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“Surely the Navy subjected you to harder tests than this one. Pun not intended.”
Tuck’s enormous chest barrels out as he sucks in a breath, his eyes on his daughter and her bikini-clad nanny. “I don’t know, man.”
“Godspeed.”
“Ha.”
I was wired after my exchange in Dolly’s cabin with Lu. The kind of angsty, heady, can’t-sit-still energy I can only burn off with sex or surfing. So after running over to Stede’s with Cooper to finalize the headcount for Friday’s cocktail party, I grabbed my surfboard and called Tuck and Abel. Luckily all our dockhands showed this afternoon, so Tuck was off ferry duty and able to meet me at East Beach for an impromptu surfing session. Abel already went for a run this morning and didn’t have time.
Conditions aren’t great—the Atlantic was choppy at Frying Pan Shoals, but here on South Beach the water is calm—but it’s better than nothing.
The muscles in my arms and quads burn when I push to standing as I catch a wave. Tuck follows suit, his movements smooth and lethally quick for such an enormous human being. Guy is 6’ 4”, but he moves with more agility than I could ever hope to at six feet on a good day.
Tuck’s told me about his time in the military. He’s proud of the work he did, as he should be. But judging from his Jack Ryan moves, there’s a lot I don’t know about his Navy SEAL days. I imagine he was among the Commander in Chief’s first calls whenever shit went south.
Total badass.
Which makes the fact that he’s wrapped around his four-year-old’s little finger so damn satisfying.
We ride the wave, then paddle back out. I resolve to keep up with Tuck, if only to prevent myself from thinking about Lu by pushing my body to the limit.
I catch wave after wave. Paddle harder than I ever have. My shoulders scream and my lungs ache, sweat pouring down my face and chest despite several refreshing spills into the water. I listened to Vérité on my drive over here, and I repeat some lyrics over and over again inside my head in the hopes it will distract me. Lu was right, this chick is good.
And still, I see Lu’s face when I confessed why I opened Stede’s. Why I’ve worked my ass off over the past decade to build an empire. The emotion in her eyes, the confusion—Christ, makes my chest twist every time I think about it.
Which is a lot.
I didn’t intend to have a breakthrough in Dolly’s cabin the day after I see Lu for the first time in a decade. But with nothing—everything—to lose, I put myself out there, and I’d like to think that moved her dial from hate to like the tiniest bit. I know she doesn’t believe me. Not yet. But it’s a start.
“The Wade girl,” Tuck says, yanking me back to the present. “Something happened today, didn’t it?”
We’re sitting on our boards again, legs dangling in the water as we wait for another wave.
I raise my arm to wipe the sweat off my forehead. “Found out she’s single.”
“Oh boy.”
“I’m gonna take my shot.”
Tuck arches a brow. “I thought she was one of the major reasons you went into a death spiral at eighteen. You also said you didn’t need to see her again.”
“She’s innocent. Our families . . . not so much. Point being, I messed up the first time, but now that I have another chance, I’m gonna get it right. I have to try.”
“That was fast. What makes you so sure this is the right move?”
“It’s her.” I lift a shoulder. “She’s changed, sure. But I know the girl I fell for is still there. She expanded my mind. Showed me new things. She made me want more, you know? And I want to draw that girl back out, because I think she might’ve gone into hiding.”
“So you’re saying Lu is the fire in your belly?”
“She’s not the fire. But she’s the one who stoked it. And that fire is the reason I am where I am. And why you have such a sweet gig.”
Tuck grins. “Pay is pretty good. So what’s your first move gonna be, then?”
“I told her I’ve done everything I have over the past decade because I always wanted to win her back.”
He looks at me. “Dang, you ain’t afraid to come out swinging, huh?”
“Maybe that was a little much. But I had to do something. I’ve let her believe I’m an asshole for so long, and it’s time to change that.”
“Why?” Tuck narrows his eyes.
“Reasons.”
“Just tell her the truth, then.”
“I am. I will. I just . . . don’t want to overwhelm her or throw anyone under the bus unnecessarily. I keep telling myself baby steps.”
My friend tucks his chin to spear me with a look. “You just confessed to investing years of your life and millions of your dollars in her ‘passion’. That ain’t a baby step.”
