‘I was in Saint-Jean-de-Luz yesterday,’ I said, then emerged from behind the hut. Antoine was waxing a surfboard. I stood over him, watching the muscles in his back move underneath his top with each scrub of the wax on the board.
‘Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Nice town. You were there alone?’ he asked, still not looking up at me.
‘I went with a friend.’ I didn’t want to talk about it.
Antoine jumped on to his board and looked at me, up and down, the way I’d got so used to.
‘Nice Lycra,’ he said, stroking my shoulder with a finger. And I wished that he hadn’t, because I didn’t want to feel like every single nerve ending in my body was alive, exposed and defenceless.
‘Bon.Today we will learn the bottom turn,’ he said, then pulled me on to his board as he moved on to the sand and my breath caught in my throat.
‘What’s that?’ I asked.
‘It is, how do you say, the building block for everything in surfing. When you drop down the face of the wave, you get speed. Then you use that speed. OK, show me your stance.’ He walked around me on the sand.
I moved into the surfer stance, bringing my mind back to the beach.
‘Bon.Now you need to put your weight on your back foot, press down, look where you want to go and let your shoulders lead.’ Antoine was behind me now, hands on my shoulders, turning them towards the water and I had to stop from closing my eyes.
‘And now you must get low. Knees bent.’ Then Antoine took my arm and traced his fingers down to my hand, which he placed on the sand. ‘This hand. It can touch the water. It gives you control.’
‘I got it,’ I said frustratedly. I was desperate to get into the water and clear my head.
‘Oh yes?’ Antoine laughed, but it was a nice laugh.
‘Yeah,’ I said, jumping off the board and going to the rack to look for the one I used yesterday. I found it and pulled it out. ‘Can we go in the water now?’
‘Bien sûr,’ he said, and waved me on to lead the way.
The sun was rising, and the water glittered as we walked in together. We stopped for a moment, looking out at the other surfers.
‘It really is beautiful,’ I said.
‘Beauty can still be dangerous,’ he mused, and I looked at him, but he was just staring at the water.
I pulled my board in and jumped on, followed by Antoine on his.
We swam out and turned to face the shore.
‘Show me,’ Antoine challenged, and I could feel my jaw set in determination.
I waited for the right wave, then just went for it. I wasn’t in the mood to hang back or be hesitant. I popped up, bent low, felt the speed and leaned on my back foot. I looked towards the waves and let my shoulders rotate. And it felt natural, letting my hand drop back and touching the water. I couldn’t hear anything except the rush of the water and my heartbeat in my ears. Adrenaline shot through my veins as the board responded to each and every tiny movement I made. And it wasn’t until I’d finished, until I’d emerged from the wave still standing, that I heard Antoine.
‘Margot!’ I let myself fall into the water, exhilarated, and when I surfaced, Antoine was looking at me with a smile that matched mine. He sat on his board, legs either side of it, and pushed his hand through his hair. ‘That was … It was like a textbook. Like you have been surfing for years.’
His shock made me laugh. Pride filled my chest
‘You are sure you have not been practising in secret,Princesse?’
‘No practice. But I felt it. Like the board was a part of me.’ I stroked the board that floated beside me. ‘I haven’t felt like that since … well, it’s been a really long time.’
We did it again, and again, and again. And by the end of the lesson, I was exhausted. We walked our boards up the sand to the surf shack and Antoine took it from me.
‘I think you are done with this board. I will find you a more responsive one.’ Antoine walked over to the rack, pulled out a white one, and handed it to me. ‘This was my first board, a hard board. Use it and get a feel for it.’
‘Thanks so much!’ I grinned, and I think I shocked him with my enthusiasm because he laughed.
‘You will be back soon?’ he asked. ‘With your sisters?’
