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Thinking back to the tsunami, Kai remembered Elmo tennis shoes as the boy scrambled up the stairs to the second floor of the day-care building just seconds before the first wave hit. Kai could hear the loud chest-thumping roar of the wave even now, could feel it reverberating in his bones.
“I have a poster of you in my room!” Po exclaimed, breathless. “You’re like this!” Po mimicked a surfing pose.
“A poster, huh?” Kai glanced over at Jun.
“He saw it at the store and wouldn’t let us leave until I promised to get it for his birthday,” Jun admitted as she juggled the beach bag, a bottle of water and a clipboard.
“Can I take that?” Kai again offered to take the bag, but she resisted, moving her shoulder away from him.
“I’m fine,” she said, tightly, like a woman who didn’t want help. She probably didn’t like men who opened doors, either. Stubborn and independent, he could tell. Yet the obstinate set of her chin just made her look even prettier, a fact she’d probably hate to know. “Can I...uh, we...help you? I’ve got a class here...” She nodded anxiously down at the modest crowd milling about in the shade of palm trees on the beach.
“That’s why I’m here.”
Jun looked at Kai as if he’d grown horns. He wanted to check to make sure his hair wasn’t doing something strange. She cocked her head to one side, her dark ponytail flowing down one pale shoulder as her brown eyes studied him, confused.
“Your free class?” He held up her business card between two fingers and then her face lit up in recognition.
It had been on a whim he’d even come, but after Gretchen had quit, he’d been at loose ends. The card she’d given him had felt like serendipity.
Gretchen’s words still ricocheted around his head. It’s not me who’s quitting. It’s you.
He knew she was right, and yet he didn’t know how to snap out of it, or he would. He glanced at the beach, at the people there in loose-fitting shorts, waiting on class to start. Part of him hoped Tai Chi would help him. But deep down, he knew Tai Chi wouldn’t replace Gretchen’s grueling training sessions. Tai Chi wasn’t the answer, but it was a way to spend the afternoon that didn’t involve heading to a tourist bar and seducing another hotel guest, which he thought had to be an improvement.
Unless it involved seducing a beautiful Tai Chi instructor instead.
He glanced at her fitted leggings and her bare toned calves. Yes, he wouldn’t mind that at all.
“Oh...yes, of course.” Her demeanor changed. “I didn’t expect you today, but you’re welcome to stay. Although today might not be the best class. Po, uh...is usually at day care, but...”
“I bit my teacher!” Po exclaimed, in the blunt honesty of a four-year-old.
“You bit your teacher!” Kai echoed, surprised. “Why?”
Kai saw Jun wince.
“She wanted to throw me in the pool!”
“But I thought you liked to swim,” Kai said, remembering how amazed he had been at the then-three-year-old’s advanced dog-paddling skills in the flood after the tsunami. They’d saved him. The boy’s eyes grew wide and he shook his head slowly side to side. Kai got a feeling then that there was more going on with Po than his mother had let on when she’d dropped by his house. The look on his face when he’d mentioned swimming was plain old fear, and Kai recognized it clearly enough. It was the same way he felt about surfing.
“Po, come along now. We’ve got to start class. If you’d like to join, you’re welcome, Mr. Brady.” Jun infused a formalness into her speech and Kai could almost hear a wall coming up, a protective mom’s instincts. The day-care discussion or one about swimming was not one she wanted to have.
“Call me Kai,” he said, flashing his best smile.
“Yeah, Mom. Call him Kai!” Po exclaimed, jumping up and down and clapping.
“All right,” Jun acquiesced, but Kai noticed she didn’t actually say his name. She looked away from him, a blush creeping up her cheek. “Come on, Po. Let’s set you up so you can build sand castles while Mommy does her class. I need a good helper.”
