The answer comes easier than I expected. “Surfboards,” I say, chuckling. “I love making them. There’s something about customizing every detail for a surfer that feels so fulfilling, in a way snowboarding never was.”
I feel her smile before I see it. “I never asked you how you got into that.” She lifts her chin, her blue eyes studying me.
I shrug, a little sheepish. “Before I decided to settle down in Saltwater Springs, I traveled for a while.”
Maisy’s brows lift. “Where’d you go?”
I grin. “The whole world.”
Her eyes widen, and she pushes up onto her elbow. “The whole world?” she repeats back to me.
“Pretty much,” I say with a chuckle. “Remember that travel bucket-list you made on Pinterest? A few months before we broke up?”
Her lips part, surprised.
“I found it printed out. I don’t even remember when I did it, but it was shoved between a couple of books in my room. After the accident, after you…” I trail off, swallowing hard. “When I finally packed up to leave, I found it again. And I thought, maybe if I saw the places that caught your eye, I could… I don’t know, understand you better. Feel like I still had some sort of piece of you?”
Her mouth trembles, the shine building in her eyes again. She doesn’t speak, but she doesn’t need to.
“Anyway,” I go on, my voice quieter now, “I ended up in Australia around the end of my travels, and I signed up for a few surfing lessons, just for fun. But I liked it so much that I ended up staying for a few months. I took workshops and learned the basics of shaping boards. Eventually, I found a pro shaper who agreed to take me on as an apprentice. That’s where I really learned the techniques, the craftsmanship, and the traditions behind it.”
“That must’ve been incredible,” she breathes, her hand pressed flat to my chest like she can steady the beat of my heart.
I nod, smiling at the memory. “It was. Six months went by before I knew it, and when my visa ran out, I had to come back home. That’s when Colton told me that his surf team was looking for a board shaper, and…” I let out a low laugh. “I don’t know. It felt like fate.”
Maisy is silent for a while, her gaze fixed on me, eyes shimmering. Then she lays her head back against my chest, her fingers resuming their soft, absentminded patterns over my skin.
“I’m glad you found something you’re passionate about,” she whispers. “That’s all I ever wanted for you, Sterling. For you to have something that made you feel whole. Something that made you happy.”
My hand drifts through her damp hair, fingers combing absently. “Maisy,” I murmur. “You were that for me. You always were. Before snowboarding, before surfboards, before any of it—you were the thing that made me feel whole.”
Her body stiffens just slightly against mine, and I feel her heartbeat quicken where her palm still rests over my chest.
I sigh, pressing a kiss to her hair. “I’m glad I found something I love doing, too. But don’t think for a second it ever came close to what I felt for you. What Istillfeel for you.”
For a while neither of us speaks, the fire crackling and the sound of our breathing the only noise in the room. Finally, she shifts and tilts her head back to look at me again.
“How do we even fit back into each other’s lives again?” she whispers.
I let out a slow breath, running a thumb across her shoulder where the blanket slipped. “I don’t know,” I admit. “Saltwater Springs feels like home right now and I don’t think I’m ready to leave there just yet.”
Her lips part, and I see panic flash in her eyes. “But…my whole life is here. The mountain, my family—this is home. I’m not ready to leave here either.” Her voice cracks and she sits up, pulling back from me.
I grab her wrist gently before she can run off again and pull her back down to my chest. “Hey,” I say softly, catching her gaze. “Breathe, Maisy. We don’t have to figure it all out tonight. Wedon’t need a master plan, or answers to questions we don’t even fully understand yet. We’ll take it day by day.”
“That’s it?” A breath shudders out of her, and I squeeze her hand.
“That’s it. We’ll keep choosing each other, one day at a time, and we’ll figure the rest out later.”
I cup her face, brushing my thumb along her cheek, and pull her into a slow and gentle kiss. I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but right now this is exactly where I want to be.
“I’m goingto fucking kill him.”
My eyes snap open and I feel every muscle in my body go rigid as I stare at Levi standing in the doorway, his face twisted with rage.
Maisy is still asleep, soft breaths puffing against my chest, her naked body tangled with mine under the blankets. I grit my teeth and gently shake her.
“Mais,” I murmur, my eyes staying on Levi. “Wake up, Maisy.”
