Chapter 60

“Too bad.” He said it sadly, without a hint of animosity or sarcasm. “And just so you know, if I do it with someone else, it doesn’t mean our first time won’t still be special.”

“How can you even…?” I couldn’t look at him.

“Can I ask you something?”

I didn’t answer.

Still he asked. “When you were in middle school and junior high, and you joined all that stuff…so much stuff…?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you?”

“Because I’m good at everything.”

Mathias chuckled. “Nothing wrong with a healthy dose of ego.”

“At least I was. Now I know what I’m really good at…what I’m meant to do…swimming.”

“See, I’m not sure about the swimming thing.”

I turned back.

He was dressed, and he shrugged. “I tell Coach Keller I am, because that’s the right answer, but it’s not…in my blood or whatever, like it is for you. At least I’m not always convinced it is.”

“If doubts were a reason to walk away, I’d never stay in one place.”