Dreadful Sorry (4 page)

Instead, she saw Kathi waving from the double doors of the house. "Hey, Molly!"

Kathi? Here? What happened to Lake Pymatuning?
Molly's heart beat faster as Jared stepped in front of Kathi. She felt her face flush and lowered her head onto Derek's shoulder.

"I like that," he breathed into her hair. He hummed along with the music until the song ended and she broke away. "Hey, Moll! Let me get you something to drink."

Derek followed her over to the tubs full of ice and soft drinks. They stood together at the edge of the patio, sipping Cokes. Molly watched Kathi making the rounds, introducing her cousin to all her school friends. The pulsing music thudded around her, and the crowd on the patio swelled as more people arrived and were drawn outside by the music. Dozens of bodies leapt in the lamplight now, shrieking and laughing and calling out the words to the songs. And she just stood there, sipping her drink, shivering despite the warmth of the summer night. She saw Jared turn from a group of kids by the pool, laughing, and she felt horribly hollow. But what had she ever done to Jared Bernstein?

Molly moved closer to Derek and finished her soda. She breathed deeply to reclaim the control she'd vowed to keep. But then suddenly Jared was in front of her, his dark hair springing around his face as he was jostled by some of the dancers. "Want to dance?"

His brown eyes were level with her own, smiling at her. His voice was deep, deeper than Michael's or Derek's. It sounded somehow so familiar to her.

"Nah," Derek answered for her. "Moll hates to dance. She'd rather go swimming. Right, Moll?"

"Wrong," she said, frowning at him. She glanced up at Jared. "Just ignore whatever Mr. Sykes here tells you. He's nothing but a thug and a murderer."

Jared raised his brows, and Derek, with his evil chuckle, explained about the play. Then Molly and Jared left Derek and moved onto the patio for a slow dance.

"I thought you were going to be away this weekend," said Molly as they pushed through the dancers to a clear space.

Jared explained that his uncle, Kathi's father, had unexpected work come up at his office. The trip to Lake Pymatuning was off until next weekend. "I don't mind, though. It's nice to meet Kathi's friends." One hand holding hers, the other firm against her bare upper back, he spun her around. His palm was warm, and she could feel the pressure of all five fingers against her skin. Inexplicably, the wave of sadness assailed her again.

"I'm
sorry!
" she murmured.

"What for?" he said. "You didn't step on my feet or anything."

"Oh, I thought I had," she covered her slip quickly. "You're really good at this. I mean, not like the other guys, just stepping back and forth." She looked down. "You actually move your feet. Have you taken lessons?"

Where have I seen him before?

"I've had lessons in everything. I think it was my parents' way of keeping me busy while they were in the field on digs. I took ballroom dancing lessons in Germany one summer while they were exploring Roman ruins. I've had piano lessons and karate lessons and even, don't laugh, basket-weaving lessons. That was in Brazil. And I had swimming lessons every summer until I got good enough to give lessons myself. In fact, that's what I do to earn money now—teach kids to swim. I'm on the swim team at my school, too."

"You and Kathi," Molly said. "It must run in the family."

"We're both fish," he agreed.

He tightened his arms around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder, which felt solid and strong beneath the fabric of his shirt. All that swimming. She raised her head when the song ended and smiled at him. He smiled back, his lips full, his teeth white and even.

An old Beatles song started, and they danced together again. She turned her head and rested her ear against his chest. She could hear his heart thudding steadily and felt relieved and comforted by the sound. Jared began humming against her hair. She closed her eyes, breathing in the scented evening air, feeling more peaceful than she'd felt all week. But then, after a moment, she realized he was humming a different tune. Huskily, he gave it words, his breath puffing gently against her ear: "
Oh my darlin', oh my darlin', oh my darlin', Clementine—
"

She pulled away from him. "Don't sing that!" she cried and backed into another dancing couple.

Jared reached out and grabbed her arm. "What's wrong?"

She couldn't look at him. "It's pretty late." She felt raw. The darkening evening pressed around her like the gloom of the hallway in her dream.

Jared looked at her quizzically. "Will you turn into a pumpkin? Or what?" He followed her off the patio onto the lawn. "Please don't go. Did I do something? Whatever it was, I'm really sorry."

"That song you were humming—" She fought back the panic and looked up at him. "I heard it in my dream last night. It was awful—a nightmare." She swallowed. "I'm being a jerk, I know."

He was frowning. "That
is
weird. I mean, I don't know why I sang it. It just came into my head." He tried to make a joke. "I know my voice isn't great, but it never sent anyone running in terror before!"

Before Molly could respond, Kathi called to them. "Hey, Molly and Jared, come on over here!" She had changed into her bathing suit and was standing by the pool with some of the other kids.

"You go ahead," said Molly.

"I don't want you to leave." His dark eyes looked into her blue ones. "Please don't leave yet. Let's just go see what she wants. Then we can dance again—and I promise I won't sing."

"I didn't bring a suit, anyway. I don't like to swim. I guess Kathi told you?"

"She just said you got in trouble for not taking a swim test or something."

"Something."

He reached for her hand and led her across the lawn. "You mean you really can't swim at all? I could teach you easily, you know. We could start tonight." He pointed at the swimming pool.

"No thanks."
No way!

"This water's heated, so it'll probably be nicer than your school pool. At my school, I mean, the water's always freezing."

The hollow guilt formed in her stomach again. "I'm so sorry," she told him.

He looked at her, puzzled.

"I mean, I'm sorry—sorry that you don't like cold water." The more she tried to make sense, the more idiotic she sounded.
What? Sorry about what?

Kathi laughed. "No water could be warm enough to tempt Molly!" She nudged Molly.

Molly averted her eyes from Kathi's sparkling ones. Wasn't it enough that Kathi could swim like a dolphin? Did she have to tease her in front of Jared?

Kids were leaping into the water, splashing each other and shrieking. Some of them had brought bathing suits, but others were stripped down to their underwear. One bold girl was trying to get people to skinny-dip. The music from the patio pounded across the grass to the pool.

Jared squeezed Molly's hand. "Look, we'll start easy." He tugged her over to the side of the pool. "First thing we do is, we sit here at the side of the pool—like this."

She shook his hand off hers. "Listen, you don't understand—"

"Come on, just stick your feet in. You don't have to get your dress wet."

She bit her lip, then kicked off her sandals and sat down cautiously, bunching the skirt of her sundress up around her thighs. Thé warm water closed around her long legs. The sight of them, pale beneath the surface of the water, made her shiver.

"Great! Okay, now just dip your hand in the water. Just one hand. Like this." He stuck his fingers in the water and wiggled them. "See?"

She kept her arms folded stubbornly. Enough was enough.

"We'll have you off the high dive in no time," teased Jared. Or maybe he wasn't teasing.

She felt ridiculous sitting fully clothed at the side of the pool while this boy cheered her on and Kathi watched with an expression of encouragement. The other kids were still clowning around in the deep end, not taking any notice of them.

Jared's voice grew soft, deeper. "Come on, now both hands in. Like this."

She dropped her hands into the water next to his, waved her fingers around under the surface. And under her own surface, the ever-present lump of fear expanded.

"Now down to the elbows." His face was impassive. She leaned forward slightly and lowered her arms. "Good job," he said.

"Way to go, Moll," shouted Derek from the diving board. He held his nose and danced at the end of the board. Michael stepped up behind him and shoved. Derek plunged out of sight, then came up sputtering and laughing. He swam to the shallow end and stood. "See?" he appealed to Molly. "Easy as pie." Then he splashed away to chase one of the girls.

Molly pulled her arms from the water. She held them, dripping, away from her sides. "There. Lesson's over."

Jared crouched beside her. "Hang on a sec." She was very aware of his bulk, his strength. "Listen, I know you're afraid," he whispered. "Lots of kids are at first; you'd be surprised. But I really want to help you."

"I don't think so." She stood, narrowing her eyes as she saw Jared and Kathi exchange a look. The smell of chlorine was very strong. She moved her shoulders up and down and rubbed the tight muscles at the back of her neck.

"How am I going to teach you anything if you won't even get into the water?"

"I admit it's a problem." She smiled, though her heart was pounding. She tried for a joke. "Thousands before you have tried and failed."

He stripped off his shirt and jumped into the pool in his shorts. The water slapped out onto the tiles. Molly shuddered.

"Jump in. You can do it."

"No." Why didn't she just walk away? There was a charge in the air that had only partly to do with her fear. Something about Jared drew her, but something equally strong now warned her away.

He was standing in the water at the four-foot marker, his hair curling wetly over his forehead, his eyes somber. She was at the side of the pool only a foot away from him, her arms folded tightly across her chest.

He splashed some water onto her feet. "Last chance." When she didn't respond, he began the song again. He sang softly, gently, splashing water onto her feet in time to the tune: "
Oh my darlin', Oh my darlin', Oh my darlin', Clementine. You are lost and gone forever, Dreadful sorry, Clementine!
"

She leapt back and screamed at him: "You shut up!"

He vaulted out of the pool in a single motion and towered over her. "Get in the pool," he said in a low voice.

"Way to go!" shouted Derek from the deep end.

"Hooray for Molly!" called someone else. "It's swim time!"

Molly turned to run, but he caught her by the shoulders. His eyes were black pools. "Get in, or I'll throw you in."

"Go to hell."

Then his arms were lifting her—one around her shoulders, one under her knees. He carried her without effort. She screamed and beat him with her fists. He flinched at the blows but stepped closer to the pool's edge.

"Help me! Michael, Kathi, help me! Help!" screamed Molly. She saw her friends laughing. They didn't understand it wasn't a game.

"It's all right," Jared called over to them, struggling to keep his grip on Molly.

"You're trying to kill me!" she wailed, striking him. She felt the salty wind rise mysteriously, blowing fiercely now all around them. The water of the pool—so close—grew choppy, rising in great white peaks of foam.

"You'll be fine. You'll be a regular"—Jared ducked his head as another of her blows hit his ear—"fish!"

Then he held her out over the water and dropped her in.

She sank immediately, as if she had fallen from a great height. The water of the pool surged over her—and it was red, it was blood, it was blood foaming around her, filling her ears and eyes and nose and mouth, engulfing her.

She lay on the bottom of the pool, her ears roaring with the pressure of the water; her eyes were wide open, seeing not the blue-and-white tiles of the pool's floor but, through the dark water, tangles of green. Seaweed in Michael's pool?

Molly breathed deeply and her lungs filled. Just before all the red went black, she looked up at the surface and saw lengths of broken wood and webs of net; she saw crates tumbling in the waves; she saw something like a round, patterned box, floating away.

Somehow she knew it was a hatbox. It was floating away and she wanted it back. It contained not a hat but something precious. She reached out desperately, but her fingers grasped cloth rather than water. Molly was spinning, first in water, then in space. Whirling and spinning, whirling and spinning, then settling, coming to rest.

The blood and water stopped roaring in her ears. And at first everything was very quiet.

Then Molly heard her father's voice. "Molly? Darling?"

And then the horrible song began in her head:

 

Oh my darlin',
Oh my darlin',
Oh my darlin', Clementine.
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry, Clementine—

 

Her mother's Voice broke through: "Molly? Wake up, dear. It's okay. You're okay now."

And she opened her eyes. It was hard to see her parents through all the water. Her parents—together? Something must have happened. She blinked, and her vision cleared. "Mom?"

"Yes, I'm right here." Molly felt a gentle pressure on her arm.

"And Dad, too?"

"I flew down as soon as your mom called me last night," her father said. She felt his big hand on her head, stroking her hair. "You've been going in and out of consciousness all day. We've been so worried."

"What happened to me?" But even as she asked, she remembered everything. Coach Bascombe and the swim lessons. The nightmare about the house. Jared Bernstein and the water flowing in her lungs. She moaned.

"
Shhh,
" murmured her father. "It's okay now. You're safe in the hospital, and everything is okay." He reached for the button by her bed to call the nurse. "But I think we'd better have the doctor back in here to check you."

"But I'm fine! I mean, I'm fine—" Molly thrashed on the bed.