I raised my own in question.
“Come to the beach with me.” Sam glided her fingers along my stomach, effectively overriding all my free will. “I want to go surfing with you.”
Surfing. It had been a very long time, and I wasn’t entirely certain I knew how anymore. When I was a kid, I’d been oblivious to the dangers that lurked, but now, the dark vastness of the ocean freaked me out a bit.
Sam seemed to pick up on my hesitation. “I don’t know why you stopped, but I want us to be together on the water like we used to be.”
For reasons I didn’t understand myself, the weight of the years slammed into me with a force I hadn’t expected, and my eyes swelled.
“Keith.” Sam jumped to her knees, gathering me in her arms. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I answered, wiping away the evidence. “I have no idea where that came from. Sorry.”
“Don’t be. Why does the beach make you sad? You used to love it.”
“I’m not sure. I used to be so carefree. Nothing scared me.”
“Except sinkholes.”
“Yes, except those.” I had to laugh. It was as if she’d hung on my every word when we were kids. “I never considered the dangers of anything I did back then, but once my world went to shit, suddenly everything was a potential death trap. The Keith Memorial Bench didn’t seem all that cool anymore.
“But, it went even deeper than that. Keeping myself away from the ocean became like a self-imposed punishment. Instead of flogging myself to a bloody pulp like normal crazies, I just deprive myself of the things I love, like you and surfing, and then I tell myself that once I’m worthy, I’ll get them back. But the truth is, Sam, if you hadn’t found me yesterday, I don’t know if I ever would have felt good enough. I don’t know why I’ve never been able to just be happy with who I am.”
“I think everyone feels that way sometimes.”
“You don’t.”
The turmoil that passed over her face gave me a glimpse into her own crippling insecurities. “Trust me, I do. I live in fear of becoming my mother, Keith. I feel like I’m tiptoeing my way through life, afraid of waking the demon. As long as it’s hibernating, though, I’m safe.”
“Jesus.”
“Yep. So, don’t think you’re special by any means, you mutant freak.”
The darkness faded, and we both laughed at our shared faults. Maybe that’s why we’d worked all those years ago. We were a matching pair, like Shannon and Stewart – only without all the excessive hugging. Sam and I were more like gentle ocean waves, with the occasional tsunami tossed in to make things interesting.
“I deem you worthy, Keith McKallister.” She stood up, offering her hand. “Now, come surfing with me.”
* * *
I could not overstate the sensual, visceral power of the ocean. To use that force to ride a fast-moving wall of water was like nothing I’d ever known on dry land. The speed. The wind in my face. Skimming the waves was like connecting to some otherworldly energy through the surfboard. Like riding a bike, muscle memory kicked in, and it was as if I’d never spent a day away from the ocean. My legs remembered exactly how to absorb a drop and to generate the lightning speed required to harness the energy for a high-g bottom turn. It was sensory overload at its finest – the roar, the colors, the taste of salt, and Sam, the most beautiful girl I’d ever known. She was focused not only on her own ride but on making mine the best it could be. If I hadn’t loved her before today, this would have sealed the deal.
“You good?” she called out to me, water dripping off her eyelashes and sparkling in the early morning sun.
“Better than good,” I replied, grabbing her board and drawing her to me so I could press a wet, salty kiss to her lips. The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. I had my health. I had my family. I had my future all lined up. And now I had my Sam. There was nothing more I could want for. An idea sparked in my head, and once it had formed, there was no taming it. Snagging a long piece of seaweed floating near my board, I twisted and braided it until it resembled a crude ring.
I took her hand in mine, and without stopping for a single outside thought, I blurted out, “Will you marry me?”
She laughed, believing my gesture to be a joke. Of course she would. Who asked a girl to marry him less than twenty-four-hours after reconnecting? A mutant freak, that’s who.
I slipped the seaweed ring onto her finger.
As my intentions slowly sank in, Sam ogled at me like one of those bottom dweller fish with gigantic nighttime eyeballs. “Wait – are you serious?”
“I know what I want, and it’s always been you. Marry me, Sam?”
“I… I don’t know what to say. I love you, Keith. I do, but…”
“But what?”
