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“Cold. Wet. Big.” The words sputtered from her as her feet kept up a steady tread.
“Fun?”
She shot him another look. “Maybe a little.”
His grin widened. “Wanna try something else fun?”
“No.”
He nodded towards the surf zone. “Relax. I’m not gonna just toss you out there. I haven’t even taught you how to pop up on your board yet. I was thinking more along the lines of a little bodyboarding. Feeling up to it?”
Actually, after burning off the meager calories provided by her morning bowl of cereal, Andy was feeling a tad queasy.
Still, she didn’t want to disappoint her instructor. “Yeah,” she said, ignoring her grumbling stomach as she clambered back onto her board. “Let’s do it.”
They continued on the path they’d taken from the beach, essentially a wide U that wrapped around the surf zone before returning to shore. As they paddled, Luke stressed the importance of staying a safe distance away from other surfers to avoid collisions. Andy had no problem keeping her distance. Because said distance was still a lot closer than sitting on the sidelines with a pair of binoculars.
As they passed Dylan, Andy stared in wonder at the man skimming across the waves, deftly maneuvering his board in fast little cutting movements. “He’s amazing,” she breathed.
“Yeah,” Luke said proudly. “D’s been ripping since he was barely out of diapers. His old man taught him. Lio was a pro back in the day. But pro surfers don’t make a lot of money, so he also worked as a commercial fisherman and made boards on the side.”
“He taught you and Dylan?”
Luke smiled wryly at her. “He tried to teach us both skills. Neither of us took to the fishing.”
“Yeah, I get it. My dad loves to fish. He used to take me out a lot when I was little. I couldn’t stand dealing with all the slimy worms and river trout.” Frowning as she recalled dead, glassy eyes staring at her from a bucket, Andy felt her stomach pitch.
“Not your cup of tea, huh?”
“No. But I did enjoy sorting all the gear he brought from the shop.” She’d used to mess with her dad’s lures for hours, carefully arranging everything by size, by color, and then again by texture. Like strange little toys, they’d seemed endlessly fascinating to her.
Glancing at Luke, she realized he was watching her in rather the same way. As though he found her more than a little fascinating. He cocked his head thoughtfully. “So your dad owns a fishing shop?”
Andy flushed as she continued paddling. “Uhm… something like that.” Not an outright lie. ManCave did sell plenty of fishing gear.
Ugh.She should probably just tell Luke her dad owned ManCave. He probably wouldn’t care.
Although, her dad’s businesswassomething of a competitor to his. Also, there was the fact that Luke had just told her his father was an abusive bastard. One his mother had killed in order to protect him from. Now didn’t seem the time to elaborate on how her own father ran a multi-million dollar enterprise that donated to numerous charities.
As she continued to fret over the issue, Luke sent another spray of water her way. “Hey, I don’t give a fuck if your dad owns a bait shop or a Fortune 500.”
It was definitely closer to the latter.
“You good?” Luke queried.
She relaxed at his cheeky grin. “Yeah. I’m good.”
“Awesome. Now listen, this isn’t legit bodyboarding, but it’s still fun to just ride the little foamies back in.” Luke pointed to a line of whitewater rushing into shore ahead of them to the right. “That way.”
Andy paddled hard, and soon they were swept up in the tide rolling in. Just sailing into the shallows like a couple kids on rafts.
Itwasfun.
So much so that she burst into laughter the second their boards coasted to a stop near the sandy slope of the beach. “Oh my god, again!”
Luke’s grin was ear to ear as she picked up her board and awkwardly jogged back through the water. “Looks like someone has acclimated,” he said, sloshing after her.
They got into position several yards out, then took off paddling again until the current took them.
