edanwinters (edanwinters) wrote in rrinitiative, @ 2013-03-28 00:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | cal, cal and edan, day fourteen, edan |
Swimming Circles Around You
Characters: Edan and Cal
Setting: Pool, morning
Edan had spent some time with Matt, which went well, though she wasn’t going to read too much into it. No, she was staying focused on her schedule, on going about things the way she’d set them up and working from there. She’d given herself time in the mornings to swim when she set up the schedule for the store, which meant bright and early she was headed towards the pool. Of course, she supposed the schedule at the store might have to wait with the call in front of the jury this morning, but she could get the swimin in first. The sporty bikini fit well, showing off the tattoo on her side, but was still functional enough to really swim and get in a good workout.
It was quiet this early in the morning, it always was, but that was part of the appeal. It helped her focus.
Cal, on the other hand, wasn’t feeling focused at all just yet. Sure it was early, and he hadn’t gotten any coffee or breakfast just yet, but neither of those were the big motivators. No, he was worrying about what was going to happen in the first jury meeting that was looming over the day. Today a lot would be decided, not just for the accused, but for the lot of them here and their futures. This was going to set a tone...
And thinking about it wasn’t helping it, so while Cal couldn’t banish his thoughts entirely? He could at least bury them under a good workout. Heading to the pool after a series of repetitions on the weight-training equipment in the gym, he had started to wonder if he might cross paths with Edan when he saw that she was already there. “Told you I’d be takin’ the invite,” he called to announce himself as Cal stepped out of his shoes and moved to set them with a towel at one of the poolside chairs.
She’d just set her feet into the water and was working through braiding her hair to get it out of her way when he came in and she couldn’t help the smile at the sight of Cal. “I suppose you did. I didn’t think you’d come this quickly though.” It was good though, that he was here. She was getting used to the part of her that enjoyed company, that had been popular and friendly before she’d gone to jail and Cal seemed to bring it out more than most. “How are you this morning?”
‘’Bout as good as I’m gonna get this early in the day,” Cal answered easily, grinning back at Edan. She’d left a good impression on Cal in their first run-in too, especially with her willingness to talk about how she ended up here, which wasn’t something everyone went in for. “Give me a coffee and some good news ‘bout the people in detention and I think I’ll be a whole lot better,” he went on, slipping off his glasses and setting them with his towel as the world blurred over for him. “Yourself?” Cal asked, looking Edan’s way and settling on the vague darkness he knew to be her.
“Not a morning person doctor?” she teased gently, easily. At mention of those in detention she frowned slightly. “What were you hoping for them? I have to head down there...I guess to plead my case. On two counts.” She sounded confused about it, as if she wasn’t sure how to handle the situation fully. Kicking her legs she watched him take off the glasses. “Can you even see without those?” she asked.
She got a rich laugh from Cal at the last question as he nodded slightly. “Well enough, yeah. Don’t put me behind the wheel or ask me to do surgery without my glasses, but I get by.” He took a few steps closer, and that small distance had an immediate effect on Cal’s myopia, bringing Edan into more (if not full) clarity along with the edge of the pool where she sat. “And I’m hopin’ that whatever happens when the jury does their thing, it’s for the best for all of us. Punishment’s got no point if it doesn’t deter folks from reoffendin’, and in some cases,” like Meg’s, though he didn’t say as much, “I think there’s been enough suffering.”
But he didn’t think that’d be a popular opinion, and Cal was expecting work details to be slapped on Meg and whoever had assaulted Ryan, as well as Susanna possibly. “So yeah, that’s what I’m hoping. That a little mercy’ll make itself known and the lot of us can do better from here,” he summarized with a little nod, reaching down to pull his shirt off without a second thought.
“I don’t know if it’s going to stop everyone,” Edan said, watching him come closer. “Pippa...didn’t seem to slow down any despite what happened. And I don’t know if she cares that she trashed my room. Or hit me, though I didn’t let her get much more in than that.” She had fought back, which had her anxious, though she was more anxious what they’d do to her, but she supposed it was only fair. “Though I suppose, I hope they aren’t too harsh. I wouldn’t want people to get carried away with their power.”
“Well make sure to tell ‘em that, then,” Cal urged, “In a normal court, parties can make statements for leniency for the accused, and from what I understand it’s gotta be an agreed-on sentence from the jury, too. So if you’re worried? Say so. We’ve got enough good sorts in here that someone’ll listen.” Or so he hoped. He wanted to be in there with the jury, because this was where character would really show itself with everyone involved.
Edan nodded slowly, looking up at him with a smile. Really, that was a sight to smile at even if she was feeling anxious about the court or whatever they were calling it. “I will,” she told him. “Or at least try and explain myself. I didn’t mean to get in a fight with her.” It had all been far too weird. “Will you be there?”
“Only if I’m asked to be by someone involved,” Cal answered, settling gradually along the edge of the pool near Edan and dipping his legs in. He was almost immaculately fit, and the height he often towered over people with made the lean, defined muscle seem lanky until he lowered himself down to her level. “Volunteerin’ to speak on someone’s behalf sets a bias, especially if I wasn’t directly involved in their case. Meg and Susanna, I could comment on, but I’d say there that they both need some kind of correcting,” he explained thoughtfully.
Right, he as a whole was a little distracting. She found herself half staring, not able to help herself. “What happened with them?” she wound up asking, belatedly realizing that was something close to gossip and he might not answer.
Her realization was right, though Cal wasn’t as worried about gossip if she wasn’t doing the jury work for today. Still, it wasn’t something he wanted to build a reputation for either. “There was a fight,” Cal answered, glancing sidelong at Edan. “Shouldn’t talk on the particulars too much, at least not until the jury does their thing. I’d like to think everyone’s gonna do this as objectively as possible.” And he knew that was foolishness, but Cal couldn’t help it. Even after the system had failed him, he seemed to still believe in it.
It wasn’t hard to think of there being another fight considering she’d been in one herself, but it was a sad thing to think on. “I suppose I’ll find out later then. I hate hearing it though. I suppose it’s unavoidable, but...I guess you want it to be better than it was inside.”
“And I think it’s important to remember that it is better here,” Cal pointed out, nodding in understanding over Edan’s concerns. “A couple fights is a far cry from someone gettin’ shivved in the showers, but we both know there’s still things to be concerned about. We all know that.” Things like the unknown rapist, the more aggressive members of the facility, the potential for abuse from people who now had power... “We just gotta stick together in here, Edan. Gotta watch each other’s backs and work as hard as we can to prove that we deserve a second chance like the one Becka got.”
Edan nodded. “I’m surprised someone got out. I guess...I hadn’t thought through to that part,” she said. “I know it is better, I just...sometimes I’m confused by the people here. They seem decent, but I know even you went to jail for something. I went to jail. Two of my friends of sorts, they’re in for violent things.” She bit at her lip, then looked over at Cal. “Makes you wonder.”
“What does it make you wonder?” Cal asked intently, curious about her train of thought right now. He could speculate, sure; maybe she wondered about how decent people could do violent things, or maybe she wondered how she could befriend people who had. “Because to me, what you’re saying is that decent people are capable of surprising things in the right circumstances, and some of us in here definitely hit those.” Carmel came to mind immediately, and Edan herself with the loss of her brother. Becka, finding herself the only one who’d dare to help a terminal patient, even Violet with her just-barely-wrong circumstances around her accident.
It makes you wonder that, yes, but also makes me wonder if people can be trusted. I want to trust them. I like being around them but sometimes...sometimes I remember and I worry if something is going to happen.” Edan shrugged. “I know some of them aren’t all bad, but...what if I’m wrong.”
Cal smiled faintly, head hanging as he shrugged, then eased himself into the pool. At this end, standing in the water was nothing for him, and once he’d slipped in he turned to rest his arms across the spot where he’d been sitting. “I think that’s a valid thing to wonder about, since we know some folks in here are trouble even if we don’t know who they all are,” Cal agreed, “But leavin’ it to worry over like that isn’t gonna do you any favors either. You’ve gotta decide if it’s better to dodge the risks that’d come from being wrong or to dodge the people themselves. One way’s safe but lonely, and the other?”
He gave a soft chuckle, head shaking at himself before he finished the thought. “It’s freaky, I get it. I mean, I’m a big guy, yeah? And I’m doin’ a job where I gotta meet everyone, but sometimes I wonder that too. Have I met whoever attacked that girl? Or whoever was vandalizin’ shit? What do I do if they come completely unhinged? S’not like I’m gonna hurt them or somethin’, but I can’t expect them to return that favor.”
She watched him move, caught up in the ease of it all. “So you...you think it’s worth the risk then. To play nice with an arson and domestic terrorist?” Edan asked. She couldn’t help but smile a little even if she wasn’t entirely sure with what to do with herself. “What do you meant you won’t hurt them?”
“First off, I’m not just playin’ nice,” Call corrected with a wider grin. “I know there’s folks in here who’d do me harm, sure, but it’s not all of us or even most of us. Knowin’ that makes it easier to just be decent with everyone, and in turn they give me a fair chance too. As for you specifically? Arson’s destructive, sure, but if no one got killed or hurt then I’ve got a lot less reason to worry, s’long as you don’t bust out the matches any time soon.”
He seemed completely at ease as Cal finally leaned back in the water, pushing off of the wall to just coast through the pool a bit. “And I mean I’m a pacifist, Edan. I don’t fight, period. You work an emergency room and you see plenty of what violence gets you,,” he explained at length, “Woulda been a lot harder to be one in my old prison if I hadn’t been doin’ social work there ‘fore my arrest, but they actually left me pretty well alone.”
“No one got hurt. But I did burn down an army recruitment office, which was where the domestic terrorist bit came from,” Edan explained. “Though...I did start a trashcan fire the other day.”
She watched him float, head tilted at first then slipped into the water with him. “You don’t fight. That’s...brave I think. Though...how did you wind up here?” If he hadn’t committed a crime of a violent nature, or probably not even destructive, what had he done?
Cal sighed as he kept his back straight, floating with just enough idle concentration to keep his feet kicking gently under the surface. “I got framed, crazy as that shit sounds,” he answered, “When I was doin’ work with inmates I started documenting really specific injuries that were showing up a little too frequent, put ‘em together in a pattern of abuse... eventually I got a few of the cons to open up, found out the guards had been runnin’ that prison a little crooked, if you catch my drift.”
His head tilted slightly to try and glimpse Edan as he floated, though already she was becoming indistinct again at the edges of Cal’s vision. “I was putting together enough proof to go to the cops when half a key of heroin turned up in my kit during one of my visits and the evidence I had just... just vanished,” Cal explained. “Didn’t take a genius to figure out what happened, but I got hit with possession and trafficking charges, and here I am.”
Edan opened her mouth twice as she listened then found herself not able to figure out what to say. She closed her mouth, thinking about it for a moment before starting again. “That’s awful. Like...really awful. And unfair. Then...did you wind up at the same prison?” How much trouble did he have there?
“Atlanta USP, yeah,” Cal confirmed, “I think the judge thought it was poetic justice or somethin’, but it really wasn’t all that bad. I mean, yeah, prison and all? But I did a lot of good turns for a lot of the boys in there, they were returnin’ the favor by keepin’ heat off of me. And then I came here ‘bout six months into my sentence.” And it might’ve seemed like he had indestructible optimism with it all, too, given how little Cal seemed to falter in recounting it. But that stuff hadn’t been what hurt him. “And if I get out and get a fresh start? I’ll finish what they tried to stop me from uncoverin’.”
“At least there was that. I mostly...shut down.” Edan hadn’t been the right personality for prison, which was why she’d quieted everything down about herself to fit in, to take up less place. At his admission she looked at him curiously, moving a few strokes forward so she was closer to him. “That’s brave too,” she said.
It was strange to watch her draw closer, to first feel the little currents of Edan’s movement and then see detail return faintly to her form. Strange and maybe a little uncertain, because Cal was definitely aware of their setting, their lack of proper clothes, and of her in general. How could he not be? He was only human, even if he worked hard at maintaining a disconnect between himself and personal involvements. “S’just the right thing to do,” he insisted, “They may be criminals but they’re still people, nobody deserves what they were doin’...”
“Not everyone thinks that way,” Edan pointed out. “I bet if the lot of us went out there,” she gestured towards the walls, “quite a few people might think we aren’t worth the courtesy.” She smiled a little as she caught up with him. “Makes me wonder if you’re real Cal.”
“Yeah, well those people out there? They’ve never been where we are. You get in the system or spend time with folks who are and you gotta realize that a conviction’s not all a person is. Sure, some inmates are just... just broke,” he admitted, “Always gonna be dangerous, always gonna be a risk to others, but they don’t deserve abuse. Prison, at its’ foundation, is about one of two things: rehabilitation or confinement. If people can mend their ways, they deserve a second chance. If they can’t? We can keep ‘em away from the rest of the world.”
And then she was definitely closer, clear in Cal’s eyes and smiling as she drifted in. He grinned back, dropping his feet down towards the bottom of the pool as he stopped floating, shrugging a little at Edan’s assessment. “I’m pretty sure I’m real,” he joked, “Too nice, maybe, but that don’t make me less tangible. You wouldn’t be the first person thinkin’ I was a hallucination, but trust me, I’m solid an’ all.”
“I’m not sure how much rehabilitation was going on at the prison I was in.” There were a lot of women more just biding their time, waiting out whatever might come next. The others that were looking at longer stretches were busy finding their places in the prison system. “There’s a couple people here that the courts decided they wanted them hidden from the rest of the world.” Evan came to mind, though she had an inkling of hope he could be rehabilitated.
He was taller than her and at this point standing for him was easier than it was for her. But the water she moved in easily and managed to reach out one arm to touch his shoulder, as if testing to see if he was truly there. “You seem solid.”
Cal was grateful that they were at least still talking, because the closeness was getting distracting even before Edan reached out for him. It had been a while, actually longer than Cal’s incarceration by quite some time, since he’d been involved with anyone. Work, grad school, residency, and then his volunteering to finish his psychiatric license kept that sort of thing pretty far removed, and prison? Prison had made it a non-decision.
“That’s the rub with prisons,” he said after a moment, staying anchored in as Edan floated nearby, “They’re more for profit these days than they are for rehab. State and federal funds plus the prison labor industry make it more ‘bout keepin’ people locked up than anything else, least for the people runnin’ em.” And thankfully, it was a topic that he could give more attention to than the woman floating within literal arms’ reach.
Edan tilted her head as she considered what he said then nodded. “I hadn’t thought of it as a money thing, but I suppose you’re right. That’s just a little harder to see when you’re in the middle of it, trying to avoid the worst of it.” Women’s prisons were no joke and while Edan had managed to avoid the worst of it, she heard about what was going on. She knew it wasn’t pretty. She didn’t think she’d wind up in the middle of it, but there had been quite a few years left on her sentence before she ended up being pulled from it. “When they grabbed me to bring me here? I was sure they were taking me Guantanamo.”
“Nah, domestic terrorism’s still a stateside conviction ‘less they can prove you got ties to enemy organizations,” Cal assured her. “I worked with a couple cons who were in the Brotherhood of Islam inside, they were sweatin’ the same move for a while.” Which, he knew, would be a whole other level of terrifying, and even having to consider it might’ve been a factor in Edan’s anxiety. “How long did you get, anyway? I know those charges don’t come with a light sentence even if you’re doin’ it on home territory.”
“It was an army recruitment office. They probably could have swung things however they wanted. And a lot of people wanted to take credit for what I did. Or get me on their side.” But it hadn’t been a political statement, it had been a personal thing. “Ten years. Five counts of arson and domestic terrorism.”
That was actually pretty light as far as Cal figured, she’d probably had a sympathetic judge to have ducked more time for the terrorism charge. Still, ten years was a stretch for anyone to take on. “And... you said you started a blaze in here, yeah?” he asked intently, “Trash can thing? Why?”
"Just some wood from the shed. It was contained," Edan confirmed with a nod. The why was a touch harder to answer and she drifted away from him a little while she tried to find the right words. "I wasn't feeling grounded," she said finally, swimming back closer. "Things were confusing, people weren't what is thought and I needed something. In the past, it's always been that."
“Guess I got three questions, really,” Cal shared as he watched Edan the best he could. Her movements to and fro left him without a clear picture of her facial cues, but her tone still told him enough to work with. “Which people and what’d they turn out to be, those’d be the first two. And third, if starting a burn has always been the outlet in the past, don’t you think that rehabilitating means findin’ a different way to cope on the outside?”
Edan wasn’t watching him when he asked the question about whom she was referring to. She couldn’t. “Matt in particular,” she answered after a long pause. “Asher as well I suppose, though I guess I didn’t have him figured out from the jump. And I kept...I was different when I saw him first.” She’d been afraid, terrified in some cases, and Evan had been there. That had changed things about them.
“Maybe that is. Maybe I just shouldn’t have burned down abandoned buildings...” she suggested instead. “I think if they wanted me to give up fire all together, they wouldn’t have given me a giant stash of candles.”
Cal smirked slightly at her ‘maybes’ there, head shaking at the suggestion. “It’d be nice if we could fix our problems with knowin’ better after they’ve happened,” he agreed, “But I don’t see that happenin’ any time soon.” And with him not knowing Matt or Asher beyond his one visit with Matt in the first days, there wasn’t much else to cushion Cal’s real observation.
“What I think needs more consideration, what I think is actually viable, is the idea that it’s not up to them to fix us. It’s up to us,” Cal pointed out. “You can lock a drunk in rehab for a month and let him go through detox, but when he gets out, if he’s got no reason to want to change? He’ll have a bottle in an hour. In your case, they can give you candles, matches, gasoline, whatever; it’s up to you to recognize that starting fires is a coping method, and one that landed you here.” He was gentle with it, of course, but at the same time there was a basic truth in his tone, some suggestion that this was undeniable.
Edan considered it but found herself shrugging. “I know the part about burning down the building in use was wrong. I get that. The others...Well I suppose I don’t fully agree with the courts. I understand the law, and part of the reason, but at the same time...” She hadn’t thought it mattered. They weren’t being used. Half of them were falling apart or abandoned. And no one got hurt. Hell, someone probably got a hefty insurance check after the fact.
“It is a coping method, yes. It leaves me feeling more centered, understanding who I am, but I wouldn’t ever hurt anyone. Or usually destroy anything anyone was using. I got arrested because I got angry. Really angry. And I wanted to prove a point. Nothing about that fire was grounding.” She sighed and shook her head. “I’m not sure what else would do the trick.”
“That’s to be expected, though,” Cal assured her with a shake of his head. “You haven’t considered or tried anything else yet, ‘course you aren’t gonna know what else could help. The idea should be to try things anyway, just in case one of them surprises you.” Which he expected would be resisted as a base idea, given just how much Edan seemed to tie into her fixation with fire. But he had to try. “It’s worth it to try because, whatever your intent in here or out there? You can’t guarantee that no one’ll get hurt.”
That made her frown more. She really didn’t intend to hurt anyone. Instinctively her hand went to the scars on her arm, half covering them up. It was the only time someone had gotten hurt and her brother had been horribly pissed at her. “I’ve been trying not to. Because of that.”
Quiet for a moment, Cal just watched her draw in on herself like that and knew he’d touched on raw wounds. “Edan... you know I’m around if you ever want to talk ‘bout this, right? Not just when I bring it up or somethin’, but if you ever want to try and sort it out, maybe get a start on findin’ another way to deal with things,” he offered softly, “I’m here to give it a shot. Ideally, I want to help folks here before they get hurt, not just patch ‘em up after the fact.”
She’d heard those words before. That damn counselor, the army had sent her over, some low ranking officer with a degree who was supposed to help the families cope. She’d said almost the exact same thing. Maybe not the part about finding another way to deal, but definitely finding a way to deal. So she knew Cal had put on his doctor hat instead of the all too handsome man who was swimming with her. “That’s nice of you, but I wasn’t talking to you to get in with the doctor. More the basketball player.” She tried to keep it light, and while it didn’t land squarely on the mark, it got somewhat close and sounded almost convincing. “Promise. I can take care of myself.” She drifted the tiniest bit closer, maybe to distract, maybe just to be closer to someone with such topics floating between them. “Plus you came down here to swim. Not pick at my brain.”
“Just keep it in mind if you ever wanna talk,” Cal urged gently, “Doesn’t have to be like a doctor’s visit either.” And admittedly, it was a little distracting; Cal hadn’t needed to resist a gorgeous woman in some time and maybe it took him a moment to focus. “I came down to relax, and workin’ out or treadin’ water, it’s the same in the end for me. No worries there,” he added. “But if you just wanna hang out without goin’ through anything too heavy, I can promise not to ask too many questions.”
“How hard is it going to be for you not to ask the heavy questions?” Edan asked, finding half a smile to give him. Her tone sounded teasing, but at the same time understanding. She’d spent a long time being good with people and maybe, just maybe it was still a natural thing. “Because I would really hate for you to be something you’re not.”
“I only promised not to ask too many,” Cal pointed out neatly, “And that, I can do. But not askin’ any at all? Not even as a friend? That’s gonna be impossible, we’d best ditch any plans of socializin’ if I don’t even get to be invested like that.” He could definitely try not to analyze her, could fight his own clinical nature, but Cal knew he’d end up being concerned no matter what. It would run contrary to everything he thought of himself otherwise.
Edan considered that, then wound up nodding. “I think that works. I wouldn’t want you to think you couldn’t be invested.” That wasn’t her goal at all, she just didn’t want to be overanalyzed. She didn’t entirely feel like she needed that. Or that she’d respond well to it. She got this far on her own and despite winding up in prison, that hadn’t broken her completely either. “I’d rather be your friend than your patient.”
He could understand that, could even accept it. Some people didn’t want help getting better even if it was possible, and the hardest thing to recognize for Cal was that ultimately it was their choice. Forcing people to take help was doing harm... “I don’t ever turn down an offer for a friend,” he agreed at last, more than happy to work from those terms. “Jus’ be ready to tell me to cool it on the questions if I cross a line, an’ don’t go worrying over hurtin’ my feelings to do so, cool?” If she could do that, he could handle his own issues.
Edan watched him, then nodded. “I’m sure I’ll wind up answering the questions even when you ask too many,” she said, smirking a little. “But maybe we’ll manage not to focus on just that.”
“No time like the present to give it a try, hey?” he suggested with a lighter smile, leaning back into the water easily. They had, after all, come down here to swim. And if she was going to be distracting enough to keep Cal’s focus like she had so far? He’d best try getting used to Edan being around so that his personal rules stood a chance. Because right now? They didn’t, and that was a problem he hadn’t expected to have.
That made her laugh, something light and relaxed as she stretched more, fingers grazing his shoulders as she passed. “Not at all.” She moved a few more feet past him, curious if he’d follow.
Cal pushed a bit wide as he moved through the water after her, using the space to stretch each arm back and propel himself. Space could be an issue, but without his glasses he had an excuse. Hopefully. “Think I’m gonna request somewhere they could lay some blacktop at,” he offered as he drifted in a recline, “That lil’ hoop from the shop just doesn’t cut it.”
“That’s because the entire hoop is bigger than your hand,” Edan pointed out, grinning a little as she continued to move forward, watching him over her shoulder at one point. “There are rooms that haven’t opened right? Maybe one’s an indoor court. That’d be nice though. You could teach me to play better.”
“Get me a league goin’,” Cal agreed wishfully, laughing to himself as he swam lazily. As if there’d be the time. “It’s worth askin’ at any rate, the worst they can do is say no, right? Or I guess give me jury duty.” Maybe he was exempt there, given his work in the clinic? Wishful thinking again; Cal would likely have to sit in judgment of the others at some point whether he liked it or not.
“I wish you were going to be there today,” Edan said looking back at him, then turning onto his back to watch her with a grin. “In the jury. I say you ask though. Maybe you’ll get lucky.” Which with the smile she gave him, sounded like something else in a way, but she knew that. There wasn’t enough behind it for it to be anything more than just a passing tease.
“‘Round here seems like even luck’s a tricky thing to handle,” Cal mused with his own grin, not directly touching Edan’s tease. Maybe it was just a joke, but even if it wasn’t? His words rang true; nothing in this place would go simply, especially not getting lucky like she played at. “But I’m sure things’ll be fine in the court. Anything off goes down, you send word my way, okay?” he offered, figuring he’d hear about it from someone regardless, so why not give Edan the outlet? It seemed like she needed one.
She shrugged one shoulder. “I suppose it is.” Edan hadn’t put too much thought into luck in any sense of the word beyond the luck that had brought here in the first place. Smiling a little more, she nodded. “I will.” Though she was thinking of it as an excuse to see him again, not as a relief from whatever faced her in court.
That was something Cal anticipated given the light flirtations, but he’d make the offer all the same and deal with it if he was right. And that was asking for trouble, he knew, but in the life he’d led already? Where trying to help people got him locked up? Why stop askin’ now? Cal thought as he swam an easy arc around the water. “Hell, maybe jus’ check for me in here,” he mused idly, “I’m thinkin’ it’s gonna be an even split to find me between here and the clinic. ‘Cept I don’t have a computer in here.”
That made her laugh slightly. “I knew you’d enjoy it,” she said about the pool before nodding. “Well, I’m either here or the store. Though if you can’t find me, try B block.” Since she’d moved over there it made more sense to stay there. And so far, she’d stayed out of harm’s way.
“I’ll do that,” Cal assured her, “Haven’t wandered round there too much anyhow, so now I got a reason to. And I can send word first, so if I get lost someone’ll come lookin’.” Which, he realized, might end up being the case now. Nice as it was, too much time in the pool would leave Violet wondering where he was, and now that Becka had graduated? It was just the two of them... it was probably time to go to work.
Edan nodded. “Sounds like a plan,” she told him. “I’ll be sure to have the search party on hand if you get lost in the farm.” It made her smile, but it was a nice thought, spending time with someone who seemed far less complicated.