Pawsitively Improvised

When Others Talk Sense

Chapter 4

           Six o’clock came quicker than she expected. Exhaustion weighed her down as she collected her things before leaving. After the day she had had she was ecstatic to finally be going home. The kids had run her ragged since they had returned from the pool. She would have thought that they would have run their energy out swimming. Too bad it had only seemed to reenergize all of them. They were a good distraction and had the added benefit of keeping her away from the other employees.

           At first, she had only been getting glares from the two that had been at with her earlier. As the afternoon moved on, she noticed she was receiving sour looks from more and more of the women. Quite a few of them weren’t even working in the room of the age group she had be assigned to. It became clear they were only stopping by to give her nasty glares. Some even went so far as to sneer at her outfit change. She had gone from the friendly offers of help as a new employee to being enemy number one of Jude’s fan girls. She was just glad that they stopped at dirty looks only. Although there was no way that it would end there. Especially if she continued to spend any time around him. The fact that it would be as teacher and student would be irrelevant.

           Walking out the front door she couldn’t stop the yawn that broke free. A nap sounded heavenly. Perhaps Renaldo would allow her an hour before they went out for a walk. She could only be so lucky.

           “About time you got off. I was beginning to think I missed you.” Her yawn turned into a scream as she dropped her bag of wet clothing. Turning around she met a very amused Jude leaning against the building next to the front door.

           “What are you doing?” She growled at him. Reaching down she snatched the bag back up fully prepared to storm away from him before they were seen together. She didn’t account for his longer legs, however. With his bigger strides he was able to catch up to her within a few steps. Glancing around she made sure they weren’t being watched. Who knew how many more women would have it out for her?

           “I came to discuss your schedule.”

           “It was chaotic today and I forgot to get a copy.” While she tried to seem apologetic, she was anything but.

           “That’s okay. I’ve got it right here.” He pulled out his phone bringing up a phot. Turning the screen to face her she was horrified to see the daycare center schedule on it.

           “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

           “Not at all. I take swimming very seriously.” Sighing she stopped in her tracks turning to face him fully. Jude followed suit looking at her curiously.

           “Why is this so important to you? You don’t even know me.” The carefree air that had been around him since they met earlier melted away. The serious demeanor that replaced it left her off balance.

           “You nearly drown today.”

           “Yes, but….” He held up his hand effectively cutting her words off.

           “I’m not done. You can lie to yourself all you want that you’ll never be in charge at the pool again. It may even work for the most part. However, there will be times when there is no one else available. The fact that you don’t know how to swim yet you jumped in any way to save the boy speaks volumes. If a similar circumstance happens again, I have no doubt you would put the child in danger over you own safety. Regardless of who else is around that could help without the danger to themselves. There’s nothing wrong with the way you reacted but you were not equipped for what you did. I am offering to teach you to prevent you from drowning yourself. Or heaven forbid create a scenario for two people to be saved instead of only one. Think of the skill I’m willing to teach you another way to advance your capability to take care of the kids.” He was right. She knew it which rankled. It wasn’t his fault that there were women that were treating him like property to be guarded. He had only tried to be nice and help her. The guilt just kept piling on. She hadn’t been fair to him, and she shouldn’t have avoided him.

           “If I agree to this, others can’t find out.” The smile that had begun with her statement left his face as his brow puckered.

           “Why? Are you ashamed to be seen with me or something?” He couldn’t be that blind, could he?

           “I’m afraid your fan club will assassinate me.” Jude doubled over laughing while she waited him out. She had been serious.

           “What are you talking about?” He was trying to get his laughter under control as he wiped the moisture from his eyes.

           “You have got to be joking. By the end of my shift, I was probably the most hated employee because of you. You turned me into a pariah on my first day.” Finally calming down he held up his hands in surrender.

           “I’m not saying I believe you, but we can work around that. We can pick out times where the pool is closed to everyone and your off work. I would suggest evenings as some of the gym and pool employee’s come in really early in the mornings.” Thinking it over she laid out her next requirements.

           “I’ll need to take Renaldo for his evening walks first.”

           “Renaldo?”

           “My dog.” She reminded him.

           “Ah, the big vicious attack dog.” She nodded. Just because he was going to teach her to swim didn’t mean she was coming clean about the lie. “That sounds reasonable.”

           “Are you sure we can use the pool that late?”

           “I’m tight with all the owners.” He teased her with a wink. She blushed in response. Not just because he appeared to be flirting a little bit, but because she hadn’t wanted to use her family connection to get special treatment. Deciding to move the conversation on safer ground she shifted gears.

           “I’ll return your clothes tomorrow after I wash them.” Chuckling he absently ran his hand through his messy hair.

           “You don’t have to wash them first. I’m more than capable of doing laundry.”

           “I’m not insinuating that you’re not. Since I made them dirty, I need to clean them.” Jude rolled his eyes at her reasoning.

           “Wearing them for half a day doesn’t make them overly filthy. It’s fine.”

           “No, I insist. It’s the right thing to do.” He quirked an eyebrow at that but wasn’t giving up.

           “It’s not like you had a lot of options. You can just return them as is.”

           “I really can’t do that.”

           “It’s just laundry. I have a load that needs to be done anyway so it’s fine.” 

           “No, it’s not.” She really didn’t want to spell it out for him and wished he would let her win this one. Crossing his arms, he settled in for the argument. She groaned inwardly knowing she wasn’t returning them unwashed. It was unsanitary.

           “I get you feel the need to do this, but you really don’t have to go the trouble.”

           “Yes, I do.”

           “No, you don’t.”

           “I really do.”

           “No, you don’t.”

           “Would you just let me win this one.”

           “Not without a good reason.”

           “I’m not wearing any underwear.” Jude’s jaw dropped as she ran away from him. She couldn’t believe she had just blurted that out. She hoped he would forget all about it before they met again. She had a feeling it was wishful thinking.