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“Things are getting pretty serious with Ellis the trellis guy, huh?” Lola asks.
I frown a little, wanting things to be forever kind of serious with Ellis, but knowing they aren’t. “I don’t know,” I say to them.
“What’s wrong?” Poppi asks as we make our way to our cars.
“It’s just...I know he’ll be leaving soon.”
Lola wraps an arm around me. “If it’s meant to be, it’ll all work out.”
I hate when people say that. I love Lola, but I feel like sometimes you have to make things happen, and I’m not so sure if I should.
* * *
“Meet me at the pier,” a text from Ellis reads, after I’m home from work the next day. “Wear a swimsuit.”
I quickly tap out a reply. “Ooh, this sounds interesting.”
“I promise you’ll love it.”
Using the excuse that my couch won’t miss me to justify how I didn’t even contemplate saying no, I hustle to my bedroom and change.
When I arrive, a shirtless Ellis, wearing black swim shorts, stands on the beach with two surfboards lying by his feet. “Hey, ready to surf?”
My toes sink in the warm sand as I walk closer. “Um, I’ve never surfed before.”
He laughs, looking just like a Greek god out here in the sun. “I did cycling for you. I figured I’d show you one of my favorite workouts.”
I smile. “Ok, let’s do it.”
Ellis studies me for a second before moving a board closer. “First thing you need to know about surfing is balance. Can you balance?” His eyes roam over my body.
“I can balance a goat on my ass.”
“Touché.” He stares at me. “I just want to say I’d pay good money to see that.”
“It wasn’t easy.”
“I bet.” He smiles. “And the goat looked like Henry too. What a weird thing to picture.”
I laugh.
Ellis turns serious. “What kind of animal do you think I look like?”
“Hmm…” I study him. His eyes are darker today, the green turned to almost black. “Panther,” I whisper. “Because you stare at me like you want to eat me.”
He steps closer. “Maybe because I do.” A family strolls by, dousing the flames between us. “We should get started,” he says.
“I agree.” It’s a good thing too, because I would have probably let Ellis do anything to my body right here on the beach.
Given the large number of people here, that would probably be frowned upon.
I remove my sundress and Ellis sucks in a deep breath.
“Damn,” he hisses, his eyes searing the fabric of my blue and orange bikini.
He gives me a few pointers on how to properly duck dive, pop up, and how to get my footing secure. And after listening to him speak about surfing for a few minutes, I can’t wait to get started.
“We’ll start easy. Just get you out there and comfortable with the board and waves.”
“Ok, I like that.”
“So, we’ll swim out past the break, and see if we can’t start off with a few small swells to get you started.”
I smile. “Sounds great.”
The waves aren’t crazy big here on the east coast of Florida. At least not today.
We wade out into the cool surf, both of us holding onto our boards as we head further out into the deep blue. Ellis pops up on his board and has a seat, straddling it. I follow suit.
“Now what?” I ask.
“Now we wait.” He glances back to check the activity of the waves behind us.
I turn my head to take a look at what he sees. “Anything good?”
He smiles. “Not yet, but there will be.”
“Did you grow up surfing?” I ask, as we wait with the sun beating down on us.
“My brother and I used to come out a lot after school when we were younger. Before we got cars and discovered girls.”
I laugh. “Ah, did you date a lot in high school?”
He shakes his head. “Not as much as my brother did. I had a few girlfriends, nothing too serious. How about you?”
“Well, I grew up here in Jupiter, had maybe one boyfriend in high school. But, I never had anything too serious until I met Henry.”
“How did you get into dog grooming?” he asks, dragging his hand through the water.
“Poppi and I worked for a dog groomer, and he was selling his shop, so he could retire. So, we made the leap.” I sigh. “I love dogs.”
“I’ve noticed.” He grins. “But you’re right, that is a big leap.”
“Must have been the same for you when you left Florida to move to Atlanta.”
“Yeah.” He peeks over his shoulder once more. “Here comes a wave. Now paddle with your arms and then hop up onto the board like I explained to stand.”
He makes it sound like there’s no way I won’t accomplish this. Sure, I’ve seen surfing movies. And sure, in theory it all looks very easy. In fact, I know I’ve got the gist of the idea down. But, it’s the physical aspect of the whole thing. Even though I’m paddling as fast as I can, getting past this wave feels almost impossible.
