“Does your Mama know?”
“You know she wants nothing to do with any of this. If it were up to her, Azul would’ve closed the day Papá died.”
“Where is she now?”
“Málaga. She says she likes it better there.”
She hadn’t set foot in Morocco since the funeral. Spain made her happier. That was enough.
Ghita nodded. “Still… it’d be a shame not to try doing this our way. For once.”
“I agree. I just want to be smart about it. Business-smart. And unfortunately, I’m just a surfer.”
“One who could be making bank if he didn’t punch people.” She deadpanned.
He mimicked her expression. “One who could be making bank if he didn’t have to pay for his late father’s business.”He sighed. “I’ll win Snapper Rocks. Showing up pays ten grand anyway.”
“God, I should’ve gone pro.” Ghita groaned.
“Nah. Keep surfing as a hobby. Otherwise it becomes the reason you’re living out of a suitcase.”
They fell into a comfortable silence, staring at the financial reports. Painfully low income. A proposal for a retreat. And a future he wasn’t sure he wanted, but also wasn’t sure he could walk away from.
Azul had shaped him.
Azul had broken him.
And now, he had to decide if he could rebuild it into something new.
His phone buzzed. A message from Sofia.
I’ve been invited to a conference in Biarritz next week, and I’ll have to go.
Congrats! About the new research? Tell me the dates.
Yes
April 1st
I’ll change my flight to land close to Biarritz.
I’ll be your conference chaperone
make TerraVive happy
and let you educate me ??
?? You don’t have to
But I want to! It’ll be fun
See you there, habiba ??
See you ??
Ilias set the phone down,a small smile tugging at his lips. His thoughts drifting away from Azul and refocusing on Sofia. Maybe this break from competition wasn’t so bad after all. He leaned back in his chair, the ocean wind slipping through the open window, carrying that faint, familiar scent of salt and sun.
He could already picture her in Biarritz, talking about marine ecosystems with that spark in her eyes, completely unaware of how magnetic she was. He didn’t know what he expected from this fake arrangement anymore, but he’d take whatever Sofia was willing to share with him.
