Running with Secrets

Untitled Part 49

"I've made notes about who needs to make adjustments...change hands and feet and shoulders, Clark. How do you think I should break the news?" Kristin held a clipboard.

"That's good, right?"

"You haven't paid much attention, have you?" Kristin advised.

"Not really. Olivia is fast. I didn't know she wasn't teaching technique." He sounded defeated. "No wonder The Aquadillos have a poor performance rate."

"If it were up to me, I'd say that she was dedicated to her own team and not both. I don't blame her, but if she's just working on speed, and they are a fast team," Kristin said, "she didn't want to give them an edge. I'll figure it out for tomorrow, if that's all right with you."

Clark scratched his head. "Yeah. That's fine, Kristin."

She was half way down the hall when she heard him call to her. "Kristin!"

As she turned, she met the pool director in a different light. If she didn't know any better, she'd have been certain he looked nervous.

"Yeah?" She crossed her arms in front of her as a last line of defense. Clark was nice, but she was sure she didn't want to go there. She tried to look non-threatened.

"Kathleen told me you are staying with her."

"Yeah. She's kinda a funny woman." Kristin cocked her head to one side.

"Funny isn't half of it. I'd call her eccentric." He scratched his head again and looked at the floor. "I was half shocked when she showed up to water aerobics with pink hair, but you know, it suits her."

Kristin laughed a little. "Yeah. She's a saucy one. What can I help you with, Clark?"

"Well. I notice you with that guy a lot. He drops you off and picks you up. He's Kathleen's grandson, yea?"

"Yes, Heath is Kathleen's grandson." Kristin knew immediately where Clark was taking this. "You want a relationship status, Clark?"

He scrunched his face as he momentarily looked around. "It's that obvious, huh?"

"Well, people don't usually open a conversation like this." She motioned her hand out, "Like you just did."

Clark rubbed his face in his hands. "I'm a little embarrassed."

"You don't need to be. He's a coworker of an old college roommate. I met him while I was visiting her and he volunteered to bring me out when he had time off to come visit his grandma, whom I'm staying with while I find something more--permanent."

"Ah." Said Clark. "I see." A small inkling of hope lace his voice as he looked behind him to make sure Heath wasn't there. He had a knack for showing up really sneaky like. He wasn't a fan. "Do you think...Can I..."

"Are you asking me out?" She slightly teased.

"Well, yeah."

"We only met yesterday, Clark, and I'm in a really bad place right now. Things happened and as much as I want to say he wasn't involved in shady things, they found my boyfriend's body in a warehouse back home. It makes me think I didn't even really know him. So I'm here to get away for a while." She wondered if that was too much to share. After all, it's what she overheard Heath tell his grandmother.

A wash of disappointment, maybe, washed over Clark's face. She noticed his shoulders drop. It was too much. "I see."

"I'd really like to make friends, though." She had remembered when things got serious with Matther, most of her friends dropped out of her life, because they were into the single thing, clubbing and what not, and she'd ended up spending more and more time with Matther.