”
“Yeah, but remember their alibis were solid.”
I sighed.
“I know,” Kaz said.
Chapter 9
Kaz
“Hey!” Mauri’s mom, Mrs. Jones, said as she opened the door. The scent of cinnamon and pumpkin spice seemed to rush out. I knew what that meant. Sweet potato pie. Yes! Or maybe sweet potato casserole with the marshmallows on one side, pecans on the other. Double yes! And a good chance of some peach cobbler and pumpkin pie too. Woo ha!
Maybe some peppermint hot chocolate was waiting around the corner. In my own twisted way I hope I’m wrong about all of this. A sugar overload would not be good.
“There they are, two of my favorite people! Come on in,” Mrs. Jones said, returning me to reality.
We were greeted with hugs at the door from Mrs. Jones, and then from my mom, who was elated to see Mauri again. Our dads, Mark, and a couple of other guys, passed by and waved on the way to argue about some sort of sports statistic in the men’s cave. My two brothers and Mauri’s younger sister and older brother were, I was sure, glued to the TV with whomever else that was invited.
Mauri was the one to tell me about the dinner. She said her mother was funny. Mrs. Jones was inviting us to her Family Holiday Dinner, and the name would remain the same even if my family wasn’t invited.
I was glad to see our families together again. Back in the day, our parents got along well, but when Mauri and I split apart, they kind of did too. I didn’t think Mauri really told her mom what I said, or else there would be no way Mrs. Jones would be that kind. Neither would my mom. I was thankful to Mauri for that.
“Now, Kaz,” Mrs. Jones said as the four of us stood in a circle. “Yes, this is a holiday dinner, but in addition, you are our distinguished guest of honor. This is also a celebration of all the work that you, and everyone else, have done to get you back to swimming and back on your feet. We are so proud of what you’ve accomplished thus far and proud that you have shown that you can rise from adversity.”
“Thank you so much Mrs. Jones,” I said. “I feel so special right now.”
Mauri chuckled.
“What,” I said. “I do.”
“And,” my mom said. “We haven’t told you the best part.”
“What?” I said.
“We’ve put together almost all of your favorite dishes!”
“Get out of here,” I said, raising my hands to my head.
“We figured that if you
’re going to be on salads and lean meats from January on out, you might as well enjoy the last holiday that you’ll be celebrating,” Mom said.
“There’s Valentine’s Day.”
“And I’ll be raiding your home for the chocolate that I’m sure Mauri wouldn’t give you,” Mom said.
“Hey,” Mauri said, throwing her hands up. “I’m not about to step in your way Mrs. Nelson. Not trying to learn any lessons.”
“Mom,” I said. “I do have cheat days. I can have some chocolate.”
“Oh, and swim two seconds slower like you did at that meet,” Mom said, crossing her arms. “Hmm? That history repeated itself several more times in practice.”
I was not about to tempt my mom into a game of who was right. She probably sat on the bleachers with her notorious stop watch that she used to bring to my practices. She wasn’t a swimmer, but was an athlete in high school, played recreational sports in college. So she could get a little bit hard core at times.
Not only did she have our detailed activities charts, like other moms, but she had spreadsheets of my statistics. She was great at balancing the athlete and mother though, being a different type of loving and caring when I needed that change. It was a little funny because my dad was the calmer, laid back one.
“So what did you make me?” I asked.
“Changing the subject?” Mom said. “Smart. I see you’ve learned.”
The moms laughed and guided Marui and I to the kitchen, the heart of the feast. They had several sides, meats, and deserts laid out under the foil and plastic wraps.
“And you two cooked all of this by yourselves?” I asked.
“Ohhh,” Mrs. Jones said, and wrapped her arm around mine. “This is why we love your son.”
“I’ve taught him well,” Mom said. “But he still has one lesson to learn about choosing wives.”
“Um,” Mauri said. “I’m going to go, and let y’all figure this out.”
“No, Mauri stay,” Mom said. “I hadn’t gotten a chance to thank you yet. In those two times that Kaz allowed me to come to practice, I saw that he improved his speed on the freestyle consistently by point two seconds.”
“Well, I can’t take all of the credit,” Mauri said.
“You can,” Mom and I said.
Mauri chuckled. “OK, I will.”
“And I’ll take credit for the two grandchildren who are coming out of this,” Mrs. Jones said.
“Mom!” Mauri said.
I grinned and stayed quiet, enjoying the conversation. With all of their support, I didn’t have to do any work.
“So you can name your first child after me,” Mrs. Jones said. “But name the baby Daniella instead of Danielle. Daniel for a boy. My name is perfect.”
“Oh, I can’t wait until they have a little one,” Mom said. “A child from two strong swimmers. I have a little basin already. He can practice his little kicks in there. And tell the story when he goes on to beat his daddy’s record.”
“Hey!” I said. “He’s not beating my record. Let’s not get out of hand here.”
“Kaz,” Mom said. “It will be an honor for your little one to shatter your accomplishments. You’ll see. Besides his momma and dada, he’ll have his grandmas giving him advice. He will be better than you. He’ll be unstoppable.”
Mauri’s eyes widened. She smiled, hard, fighting an outburst of laughter.
“He sure will,” Mrs. Jones said. “No one could doubt that. See our track record.”
“That’s right,” Mom said and hi-fived Mrs. Jones.
Mauri and I broke out into laughter.
“What are you over there laughing about Mauri?” Mom said. “You’re the one that’s going to go through the most difficult part, giving birth to this champion. I was in labor for over five hours with that one. Kaz weighed nine pounds three ounces. His brothers weren’t too far behind either.”
“Or you may be lucky,” Mrs. Jones said, “like me. Mauri came out swimming.”
“OK, OK,” Mauri said as Mrs. Jones laughed. “This is too much. I’m getting out of here.”
“And I’m following,” I said and got out of the kitchen with haste. When we got back into the hallway, I said, “So Mauri, you’ve been swimming since birth?”
Mauri closed her eyes, shook her head back and forth, and smiled. “I don’t want to ever hear that again.”
“Oh, I’ll be sure to remind you.”
Dinner was fun. There were so many people all over the place that Mauri and I sat on a blanket on the floor. We spent time between chatting and watching movies the rest of the day, while digging into the delicacies that I was right about.
My brothers attempted to be funny by making jokes about me being the honored one and the hero. Someone’s dad blocked the TV and claimed it was time to sing holiday songs. We couldn’t tell if he was serious or joking until his wife came and moved him out of the way.
After the gift exchange segment, I retrieved my gift for Mauri out of the car. Mauri was shocked, but happy to get another gift to go along with the socks that she won before.
“I noticed that you had your eye on this at the store, so,” I said and handed her the present.
“What store?” she said.
“Open it.”
“Come on!” my brothers cheered. “What did your majesty get you?”
Mauri tore through the wrap and opened the box to find me on her favorite book in the entire world.
“Kaz!” she said.
“It’s autographed too,” I said and flashed my teeth. My brothers and her siblings fell out laughing.
“So I’m supposed to be writing a new chapter in this?” Mauri said and picked up the book. “Is that what you’re saying?”
“I actually was intending to be more selfish, but yeah. Sure,” I said. “That’s not all.” I pointed back to the box.
Mauri smiled when she saw what was inside. “This was such a long time ago,” she said and picked up the framed newspaper article. “It was when we both won all of those medals, and they told you to declare me champion.”
“Aww,” our crowd said. Fifty percent of that was with a sarcastic flair.
“Do you have the article?” I said.
“Of course. It’s in my room.”
“When I went to your apartment, I didn’t see anything that said swimming. You loved it so much that I thought…”
“It’s great,” she said, scanning the photo.
“And in case you were about to slam me with the frame, I brought you more presents,” I said.
Mauri collected about ten different gift cards from the bottom of the box. “Wow.”
“Wait a minute,” Mauri’s sister, Sacha, said. “I want that District Red Shop card.”
“And I’ll take your prepaid Visa,” Rafe, my brother, threw in.
“I’ll take a gift card as a bribe,” Harrison, Mauri’s brother, said. “An endorsement, if you will.”
“This is amazing,” Mauri said. “You covered all of the stores we said we’d buy something from when we got rich. And this Visa gives me cash flow.” She chuckled.
“Sooo Kaz,” Rafe said in his ‘I’m a sweet brother’ voice, “do you happen to have a little token for us as well?”
“Token?” Clark, my other brother, said. “Funny.”
“Well, I was going to say I come bearing gifts, but I guess I come bearing tokens,” I said. I pulled a bag out of my pocket and started tossing little gift cards to each of our brothers and sisters. I gave some to Mauri’s cousins too.
“Mauri,” Sasha said in a quiet voice. She raised her eyebrows at her. “Mom was right.”
---
Mauri
Kaz was being so sweet, toning down that sexy side, by getting all of those gifts for the kids, spoiling my sister, and reminding me of one of my happiest moments from childhood. Then he went on to remember what I forgot about, that list. We made it once we passed our driver’s license tests, and had been riding around with nothing to do. The autogra
phed book was Kaz being Kaz, making jokes about his stardom.
It made me realize that had I missed him. I thought I was done with him, but all of those months I really missed him.
Over the next week, we were together every day. Together for Christmas Eve. Together during Christmas, with another fun dinner. Together far beyond swimming practice, suppressing the feelings we had for each other. He’d smile, I’d smile. Then I’d look away. We lingered in our hugs goodnight. He’d find a reason to get closer to me, and I’d back up.
“We have to talk about this Kaz,” I said, one day after practice. We had barely gotten through the door before he was coming in for a random hug, thanking me again for coaching him. “What is this? Is this something or just friends?”
“Amazing,” he said and looked into my eyes. “We could be something amazing.”
“Stop, stop,” I said. “I can’t concentrate when you do that.”
“I got ya. Why don’t you let me taste your lips instead? I’ve waited so long to taste them.”
“Kaz,” I said.
“It’s whatever you want it to be. I’d love for you to be my woman, but if you’re not ready, I’ll wait.”
I sighed.
“Talk to me,” he said. “Don’t let it eat you up inside.”
“Kaz, I’ve pushed these feelings down every day,” I began. “Every day I said you weren’t the same man. But I can’t help to think about the last time we were almost as close.”
“Mauri, I am so sorry about what I said. Every day you were gone, I hoped that one day you’d forgive me. I was mad at that time. I blamed my problems on everyone else, and I was frustrated.”
“You claimed I was there to ruin your life,” I said. “Benefit from all of your money. I might have been the person to arrange that attack. I had perfect timing. I was jealous of all of your accomplishments, and because I couldn’t do it all on my own, I had to take it away from you. I enjoyed nursing you. I got to see you go through the same depression, the same feelings I did when I lost.”
“I didn’t mean it.”