After Practice

[lapswimmer]

I waited for her to come out of the locker room as it was my policy to see her to her car when we left after dark. After a few minutes she emerged in warmups carrying her swim bag. She had combed her long hair and it lay damp against her back. Smiling she asked me what I was doing now and wondered if I wanted to grab some take-out and come by her place for a while. Since I had no real plans but beer and TV, her offer was a pleasant diversion from the norm. In fact, this whole evening was a pleasant diversion from the norm.

Katy had applied for the Assistant coach job when I formed the team. She was a graduate from Northeastern with a business degree. She had come to the USA from Denmark during High School as an exchange student, graduated with honors, received a full ride NCAA scholarship to Northeastern in swimming and won 1st place in 200 Fly and IM at Nationals. She new swimming and that is what I needed to round out a good club team staff. Since her arrival, I had somewhat taken the role of surrogate father figure since her parents were half way around the world. Needless to say, the experience tonight was both surprising and overwhelming

We reached her car, and as she got in, she asked if she could go ahead and get things ready at her house and if I would mind stopping by Ying Fam's for the take out. I said sure thing, asked her what she wanted me to get, and we took off, headed for our destinations. Ying Fam's was a couple blocks from where she lived and I got to Katy's minutes after she arrived. She had some jazz playing and had already opened a bottle of wine. I poured us each a glass, and we stood in the kitchen propped against the counter visiting about club things and other small talk just like we had talked on many occasions before.

I must have seemed off point or something as Katy stepped over to me, placing her hand around my waist and looked up at me with an inquiring look. She said," Is anything wrong? you seem uneasy?" I took a sip of wine and said, "no, not really, but what we did at the pool did surprise me a bit." Katy set her glass on the counter and with both hands around my neck, she reached up and kissed me. "Did you enjoy what we were doing?" she asked. "Oh, very much." I said. I didn't know you had those kind of feelings for me, so it kinda took me back for a minute." She took me by the hand and as she walked me to the table, she said, "Let's eat some food, I'm starved, and continue this conversation. It is important to me." We sat down, ate our Chinese food with chop sticks, and then settled into the couch to finish our wine.

The night is young: