THE HEADACHE TO END ALL HEADACHES had ceased killing Cassidy an hour earlier. She’d taken a cab home from the coffee shop, too embarrassed to take Mr. Gray up on the offer to have his driver take her home. She would have driven herself, but the sun hit her eyes like shards of glass. When she got home, she popped a couple of the special yellow pills she scored after her root canal, and slunk into bed with a cold rag over her eyes. The epic-fail interview with Alexander Gray replayed in her mind and kept her awake.
Nothing like that had ever happened to her before. One minute she opened her mouth to ask a question and the next, her head exploded. Gray must have thought her an idiot. He seemed nice though. Handsome. Deep, silken voice. Smooth, gentle hands. The medication took hold and she drifted to sleep.
Cassidy awoke pain free, but with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, like when she snuck out of the house to go skinny-dipping with her boyfriend and thought her dad found out. She also felt grimy, unclean. A shower wouldn’t cut it, not this time. She needed a good long soak to wash the weird ick from her mind and body. The pool called to her.
Cassidy pulled on her favorite suit, grabbed a towel and dove into the deep end.
Swimming, wading, floating, diving, it didn’t matter so long as she became one with the water. As a kid, her parents teased her about being a mermaid, descended from a long line of Irish mermaids on her mother’s side of the family. During the summer, she even took her meals at the pool’s edge while her parents sat on the patio.
The water was the answer to all her problems. Whenever she struggled with one of life’s challenges, she found somewhere to dive in. Weightless and graceful, the realm of water seemed like a world away from the gravitational pull of a young woman’s mundane problems.
Its lilting movement fascinated her, fueled her imagination. As a child, she pretended each drop was a separate little entity, and imbued it with emotions and dreams and goals until she wasn’t swimming alone, but with a pool full of watery friends. She’d tried explaining her thoughts to Amy several times while they swam together, but it never panned out. Her daughter simply giggled and looked at Cassidy as if she had tried to sing Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head in dolphin.
Oh, Amy, I miss you.
It took a while, but the odd taint washed off. Relaxed, she closed her eyes, arms straight out at her sides, and floated.
He invited me to the ceremony. The thought disrupted her quiet time and she sank like a stone. That’s tomorrow morning. While dealing with the pain, she had buried the fact away, but now it floated to the surface.
Mr. Gray had asked her to accompany him to the dedication of the new hospital wing. Excitement rippled through her.
The press passes had all been distributed weeks ago. No one from my Podunk newspaper has been invited and now here I am, not only invited, but accompanying the guest of honor himself.
Wait until she told her editor. She’d leave this last bit of news for when she dropped the bomb on not getting the other stories. It would more than make up for it.
Cassidy walked up the pool steps and grabbed her towel. Drying off was a melancholy event. It signaled the end of her sanctuary and return to the real world. This time she had something to look forward to.
On the patio, she bent over and dried her hair with the towel. As the ends of the towel swished and swayed, she looked at the scorch marks on the tile from the recent fire. An image of the Knight of Flame flashed across her thoughts and sparked a warm prickling sensation that percolated inside her.
I wonder how he’s doing.