Chapter 6

The alarm went off at 4:45AM and I untangled myself from my soon to be wife. I went to the bathroom and took a quick shower, taking care to wash my face and mustache. This was the first day of the rest of my life. I looked back to see ‘She’ looking at me with a wan smile.

After pulling on my coaching staff polo shirt and my sweat pants I kissed Kendi and went to the kitchen to toast an English muffin, with a little crunchy peanut butter. I filled my water bottle before stopping to look around the condo. I had my keys, phone, lip balm, workout bag and it just felt like all was right with the world. This was the day it was going to happen. This was the day that I just knew was never going to happen to me again.

I headed out to the elevator and down to the parking garage and sat in the car for longer than I needed, just trying to put the last few months into some sort of logical context. Realizing I couldn’t do that, I started the engine and headed out to the pool. The parking lot was filling fast with the swim team kids and the early morning workout folks who were getting their day off to a healthy start.

I punched in and went through the guard office and onto the pool deck. I grabbed one of the dry erase boards that we kept and wheeled it over to the area I usually worked from. My bag was stowed, and I took out my marker and two stopwatches before going to over to Stan to see who I was working with today.

To my joy I was working with the distance kids, my personal favorite group. No slackers in this bunch. They were the youngest kids on the team and had never met a challenge that they could not rise to. Sometimes the practices were more difficult than they could do, but they never backed off. There were many mornings when I congratulated them for failing gloriously.

I wrote the warm-up on the board and pulled out my phone to open the attendance app. As it was opening the phone buzzed and a text box opened.

“Are we really doing this today?

It was followed with a huge smiley face emoji. I quickly answered.

“Yes!”

Then I returned to taking attendance for the whole practice group. In the middle of going back to retake attendance because there are always kids who show up late, the phone buzzed again.

“I love you, signed Mrs Kendall O’Dell.”

OK, so I am a sap. My eyes began to water, and I had to sniff back some snot.

“I love you too, signed Mr. Mick Jackson.”

I got back to work with my swimmers and we hammered out a great practice. The distance group is, as I said, young. They are all 14 to 16 years old and many are ranked in the top 30 in the US. They have set no limits on themselves and are a blast to work with.

We went through some pretty nasty training sets today with my group running up right at 9000 yards of swimming. They did what we always ask our kids to do. They went home better than when they arrived, and they went home being able to brag to their parents about how good they were.

“Are you guys going to be able to come to the reception on Saturday?”

“Oh yeah!” The top girl in the group said. “The girls all want to meet this girl and the guys want all the free food!”

“Hey, we want to meet the coaches babe, too.”

“Gentlemen, I expect better of you. If you refer to my fiancé, or after the wedding my wife, as a babe, I am afraid that I will need to make a workout that will be more than appropriately challenging.”

“Oh crap. I’m sorry coach. I was just goofing. Please don’t kill us.”

“No, go ahead and kill Ryan! He needs it!”

“Yeah”

The chorus of team mates was deafening.

“NO! I said I was sorry.”

“It’s OK Ryan. It will only hurt for a month or two.”

I looked at him stone faced before breaking into a big grin so he knew he was going to be OK.

“I look forward to seeing all of you and Ryan, you can eat all you want. I’ll work it off of you on Monday!”

I chuckled an evil chuckle and turned to walk over where Stan was standing talking to some parents. As I approached, he gave me a look. I think he wanted me to steer away, but I was not in the mood to hide my life anymore. So, I smiled and waded in.

“Hey Boss, the D-Group absolutely tore it up tonight. They are going to score a ton of points at the Sectional Meet. Sorry to interrupt. Hello, Mrs. Sloan, are you going to be able to attend my reception on Saturday?”

“I don’t think so. I think that it is a disgrace that you would marry a girl only a few years older than your swimmers. It makes some of the parents wonder if you have been looking at our daughters like that.”

“Like what? Like something precious and loved? Like something worthy of total trust and respect? Like something to be cherished for the rest of my life?”

That kind of slowed her roll.

“Some of the parents are concerned that you have been looking at their daughters in a sexual manner.”

“Mrs. Sloan, anyone who makes that claim is going to open themselves to a huge lawsuit. You are talking about things that will end my career and make me an outcast in the field of my profession.”

“I’m sure no one is thinking that it is going that far.”

“Mrs. Sloan, perception is reality. If people are pushing the perception that I am in some way a sexual predator, that is what other people will begin to think. I would hope you would help to straighten out anyone who would be speaking like that and I truly hope that you will come to meet Kendi.”

“Kendi?”

“That is my fiancés name. Kendall. She like to be called Kendi. Kendi is a civil engineer. She owns her own company and is someone worthy of at least the opportunity to be known before she is judged. I look forward to personally introducing you to her. I think that you will be impressed with her and see that she is not a girl, she is a woman and nothing like the kids I coach.”

“Well...”

“Now don’t be like that. Kendi is looking forward to meeting the parents of all the kids I work with. She understands the perception that her age presents and is looking forward to telling everyone our story and making friends.”

“We will see what we can do.”

“Good. Glad to hear it.”

She walked away, looking confused. I had spoken to her in a calm tone and instead of shutting her out, I had made it a point to say that I wanted to personally introduce her. I think she was looking for a fight. It is not easy to go around thinking that you have the moral high ground and find out that you are looking up to everyone.

“Stan, have you had many other chats like that this week?”

“A few more than I wanted. You handled that very well. I was worried that you were going to go off on her.”

“You know what? A few weeks ago, I would have. Kendi has brought such calm into my life that the thought of going after Mrs. Sloan never even occurred to me.”

“Good! I was thinking that I was going to have to peel her off the ceiling.”

“I could go and do that if it makes you feel better.”

No, I think I can go ahead and miss that opportunity. Mick, what time are we meeting at the courthouse?”

“7:30. Meet in the lobby and they will have a sign letting us know which room to go to. Kendi and I will meet you and Lita and go to the room together.”

“Do we need to bring anything?”

“Just your ID. Oh! Kendi and I were going to take our first set of witnesses to dinner after. So I would love to have you and Lita join us.”

“Works for me.”

“Great. Dress is professional casual.”

We shook hands as we walked out of the club after practice and I headed for the condo. I got into my car and started it up, turning the AC on low to clear the air. Pulling out the phone I called Kendi.

“Hi hon!”

“Hi Kendi. I am about to leave the club, do I need to stop anywhere on the way home? Do you need anything.”

“Do you still have that wonderful penis between your legs?”

“Yes, dear.”

“That is what I need. Hurry home.”

“Yes, dear.”

“I love how you say that.”

“Yes, dear.”

“I am all ready for you.”

“Yes, dear.”

“I am naked, spread, and bent over the couch waiting for you.”

“Yes, dear.”

“I want you to have that wonderful hard boner out and waiting so you can walk in the door and straight into me.”