My eyes unfocused as I took the times, the girls disappearing in the water they were churning up with their fevered strokes. I shouldn't get so distracted. I tried to shake my head and make sure I would at least catch when to stop my watch.

"Fields!" Dana shouted, making a gesture like she was clicking an invisible remote with one hand.

"Got it!" I said as I mashed the stop button on the watch, and the girls pulled themselves out of the pool. They dried off, rallying around Dana for a series of stretches to cool down from the practice. She waved me over, smiling graciously through her noticeable frustration with me.

"How were their times?" She asked, hoping that I actually knew the answer and didn't totally lose track of time.

"Sharks are doing well. I'm impressed with the times despite some of the choppier form I was seeing out there. You want to be powerful and fast but succinct in the water with your movement. You are working with it, not against it." I added, smiling at them. I was always the good cop in terms of saying positive things to the girls. After all, this should be a fun part of their lives, assuming it isn't muddied with multiple homicides and threats.

"Alright sharks you heard her. Keep working on the form. You are free to shower and go now." Dana nodded towards the locker rooms, effectively releasing them. Then she turned to me.

"Everything okay Emily?" We only called each other by our first names outside the earshot of the team, even though I had been on the team with some of them when they were freshman and sophomores. They were used to calling me Emily but should get comfortable with Coach Fields.

"Yeah! Sorry Dana, just seems like my mind is all over the place today. Some good rest and I'll perk up." I shrugged sheepishly; embarrassed she had caught me staring off again. Seems like I did it too often lately.

"Okay good. I need you out there."

"I know. You all do." I said, trying my best to sound light-hearted. I would settle if I sounded somewhere near normal. We walked along the edge of the pool to get to our offices, the expansive place now humid from the practice.

In my case, the office was a tiny desk in the corner of Dana's office. Since I wasn't an actual teacher and just a part-time coach, I didn't warrant an entire room. It was fine, usually I had to speed over here after class at Hollis anyway, and didn't have much to stash or go over.

I grabbed my stuff, noticing a test message notification.

Ali: You on your way home Em?

I wrote back an affirmative before shouldering my bag and walking. In the hallway I bumped into a rapidly moving figure, one the notebooks of team times and meet orders dropping to the floor. We bumped heads attempting to reach down and grab it at the same time. My head buzzed as my eyesight grew dim for a moment. When I focused again, I realized I had run into Sydney. The swimmer I was most likely to actively avoid as coach.

"Emily!" She said in equal amounts of excitement and surprise. I rolled my eyes. Sydney still seemed sorry for what she had done, but I didn't want to hear it. I tried to be as neutral towards her as possible so as not to seem unprofessional.

"I'm Coach Fields now." I said back, taking the notebook from her hand.

"Sorry. It is habit." She said, biting her lip. She clearly had more to say and was trying to figure out how to say it.

"What is it?" I asked, frustrated by her delaying me from getting back home.

"I just…I don't understand why you are still upset with me. You got everything you wanted." She said in a quiet voice. Her usually infectious excitement had disappeared so her voice was a popped balloon, deflated and devoid of its joy. But her words hit a vulnerable nerve I did my best to avoid. You got everything you wanted…

"Sorry if I gave you that impression. I just have a lot on my plate right now, juggling all these things I wanted." I smirked to cover up the pang in my heart when I said it.

I walked in the door and dropped my keys on their hook and my bag on the ground in one motion. At least summer conditioning camp would only last a few weeks. Between my summer classes and the practices I was exhausted.

"Emily? That you?" I heard from the kitchen. I could smell something savory wafting in the air and smiled.

"Yeah mom." I walked in the kitchen and kissed her cheek.

"Smells delicious." I noted, taking a peak at the pasta.

"Thanks. It will be ready soon so could you get your dad and Alison?" She nodded her head in the direction of the backyard.

"Of course." When I went out I saw they were playing poker. I didn't know what my dad entertained playing Alison at poker. She had the best poker face of anyone I knew.

"Mom said dinner will be ready soon."

"Very well. We can pick this up after dinner, right Alison?" My dad smiled and slowly propelled himself up from the chair. He was doing his best to not strain his heart, but I still kept an eye on him to make sure he wasn't straining himself. He lightly touched my shoulder as he walked past.

"Of course we will Wayne." Alison called after him. Since she spent so much time over here, she had started calling my parents by their first names. It was a little disconcerting, but they didn't mind so why should I?

I turned to Alison, impressed that she waiting a beat to make sure we were alone out there after my dad was out of eyeshot. Once he cleared the sliding door leading into the house, she nearly stormed up to me, cupping my face with her hands and kissing me gently, with an urgent undercurrent. Her lip balm tasted like watermelon.

"Em…how was your day?" She asked once we broke apart, dropping one of her hands to take my own.

"Busy. And yours?" I asked, mustering up a smile.

"It was good…but it's much better with you here now." She smiled her small grin and led me inside. We would have family dinner, and then I would have to try and start the mountain of reading awaiting me. It was starting to be the routine.