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Annabelle was paddling whilst looking behind her, her board at a slight angle to the incoming waves. ‘Get ready here’s a good one!’ she cried, expertly turning her board.
Ron tried to follow suit, and he was kind of in the right position when he felt the wave lift him. He scrambled to his knees, hoping he could get from there into a crouching position in time, but he couldn’t. One minute he was balancing and hoping for the best, the next it was as though he was in a giant washing machine, and he was under the wave with a mouthful of salt water, not knowing which way was up.
It briefly flashed through his mind that this might be the end of him. Even though he was a fairly competent swimmer, he could feel the board tugging at his ankle where it was lashed to his leg, and he prayed to God he wasn’t going to be dragged out to sea with the outgoing tide. Panicking, he flailed upwards, then felt someone grab his arm and pull, and abruptly his head broke the surface and he took a welcome gasp of air.
He felt like he’d been under for minutes, but he guessed it was probably only seconds.
Spluttering, he saw the wave crashing to the shore, and felt the suck as another one prepared to tumble over his head. Annabelle was holding onto him tightly, but she let go when she saw he was all right.
‘Come on, let’s get you closer in,’ she shouted, and she grabbed the board that was bobbing around behind him and pushed it towards him. Ron grasped it and crawled halfway across it, using his feet to propel him closer to the beach.
‘Are you OK?’ Annabelle asked when their feet touched the bottom.
Ron wiped the water from his face and sat down in the shallows. ‘I think so,’ he panted. ‘I’m getting too old for stuff like this.’
‘Nonsense,’ she cried. ‘You’re only as old as you feel.’
‘Right now I feel about a hundred and six,’ Ron told her. ‘I don’t know how you do it.’
‘I’ve had a lot of practise, but I must admit I haven’t been surfing in a good many years. It’s a bit like riding a bike, you don’t really forget, and these waves are only babies.’
Only babies? Ron would hate to see a fully grown one.
‘Are you coming back in?’ she asked.
Ron shook his head. ‘Nope, I think I’m done. I’ll sit and watch, if you don’t mind.’
Annabelle chuckled. ‘I don’t mind at all,’ she said. ‘You stay there, I’ll catch a couple more waves, and then I think I’m finished too. I’m not as young as I used to be, either. I wouldn’t mind going out for a little swim afterwards though, if you’re up for it, considering you’ve still got your wet suit on. I thought the water was going to be freezing, but it isn’t too bad once you get used to it.’
Ron was more than happy to sit and watch. Eventually though, she’d also had enough, and after a particularly successful wave, she aimed her board at the shore, still standing on it, and brought it to an impressive halt.
Picking it up, she carried it up the beach and put it next to Ron’s. ‘Come on, let’s go for that dip before the tide changes. Race you!’ And with that, she whirled around and shot back into the sea, splashing through the waves and kicking up water.
Ron didn’t need asking twice. He leapt to his feet and charged off after her, powering through the water until it reached his thighs, and then he dived straight in.
Not only was Annabelle a decent enough surfer in his opinion, she was also a good swimmer, strong with a smooth action, and she drove forward in a powerful front crawl.
It was hard to keep up, and he was panting by the time she decided to tread water. They were well out beyond the breaking waves, and he bobbed next to her and looked out to sea, the gentle swells almost filling his vision, and he felt as though they were the only two people on earth.
‘I’m glad I came on this holiday,’ Annabelle said, out of the blue.
‘I’m glad you came, too,’ he said.
She turned in the water to look at him, and now they were face-to-face, a metre or so apart, and he would have given everything he owned, which admittedly wasn’t a lot, to kiss her right there in the sea.
He didn’t know whether his hunger and his desire for her had shown on his face, or whether she’d had the same idea at the same time, but suddenly they were in each other’s arms and were kissing, her warm lips on his, her arms around his neck, both of them kicking to keep afloat in the water.
It only lasted for a heartbeat or two, and then she pulled away and looked guiltily towards the shore. Ron could see Jake riding one of the swells, his back to them, and he scanned the beach to see where everyone else was.
Kate Brett and the two girls were sitting on the sand, but he couldn’t tell whether they were watching him or not.
‘I had better check on Izzie,’ Annabelle said. They could just make out the little girl’s head bobbing in the water. ‘I didn’t realise we’d come quite so far,’ she added. ‘Are you going to get in OK?’
Ron grinned. ‘Race you,’ he dared her, and before the words had even left his mouth, she was off, and once more he had to work hard to keep up with her. Goodness me, but he hadn’t been swimming in such a long time, he was out of practice.
She beat him to the shore with only half a metre or so between them, and waded through the shallow waves, almost falling, giggling as she ran. Then she threw herself down on the sand next to Kate, gasping, a big grin on her face.
Ron noticed Kate giving her a sideways look, and he was aware that Brett’s eyes were on him, but he didn’t care. That kiss had been... magical. His only regret was that it hadn’t lasted longer, and he so desperately wanted to do it again.
What the hell was he thinking? Only the other night he’d pushed her away, telling her that they couldn’t, that a relationship wasn’t a good idea, and now he was practically throwing himself at her. What had gotten into him?
He didn’t know, but he was enjoying it. He hadn’t felt so lighthearted or so carefree in such a very long time.
Even as those thoughts were going through his head, he was also telling himself that this was not a good idea, that he had nothing to offer her, but both Kate and Brett were beaming at him, and when Brett gave him a thumbs up he knew they approved.
It put a whole different perspective on what was happening and how he was feeling. If they were happy about it, surely he could allow himself to be, too? They knew his circumstances, were well aware that he didn’t have a home of his own, and that he was living off Beverley’s charity, but they didn’t seem to mind.
It was an interesting and enlightening thought. He’d been so convinced that no woman would ever want him, and that he didn’t deserve to have another relationship, that this was a novel way of looking at things for him. He still wasn’t convinced, but neither was he quite so dead set against a romantic relationship.
Even if he had been, he wasn’t sure how well he could control his feelings for Annabelle: his brain might say no but his heart and his body were screaming yes. That far too brief contact in the water had been enough to send his pulse soaring, and he couldn’t wait to kiss her again. If she’d let him. And he hoped with everything he had that she would.
