Saturday came quicker than Angie anticipated.
She made it through Friday without her dad finding out about her not doing her math homework. Angie didn't remember about it until the start of the day right before he dropped her off at school. She went to Ms. Finch, in tears, about it right away. The wonderful woman helped her work through half of it and in the end let it slide 'just this once' when Angie explained about forgetting because she wanted to spend time with her dad, begging the teacher not to send a note home. There was a promise that if Angie kept forgetting and continued not doing her work in class that her teacher would have to get in contact with her father. Angie didn't like the sound of that.
Shivering in the water as she played with her friends at Jameelah's party, Angie pushed away the thought of how her dad might react if he found out she lied about her homework. The truth was she didn't have any idea how he might respond and somehow that was worse than knowing, proving to occupy the space previously used for worrying over Scott's job. She couldn't stop thinking about it.
"Come on! Let's go swim in the deep end!" Lilly cried excitedly when she got bored of the ball toss game they were playing. "We can use the climbing wall and pretend we're explorers!"
Angie felt her stomach flip flop and she stayed frozen in place when the other girls started for the deeper water where some of her Uncles were already playing around and wrestling for fun.
"You coming Angie?" Lilly called. "What's wrong?"
"Um…yeah. I'm coming." Angie tried to sound normal and failed. All the work she'd done with her dad seemed to slither away and she could feel panic clenching her lungs.
"Actually, if it's ok with you girls, I'm going to steal Angie for a little while." Her dad's voice came from just behind her, somehow materializing out of nowhere and Angie could have cried from the comfort his sudden presence brought her. "I haven't seen much of her this week and kinda miss her."
Jameelah carried the story without a flaw and a bright smile replaced the indecision that appeared when Angie hesitated. "Sure, Uncle Scott! See you in a bit, Angie!"
As the other girls swam off, Angie tiptoed backward in the water until her back was nearly touching her dad, still watching her friends with a mix of fearful dread and envy.
"Think it might be time for some more practice." Scott mused quietly while giving her shoulder a reassuring little rub. "Are you up for it?"
"What if they see that I'm scared?" Craning her head back so she could see her dad.
"They're busy, Angie. And look, Uncle Sonny and Uncle Ray are distracting them. Now is the perfect time."
Knowing her dad would already have an idea of what he wanted her to try, Angie eyed the deep end.
"How far do I have to go?"
"I think you can make it the whole length of the pool."
"R-really?"
"Absolutely."
"You'll stay right with me?"
Angie knew she shouldn't need to ask, but she did anyway.
"I'll stay right with you."
"Do I have to tread water too?"
"Yup."
"Do I have to dunk my head in again?"
"If you want an extra chapter tonight, then yes."
"Just one dunk?"
"Just one…but if you do it three times, I might make it worth the struggle."
"How?"
"A little bird mentioned the other day that you like climbing." Her dad said casually as he started walking backwards away from her toward the deep end.
That got her attention instantly and Angie gasped, following him hopefully. She loved climbing. Mommy never let her do it except at a summer camp last year.
"And?" Angie prompted eagerly. She hardly even noticed that he was leading her into the deeper water of the pool, or that she'd started swimming to stay with him easier and couldn't touch anymore.
That serious expression lifted with a small huff of amusement and he said, "And it just so happens there's a pretty cool climbing gym that I go to sometimes."
He ducked under the dividing rope to the deep end and surfaced right after so Angie could see he still had her.
The thought of climbing motivated Angie so effectively that she worked up her courage and dunked under the water, under the rope. She panicked just a little when she surfaced because unlike the last time they'd practiced, she wasn't holding her dad's hands and her eyes were clenched shut because she hated getting water in them.
Within seconds her small, blindly reaching hands were met with the familiar ones of her father and a proud chuckle reached her ears as she was pulled toward him.
"Good job! I've got you, relax."
Letting him help keep her afloat with a hand under her elbow while she wiped water from her eyes, Angie was suddenly aware she couldn't touch anymore and felt herself getting scared.
"Two more like that and I'll be forced into taking you climbing!"
Remembering why she'd ducked under the rope without lifting it, Angie smiled and shivered at the same time as she tread water just a little too frantically.
"Slow it down." Scott ordered with a calm growl. "You're ok. I've got you. Keep swimming."
He let go of her elbow and hovered close enough that she knew he could grab her if she went under. Glancing down at the bottom of the pool, Angie tried to push away the unbidden terror that rose in her throat suddenly at the idea of slipping beneath the water and-
"Get goin. Swim. You're already halfway."
Gulping, Angie could hear her friends playing on the other side of the deep end so she forced herself to keep going.
She got a few more strokes, then, when the depth of the water got scarier and scarier, Angie closed her eyes, pretending she was still in the shallow end.
"Almost there." Scott's voice was close beside her and she had confidence he wouldn't let her crash into the wall at the end, so she kept her eyes closed and continued.
Sure enough, just as she reached the end, her hand made contact with her dad's and he tugged her close, stopping her from crashing and helping her find the edge of the wall to hold onto.
"Not bad!" He told her warmly when she pried her eyes open to peek at him. "You should be proud of yourself."
"I kept my eyes closed." Angie told him, not as proud of herself as she felt like he thought she should be. "And…I'm really scared still…right now…"
"Yeah, and you still crushed it! A lot of people as scared of the deep water as you are wouldn't even attempt what you just did! That's something to be proud of!" He studied her with so much approval that Angie flushed with a sudden rush of happiness, which was confusing when it was mixed with the thundering of her terrified little heart.
"Come here," He held out his hands to her, and Angie reached for them, letting herself get pulled away from the wall into the open water where her Uncle Jason, Uncle Trent and Uncle Brock were having a contest of who could keep their shoulders above water while treading the longest.
"Angie!" Uncle Jason greeted her with a grin. "Just the person we need!"
"Why?" Angie asked, frowning as she and her dad joined the small circle.
"This is too easy." Trent supplied. "We need someone to come be a weight, and I hear you're really good at that."
Glancing questioningly at her dad as she let him keep her afloat, Angie waited for what he said. Treading was still hard. Moving through the water was easier, but she still had trouble not sinking. Daddy said it was because she didn't have enough buoyancy.
"What are you thinking?" Scott asked the others, keeping an arm hooked around Angie.
"Well," Uncle Jason said casually. "Since Angie can swim all the way from the shallow end, she should be able to swim the short distance between each of us and provide a temporary challenge before moving on to the next person."
Getting the vague sense she was getting tricked into swimming more than she intended to, Angie processed slowly and decided if she could do it or not. She didn't like the thought of being out of arm's reach of her dad.
As if reading her thoughts, Scott said, "They won't let you go under, same as I won't. You can do it if you want to. You're safe."
Hearing the squealing shriek of her friends on the other side of the pool, Angie couldn't bring herself to cling to her dad the whole time and she really didn't want to look like she wasn't brave.
"Ok," She agreed, slowly letting herself slip away from her dad. It wasn't that far…just two strokes.
Casting a worried look at Scott again for confirmation that she could do it, Angie felt him let go as he said, "We've got you. Swim to Uncle Brock."
Feeling herself about to sink if she didn't start moving, Angie forced herself to move. Seconds later new hands caught her own. She was quickly tugged through the water and kept above the surface by Uncle Brock. He grinned encouragingly and she couldn't help smiling back. He was one of her favorite uncles so far, along with Uncle Jason.
It wasn't that she didn't like her other Uncles, she just hadn't figured out how they all fit into her life yet.
Uncle Ray got lumped in with Aunt Naima on how she felt about him, except that she didn't experience the same liberty with him. He was Jameelah's daddy, not hers. She had her own. In her mind, she didn't know what the 'rules' were surrounding Uncle Ray.
Angie liked Uncle Sonny and Uncle Clay well enough, but she wasn't too sure about them still. Uncle Sonny was kind of loud and boisterous, and Uncle Clay wasn't around as often. Uncle Trent worried her too, just a little, because Jameelah told her about the time he stitched up her knee when she fell on glass and had to give her a needle to make the skin all numb. Jameelah went into glowing detail about how much it hurt. Angie didn't like needles and it made it hard not to associate him with those now.
"Right. My turn." Uncle Jason held his hands out of the water, motioning her to him.
Letting go of Uncle Brock, Angie forgot to be scared of the deep water and swam to him. He was perhaps a little over the top excited for her when she got to him, but Angie took it with good grace and felt a glow of pride despite her personal feelings.
"Uncle Trent next." Uncle Jason told her, giving her a boost of speed before letting go again and she pushed herself to swim to the next Uncle. It was a little further this time and just before she reached him, her head nearly went under.
Uncle Trent caught her before that happened, but the feeling was enough of a fright that Angie couldn't stop herself from scrambling to wrap her arms around his neck as soon as she was close enough, just like she did with Daddy.
"It's ok. I've got you," Uncle Trent told her, wrapping an arm around her and keeping them both above the surface without any trouble.
One thing she had to give Uncle Trent credit for. He always seemed like nothing, absolutely nothing could ruffle him. Angie liked that about him even if she was unnerved after Jameelah's story.
"You ok?" He asked when Angie held on longer than either of them expected. Part of her wondered if he'd noticed how skittish she'd become in the last few weeks and if he minded.
Angie nodded and slowly let go, grateful he'd allow her to cling the way she did at the same time as feeling mildly embarrassed.
"Ok, go to Dad next. You got this."
The understanding and acceptance from her father when she turned her attention to him drew tension away from her immediately and she swam to him.
"Good!" He said when she reached him. "Let's do it again."
Forgetting about her friends for the time being, Angie agreed and found herself swimming another three rounds before Uncle Jason upped the challenge and got the other girls and last of the Uncles to come with Jameelah.
This time, all four girls swam the bigger circle and got to splash the Uncle's in the face to try getting them to go under. Jameelah even started a trend of actually jumping on their backs and seeing how long she could stay on before they 'tossed' her off.
Angie didn't do that, but the other girls were so distracted having fun with that game that they never noticed Angie's nervousness or the way she still grabbed hands and sometimes looped her arms around the uncles necks and let them keep her afloat for a short spell when she passed.
By the end she was tired from all the swimming and couldn't complete the last circle. She made it as far as Uncle Sonny when her head went under before she could grab his hands.
It lasted all of one second. Her head didn't even submerge the whole way, but it was enough and Angie didn't care who had her, so long as she was up, out of the water.
"Hey! Little Bear, I got you…it's ok. You're ok," Uncle Sonny already had her up and out, clasped safely in his arms as he swam towards Scott.
Around them the other girls were artfully distracted by more Uncle rough housing and a new game of 'Sea Turtle' racing. Angie never figured out what the rules were because she was in her own little miserable place, shivering against Uncle Sonny and fighting back tears.
"I don't like my head going under," Angie whimpered.
"I know, darlin, Uncle Sonny's real sorry that happened," Uncle Sonny told her, holding her closer and sounding downright contrite about it. "I should have come closer to ya."
"I'm cold," Angie realized, suddenly feeling as if the whole pool were an ice bath.
"Let's get you warmed up, Bambi." That was Daddy next to them now and Angie twisted so she could reach him.
"My friends are going to know I'm scared of the water," Angie lost the battle with her tears once she was with Scott.
"That's ok, Angie," Scott told her with that comforting growl of his. He jerked his head in Uncle Sonny's direction. The Texan was hovering next to them, seeming like he wanted to help and didn't know how. "Uncle Sonny's scared of water too."
That paused her shaking breaths and she looked at Uncle Sonny disbelievingly.
"You…you are?"
"That…would be correct." Uncle Sonny smiled a little. "I am not fond of water...and I don't like my head going under when it's not on my terms either."
"What do you do about that, Uncle Sonny?" Scott asked quietly.
"I put my head in as much as possible, on my own terms…and I swim with my buddies. Mostly I just try not to think about it and remind myself I have the skills I need to do not too bad in the water. That helps a lot."
Sensing where this was going, Angie looked up at her dad and whispered, "I don't want to put my head under again."
"Ok. We can save it for another time." Scott accepted it without pushing her. "You did extremely well, and you should be proud of yourself, Angie. Let's get you out and warmed up."
"I might come," Uncle Sonny said. "I'm getting a little chilly too."
Angie missed the smirk that slipped onto her dad's face as he swam them both to the wall.
"Wait…" Angie resisted being pulled out of the water when Uncle Sonny got out first and then reached down to help her out. She turned to Scott, holding onto the wall tightly with both hands. "I…didn't dunk my head three times. I can't go climbing now. I want to go climbing."
Amusement flickered through her dad's face and he shrugged. "Your head has gone under twice. You only need one more."
Blinking at him, Angie frowned, "I only dunked under once."
"And your head went under a few minutes ago. That counts. You have one more."
"Make it on your terms, little bear," Uncle Sonny encouraged her warmly, crouching down so he didn't have to talk too loudly. "You got this."
Chewing her quivering lips, Angie said brokenly, "It's scary. I don't want to stop breathing again…and…and I feel like I will when I go under."
She knew after she said it that her words didn't make sense. Everyone stopped breathing when they held their breath to go underwater. Somehow her dad and uncle understood what she meant anyway.
"That's gonna fade with time," Uncle Sonny promised, wrinkles between his brow forming as his eyes squinted with compassion. "Trust me. You keep putting your head under on your own terms and it'll get better. Uncle Sonny knows about that."
Curious and emotional enough to ask, Angie blurted, "How do you know?"
Uncle Sonny exchanged a quick look with her dad before saying, "I…ah…I may have drowned once too…like you. I know how scary it is."
Stunned, Angie couldn't find any other words other than, "Oh."
"But, that's not important! What's important is makin sure you get to go climbing!" Uncle Sonny hopped over the side of the wall and back into the water next to her, "So what do you say we both go under, then we aren't alone and we know your big, strong daddy is there to grab us if we need it."
The solidarity of knowing Uncle Sonny understood gave Angie that last bit of courage she needed and she nodded.
"On three. One. Two. Three."
Angie clenched her eyes shut and bobbed down the wall, letting her head go under one last time.
When she came back up she could hear Uncle Sonny surface at the same time and he was cheering.
Chuckling as he hoisted himself out of the pool and reached down to lift her out, Scott asked, "Guess who gets to go climbing?"
A big, shaky smile spread across her face as she was plucked from the water and set on her feet between her dad and Uncle Sonny, who got out too.
"Me!" Angie answered, shivering violently now from cold, nerves and excitement.
"High five, little bear!" Uncle Sonny held up his hand, grinning down at her.
Angie hit it without hesitation before she gave into impulse and hugged him around the waist.
"Thank you, Uncle Sonny."
The man returned the hug warmly and was grinning even bigger when she pulled away.
"Any time, little buddy! Uncle Sonny's got your back."
A big towel dropped around her shoulders and her dad's arm hovered around the nap of her neck, warm and gentle pressure steering her to the side lines.
"Let's get you warmed up, Angie," Scott ordered gruffly, exchanging another look with Sonny that communicated gratitude and respect.
"When can we go climbing?" Angie asked, unable to contain herself now because she loved the thought of it so much and could hardly wait.
Her dad laughed a little before shaking his head and growling, "Soon. One thing at a time, kid."