Riptide | Sandy Cove Series #1

s i x t e e n

"If we don't win or get placed, I'm asking for a recount."

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Knocking on the door of the house, again, there is still no answer.

Sighing, I look up, seeing there are no lights on in the house, but there is a glow coming around from the back of the house. Making my way over to the side gate, I open it using the trick Easton and I used to use when sneaking back into the house as teenagers. Grandma June caught us every time. From every way into the house, we thought was sneaky.

Closing it behind me, I make my way around to the back of the house that I once used to call home. The floor is covered in cobblestone with a pool in the center of the backyard, with lights surrounding the outside of the pool, and tall hedges separating the houses.

Placing my hands in my pockets of the board shorts, I walk closer to the pool. Thalia glides through the water as she swims laps, not noticing my presence as she does. The glow of the lights illuminates not just the pool but also her. Sitting down on the side of the pool, I let my legs dangle. That gets her attention that someone else is here. She appears from under the water, wiping the water from her face before she looks at me.

She looks surprised to see me, as if she didn't think I would come looking for her as she continued to ignore me. She swims back from the other end of the pool until she's in the middle of it, facing me. Her hair is up on her head in a bun, still dry aside from a few wet strands, and the surrounding light is enough to reveal her bikini under the water.

"Is breaking into people's houses a new hobby you're trying out?" She questions with a smirk on her face, tilting her head to the side.

I play along. "Turns out I'm very good at it. Maybe I could do this professionally. Teach a class about it."

"Hilarious," she deadpans, and I can't help but chuckle. "How did you get back here?"

"I used to live here. I know all the ways to get in and technically I didn't break in," I say, placing air quotes around the words. "I let myself in through the side gate."

"I'd say it's a gray area," she adds, and I shrug. "And so would the police."

"I'm guessing being in a pool is a lot different from the ocean."

"I don't get it. When I'm in a pool, I feel safe. There are no horrible flashbacks rearing their ugly head. It's the one time I can be in the water and feel secure," Thalia explains, her arms moving around the water. "My therapist says it's normal. There will be some things I can do, others I can't, and that's out of my control. It's the way my brain thinks."

"Even when you're swimming underwater?" I ask curiously, and she nods.

"I think it's because my brain subconsciously knows I'm in a pool. That I'm not surfing and there is no chance of what happened happening in a space like this where it's still water, there's no waves," she explains, and I nod my head. "It gets me back in the water, though, and there's no place like it."

"Like a safe haven," I say, and she nods before snorting. "What?"

"My safe haven is also my undoing," she says, and I can't help but chuckle with her.

Kicking the water with my feet, I nod to the pool. "Mind if I join?"

She shrugs. "Knock yourself out."

"Hmm, half of me thinks you mean that." I raise my eyebrow before pulling my shirt up and throwing it away from the pool. Her eyes watch me intensely as I lower myself down into the pool with her. But being slightly taller means that I'm not fully submerged unless I bend slightly. "You know if I was anyone else, I'd be hurt you were avoiding me."