This at least felt more stable than standing on the board.
“Great, perfect,” he said. “That’s how you lie on the board to paddle out into the water. Now I’m going to show you how to stand up once you’re out there.” At Izzy’s expression, he added, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to make you stand up on the board in the water today, but I still want you to practice. I’ll do it on your board so you can see.”
He lay down on the surfboard like she’d been doing. “Start on your stomach, then you just arch up like this, and pull up and slide forward, until you get into that stance I showed you. See?”
He slid up, in one smooth movement, until he was standing.
“It looks so easy when you do it,” she said.
He smiled at her. “You’ll be able to do it, too. Keep practicing it now a bit, just so you get the hang of it.”
It was a lot harder than it looked, but Beau smiled at her after she did it a few times.
“Now it’s time to get in the water.”
She looked at the ocean and bit her lip.
“Oh no. It happened again,” he said.
She swung around to see him frowning at her. “What? What happened again?”
“Your shoulders are like, touching your ears,” he said.
She had to laugh at that.
He bent down and picked up the surfboard. “Here, why don’t you watch me so you can see how it all comes together?” He grinned at her. “Don’t go anywhere.”
She stood on the sand and watched him walk into the water with the surfboard, slide up on top of it, paddle out into the water, and then, once he was far out, pull himself to standing and surf back in to shore. She couldn’t help but grin when he landed at her side, but she shook her head.
“I’m not doing that.”
He laughed. “You can do it. I have faith in you, Izzy.”
“Absolutely not.” Wait. “Are you…Are you giving me a pep talk?”
He raised his eyebrows at her. “What does it sound like?”
He grabbed the board and paddled back out into the water before she could respond. She watched him ride the water toward shore again, a smile on her face.
“Now,” he said, when he joined her on the sand again. “Let’s get you in the water. Today, we’re just going to get you comfortable on the board.”
Wait a minute.
“You said today—does that mean you’re going to make me do this again?”
He grinned at her. “I’m not making you do anything. Come on. I promise, you’ll be fine.”
She took a deep breath and followed him.
“Wait.” He stopped when they were about knee-deep in the ocean. “You can swim, right?”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Of course I can swim! Do you think I would walk into the ocean with you if I couldn’t swim?”
He shrugged. “You were staring at the ocean like it was going to swallow you up, how was I supposed to be sure?”
She elbowed him. Even though she knew she’d barely touched him, he stumbled dramatically. She rolled her eyes.
“I was not staring at the ocean like it was going to swallow me up. I was just…surveying the terrain, that’s all.”
He pursed his lips and nodded. “Mmm-hmm.” He kept moving forward in the water, and Izzy followed him, until her feet didn’t touch the bottom anymore and she had to swim next to him.
“Okay.” He turned and set the board in front of her but kept one hand on it. “I just want you to practice getting on top of the board in the water a few times. For now, I’ll hold on to it so it doesn’t move anywhere. Don’t worry about that.”
“Mmm, I’m not worried about the board, I’m worried about me. Who’s going to hold on to me?” she said under her breath.
Beau just laughed. “Are you ready?”
Not really. But she pulled herself up so she was lying on it like she had on the sand.
“Good job!” he said.
She glared at him. He just laughed again.
“Move your feet closer together. You want them flush together, both right at the edge of the board.”
She did what he said, and he nodded.
“Perfect.”
He watched her for a few seconds. She could tell from the look in his eyes he was about to suggest something she wouldn’t want to do.
“How about I let go the next time a wave comes, and you can ride it in to shore?” He gave her an encouraging smile. It didn’t fool her.
“Mmm. What if I just…stayed here, like this, with you holding on? This feels like enough, doesn’t it?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Isabelle.”
She looked back at him. “Beauregard.”
He burst out laughing. “My name isn’t Beauregard!”
She glared at him. “Then what is it? Why do you have a name like Beau? Why am I lying on top of a floating board in the middle of the ocean? How did you convince me to do this?”
He was still giggling. His laughter was infectious. She had to work hard not to laugh with him.
“First of all, you aren’t in the middle of the ocean, you’re at the very edge of the ocean. Second, I have a name like Beau because of my father, may he not rest in peace. Third, I convinced you to do this because I asked nicely.”
Beau had never mentioned his dad to her before. She’d table that for later.
“Because you asked nicely? That’s not—exactly—how I remember…”
“FOURTH, I’ll tell you what my real name is if you try to ride a wave into shore. You don’t even have to do it, you just have to try.”
She glared at him again. “Okay but that’s not fair, because if I try and don’t do it, that means I fell off into the water.”
“That’s true,” he said, “but that’s no problem, we all do it, and you know how to swim, you just told me that.”
She shook her head. “I don’t like you at all,” she said. “I just want you to know that. Fine, I’ll do it.”
He grinned at her. “On the other hand, I like you very much.” She didn’t have time to react to that, because almost immediately, he looked behind her and nodded. “Okay. Here we go. Remember, relax, balance.”
Then he released the board. Almost immediately a wave lifted the board—and her with it—up and propelled them both forward.
Oh, this wasn’t that bad! It was even kind of…fun, just soaring along on the waves like this! She looked toward the shore and grinned.
She was almost all the way in to shore when another, bigger wave smacked against the board and lifted it up again. The board wobbled to one side and then the other, Izzy tensed up, and she slid right into the water.
Oh God, the water was freezing. Her entire body was only under for a few seconds, and she had the wet suit on, but still. Not even a wet suit could save her from the icy Pacific Ocean.
She stood up and shook herself, in an attempt to get water out of her ear. She turned, and Beau was right there next to her. A suspiciously solemn look on his face.
She pointed at him. “Were you laughing at me?” she asked.
“No! Absolutely not.” One corner of his mouth poked up and then the other. “But you have to admit, it was a little funny. You were doing just fine, and you just…tipped to the side and went straight into the water.”
“I admit nothing,” she said, but let herself grin.
He put his hand on his hip. “You know. Like that song about a teapot? Just tip me over?” He tilted to the side, hand still on his hip.
Izzy did everything she could to hold her laughter in. “I’ve never heard that song; I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.
He grinned at her, and finally, she grinned back.
“Come on, let’s try again,” he said. “This time, how about you paddle out first?”
She sighed, but didn’t argue.
She fell off again the next time. But the third time, she sailed right into shore, not stopping until the board landed on the sand. She stayed there, a big smile on her face, until she felt Beau’s shadow over her.
“I did it!” she said, smiling up at him.
“You did it!” He reached a hand down to her, a huge smile on his face. “Come on. Let’s go celebrate.”
After they dropped off the surfboard and Izzy’s wet suit, she pulled her dress back on over her still-damp swimsuit. She knew she should go to the back and put her bra on, but her arms felt like Jell-O.
She glared at Beau on their way to the car. “You didn’t tell me how sore this was going to make me. I can barely move my arms!”
“I forgot, I’m sorry,” he said. Hmm, he didn’t look sorry at all. “Just think of how much easier it’ll be the next time.”
Before she could tell him there wasn’t going to be a next time, he grinned at her. “So, how would you like to celebrate your victory over the Pacific Ocean?” He opened the car door for her with a flourish, and she laughed.
“What are my options? I don’t really know what there is around here. I’ve really only left the house, like, three times.”