Learning To Swim For Real

Chapter 37: Kelsey's Revenge

"Wouldn't you rather skip this, go a little earlier?" Jack asked carefully. "Avoid those guys on the polo team?"

Kelsey shook her head. "I don't give a shit," she said. "I'm not ashamed of me, I'm not ashamed of you, and I'm certainly not ashamed of us." She looked at Jack, gently indignant, as she leaned against his kitchen counter in her workout bikini. It fit her like the proverbial second skin, and she looked magnificent.

She gestured toward the blender, which they'd brought from her kitchen to his when they'd begun living here. "Please? Make me a smoothie? I need to fortify myself before my workout."

Jack looked her up and down, grinned slowly, and began putting ingredients into the blender, calling out what he needed so Kelsey, his assistant, could chop things and hand them to him.

Five minutes later they were sitting in his shady little patio, sipping their smoothies, garnished today with blueberries and strawberries. It was a small but pretty space, with a gorgeous bougainvillea in riotous bloom on the fence. Kelsey took a long pull through her straw, enjoying the crunch of the chia seeds. She watched Jack take a drink so she could lean in and kiss his mustache.

"This will always be the high point of my morning," she announced, leaning back and licking her lips.

"Good, because it's definitely the high point of mine," Jack replied, winking at her.

Kelsey tried to wink back, but she was an appallingly bad winker, who could only do it by screwing up one entire side of her face.

Jack burst out laughing. "You really shouldn't do that," he said. "You look like you're having a stroke." He reached out and grasped her hand, and they sat in silence, drinking their drinks, enjoying the greenery and relative cool of the shade before heading out.

They left half an hour later, at their usual time. Jack was nervous about the polo guys. The whole world knew about what had happened at the party by now, and though Don's version of events hadn't gained much traction anywhere but within the entertainment world, he had the feeling the guys at the pool would come for him, if for no other reason than because they wanted to and felt they could.

Kelsey had gotten lots of sympathy online, on social media and other outlets. People and organizations had reached out to her, telling her she didn't have to stay in a violent situation, that domestic abuse was untenable for anyone, she shouldn't suffer in silence, etc.

Jack's friends and family knew the truth, of course, as did those close to Kelsey. While her family didn't know the details of what had actually happened, they did know that Don was the bad guy, and that Jack, whom they'd never met, was a good person and posed no threat to their daughter.

At first, Kelsey had wanted to release a statement of her own, refuting everything Don had said, and explaining what had really happened. It had taken Raymond and Jack most of that day and the next to convince her that it would help no one for her to do that, and would just convince the public that she was, in fact, a cowed and abused woman. And it might push Don to actually go to the police, and turn the whole thing into a true media circus, which was what they wanted to avoid for Kelsey and her career.

"I don't understand why you think it would hurt my career!" Kelsey had pretty much been shouting at Raymond by that point.

"Kelsey. Lawyers? Police and doctor's reports? Photographs of your bruised and battered body entered into evidence?" Raymond had looked at her pityingly. "Come on, kid. A rape trial never helps the accuser's career, ever, you know that."

Now, in the car on the way to practice, Jack could tell from Kelsey's face that something was on her mind. She was really distracted, and not even "Gimme Three Steps" by Lynyrd Skynyrd was enough to pull her back into the moment. Jack sang the ridiculous words while looking over at her, but she was in another world.