Diving Deep (UK Crush #2)

Chapter 17

By the time we reappeared, there were at least twenty adults and children in the pool, which was large enough to accommodate that many plus a few more comfortably. It was immense by English standards, and it had turned into a blazing hot summer day, so the water felt lovely.

    I knew I wouldn't get any real swimming done, which was fine, since I wasn't wearing a suit for it, but just being in the water, smelling the chlorine, felt wonderful, and being with Teddy and his huge family was fun. I wondered which one was "weird Uncle Kenneth", but I didn't want to ask in case I was overheard. And I wasn't the only one in a two piece bathing suit, which made me a lot less self-conscious.

    We'd barely been in the water a minute when a group of very young children descended on Teddy with screams of "Uncle Theo! We missed you!" and "Did you bring us presents from Japan?" Apparently he was the popular cousin, called "Uncle" because he was so much older than the others.

    At first I was eyed with grave suspicion by the youngsters. "Who's she?" asked Angela, pointing in my direction. Angela looked about five or six, with an adorable little tummy and duck shaped floaties on her arms.

    "Well, Angela, darling, she is Uncle Theo's girlfriend. Her name is Tinker Bell, like in Peter Pan," Teddy said, putting an arm around me and drawing me closer to the two of them.

    "Girlfriend?" Angela repeated skeptically. "I don't think you're supposed to have a girlfriend, are you? Aren't you in a band?"

    "Yes, I'm in a band, but I'm allowed to have a girlfriend, too, it's all right to do both," he reassured her.

    "But if all the screaming girls find out you have a girlfriend, won't they stop loving your music and buying your songs?" Angela worried.

    "You might think so, but it doesn't really work that way. They can know I have a girlfriend and still like our music. At least I hope so," Teddy said with a smile. He scooped her up in his arms.

    "Kiss," she commanded.

    He obliged her, and she wrapped her pudgy arms around his neck. "Don't stay gone so long next time, okay?" She asked, putting her hands on his cheeks like two little starfish. "We really miss you."

    "Okay," he agreed.

    "Now throw me, Uncle Theo," she shouted, and he tossed her in the air to land a couple feet away as she shrieked with the joy of the very young.

    "Now me, now me," shouted a freckled boy named Joseph. Soon we were surrounded by them, and I became an accepted member of the group.

    I was taking a break, sitting on the edge of the shallow end, watching Teddy lead a train of children around the pool while making choo-choo noises, when I was joined by a little one wearing droplet speckled glasses. He scooted companionably over to sit next to me.

    "Hullo," he said. "I'm Thomas. I'm the 'precocious and articulate' one," he enunciated carefully. "Uncle Theo is my cousin, on my father's side. You're Tinker Bell." Jesus, small children with English accents had to be the cutest thing in the world.

    He held out his hand.

    I shook it, saying, "Yes, I am. Pleased to meet you, Thomas. How old are you?"

    "Five," he responded. "You know, you don't really look much like Tinker Bell. Her hair was blonde, but your hair is brown."

    "No, I don't look like her, I know. It's just a nickname, given to me by a friend of Theo's. I'm not really Tinker Bell, you know that, right?" I said, looking at him.