Sushi (gxg)

Chapter 5

The Nassau County Aquatic Center was a short drive from the hotel, and they were letting us use it the next day, even as more of the team members were arriving. I was thrilled, as I had every intention of spending a lot of time in the water. Kit was nervous, as she mentioned that she had a training session on tap with Coach McGinty. I still didn't see how she was her coach, as to the best of my knowledge she had no diving experience at all, but I guess that was their plan.

The team had scheduled a shuttle bus that would run back and forth between the hotel and the pool all day. At the top of the hour it would leave the hotel, and on every half hour it would leave the aquatic center. "Are you ready to head over?" I asked Kit while we were still in the room. We'd just had a light lunch and were more than ready for a little workout.

She checked the time, then nodded. "Yes, thank you."

"How long are you going to be there?" I wondered, since she had her own schedule from Coach McGinty on her phone.

"I have to be there until 8pm tonight," she said softly. "Hopefully I can get the dive right."

"Till 8pm?" I could tell when she heard my voice raise, that she knew I was shocked. "I'm sorry, but that seems like a long training session for the recovery period."

She just shrugged. "It's okay. It's my fault for not being able to get the entry right."

"Aren't there other dives you could do instead?"

She was quiet for a moment, then shrugged. Was she hiding something? "This is the one they want me to work on. My others I'm already good at."

"But what do you want to do?" I asked as kindly as I could. I really didn't think she had anyone in her corner. Maybe her dad, who had seemed concerned, but was he involved in her diving? I really didn't like making assumptions when I had only part of the information.

But it didn't mean I wasn't going to stop watching out for her. Her dad may have just asked me to look out for guys, but I also had a feeling that Kit was painfully innocent and could all too easily be manipulated. If she was going to be at the aquatic center till 8pm, then so was I.

"Does it matter?" Her voice was so soft I almost couldn't hear it. "If I want to succeed, I have to do it, right?"

"I don't think so. If there are other dives that are more suited to you, then wouldn't those be better? What are your favorite dives?" Was I being too pushy? Yeah, I knew I was, but the more she talked, the more miserable she seemed. But on the good side, this question seemed to perk her up.

"I like the reverse dives, and the handstand dives. Those are more fun." She had a little smile on her face now, and I was thrilled for her. "The forward one is how I hurt myself before Tokyo, so I get nervous."

I moved in close, bumping her gently with my large frame. "Can I watch you dive?"

She looked up at me with wide eyes. "You want to watch?"

"Of course. You're an Olympian, and one of the best in the world. Why would I not want to watch you?" I pointed out.

"Okay, but can I watch you too?" Her entire mood had changed, and I was happy to see it.

I snorted a little. "You can watch me, but it will be boring. I do endurance swims, so they're not over very quickly. But it would be nice to have a friendly face watching."

She nodded quickly as we walked out of the room. "Then I will watch. I need to cheer you on!"

The shuttle bus wasn't too big, I'd seen similar ones for airport shuttles, but it was more than enough to take people back and forth to the pool in staggered shifts. The schedule had the men's teams there in the morning, and the women's in the afternoon, so there would be people going in both directions all day. It also helped that the schedule mentioned that there was a fitness center there, so I could work out in addition to the pool work. I couldn't skip leg day!