Amanda had already cleared the pool deck of furniture by the time they arrived, towels stacked in a neat pile on the patio table like she'd been planning the logistics of this for days.
"You didn't have to make a production out of it," Franz said, setting the twins' bag down beside the towels.
"I've been waiting since spring for the grown man who kept promising them lessons to actually show up." Amanda kissed his cheek, then crouched immediately to twin height, where Lily and Leo stood in matching towel capes Aunt Estella had sewn them for the occasion. "Look at you two. Ready to be fish?"
"I'm ready," Lily said. "Leo's nervous."
"I'm not nervous." Leo's grip on his towel said otherwise.
"You don't have to swim today if you don't want to," Franz told him, crouching to his level the way he'd learned worked better than standing over him. "We can just get in the shallow end and see how the water feels. That's the whole plan for today."
