“I’m a bit rusty,” he said at last.
“Ah, that’s not a big deal. Last summer we were slammed at the bakery, lots of weddings and special events, and I didn’t get to surf once all summer. Come September Toby ‘kidnapped’ me from work and made me come out. I wiped out three times before I got out of my head. Maybe that’s your problem...you seem to be weighing something very heavy.”
He shrugged. There were a lot of positives about the Corps to him and one of them was that he didn’t have to think about what to do next. If he reenlisted he’d have everything just the way it had always been.
If he didn’t...he might have Alysse, a new job, a house... “There’s a lot to think about.”
“Of course there is. But this is a moment when you can let go and just for these few hours forget everything else and have fun with these people.”
“There is only one person on this beach I’m interested in having fun with,” he said.
“Me?” she asked, giving him a sultry look.
“Hell, yes,” he admitted. “But you know that already, don’t you?”
“I do,” she said. “I am very interested in you, too, Jay but I don’t want to make the same mistake I did before.”
“It did sort of work for a while,” he said.
“It didn’t work at all. It was nice until reality started closing in. This time I want to know the real Jay. Who is the man with his clothes on?”
“And here I’d rather let you see me with my clothes off,” he said.
“I like that, too, but today I learned that you don’t own a home... That’s huge.”
“Is it?”
“Yes,” she said, riding the swell of a wave that bobbed their boards. “It tells me you don’t like roots.”
He couldn’t believe she was talking about this now. He wasn’t prepared for it, but as natural as Alysse was on the water it probably felt like sitting around a kitchen table to her.
“That’s true.”
“What else don’t I know about you?” she asked.
“You two going to take any waves or just keep talking like old women?” Toby called as he paddled over toward them.
Alysse called back, “We’ll take a wave when we see one we like.”
“Whatever,” Toby said, paddling to catch the first in the next set that rolled under them.
“You should try to get to know some of the people in the group tonight. It’s hard, believe me I know, but you’ll enjoy it.”
“Will I? Is that a guarantee?” he asked.
She leaned over and kissed him quickly on the lips. “Nope, but if you try it and it works, that’s way better than the alternative. You taking this wave?”
He glanced back, thinking of what she’d said. He didn’t have any answers and only knew what he wanted to happen but Alysse was right; he couldn’t control any of that tonight. “I am.”
He paddled toward the wave and his instincts and athletic ability kicked in.
The wave swelled behind him and he felt the board moving the way it was supposed to; he stood up and rode it. The sun was setting behind him and the beach seemed far away and there was no real noise around him except the sound of the water. This all felt so unreal. Not even a week ago he’d been up to his ass in desert sand without a drop of water in sight and now he was immersed in it. Alysse had been a memory; now he was with her, next to her, and who knows...
He tumbled off his board and was pulled into the water. The wave crashed over him and dragged his board; he felt the tug on his ankle strap. He held his breath and then swam to the surface watching out for his board so he didn’t get conked on the head with it. He made his way to the beach and took off his ankle strap before picking up the board.
“You okay?” Toby asked from a distance.
Jay nodded and put the loaned board off to the side. There were other people there at the bonfire and they looked up at him with tentative smiles, but the conversation had ground to an abrupt halt as he’d approached.
