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“I’m doing my best. Hey, maybe tonight you can try to talk her into moving in with me?”
I sighed, somewhat disappointed at the idea of Charlee moving that far away, but if she really was in a bad emotional state, then she shouldn’t be alone and Genesis seemed like a really good friend.
“I’ll talk to her,” I agreed.
“Thanks,” Genesis said as she squeezed my arm. “We’ll see you later.”
I went back to the Airstream to get things ready for later.
Charlee
Snuggled on the couch with Midnight, I peered outside to see what was taking Genesis so long and caught her and Levi talking outside. Their troubled glances toward my trailer meant they were most likely discussing me. I adored Genesis and I had missed her all these years, but sometimes she could be super intrusive. I had purposely been vague to Levi about my life because I didn’t want his pity, and now, I had two sets of pitying eyes watching me. While I appreciated they cared, they were never part of my plan. I wanted to spread Bridger’s ashes in peace, and now I was going to have to sneak out like I was a kid again.
When I saw Genesis coming back, I busied myself with making my tea, so she wouldn’t suspect I had been watching them.
“Hey,” she said cheerfully, pulling off her sandals. She came over next to me and made herself a cup of tea, too.
“Everything okay at the salon?” She had gotten a call about a leak and went outside to talk.
“Oh, yeah.” She poured hot water into a mug and dropped a tea bag. “Louie can be so dramatic.” She rolled her eyes. “I told him to just call a plumber.”
“That’s good.” I took a sip and waited to see if she would bring up Levi.
“Yeah. The stupid sink has been giving me issues for years. My ex used to fix it, until he became my ex.”
Eyeing her still, I sipped my tea and waited.
She poured some honey into hers, took a sip, and then said, “I ran into Levi. You will be interested to know that he’s never hooked up with an underage girl.” She snort laughed.
“Oh. That’s an interesting topic.” I raised both brows as I took another sip.
“I was telling him how we thought Evie was either his daughter or a girlfriend. He scoffed at both.” She squeezed out the tea bag and tossed it into the trash and came and sat at the table with me. “He’s nice,” she added.
I smiled in response.
“Why are you being so quiet?”
“Just tired. I was actually thinking about taking a walk and then maybe a nap before the bonfire,” I lied. I really just needed a little space. Being around people like this was suffocating, especially when it seemed like I was being babysat. I didn’t know what I said or did to raise concern, but she went from long-lost friend to concerned parent.
“A walk sounds amazing. The weather is perfect today.”
“I was thinking maybe by myself, if that’s alright?”
“Oh, okay.” Genesis’ smile dropped. “I do need to work on payroll before my employees stage a revolt.”
She was disappointed and possibly lying about work, but I was grateful she accepted my excuse. Once I finished my tea, I scooped up Midnight and headed out. Genesis was right about the weather. Today was perfect. It was warm, but not too warm, and there was a light breeze. The sun would be setting in a few hours and it would undoubtedly get cooler, especially with the impending storm, although you wouldn’t be able to tell there was even a threat from the cloudless sky.
I took off Midnight’s leash and let her run down to the water. Her tail wagged happily as she did her usual ritual of barking at the waves.
The tide was in, so I tucked myself into mine and Bridger’s little alcove where the ocean couldn’t reach while Midnight played in the water. The waves were the only indication that a storm was coming. They were tall and fierce and many surfers were taking advantage of it.
There were a lot of surfers on the beach today. Normally, it cleared out later in the afternoon, but it almost seemed busier. Worry shot through me. Bridger had a big following, but I didn’t want to share his death day with anyone, and I had assumed they would lose interest by now, but it was possible that I had miscalculated given the cult following legendary surfers acquired.
Bridger had been touring nonstop for years, and as proud of him as I was, I missed him. He was supposed to have this next tour off so we could travel together, but they begged him to stay on, because they wanted him to continue mentoring a kid they believed had the potential to be the next big thing.
“Let someone else do it,” I argued with him as we sat out on the water, our feet dangling over our boards.
“They don’t want to replace me, and I’ve really made a ton of progress with the kid. He’s a natural, Char. Come with me this year. It’ll be fun. I miss having you with me on tour.”
