[center][color=teal][h2]Jessamyn "Jess" Bailey[/h2][/color][/center]

[color=teal]"You don't have to be sorry,"[/color] Jess replied, turning and treading water. [color=teal]"Like I said, you're not the one to blame here."[/color] An easy thing to do, blame oneself, as she knew all too well. No matter how much she swam, her own guilt lingered in the back of her mind. Still, if she and Roxy kept putting the blame on themselves, it wouldn't help either of them. Better to remember the one - or rather, the two - unambiguously at fault. [color=teal]"He is. They both are."[/color]

She resumed the leisurely pace of her swim. [color=teal]"I'm good either way, just let me know when you want to stop."[/color] She'd pick up on it anyway, but right now she could tell Roxy would happily stay in the water a while longer - for a given value of "happily". A longer swim wasn't something Jess would complain about. As things were, this was the closest to relaxed the two would get any time soon.