Page 47 of Catch a Wave

“A surf Barney? No. Not my dog. He’s no Barney. He just might get on a board one day.”

Her smile flickers just the slightest and her gaze drifts out over the water.

“How about Shaka?” I ask.

She makes the sign, sticking her pinky and thumb out and tucking the other three fingers in toward her palm. “Like Shaka?”

“Yeah. Hang loose. All’s well. We could use a little shaka, don’t you think?”

“Yeah. We could.” She smiles. Then she turns to the dog. “What do you think? Do you like the name Shaka?”

The dog looks right at Mavs and pants this happy smile.

She smiles up at me. “He likes it.”

“We’re keeping him.”

“What about me asking Kai?”

“A formality. We’ll ask him so he doesn’t raise Cain. But this dog? He’s yours. Well, technically, he’s mine since I named him. But, you know, I’ve always been good at sharing. Especially when it comes to you.”

“Thank you,” Mavs says with the softest, sweetest look in her eyes. “I don’t think I’ll mind sharing.”

“Good thing.” I smile down at her. “I’d hate to have to thumb wrestle you.”

I know I stepped over about fifty tripwires just now, but Mavs is making me crazy, her honey-gold eyes looking up at me, her hair all wild and wavy, the morning sun glinting off her skin. I’ll be her friend. I will. It might kill me, but I will.

Mavs decides we ought to try to see if Shaka will follow us home. Like me, it turns out he’d follow her anywhere. At least, now, I would.

I should have followed her then. Begged her to stay. Gotten my head out of my rear and seen further down the road. She seems to have forgiven me with ease over these past few weeks. I can’t forgive myself, though. Every day, I’m in the house with her, moving around one another like a couple, only without any of the romance. A taut band of tension stretches between us, but there’s a comfortable ease there too. Whenever she accepts my invites, we do yoga together.

And now this. She’s beaming down at that adorable mutt, talking away to him like the old Mavs while we stroll along theedge of the sand. And he’s smiling up at her like she’s the only person who matters in his world.

Buddy, I feel you.

The dog pauses and sits when we get to the end of the road that runs alongside the beach. Mavs walks ahead calling, “Shaka! Come on, sweet boy. You’re going to love this.”

He’s not so sure. He looks back at me and up at her, but he doesn’t budge.

“I’ll have to carry him,” Mavs says, some of her old resolve seeping into her words.

If Kai could see her like this, he’d override any objections he had to her bringing a dog home.

“I don’t think your PT would approve of you hauling a thirty pound dog for three blocks. I’ll carry him.”

“You will?”

“Anything … Sure.” I almost said,anything for you. But I’ve said enough today. My mouth seems to lose its filter around her these days. Everything my heart longs for and lost is within my grasp, and yet she’s still so out of reach.

I bend down and give Shaka a few soft strokes down his back. “Hey, buddy, I’m going to carry you. Okay?”

He just sits there, turning his head toward the ocean and then looking at Mavs and then me.

I decide he’ll be better off if I act with confidence, so in one swift move, I sweep him up into my arms. He surprises me by leaning into me and resting his head over my shoulder.

“Awwww. Look at him.” Mavs beams at me. At me, not the dog.

Her smile triggers mine. I’m smiling so hard my cheeks feel tight. She’s happier than she’s been since she got here, and I had a little something to do with it.

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