“Now!” he said.
She jumped in and took off, riding the top of the wave for the first time that evening. It was exhilarating and incredible, and it made her forget her stress for a moment. She slid onto the beach and then rested her head on the board while she held onto the amazing feeling.
“That was awesome!” she said to Asher, who had landed about ten feet beside her.
“Again?” His eyes sparkled with excitement.
If she was sunshine, he was the ocean with unexpected depths, a sparkling surface, and… fun. He was really fun.
She raced after him into the ocean, and hours fell away while they rode wave after wave into the beach until her stomach was growling, and her leg muscles shaking, and the sun had set in a brilliant peachy haze behind Diamond Cove.
“I’m done,” she said to Asher, out of breath. She walked over to where their towels were laid out and started to remove her wet suit. She wanted to lay on her warm towel in her bathing suit and soak the warmth from the sand and sky into her skin.
She unzipped the front of her wet suit and rolled it down her shoulders. Asher came up beside her and made a strangled noise in the back of his throat as she bent to pull it over her waist and reveal her black swimsuit bottoms. He turned his back to her and expertly removed his own wet suit.
He lifted his arms above his head to stretch out his muscles—and oh, boy, did he have muscles. She knew she should also turn around and give him the privacy he gave her—but she was completely frozen. The muscles in his back flexed, and she followed the crossing lines from one shoulder blade to another, then down his spine until a hint of black across his ribs caught her gaze. She could tell he hadn’t wanted to talk about his rib tattoo at the games, which had only fed her curiosity. “You can turn around,” she said.
He swiveled toward her, taking her in fully for a split second, before his eyes landed on her own tattoo on her hip.
“A turtle,” he said, amused. “I could have guessed.”
“Louisa,” she corrected, running her fingers over the tattoo. His heated gaze followed every move of her hand as if he were the one touching her, and she dropped it from her hip like it was on fire. “Will you tell me about yours?”
He looked down at his ribs and then turned to the side, lifting his arm so she could see the rest of it. “An anchor. With my parents’ names beneath it.”
She peered closer. Sarah and Ryan Brooks. A rope from the top of the anchor wound around their names. A shiver ran through her. She couldn’t imagine losing her parents when she was so young. Only a teenager. She relied on her parents so much—even when she went weeks without talking to them. Just knowing they were only a phone call or text away was enough.
Asher dropped down onto his towel and rested a hand over his eyes. She followed suit, more exhausted than she’d felt in a long time. She stretched out, closed her eyes, and listened to the ocean waves crash against the beach.
This was the best feeling. The exhilaration. The exhaustion. The complete release of all the stress she’d been carrying. And just having fun for no purpose. With no cameras or goals or appearances to worry about.
She stretched her arm out until her hand brushed against Asher’s sandy arm. She drew her fingers down it until she reached his damp, gritty hand and intertwined her fingers through his. She squeezed it, and he tilted his head to look at her through the dim light of the dusky night sky.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and he squeezed her hand back.
Chapter 22
Winniehadlessthanthree weeks to finish these bridesmaid dresses before Julia’s wedding.
Not just finish the bridesmaid dresses—startthem. She was going to need help. Eliana, Julia, and Cameron sat at her kitchen table, not a scrap of sewing ability between the three of them. Why hadn’t she taught any of her grandchildren how to sew?
Better yet, why hadn’t her daughter taught them? She used to work with Lisa every day after school to teach her to sew everything from curtains to a prom dress. Lisa had complained endlessly about it, so perhaps it was no wonder she hadn’t taught her kids.
“Call your mom,” Winnie told Eliana. “Tell her to drop everything and get over here.”
Eliana saluted her. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Julia, what do you want to do about the bridesmaid dresses?”
Eliana had explained to them that no one within driving distance had enough fabric to make three dresses in the same color, but that one store had several bolts of different colors.
“Let’s do three different colors. Four, if we can do the flower girl too,” Julia said.
“Oh my gosh, that would be so cute!” Eliana gushed.
It took all of Winnie’s restraint not to die on the spot. To just let her eyes roll back and her body collapse on the floor.
“Another dress?” she squeaked out through her growing panic.
