“The Navy?”
“Yeah. My dad was a cop, and so were my grandpa and my great-grandpa. Me though…I kind of wanted to break away from the goody-two-shoes trait the men in my family were known for. So, at first I became a rebel, then I wanted to join the Navy.”
“Why didn’t you do it?” Sounded like he’d really wanted to.
“The summer I was supposed to sign up was when I found out about Aria, and things just kept happening to stop me from going.”
“Like what?”
“My wife was very sick, and I didn’t trust anyone to take care of her better than me.”
My heart melted just a little more when he said that.
“That’s really sweet. I’m sorry you didn’t get to go to the Navy.”
“It’s cool. Being a cop’s great, except for when things get crazy. I think that was more my calling in life. Plus, I can still enjoy the sea whenever I want. It’s one of the things I love about this town.” He ran his finger over my forearm. “Brooke, look down.”
Instead of looking, I squeezed my eyes shut for fear there would be a shark swimming around us. “Oh God, is there a shark?”
“Nope. Is that why you don’t swim?”
“Blame my brother for traumatizing me. He made me watch theJawsmovies, all of them. The first was what terrified me the most.” My breathing stilled and I yelped when a wave rushed over us.
“The sharks don’t tend to come down to these parts.”
“They don’ttendto? That doesn’t help me. They could decide they want to come down here at any time—then what?”
“Trust me, look down. It’s beautiful. You have to see this.” He exhaled slowly, now stroking my arm.
The gentle caress of his fingers coaxed my eyes open, and I decided to trust him and look.
I sucked in a breath when I beheld a school of brightly colored fish swimming around us. They weren’t even disturbed by our presence. They just swam as if we were part of their world.
Bright flashes of pink, blue, and yellow zipped around Ryan’s legs. I gasped and found that I couldn’t stop looking. The beauty was astonishing and something I’d never seen before.
“What are they?”
“The yellow ones are a type of pufferfish, and the other two are angelfish. They come in different colors. If we were to go farther out or by the pier, you’d see the catfish and marlin. That’s where the big boys swim, but this little part is paradise. I’ll take you to see the coral reef one day.”
I liked that he planned on doing that.
“Doesn’t that require some level of me being able to swim?”
“Sure does, and lucky for you, swimming lessons just became part of the curriculum. I’ll have you swimming in the next eight months.”
I was in awe of the suggestion and shocked at myself for feeling that way.
I’d never met anyone who’d made me feel crazy enough to want to contemplate pushing aside my fears to learn to swim, and there I was wondering when I’d have my first lesson.
But would I still be here? I was being pulled from my assignment. By the weekend, I could be back in LA.
“That’s a nice thought.” I decided to say because it was.
* * *
We spent some time in the water just like that until we saw a good spot to cast the net for shrimp. He took me back to shore, but I lingered by the water line, listening to him as he spoke about what he liked doing.
I learned a lot about him, and by the end I thought I could safely say I was fully up to speed on my Ryan 101 lessons.
