"Come swimming with me," I plead.
She looks doubtful.
"Come on, it will be fun."
She frowns.
"It’s only cold for the first 30 seconds. Then you get used to it.
"Come on. Mary would do it."
Her face shifts from hard to soft to crumpled. "You know what to say to get me to do anything."
There’s a long pause.
"But I don’t have my bathing suit on."
"Take off your dress. Come in in your panties and t-shirt. Come on, let’s do something together."
"You’re a natural. I was so impressed this morning. You dove through the waves. You rode the breakers like you were on a surfboard. Then you came out of the froth looking like Venus."
"You mean Adonis."
"You always win the word games."
I take her hand. "Come on."
She lets go of me and looks around the beach.
We see nobody we know.
"I don’t want you to leave me," she says. "Stay close. But don’t grab me either. Don’t play any games. I’m frightened of the surf."
"I’ll stay by you," I promise.
She drops her skirt and purse.
I retake her hand. "Let’s run in," I say, "then we’ll dive in and swim."
She says nothing but she’s not going for my idea.
I walk beside her. The cold water makes her gasp.
I’m smiling so hard that my jaw hurts.
A wave crests and I dive through it. She turns her back on it and it knocks her down.
She comes up coughing and spluttering.
"Come on," I implore, swimming out to sea.
Awkwardly and slowly she follows me.
Once we’re beyond the breakers, we can’t touch the bottom.
"This is great," I say. "It’ll build trust between us. I’ll keep you safe.
"Feel the undertow?"
"What?"
She panics. "I’m going back in."
"Stay," I plead. "You’ll be fine. I’m right here. If we get pulled out, we’ll just swim to the side out of it."
But she’s already making for shore, stumbling through the surf, finding her feet, and walking away.
I turn and swim out to sea.
