On The Rocks

I have no clue how long I was out but cold drops of water pelting down on me brings me out of my slumber, and I have to shield my eyes as I look up above me. A large body is silhouetted by the sun, but I can tell by the length of his wet hair and his build that it’s Hunter. He stands there with his surfboard wedged into the sand, his arm casually resting on the tip of it.

“What are you doing out here, Gabs?” he asks.

I sit up in my chair, raising the back up to support me, and glance over at Casey. She’s out cold. Looking behind Hunter, I see his fan club hasn’t dispersed. There are several girls huddled together about thirty feet away, looking at him hungrily.

Glancing back at Hunter, I shrug my shoulders. “Casey begged me to hang out with her today.”

Hunter glances back at the water, and I follow his gaze. Brody is still out there, just sitting astride his board and looking out at the horizon.

“How’s he doing today?” I ask.

Leaving his board, Hunter walks to the other side of my chair and plops down on the sand beside me, resting his forearms on his knees. He keeps his gaze on Brody but addresses my question. “I think he’s having a good time out there. First time he’s been in the water in over five years. I think he even cracked a smile when he caught his first wave. Of course, it could have been a grimace, but at least it wasn’t that somber look he seems to constantly wear around.”

“That’s good. You just need to keep him busy… get him back into the swing of things.”

“Yeah,” Hunter muses as he watches his twin. “He needs to figure out what to do for his community service. It’s part of his parole requirements, so we were talking about it some out there.”

“Why doesn’t he volunteer at The Haven? God knows, Alyssa can use the help. She’s trying to do everything herself and practically killing herself in the process.”

“That’s a great idea, Gabs. Thanks. I’ll talk to him about that. He loves dogs, so that is right up his alley.”

We lapse into a comfortable silence for a while, gazing out at the ocean and watching some of the other surfers. Casey eventually wakes up and passes out beers to Hunter and me. We chat about inane stuff, and I question Hunter relentlessly about his time on the ASP World Tour. I purposefully never asked Casey about it, preferring to keep myself distant from all things related to Hunter Markham over the last five years.

He obliges me and tells me about all of his favorite places he’s surfed. He’s been everywhere… Australia, The Maldives, China, Micronesia; the list went on and on. But then he looks back out wistfully at the waves as they break against the shoreline and says, “But my heart will always be here… where I started.”

There’s something about his tone of voice, or maybe it’s the way he watches the water and keeps his eye on Brody, that makes my heart turn over and swear fealty to Hunter. Which again, makes me cranky, because I don’t want to have those feelings.

Casey stands up and heads toward the water, walking in up to her knees and scooping up the salty liquid to cool herself. It doesn’t escape my notice that practically every surfer turns their attention to watch her rather than the set of waves coming in.

I use the opportunity while Casey is gone to ask Hunter a question that I’ve been insanely curious about. “Why did you retire from surfing? You were at the top of your game.”

He doesn’t respond at first, just watching his sister and brother. Then he turns to me and smiles. “You know the answer to that.”

I think I do, so I go ahead and lay it out there. “You came back for Brody.”

“That I did,” he says and then stands up from the sand, brushing the back of his shorts off. “Want to go out in the water?”

Shaking my head, I smile. “No way. It’s not nearly warm enough yet. Hit me up in July, and I’ll think about it.”

“Sissy,” he says with a smile, as he grabs his board. He heads off toward the surf, and then turns back suddenly. “By the way, Gabs… that bikini on you is slammin’.”