Page 13 of Broken Hearts

I’ve been in the shop maybe thirty minutes or so when Sage appears, her half-drunk coffee in her hands. She looks better than she did earlier this morning, not just because she’s obviously had a shower and changed, but her eyes aren’t as puffy and bloodshot either. If I had to guess, it wasn’t just the jet lag and time change that was affecting her and somehow it makes me feel a little bit better that Mitch’s death is hard for her too, regardless of how distant they were.

“Hi,” she says, stopping in the back doorway.

“Hey,” I say, giving her a quick smile before turning back to the iPad. I want to ask her about what happened upstairs so bad, but I can’t. Can’t put any ideas in her head until I know what she’s thinking.

“Is there…is there anything I can do to help?” she now asks, and I swear she almost sounds nervous.

It’s an automatic reflex to say no, not wanting to have her around here, a place she has no claim to despite the fact it belongs to her dad. But just as I’m about to tell her that, I stop, wondering if maybe her being here isn’t a good thing. A chance for her to see what this place is and what it means to the locals and to the tourists.

So maybe she might think twice about taking that asshole up on his offer.

“Sure,” I reply, turning to face her. “You can price that box of stuff if you want,” I tell her, pointing to the box of bikinis and trunks that got dropped off yesterday. “Here,” I add, handing her one of those old-school pricing guns.

“How much do I make them?” she asks, opening the box. I hand her a price list, and she offers me a small smile. “Thanks.”

She moves down to the other end of the counter, carefully removing each of the swimsuits, putting a price on them before stacking them in a neat pile beside the box. It’s almost like she’s trying to take up as little room as possible. I don’t bother making conversation as I scan through the rest of the orders we’re expecting.

“So, do you work here every day?” she eventually asks, and when I look down at her, she’s busy pricing and not looking at me.

“Yeah, mostly,” I say. “I pretty much surf with Mitch every day, and then just hang out here, working,” I add, immediately realizing what a loser that makes me sound like.

Before I can clarify that I do have other shit going on in my life, the bell above the door rings, and when I look up, I see Kai, dressed in nothing but boardshorts, his hair dripping with the remnants of the ocean, walking in. I already know his custom-made board will be propped against the front of the shop, waiting for him to walk back out, cross the street, and head back into the surf. Guy pretty much lives in the ocean when he’s not working, which is hardly surprising considering his family’s business.

“Nate, dude,” he says, walking up to the counter with a huge grin on his face.

“Hey,” I reply, clapping the hand he offers me.

Kai casts a long look at Sage, who lifts her head and offers him a quick smile before she puts the swimsuits she’s been pricing back into the box and walks off. As soon as she’s left, Kai turns back to me, brows raised and that same goofy grin on his face.

“Who the fuck is that?” he mouths, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in case it wasn’t clear who he’s talking about.

I shake my head. “No one. Doesn’t matter,” I reply.

Kai chuckles, glancing over his shoulder at Sage again before turning back to me. “So, two things. One, I need some more wax.”

“Easy,” I say, grabbing a tub of the Quick Humps orange wax I know he uses. “And the second?”

Kai grins, throwing some notes on the counter that are slightly damp from being clutched in his hand. “We still on for tonight or what?”

I blow out a breath, looking over Kai’s shoulder at Sage, who is now busy hanging the swimsuits on the rack. I’m not sure if she’s listening to us. It’s entirely possible she is because the shop isn’t that big, and Kai is currently our only customer.

I hear Kai chuckle, and when I glance back at him, his grin is cheeky as he leans in and murmurs, “Tell me you don’t wanna tap that.” Again, he motions toward Sage in case I’m not clear who he’s talking about.

“I don’t wanna tap that,” I reply, deadpan.

His grin widens, giving Sage one last look as he says, “Sure you don’t. So, tonight, we on or what? I wasn’t sure what with everything…”

I shove a hand through my hair, knowing that I feel the same way. It feels wrong to get together, given everything that’s happened, but at the same time, I know it’s what Mitch would want us to do. The last thing in the world Mitch would want is us sitting around with our thumbs up our asses, wondering what the hell we’re going to do without him.

Plus, after my earlier comment to Sage, I kind of want to hang out with my friends in a way that doesn’t involve surfing or work. Prove I do have more shit going on in my life besides that.

“You know what,” I say. “Fuck it, let’s do it.”

“Nice,” Kai says, giving my hand another clap before he picks up the wax and turns to leave. Just before he walks out though, he stops by the door, a huge grin on his face as he calls out to Sage, “Bye, pretty lady.”

Sage and I don’t talk much for the rest of the day, mostly because the second Alana walks in, she takes care of that for me. I swear that woman could talk to anyone about anything and for once, I’m grateful.

The shop is busy too, almost like word’s gotten around that The Pipe Dream is still open despite its owner having died. I’m sure everyone has a million questions about what’s gonna happen to the place, and I certainly don’t miss the second looks Sage gets anytime a local walks in.

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