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Yet here she was, in the flesh, as if I had summoned her merely by thought.
Idly, I watched her photograph the couple on the beach. She was assertive, instructing them on where to stand and how to position themselves. She wore tight jeans and a loose-fitting blouse, and her blonde curls were tossed around by the strong breeze coming off the ocean. After a little while, she paused to put her hair in a ponytail.
I could see why Jack was interested in her years ago. She was quite attractive, to put it mildly. I could even understand why Liam had chosen to become involved with her, despite his friendship with Jack.
That was not something I would do. I cared about my good friend Jack, and would not do anything to jeopardize our friendship, no matter how fervently he insisted he was fine. But I no longer judged Liam for his weakness.
I was warm and dry when Alyssa said goodbye to the couple she was photographing. Rather than leaving with them, Alyssa trudged up the beach toward my spot.
“Small world seeing you here, huh?” she said.
“The world is exceedingly large,” I replied. “But Clearwater is small. Also, my house is two blocks in that direction.”
“Do you surf often?” she asked.
“When the conditions are good. And sometimes when they are not.”
“Liam told me you taught him how to surf.”
I chuckled. “I attempted to teach him. He is my friend, so all I will say is that surfing is not a skill he was given at birth.”
Alyssa smiled. “That’s funny. I would have assumed he was naturally good at surfing.”
“Why would you assume this?” I asked curiously.
“I don’t know. He’s from New Zealand, which is an island. Surrounded by water and waves.”
“You grew up here in Clearwater,” I pointed out. “Does that make you naturally good at surfing, or sailing, or swimming?”
She pursed her lips together and gave me a thoughtful glare. “You make a very good point.”
I pointed up the beach where the couple was leaving. “You know these people? The ones you were photographing?”
“They’re customers,” Alyssa replied. “They hired me to take pregnancy photos. That’s what I do for a living. I’m a photographer.”
“Ah, I see.”
Even with her hair in a ponytail, the wind tossed Alyssa’s blonde curls around her face. She brushed them away and asked, “Have you ever taught anyone else to surf?”
“A few people, yes.”
“This may sound like a strange request,” she said slowly. “But could you teach me?”
I sat up. “You wish to learn how to surf?”
“My sister has been insisting that I try new things while I’m down here, now that our mother…” She trailed off. “I always sort of wanted to try surfing. Maybe this is my best chance, before I go back to New York. If you don’t want to teach me, maybe you could recommend someone?”
I did not like teaching people to surf. Even people who were my friends. I was generally a patient man, but that patience wore thin when trying to teach something that came so naturally to me to people to whom it did not.
Yet I found myself answering without thought. “I could teach you this, yes.”
“Great!”
“I exchange for a favor of my own.”
Alyssa’s eyes narrowed. “I’m listening.”
“I would like a photography session.”
