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7
JAY HAD SURFED off and on since he’d been stationed at Pendleton. Growing up on a ranch in North Texas he hadn’t ever thought of surfing or the ocean much at all. Put him on a horse and point him toward some cattle and he felt at home.
But as he watched Alysse on her board catching the waves he was in awe. He caught a glimpse of how natural she was in this setting. This was a side to her he’d never seen before and he just sat back and lapped it up.
Toby had put on a friendly face in front of Alysse but in private had told Jay he was watching him. And Jay had to respect that.
He didn’t have any friends or close confidantes that he’d mentioned his brief marriage to, but she had
family—close family and friends. People she socialized with today who knew he’d married and left her.
Thinking on that made him wonder if he should just leave now. Alysse was way too good for the likes of him and the burden of being accepted by her friends was a high one. But then she paddled her board over toward him and sat up and smiled. Really smiled all the way to her soul, he imagined.
“Are you having fun?” she asked. The sun was behind her, casting her face in shadow, but he knew that she was enjoying herself. Her body language and easy laughter were all indications.
No, he wasn’t having fun. But he did enjoy watching her enjoy herself and that made it worth it. He’d wiped out twice and even though it was just water swirling around him he felt as if he’d gone ten rounds with Lucien in a mixed-martial-arts match and gotten his ass handed to him.
“I’m a bit rusty,” he said at last.
“Ah, that’s not a big deal. Last summer we were slammed at the bakery, lots of weddings and special events, and I didn’t get to surf once all summer. Come September Toby ‘kidnapped’ me from work and made me come out. I wiped out three times before I got out of my head. Maybe that’s your problem...you seem to be weighing something very heavy.”
He shrugged. There were a lot of positives about the Corps to him and one of them was that he didn’t have to think about what to do next. If he reenlisted he’d have everything just the way it had always been.
If he didn’t...he might have Alysse, a new job, a house... “There’s a lot to think about.”
“Of course there is. But this is a moment when you can let go and just for these few hours forget everything else and have fun with these people.”
“There is only one person on this beach I’m interested in having fun with,” he said.
“Me?” she asked, giving him a sultry look.
“Hell, yes,” he admitted. “But you know that already, don’t you?”
“I do,” she said. “I am very interested in you, too, Jay but I don’t want to make the same mistake I did before.”
“It did sort of work for a while,” he said.
“It didn’t work at all. It was nice until reality started closing in. This time I want to know the real Jay. Who is the man with his clothes on?”
“And here I’d rather let you see me with my clothes off,” he said.
“I like that, too, but today I learned that you don’t own a home... That’s huge.”
“Is it?”
“Yes,” she said, riding the swell of a wave that bobbed their boards. “It tells me you don’t like roots.”
He couldn’t believe she was talking about this now. He wasn’t prepared for it, but as natural as Alysse was on the water it probably felt like sitting around a kitchen table to her.
“That’s true.”
“What else don’t I know about you?” she asked.
“You two going to take any waves or just keep talking like old women?” Toby called as he paddled over toward them.
Alysse called back, “We’ll take a wave when we see one we like.”
“Whatever,” Toby said, paddling to catch the first in the next set that rolled under them.
“You should try to get to know some of the people in the group tonight. It’s hard, believe me I know, but you’ll enjoy it.”
“Will I? Is that a guarantee?” he asked.
She leaned over and kissed him quickly on the lips. “Nope, but if you try it and it works, that’s way better than the alternative. You taking this wave?”
He glanced back, thinking of what she’d said. He didn’t have any answers and only knew what he wanted to happen but Alysse was right; he couldn’t control any of that tonight. “I am.”
