The Pool Guy Came Tuesdays, and by July It Wasn't the Pool novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: Ice
Under Tuesday, August 18, in his notebook, I had written in pencil: Come at 9:40. Bring nothing.
He came at 9:40 with the net.
"I said nothing," I said.
"It's a habit." He looked at it in his hand and set it down against the gate. "There's nothing for it to do."
"Not one leaf?"
"One leaf."
"Skim it," I said. "Then you're done."
He skimmed it.
He carried the single dead leaf across the deck on the mesh and tipped it into the oleander, and turned around with his ears already red.
It was 108 degrees at ten in the morning, and the pool was clear to the drain and perfectly still.
For four months this had been the hour I stood on the patio in a robe waiting for something to go wrong.
Now nothing was wrong and I didn't know where to put my hands.
"What do I do now?" he said.
"You test it. Then you lie down."
He tested it with the little kit from the truck, held up the vial in the sun, and read it.
"It's perfect," he said, and looked almost hurt.
"I know. It's disgusting."
"It's perfect. There's nothing to shock."
"Good," I said. "Lie down. On the lounger. Take off your shirt."
He took it off and dropped it on the deck, and lay down on the cushion in the full sun.
The metal frame creaked.
I had a striped blue pool towel folded over my arm, the big one from the kitchen floor.
"Close your eyes," I said.
"They're closed."
"They're not. I can see your eyelashes."
He laughed and shut them harder.
I folded the towel into a long band, laid it across his eyes, and tied it behind his head over the curls.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Pool Guy Came Tuesdays, and by July It Wasn't the Pool are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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