Page 33 of Catch a Wave

“Let’s go with adorable.”

“You are blushing!” Mavs drops to her mat when her laughter overtakes her.

I hold my pose, turn into a side plank pose, holding myself up on one arm, and then I extend into a side plank split by raising my leg and holding it in the air while balancing on one arm.

“Show off,” Mavs teases me.

“You want me to show off?” I wink over at Mavs.

I move into a crane pose, extending both arms onto the ground and tucking my legs up under me with my knees touching my forearms, then I slowly extend into handstand pose. I finish this show of mine by lowering myself onto my forearms and contracting into a hollow back pose, where I arch my back and point my toes toward the ground so I’m basically in a sort of backbend, but my arms are supporting my whole body.

I tuck down slowly and risk looking over at Mavs. She’s smiling a smile I haven’t seen in years. It’s the smile she’d give me right before I kissed her. I won’t kiss her now—probably not ever. But I’m tucking that smile away for safekeeping. She gave it to me. It’s mine. I never thought I’d see that smile again.

“Wow.”

“Really? I impressed you?”

“Yeah. You actually did.”

“One day you’ll be doing all those moves.”

Her eyes dart away, and the pain that’s always just beneath the surface returns. I regret my words right away.

“Or not. Up to you. But you could. You can do anything, Kalaine.”

“Not anything. I proved that, didn’t I?”

She sits up, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“You didn’t prove that to me. You proved you’re one of the few humans on the planet who face down waves the size of skyscrapers. You proved you’re a beast and a fierce spirit. You proved the ocean is unpredictable and wild, and what we do when we ride is one of the greatest risks and thrills to be had on earth.

“Did your accident knock the wind out of you? Yes. No one gets that like I do. But you’re a fighter. I believe you’ll come back from this like a phoenix. In time. When you’re ready.”

I don’t give her a chance to answer me. “Now quit disrupting my yoga practice.” I smile softly at her so it’s clear I’m teasing. “Let’s do the rest of the positions. Next is downward dog.”

12

KALAINE

Aging is an extraordinary process where you become

the person you always should have been.

~ David Bowie

Okay. Yoga with Bodhi was either the best or worst idea on earth.

Watching Bodhi control his body with such precision made me feel like the temps outside were spiking. And all that mastery revealed the work he’d put into recovering and moving on. He’s come so far. Without me.

The combination of his soft words and the way he believes in me left me confused and shaken.

I can barely believe I did a plank, even a modified plank, and then I went into downward dog and a few seated poses. There aren’t words for how good it felt to move my body, and to do it with Bodhi.

Again: confusion.

I’m grateful he’s off to work, and I have plans. Hanging around here at Kai and Bodhi’s after the morning we sharedwould be way too much for me. Vestiges of his presence permeate every room. And I’ve been dying to peek into his bedroom, just to see how it’s decorated and to experience the place he’s come to call home. I won’t. But it sure is tempting.

Summer’s knock is firm and repeated.

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