“Huh? Oh. Yeah. Sorry, yes. We have a deal.”
With a deep breath, she climbed onto her board again and padded out to the waves. For a moment, she waited, listening to the tide, and then the pull of the wave began and she closed her eyes.
Okay. Focus. You can do this.
In one quick movement, she swung her leg around until she was centered on the board, then spread out her arms to keep her balance.
Keep your knees bent. Keep your head up.
The crash would be coming any moment now. Any second she’d be falling in the water.
But no, the crash never came. Instead, her chest filled with exhilaration and she was gliding across the water.
“I’m doing it!” she shouted, then she glanced over her shoulder and found Trey grinning at her, his hands held up in celebration.
“I’m doing it!” She pumped her fist in the air—
And then realized her mistake.
With a wobble, she crashed back into the water, but this time she didn’t care. She’d done it. She’d surfed.
After retrieving her board, she swam over to Trey who was still smiling at her like she’d won a gold medal in surfing.
“I can’t believe I did it.” She bobbed in the water.
“How did it feel?”
“Incredible. Like nothing I’ve ever felt before.” And it was true. Even in all her pilates or her hours on the stationary bike, she’d never found something that made her feel free. So alive. “Thank you.”
Unable to help herself, she embraced him. “It was so nice of you to—“
She pulled back and when she found his gaze fixed on hers, for a moment she forgot herself. Her heart skipped another beat, and then she was stuttering. “I mean, it was really, really nice of you to, you know, teach me.”
With a jolt, she realized her arms were still around his neck and she moved backward until she bumped into her board.
“Any time.” He cleared his throat, but the look in his eyes was still there—all darkness and hunger.
She wanted to address it—to do something to provoke him. But before she had the chance to devise a plan, he was hopping on the board again. “Come on, Felicia. The ocean waits for no man.”
Six
The sand was gritty against her skin, but she didn't care. She didn't care that it was all in her hair, and that the salt water had probably ruined her only good bathing suit. All she could think, in fact, was that she'd never in her life had so much fun. Or laughed so hard. Or, generally, felt so good.
When they’d finally tired of riding the waves, she and Trey parked on the sand just close enough for the water to lick at their ankles while they laid back and watched the sun set over the water.
For a long while, they said nothing, simply panting from their exhaustion as the sky turned from gold to red and finally to a deep, rich purple she could hardly imagine hovering over New York's skyline.
"It really is beautiful here,” she said, breaking through the silence.
"It is. When I first moved here, I could never believe all the things that just grow here. All the flowers and the birds of paradise. It's amazing."
"You're not from here?" She leaned on her elbow and glanced over at him, doing her best not to watch the way his torso rose and fell as he breathed the evening air.
"No, no." He shook his head. "I'm like you. New York. Well, Michigan first, then New York for a long time."
"What brings a boy from Michigan all the way to New York? Hell, what brings him to Oahu?"
"Life is a funny thing, you know?"
"I guess."
Trey shrugged. “I had a fellowship in New York right after my residency. I was a neurosurgeon for a while. It was a great job."
"I bet you really made a difference."
"Maybe." He considered for a long moment. "But the nice thing about being a doctor is that you make a difference everywhere. You're always helping people, just in different ways."
"You think what you do now is just as important?" she asked, then, catching herself, added, "I mean, I'm sure it is. I don't mean to be--"
"No, no, I know what you meant. A lot of people asked me the same thing when I took this job."
"So why'd you take it?"
"You know how New York is, even if you don't know how medicine is...it's all so fast-paced. So cut-throat. I...You know what, let's not talk about me, let's talk about you."
"I'm not all that interesting. Besides, I want to know."
He let out a little sigh, then said, "All right. Well, I had a steady girlfriend in Michigan, and when I got the fellowship, she followed me to New York. It wasn't any big thing--we were both motivated doctors, trying to save the world one cell at a time." He let out a little guffaw, then said, "But this cut-throat attitude, this competitiveness, it destroys people. It destroyed us. We were both up for a promotion, and it pitted us against each other. Since one of us would be the superior, we couldn't continue to see each other no matter how it turned out. She didn't think twice. She dumped me."