“You said that ten times already.”
“This is the last time, I promise.”
“You said that ten times already too.”But I can’t help smiling.“Don’t you know sharks come out at night?”
I can’t help but laugh at the sheer shock on her face, her eyes two perfectly shaped golden circles as she checks the water around her.
“I’m just messing with you,” I say, chuckling.“Sharks never come this way.”
“How can you be so sure?”she asks, still checking the water fearfully even though she can’t see anything below the surface because the sky is too dark now.I probably shouldn’t have scared her, but I can’t help teasing her.
“I know these waters,” I say.“Seriously.Go catch one more and then dinner.”
“OK, if you’re not scared, then I’m not scared either,” she says, grins at me, then paddles back out to catch the next wave.
And the next, and the one after that.I join her eventually, because there really are very few things better than riding side by side with her on the waves.
There’s barely any light left in the sky by the time we finally drag our boards out of the ocean and onto the sand.
“I am going to feel this workout tomorrow,” she says, looking wistfully at the dark ocean.“But I want to go again and again all night anyway.I love it.”
She looks at me as she says that, her eyes and smile still sparking even in the near darkness.
“Oh, there’s plenty of other things we can do all night,” I say and smile at her too.“Surfing’s more of a daytime activity.”
She blushes a little, but doesn’t break contact.And in her eyes, I see that she’s thinking about the same thing I’m thinking—the two of us, in bed, naked—and I didn’t think it was possible, but I love her just a little more for that.
“I love you, Goldie,” I tell her, because it’s been a while since I said it and I want her to remember.
She blushes again, her eyes turning serious, but then they melt again.“I know.And I love you too.Despite everything.”
The happiness at hearing her say the words is only slightly marred by the stuff she added at the end.
The breeze is cool against my skin, she must be cold too, but as soon as we leave this beach, this perfect day will be over and I don’t know what’s waiting for us elsewhere.
“Every day I spend with you, all the days when I had nothing and no one lose some of the sting,” I tell her.“I hope I can make it up to you in time.So that you’ll feel the same way.”
She just looks at me, her eyes growing softer and softer, even as many conflicting emotions pass over her face.“Let’s just take it one day at a time.”
It’s the best I’m gonna get right now.I know that.Doesn’t make me want to stop pushing for more.But she needs time.I know that too.
I reach into the pocket of my pants and take out my phone.I have a ton of missed calls, but I expected that.It’s like that every day since I don’t even check my phone when I’m with Goldie.What I told her is the complete truth.Every day I spend with her is a happy day I lost in the last ten years come back to me.And once the war starts those days will be numbered.
She’s getting dressed beside me, her perfect curves disappearing under the velvet track suit she wore today.It’s not black, but so dark blue it might as well be.I don’t like the added reminder that this day is now finished.
“My sister keeps calling,” I say and toss the phone in the sand so I can start getting dressed too.
“You should call her back,” she says as she sits in the sand to put on her sneakers.
“Why?”
“Because she’s your sister,” she says.“The only family you have left.”
I used to love my little sister to death, even after everyone else had given up on her.But she just kept on making everything worse over the years and she never hid just how much she wanted nothing to do with our family.The way she tried to take Goldie away from me the moment I introduced them was the last straw.
Goldie stands up, grinning at me.“I promise I won’t run away with her, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“You won’t?”I release her hand to put on my T-shirt and hoodie, because the temperature is dropping fast and the absence of the sun is not the only reason for it.
