Sweet Water

by Lena North

  “Down,” I laughed and realized that I’d have some training to do with my new friend because he kept licking my face and didn’t move back at all. “Okay,” I said and got to my feet. “I guess I have a dog. Hopefully, Mrs. C won’t mind.”

  “She’s used to having dogs. She won’t mind,” Dante said immediately.

  “Okay, good. Then she can teach me how to train him because I have no clue,” I said happily.

  “It’s a water dog,” Dante said again, sounding happier this time. “Did you know?” he asked Mary.

  She gave him a look that told him how stupid she thought that question was.

  “You knew,” he concluded. “They’re supposed to be black or brown, though. I’ve never seen a yellow one before.”

  “Hey,” I snapped. “His name is Joe, and he’s my beautiful golden haired boy.”

  They both laughed at me and then Mary asked Dante to get his things out of the car.

  “Where’s the leash?” I asked.

  “I don’t think you’ll need one, Jinx. I’m guessing that your beautiful golden haired boy will stay as close to you as possible,” Mary said.

  Then she giggled, and it was her usual bubbly laugh, that was perfectly impossible to resist, so I laughed with her. Dante made a strangled sound, and I turned in surprise but he had his arms full of the things Mary had brought so I couldn’t see his face, and it could have been because the things were heavy.

  It wasn’t until I was in bed that night that I realized what Mary’s joke had been about. I’d tried to tell Joe to sleep on the thick blanket Mrs. C had put on the floor for him, but as soon as she’d left, he’d simply jumped up on the bed, and stretched out. I was about to tell him to go down when he turned his head a little, and I caught the look in his eyes. I knew I should be firm, but I just couldn’t.

  As I snuggled up to him, I suddenly knew why Mary had laughed. My dog’s fur was the exact same color as Dante’s hair.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Skinny-dipping

  I woke up when Joe suddenly jumped off the bed. Then I heard soft footsteps approaching, and when Mrs. C slowly opened the door, my clever dog was curled up on the blanket she’d given him. I couldn’t stop laughter from bubbling up my throat, and I could have sworn Joe was laughing with me.

  We’d just finished breakfast when there was a loud knock on the front door. My heart jumped, and I started to straighten my hair, but when Mrs. C came back, she didn’t bring Dante with her. Instead, Gianni strolled by her and promptly placed a small loudspeaker and his phone on the breakfast bar.

  “Hey, Jinx,” he said.

  “Hey,” I replied, looking at the equipment he’d brought and then at him.

  “You said the other day that Mrs. C was teaching you how to dance?” he asked.

  I nodded. Mrs. C had indeed started showing me some basic steps, and we’d realized quickly that I knew quite a lot of it already, from my lonely sessions in my condo in Prosper. I was still stiff as a board, though, so even if I could move along with her it didn’t feel like dancing to me.

  “No offense, Mrs. C,” Gianni said with a cheeky grin, “but Jinx needs to know more than just old st –”

  He cut himself off when he saw the look on her face but couldn’t stop his lips from quivering. I wondered if the endless joy everyone in this village seemed to possess was inherent.

  “I might be old, but I know how you youngsters like to wiggle around,” Mrs. C snapped, and to both Gianni’s and my astonishment, she added, “I probably shake my booty better than you, young man.”

  We both stared at her, standing there, wrinkled and a little crooked from age. Her hair was pulled back in a bun at the nape of her neck, and she wore a dark, rather prim dress. The thought of her shaking anything was mindboggling. Then she suddenly started laughing loudly. I kept looking at her, but I was smiling too. I’d seen her smile and heard her chuckle, but I realized that this was the first time I’d seen her laugh like that.

  “Um, Mrs. C?” Gianni asked uncertainly.

  “Oh, my,” she chuckled, “I just couldn’t resist. The looks on your faces…”

  She laughed some more but then she collected herself.

  “It’s nice of you to come, Gianni, and we’re grateful, aren’t we, Jinx?” she asked, but continued without waiting for my reply, “It will be good for Jinx to have someone to dance with.”

  I stared at her, not at all happy about making a fool out of myself in front of Gianni. I would need much more practice before I’d be comfortable moving to music in front of anyone. As it turned out, I wasn’t given any chance to protest. Before I knew it, I was ordered to go to the living room, and then music was booming surprisingly loudly from the small speaker Gianni had brought.

  At first, I was incredibly uncomfortable, and it didn’t help that Gianni turned out to be a fantastic dancer. Neither of them paid any attention to my discomfort, however. Instead, they egged me on, and when Joe joined us, yipping and jumping around, I suddenly let go. The music was catching, the sun shone through the windows, and I was in a safe place. My unlikely friends wouldn’t laugh at me, and I felt free. We moved around each other, to steps I knew and new ones we made up, and I laughed.

  “Hey!” Snow suddenly shouted from the door, but she didn’t stop there. “I wanna dance too,” she grinned, and then she joined us as a new song came on that was even louder and faster.

  Mrs. C gave up after a while and sat down, waving a hand in front of her and laughing at our antics as we continued until we were out of breath too.

  Later that day Mrs. C and I took Joe to the beach, and I understood what a waterdog was all about. I hadn’t bothered with a leash because it might have been a joke, but Mary had been right. My beautiful golden boy didn’t stray far from my side, and when I called his name, he came back immediately. Then we got down to the water. Suddenly his whole body was quivering, and he glanced up at me with a small whimper. I told him that he could go, and gestured with my hand, but he didn’t leave my side.

  “He’s a water dog alright,” Mrs. C muttered, and I turned to her.

  “What?”

  Suddenly a ball flew by us, far out over the water and Joe shot after it like he’d been ejected from a cannon. I watched him pick up the ball and start half-swimming half-jumping through the water, back toward me.

  “Make sure he gives you the ball in your hand, then give him a treat,” Roberto murmured beside me. “Good afternoon Mrs. C,” he added politely, but his eyes were on Joe. “That’s one fine dog you’ve got there, Jinx,” he said when Joe ran toward us.

  I nodded but kept my focus on the dog. When I had the ball, and he’d shaken most of the water off himself and onto me, I threw the ball again. And again.

  This went on of a long time, but finally, my arm felt like lead and I had to stop.

  “Thanks,” I said to Roberto and stretched the ball out to him.

  “Keep it,” he said with a smile. “We used to have a water dog, so we have plenty in a box back home. And I have to say, Jinx,” he murmured, looking at Joe who was bouncing around me, not at all ready to stop playing, “I didn’t think I was ready, but after seeing this one… I think maybe I am. Hunting hasn’t been the same since we lost our old dog.”

  I grinned at him, but that grin faltered when he continued speaking.

  “If we get one we can train them together. Everyone worried you’d think about leaving since you’re feeling better, but now that you have the dog –”

  “What?” I interrupted.

  “You can’t take a dog like that away from water, Jinx,” he said, sounding as surprised as I did. “He can’t live in a condo in the city, and not out on the dry plains either.”

  As I stared at him, a weight seemed to be lifted off my shoulders. How silly I’d been, to worry about leaving the water when it would be easy enough to find another home somewhere along the coastline. The question Dante had put to Mary suddenly echoed in my head. “It’s a waterdog. Did you know?�
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  And Mary had known, of course she had. People often thought that she was clueless and as hippie-like as my parents, but she wasn’t. She was very deliberate with everything that meant anything important, both in what she said and what she did. I’d often found that things she said which on the surface sounded brainless, delivered quite harsh truths. She wouldn’t have given me this dog for no reason at all when she easily could have picked up a smaller dog that would have worked well in my condo in Prosper, or a one of the large breeds they had up at Double H.

  Instead, she’d given me a water dog, knowing well that I’d planned to move to my secluded house in the mountains, where there was a small brook passing the property, but no lakes.

  “You’re right,” I smiled. “I won’t be leaving the water, and I don’t think I would have, even without my baby.”

  Both Roberto and Mrs. C laughed then.

  “You’ll spoil that dog rotten, Jinx,” Mrs. C predicted. “He tried to fool me, and you did too, but don’t for a second think that I am unaware that he slept in your bed.”

  I laughed guiltily but since she was smiling I didn’t think she minded so very much, and that evening she just told me that if I choked on dog hair during the night, I shouldn’t call out to her for help.

  Days moved into weeks and my life settled into a slow relaxed routine. I trained with Joe, often together with some of the other dog owners in the village, or else we just goofed around with Danny’s boys. I worked a few hours each day, cooked dinner with Mrs. C, and spent time with my friends in the village. What started out as an impromptu dancing lesson had continued and grown into a group of us who gathered at Mrs. C’s house, to dance and talk. I was grateful because there would be a big party, celebrating the start of summer, and I knew there would be dancing. I also enjoyed being part of a group of happy carefree friends. It was a bit like hanging out with Wilder, Mac, Mary and the others, but it was also different. With my friends in Prosper I’d been Jinx Sweetwater, and I still was, but somehow I wasn’t. Maybe it was that I had hit rock bottom in Marshes, or maybe it was that they had absolutely no interest in my academic prowess, but I knew I wasn’t the same as I had been before. They asked me to do stuff for them, but it never made me feel used. It was the simple kind of things that I imagined friends asked from each other. I watched Alejandro and Happy so Daniele could take Anetta to one of the tourist villages along the coast to try out a new restaurant there, and removed so many splinters from everyone’s feet that I threatened to pour a layer of concrete on the wooden boardwalk if they didn’t keep their shoes on.

  I also helped Giannis younger brother to tune his dirt-bike, although maybe we took that a bit too far, but I also argued successfully with the friendly police officer who wanted to fine him for speeding. Then Dante and I snuck into their garage at night, de-tuning the bike to something that wouldn’t put the kid in trouble again. We giggled like small kids as we worked, and then we went down to the beach to wash off the dirt. The water was cold, but he pulled me along, laughing as I squealed. There were a few shadows moving around in the sand dunes, and I wondered what the villagers thought of our antics but when I asked Dante he just shrugged, and told me that he hadn’t seen anyone. He added calmly that if someone had been there, they wouldn’t care. Then he walked me home, murmured his usual sweet goodnight and left me at the door.

  I knew that I was falling for him, and I told myself to stop seeing him so much when he treated me mostly as a friend, but I couldn’t stop myself. He was not like any other man I’d ever met, and it wasn’t just that we could communicate silently. We laughed a lot, but underneath his happiness, he was calm and confident in a way that settled me, and as we got to know each other better, it became clear that we just somehow worked. There were times when I thought he wanted something more, but he always backed off, and the only reason I could come up with for that was that he wasn’t interested.

  The day after our nightly swim, there was a group of my friends at Mrs. C’s house again, and I asked her if she minded the endless stream of people coming and going, but to my surprise, she gave me a small, quick hug and told me to not be silly.

  “I didn’t know it, Jinx, but you were not the only one who needed help.”

  We were interrupted, and I didn’t understand what she meant until later when I overheard how Gianni told her that his mother asked if she wouldn’t want to join a group of ladies who were getting together. “It’ll be a total bore, Mrs. C. They’ll be knitting and quilting, and God knows what,” he said with a grin. “Probably gossiping too, and I suspect they want you to come so they can grill you about what goes on when we gather at your house.”

  She chuckled and patted his shoulder affectionately.

  “I like knitting, Gianni,” she said, with a smile.

  I got it then. I’d been lost when I moved to Marshes, but Mrs. C had been too. I remembered how Dante had explained why he got me a room in her house, saying that he placed me with the crankiest old biddy he could think of. Someone who wouldn’t bother me, and who wouldn’t try to involve me in any kind of social activities. He’d tried to do the right thing, but the way it had turned out, no one would think to call Mrs. C cranky these days. We were both getting involved in all kinds of social circles, and both feeling better for it.

  The patent application for the rodent repellent device Roberto had invented had been submitted and we’d gotten a, initial response that it was set to pending, which meant that they had sufficient protection to start looking for contractors. Robbie had no interest in production or deliveries, and even less in sales, so one of the teachers helped him set up a rudimentary licensing agreement, similar to what I had for my patents, and since Dante had a degree in business management and Danny had been running all kinds of projects for years, they decided to try producing some and see how that went.

  They had absolutely stunning, intricate, wooden covers made up, and to my surprise, Tony was the one both designing and creating them. Watching the gate was apparently in no way a full-time job so he’d started carving things to kill time, and he showed me his work. The beautiful toys Alejandro and Happy had were not the only things he’d created, and I stared into the shed full of beautiful statues, toys and even small amulets and bracelets. I immediately told him he should start selling his work.

  “Who would buy it?” he asked, completely taken aback by my suggestion.

  “I have no clue, Tony, but if you ever meet my dad, you can ask him because someone buys the shitty things he carves. Hell, you could probably get him to sell them for you if you asked.”

  “Wow,” he breathed. “I’ll ask him next time they come, for sure. Thanks, Jinx.”

  I blinked.

  “Next time they come?” I asked slowly.

  “Eh,” he said and looked around as if he was searching for something else to talk about. There was a guilty look on his face.

  “Next time they come?” I asked again.

  “You weren’t supposed to know,” he muttered, and when I kept staring at him, he continued, “They’ve been here twice, but Dante says they’re not allowed in the village. I thought it was strange so I talked to Danny but he agreed with Dante, and I didn’t let them pass.”

  “Twice?” I asked, even though I knew that this was what he’d said. I couldn’t believe that they were scheming to keep my parents away. A small part of me felt relief that I hadn’t had to handle them, but I ignored that. They were my parents for crying out loud.

  “The first time they came they were loud and upset, Jinx. They shouted at Dante, and your mother even punched him in the shoulder. It wouldn’t have been good for you. Things were better the other time. They were more civil then, and even sat down to talk, although briefly.”

  Oh. God. I totally got why Dante wasn’t interested in me. Having dealt with the full force of my weird parents would make anyone think twice about getting involved with their daughter.

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  “Jinx, don’t l
ook like that,” Tony said. “I liked them. They stayed a while the second time, and we had coffee. They’re just very different from you.” Then he chuckled and added, “And probably everyone else I’ve ever met. They’re good people, though. Funny.”

  “Okay,” I repeated, feeling a bit better. “Thank you, Tony, and if they come again then do ask my dad what to do about your beautiful carvings. Maybe you could even give him some lessons,” I finished with a wink.

  Then I decided that I’d go for a swim in the lab. The water was warm and relaxing so although I told myself it was for research purposes, I knew that my frequent checks of the equipment were mostly for pleasure. It was evening, and Joe was with Mrs. C, but I thought I’d have time for a quick dip before it was time for his walk. I’d already slipped out of my sweater and short dress when I realized that my bikini was hanging on the clothes line in Mrs. C’s garden. It was getting late, and I didn’t want to run all the way back to get it.

  “Crap, I muttered, and started to unfold my soft summer dress again, but then I looked around.

  It wasn’t dark outside, but dusk was settling. Nobody passed the lab way that late in the day, and anyway, I’d not turned on the lights so even if someone came walking, they wouldn’t know I was there.

  I giggled a little at the thought of me – the proper, uptight genius Jiminella Nixée Sweetwater – swimming in my underwear. I was about to get into the pool when I remembered that we had chlorine in the water to keep it clean. My cute underwear, courtesy of another visit to Martha’s store, were made of black lace and they’d probably lose some of the color. Unless…

  With a nervous giggle, and before I lost my nerve, I resolutely pulled the black panties and bra off, threw them into the lower part of the equipment cabinet with my clothes, and slid into the pool. The water felt like silk on my body, and I moved around slowly.