Blurred by Kim Karr
Prologue
Golden Boy
October
The Day After My Mother’s Death
From the start I had it all—a caring mother, a hardworking father, an older doting sister . . . everything a boy could want. We lived in the most magical place; every day in California was like being on vacation at the beach. Mom stayed home while Dad went to work. We had a nice house and a dog; we laughed, we played, we were very happy. Nothing scratched our perfect existence until the night my father never came home. And then our once shiny happiness was left forever dulled. His sudden absence frayed all that was left of our perfect life, my perfect life.
Just when I thought there was no mending it, Dahlia London moved in next door. A beautiful blonde-haired girl with the tiniest of noses and pretty heart-shaped lips, she had a love of the beach that could only be matched in intensity by mine. From the very first time I laid eyes on her, I knew she was perfect for me, and she was. She fit into our family like a missing puzzle piece. We grew up being best friends and then one day she was my girl. It was just that easy and it stayed that way for the longest time.
As happens in life . . . everything between us changed as time passed. We were five when we met and we were twenty-five when we were torn apart. During those twenty years we had created a bond that I thought couldn’t be broken. I’d poured myself into our relationship and I knew she had, too. But she was a little more broken than me, and her fragility made me more her protector than anything else.
She was fourteen when her parents died and she needed me . . . so I gave her support. She was sixteen when I knew we felt something deeper for each other . . . so I loved her. She was seventeen when her uncle died and she was left alone . . . so I gave up my dream for her. She was the only thing I ever let get in the way of me and my board. It was an opportunity of a lifetime: If I won my next competition, I’d win a sponsorship and get to compete in the Pipe Masters. It was my chance to go pro. But that meant leaving Dahl behind, and she had already lost too many people. So I made a rash decision. I chose to stay with her. I threw the competition on purpose.
It’s a day I’ll never forget. The weather was perfect. The sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Surfing conditions were optimal. The water was warm and the waves were high. I paddled out slow and caught my first wave on the shoulder of the peak. Of course I knew better, but the announcer still made the comment that I’d acted too soon, that I didn’t wait for the steep face. He blamed it on my nerves and I let him. My score was well below what was expected from me and I didn’t qualify. There was only one person who figured it out—she never said a word, but I knew all along my mother knew. And with the loss in that competition my dream of competing on the professional circuit came to a screeching halt.
When it came time to go to college, Dahl and I knew we couldn’t be apart for four years—so we went together. After college we wanted to start the next phase of our lives—so we moved in together. Then once we had secured our careers, it was time to take the next step, it was a natural progression—so I proposed. But before we even set a date, the world showed what a cruel place it could really be. I was once again forced into making a decision . . . live alone or die together. And that time, I had nothing to throw—so I had no other choice but to leave her behind. I had to protect her.