Bonnie

“This time, we’re going to go underwater,” Bonnie told Tyson. “You can totally do this.”

Tyson looked unconvinced. “Can we wait for Dylan?”

“Sure,” she replied with a shrug. “Or you can show him a new trick when he gets here.”

Tyson thought about it, and Bonnie let him have his time to think. She loved these lessons with Tyson. The kid was turning into a regular fish. He still didn’t like the sensation of water on his ears, but he was getting used to it. The more they worked together, the more progress Tyson made. She was so proud of him. She knew it wasn’t easy for the kid.

Dylan usually joined them for lessons, but today he was running late. She was looking forward to having him join them more than Tyson was.

“Okay,” Tyson announced. He took a deep breath and dunked his head underwater for approximately half a second. It wasn’t much, but he came up looking both terrified and incredibly pleased with himself.

“That was amazing!” Bonnie praised. The terrified look slowly faded from Tyson’s eyes. “Dylan is going to be super impressed. I know I am.”

“There he is,” Tyson said, waving to a figure across the pool.

Bonnie turned to look, and her heart skipped a beat. She loved that it did that. Dylan waved back to the two of them as he set his things on the edge of the pool and stripped down to his swim trunks. She had a feeling it would never get old to watch him take his clothes off.

“Hi, Dylan,” she called. A smile filled her face, and her heart did happy somersaults when she saw him. He waved and continued to set his things down on the edge of the pool.

“Are you two gonna get married?” Tyson asked.

“What?” Bonnie sputtered and did a double take as she turned to the boy.

“Are you gonna marry Dylan?” Tyson repeated.

“Why would you ask that?” Bonnie could feel the blush heating her face.

“Because you have a funny smile on your face when you look at him. He gets the same one when he looks at you,” Tyson explained. “I noticed since you had me practice looking at faces.”

Bonnie chuckled. She’d been helping Tyson practice emotions by looking at faces and tell her what they were feeling. It was something she did with her autism students, and it seemed to help Tyson figure out his own emotions as well.

“You are doing a good job of looking at faces and recognizing emotions,” she told him, patting his shoulder. She was having a hard time trying to come up with the appropriate way to explain this.

“So you are?” Tyson asked. His young face was so innocent. “I would like that.”

“Well, he does make me happy,” she told him. “But, marriage is a big step. I like him a lot, but I don’t think we’re ready yet. It’s important not to rush into a marriage.”

“Oh. Okay.” Tyson shrugged and then went back to blowing bubbles in the pool as he waited for Dylan to get in the water.

Bonnie shook her head. If only she had the innocence of a five-year-old. Life was so much simpler in his world. Love led to marriage and happily ever afters. The bad guys always lost. She wished the world was as black and white as Tyson viewed it. As safe.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a security guard make a round. Dylan and Carter had both increased the patrols. Since telling Dylan her situation, she had also told Mia.

She’d been afraid that Mia would fire her. Instead, Mia had shrugged and said she figured as much. Something about her background check had tipped her off that there was police interference in Bonnie’s life. Mia had already had security increased the day she offered her the position. Bonnie had to wonder just what else Mia had been able to figure out about her.

“How’s my swimmer?” Dylan asked, walking through the waist-high water to where Tyson happily blew bubbles.

“Watch this!” Tyson took a deep breath, and once again dunked himself in the water. He didn’t go deep enough to completely submerge his hair, but it was definitely progress.

“Wow, buddy!” Dylan praised as Tyson came back up. “That was so great. You must have worked really hard on that.”

Tyson beamed at him. “I did. Bonnie helped me.”

“Well, since you can do that, I think I have a new game for us to play,” Dylan told him. He looked up at Bonnie, and she nodded.

“What kind of game?” Tyson asked, excited.

Dylan grinned. “It’s called, ‘Shark Attack.’” He snapped his teeth. “So, you better swim little fishies, because this shark is hungry!”

Tyson shrieked with delight and scrambled to get away as Dylan started to sing the traditional “Jaws” music as he moved through the water. Bonnie laughed, watching the two of them.

“You’re not safe either, little fish,” he told her. She raised her eyebrows at him, wondering just what he was going to do.

“Watch out, Bonnie! He’s gonna eat you!” Tyson shouted from the shallow end.

“Damn straight,” Dylan murmured, quiet enough that Tyson couldn’t hear the curse word. He grinned and lunged for her.

Bonnie shrieked and dove to the side, but he was faster than she expected. His hand grazed her leg and wrapped around her ankle. She tried to kick free, but he had her. He proceeded to pull her under the water and dunk her.

She came up sputtering. She pushed her hair out of her eyes. “You are so shark fin soup, buddy.”

Dylan chuckled as she lunged for him. He was fast and moved out of the way, but she was ready. She ducked under the water and pushed off the bottom of the pool to get speed. She caught him as he ran from her, wrapping her arms around his neck and clinging to his back like a monkey.

He laughed and tried to shake her off, but she held on. He dove under the water, trying to knock her off with speed, but she was ready and held on.

“Wee! Dolphin ride,” she announced as he surfaced and stood. “Dunk!”

She threw her weight back into the pool, knocking him off balance. Together, they toppled backward into the water. She let go and swam away.

He came up sputtering this time, his dark hair falling in his face. He shook his head and grinned at her. She loved the way his dark eyes sparkled and danced as he looked at her. He motioned his head toward the shallow end, where Tyson was watching the two of them and laughing.

She nodded. It was time to get the little one.

“SHARK ATTACK!” Dylan yelled as they both rushed the shallow end. Tyson’s eyes went big, and he scrambled to get away, but the two adults had him cornered.

Bonnie got him first. “Om nom nom,” she growled, coming up and tickling his ribs with her fingers. Tyson shrieked with laughter, trying to wiggle away as Bonnie pretended to eat him up. He splashed and kicked until he freed himself, but Dylan was ready for him.

He picked up the boy and waded out into deeper water. Dylan put his hands under Tyson’s arms and threw him into the air. Tyson flew up, and Dylan caught him with a splash just as the boy was to hit the water. Dylan didn’t let the boy’s head go under, but let enough of his body enter the water to make a great big splash.

“Again! Again!” Tyson shouted, his face so full of smile it looked like he was going to split apart at the seams with joy.

Dylan tossed him into the air again, his strong arms flexing with the weight. Tyson screamed with delight as Bonnie moved out to join them in the deeper water.

“Catch Bonnie!” Dylan told her, throwing the boy over the water into her ready hands. She was ready to catch the small boy as he flew over the water to her.

Tyson laughed as a splash of water covered the two of them. “Tyson ball!” Bonnie yelled, using all her strength to toss him the two feet back to Dylan.

Dylan caught him with ease, and the three of them doubled over with laughter. Water, laughter, and smiles filled the air.

This is perfect, Bonnie thought, watching as Dylan made Tyson shriek with delight by throwing him up in the air and catching him as he hit the water. Her heart hurt she was so happy in this moment. She decided she could stay here forever. This was home now. They were home.