“No, I wanna swim!” he said, splashing around.
That surprised her. Tyler loved ice cream more than any other food in the world. Okay. Bigger ammo.
“I’ll let you stay up past your bedtime tonight.”
No response at all.
“You can play the Xbox that’s in our room!”
That one made him pause. She didn’t usually allow him to play video games. Finding an Xbox in their hotel room had been the highlight of the trip for him until he realized he wouldn’t get to play it here, either. She was sure that bribe would work. And it looked like it might until one of the other kids excitedly shrieked. A shark had come up to the glass for a visit, and all the kids were getting as close as they dared. A huge grin broke out on Tyler’s face, and he headed straight for the wall.
Terror flooded through Lena. The water was now up to Tyler’s waist. And there was a freaking shark ten feet away from him! She didn’t care if there was glass between them. She wanted her baby out of that pool, now!
“Tyler!” She knew her panic was showing. She was drawing stares from other parents. One of the lifeguards had taken notice and was assessing the situation, unsure what to do, since no one was actually in danger. Well, maybe she was, from hyperventilating. She couldn’t seem to draw a deep breath.
“Tyler, get out right now! I’ll take you shopping. You can pick out any toy you want.”
Nothing. He didn’t even look at her.
“How about we get you your very own Xbox? Do you want to go get an Xbox? You can play it every day!”
His little hand pressed against the glass, and Lena’s heart jumped into her throat. Her stomach roiled. She slid a foot farther into the water, her whole body trembling. It was up to her ankle. She hadn’t had any part of her body completely submerged since she was two years old and had almost drowned in her grandparents’ hot tub. She’d taken off her arm floaties when her mom wasn’t watching and had stepped right in. And had immediately sunk. She didn’t even remember the exact incident. But every time she got near any body of water, she could feel the pressure of all that liquid weight crushing her, pushing her down to the bottom, just like it had that day. Why did she let her own child traipse right into a watery death trap from which she couldn’t extract him? What kind of mother was she? And how the hell was she going to get her son when she could barely force herself to put more than her foot in the water?
There were enough people in the pool… Maybe she could convince a few to line up so she could walk across their heads. Or have them pass her around like in some concert mosh pit. She’d even ask a nice, strong guy to give her a piggy back ride if it would get her to Tyler without having to go in the water any deeper.
The boy laughed and pounded on the glass. The shark jerked and swished its tail.
“Tyler! Get out right now,” she shouted, no longer caring who was watching.
The lifeguard climbed a few steps down from his tower, still confused but obviously wanting to get her and her kid away from the pool before she had a full-on panic attack. He’d better hurry.
Before he could get all the way off his tower, a leanly muscled man with artfully tousled hair and a smile on his face that would charm a used car salesman, came up to him. He clapped the lifeguard on the back and said something to him that made the guard nod and climb back up his tower.
No, no, no! He needs to rescue Tyler! Lena slid her other foot into the pool, closing her eyes briefly against the wave of terror that strangled her. She waded in up to her shins, biting her lip to keep back the whimpering scream that crawled up her throat. Black spots flickered at her vision, and the world tilted slightly, but she fought it back, sucking in one breath after another until the world righted itself. She needed to get to her son.
The man who’d spoken to the lifeguard yanked his shirt over his head and kicked off his flip-flops. He waded into the pool, aimed a megawatt smile at her, and held up a hand in a slight wave. Her stomach unclenched a fraction. He looked a bit familiar. Actually, he reminded her of Cher, her soon-to-be sister-in-law. They had the same hair color, similar features. But she hadn’t met him before. Still, something about him calmed her a bit. He waded across the pool toward Tyler, and Lena almost collapsed, her head swimming with unreleased adrenaline and overwhelming relief.
She backed out of the water, her body relaxing a few more degrees now that it was no longer imminently in danger from drowning. And yes, she knew that was an exaggeration, but at that moment she didn’t care.
The man made it to Tyler. He leaned down to talk to him. Tyler immediately grabbed his hand and dragged him closer to the glass. Lena closed her eyes and groaned. She’d given Tyler the stranger-danger talk a million times and still he was way too friendly with strangers. Especially men. And no, he probably wasn’t in any danger from the kind, charismatic man who was crouched in the water pointing at fish with him, but still. You never knew. He should have at least looked back to her for permission to speak to him.