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Mitch put his hand up as if to halt her protest. ‘It’ll be fun.’ He grinned and Holly felt a surge of warmth cover her body.
They took lunch on Rita’s decking area, which had a stunning view over green fields, dotted with black woolly sheep. Below that was the beach with rock pools in the foreground a huge expanse of sand, which met a glistening sea, with white waves charging in. The beach was backed by sand dunes, where long grasses sprouted up in tufts.
Rita chatted endlessly, reminiscing about Mitch’s holidays as a child and telling embarrassing stories about him. Holly laughed at the stories and her body relaxed, like a slow melting ice-cream. She ate a sandwich made with doorstep slices of fresh seeded bloomer, delicious ham and fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes. After they’d eaten homemade fruitcake, she wondered whether she would have a pot belly poking out of the wetsuit, it certainly was not an energising lunch. She felt more like having an afternoon nap than riding the waves.
Rita stood up. ‘Come on then, missy. I’ll show you the bathing costumes and sort out the wetsuit.’
Holly was surprised at how brief the bikinis were. Most were triangle patches held together with string, reminding her more of bunting than something fit to cover her body parts. She found one in a sporty style, although once Holly put it on, it showed a bit more bum cheek and side boob than she would have liked. She pulled the wet suit up as Rita came in to help.
‘It’s a bit tight.’ Holly stood panting as she pulled it over her hips.
‘It’s supposed to fit like a glove, love. It’s perfect for you. Now don't zip it up fully until you get down there, else you’ll be sweating buckets, it’s jolly hot out there today.’
Holly walked down the stairs feeling stiff. Mitch grinned with an almost boyish expression. In fact, she noticed, he seemed so much younger today.
Mitch and Hollywalked through the village to the surf shop. They hired a wet suit for Mitch and two surf boards. Heading down the beach towards the sea, Holly held the front of each surfboard under her arms and Mitch carried them at the rear. Holly felt a flutter of nerves.Is this such a great idea?she thought. She had not been surfing since she had been to Newquay with Tom when she was eighteen, just before she had left for London.
When they reached the beach, The tide was quite a way out and it took some time to reach the water. The wind blasted inland, therefore Mitch spoke loudly.
‘How strong a surfer are you?’
‘I’d say novice,’ she said, turning her head as far as she could.
‘I’ll give you a refresher lesson then,’ he called.
They walked the last stretch through warm shallow puddles towards the surf, stopping short of the waves and placed the boards on the beach. They zipped up the back-fastening wetsuits for each other.
Mitch turned around grinning. ‘Now for a quick lesson.’
Holly watched him lay on the beached board, miming paddling, then he rose up into a standing position.
‘Now you try,’ Mitch said.
Holly moved about on the board pretending to paddle through the waves. She stood up leaning from side to side, imagining she was on the surf. It came straight back to her and she felt free with the wind in her loosely-tied-back hair, the sun warming her face.
Mitch smiled. ‘A natural.’
‘I’m not on the water yet,’ Holly said laughing.
The sea felt cold but she soon became accustomed to it. They took their respective boards and strapped the rope attached to them around their ankles. They passed the breaking waves and were soon bobbing up and down on the water.
Mitch kept close to her and pointed to the waves, shouting above the noise of the surf. ‘Choosing the right wave will become an instinct in the end.’
Finally, after a few failed attempts, Holly managed to get up to standing position and travelled in on a slow, shallow wave. She was soon back in her stride feeling the stress being teased and tossed out of her body.
After an hour of catching waves, they sat down on the boards, placed on the beach, looking out to sea. Holly could taste the salt from the sea water on her lips.
‘Thanks, Mitch, that was amazing. It was just like being a kid again.’ Holly laid back and shut her eyes. She felt warm. She felt free.
After a half hour of lying down, she heard Mitch’s voice.
‘Let’s get back then. You ready?’
Holly heaved herself up and they got into position again with one board under each arm and walked back along the beach to the hire shop.
At the frontdoor of the house, Rita handed them fresh towels. ‘You can use the holiday let if you like. The last guests left this morning and the next lot aren’t due until Sunday. So you can get changed in there.’ She pointed to a small holiday lodge situated on a plot of land adjoining her property. ‘In fact, you can stay over if you like.’
Holly blushed.
