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“Remember what to do?”nbsp;
“Yeah, I got this part down.” I laugh. “It’s catching and riding a wave that I’m not sure I’ll ever master.”
He chuckles warmly. “You’ve only been out one time before today. Give yourself a break. I didn’t learn overnight, and neither will you. The best things take time and effort. If something is easy that feeling of being proud of your accomplishment doesn’t last nearly as long.”
“That’s true,” I agree, because he’s right.
We carry our boards out into the water and when it’s about waist deep on me I lay down my board and climb on top, paddling out.nbsp;
Jasper goes over his same instructions and then we wait for a small wave to come around.nbsp;
“I had fun last night,” I tell him as we bob in the water.
He grins over at me. “Good.”
“It was … different for me, but I’m glad I stepped out of my comfort zone. You make me brave even when I’m not.”
His turquoise-colored eyes darken like storm clouds are covering them and I can’t help but shiver.nbsp;
“You make me brave too, you know,” he confesses as people around us holler. Somehow, even with all the chaos, it feels like only the two of us exist right here in this moment. “You make me realize it’s okay to hurt, but I don’t have to hurt all the time. It’s okay to miss my brother, and while he’s gone in the physical sense, he’s not gone. He’ll always be with me.” He touches a hand to his heart. “I know it’ll probably be a long time before I’m my normal self all the time, but here, with you, I feel like me and that means more than you can ever know. I don’t know what it is about you that’s so right for me, but you are, right for me, that is. I know it’s crazy, we don’t know each other that well yet, but we will. I know it.”
“I get what you mean,” I whisper, feeling choked up because he’s expressed everything I feel and now I don’t feel so crazy.
This isn’t a case of love at first sight.
It’s more than that.
Deeper.
It doesn’t mean we’re crazy, or that this is that dreaded insta-love I hate reading about, it just means we have a connection that transcends the rational. When you think about it and pay attention, there’s nothing much that’s rational about anything in this world. We just delude ourselves into believing it is.
“I think this is your wave,” Jasper says, his words breaking into my thoughts.
I watch the small swell about to form and start paddling.
Jasper yells out directions to me and I only half listen. I let my body guide me. I know what to do even if I haven’t accomplished it yet.
You can do this, Willa. You can and when you do it’ll feel amazing.
I take a slow breath and let it out, turning the board and feeling the ocean swell behind me. I slowly come to stand on the board, my arms held out at my sides for balance. My legs are wobbly, and it’s definitely not graceful, but I somehow manage to remain upright on the wave for ten seconds before I lose my balance and plunge into the chilly water.
I surface, pushing my wet hair from my eyes.
“Did you see that?” I scream at Jasper, the biggest smile ever on my face.nbsp;
He dives off his board, swimming toward me. It bobs behind him, connected to his ankle.
He pops up right in front of me, smiling as big as I am.nbsp;
“You’re amazing.”
I startle when he grabs my face and kisses me.
He pulls back, still smiling. “I’m so proud of you. Now it’s time to prep you for a bigger wave.”
My smile falls. “A bigger wave?” I mumble hesitantly. “I was only on this baby wave for a few seconds.”
“A few seconds is more than enough to change everything.”
