Page 24 of Broken Hearts

I try really hard not to laugh as Sage maneuvers the board she holds inside, eventually showing her how to hold it under her arm. She blushes again, nodding a silent thanks as she tucks it under her arm and walks in.

I follow her inside and over to the counter, pulling the sketchbook I keep stashed under there out. “So, I’ve got a couple of ideas,” I tell him as I flick through the pages, not missing the way Sage steps in beside me, the scent of vanilla and honey now filling the space between us.

“She seen these?” Kai asks, leaning against the other side of the counter.

I shake my head as Tanner says, “Nah, it’s gonna be a surprise. Mitch put this together, wanted to give it to her as a gift because she got an entry to Maui Pipe.”

I know he’s only saying this for Sage’s benefit because, of course, Kai would know about Mitch secretly commissioning a board for Alana. The only person who doesn’t know about it is Alana.

“My dad bought her a board?” Sage whispers, her words barely audible.

I flick to the page that has my favorite design before I turn to her. “Yeah,” I say, giving her a small smile. “Alana doesn’t have much, but she got an entry into Maui Pipe as an amateur, which is like, really fucking cool.” Sage tilts her head in confusion and my smile widens. “Maui Pipe is a professional comp. They only let the top-ranking amateurs for the hosting country enter, and only if they are good enough to qualify. That’s Alana, she did.”

“Seriously?” she asks, her eyes widening.

“Yep,” I say with a nod. “Your dad was coaching her for it,” I add. “He was so fucking proud of her when she made it, he wanted to get her something to celebrate that.”

Sage blows out a breath, shaking her head slowly as she mutters, “Wow.”

I’m kind of surprised by her reaction, especially given Mitch is her dad and he’s doing all of this for Alana, an employee in his shop, while his daughter, who lives a million miles away, apparently got nothing from him.

But maybe it’s not about that. Maybe it’s more that Sage is starting to see what Mitch is really like. What he did for all of us, for those of us who didn’t have anything. The way he helped us.

“Yeah,” I eventually say. “It sucks he’s not gonna get to see her reaction when we give it to her.”

Sage nods, swallowing hard as her gaze drops to my sketchbook. “When is this Maui Pipe thing again?”

Kai chuckles as I say, “Couple of months from now.”

She nods again and I wonder what she’s thinking. She’ll be back in New York by then, long gone from here and having done god knows what with her dad’s shop, his whole fucking life.

“So, is this what you’re going to put on her board?” she now asks, pointing to the sketch.

We all turn to the page, to the drawing of a girl in a bikini riding a surfboard, a hibiscus flower in her hair and a smile on her face as she glances back over her shoulder at us, her left arm extended as she flips off the world. Beneath it is the sketch for the bottom of the board, a simple design with the wordsThe Pipe Dreamand the shop’s logo.

“I don’t know,” I eventually say, looking up at Tanner. “What do you think?”

Ultimately, it’s his decision which design he uses. They’re his boards and all he does is pay me to create designs for them. Some he uses, some he doesn’t, although it’s never been because he doesn’t like them, they just aren’t what he envisioned for that particular board.

Boards are always personal, and when you make them, every board has a story. Tanner is the one creating that story; I’m just here to help him tell it.

I watch as a slow smile spreads across his face, and he nods. “Fuck yeah, this is it. Shit, Nate, this is perfect,” he adds, clapping a hand on my shoulder.

I bite the inside of my cheek, trying to stop the huge smile that wants to break out. It doesn’t matter how many times I hear it; I can never get used to the praise, can never fully believe he means it.

“Cool,” I say, really trying to act cool. “I’ll get it scaled up for you,” I add with a nod.

After Tanner and Kai leave, Sage and I work in silence as we get the boards stacked in the racks. It’s a comfortable silence, though, and as we work, I realize I’m not angry anymore, and more than that, I no longer resent the fact she’s here.

I like that she got to meet Tanner too, got to see what he did with her dad and what he does for this shop. Because while he might sell his boards all over the island, Mitch is the only one who gets his custom boards. And that brings in a business that you just can’t put a price on.

“So, what’s the story with the surf lessons this afternoon?” she eventually asks when we get all the boards put away.

I smile, walking over to where the body boards are stacked. “It’s a bunch of kids,” I tell her, grabbing one of the boards.

“What?” she asks, clearly surprised.

Laughing, I hold out the board to her. “Mitch had this thing with teaching kids to surf,” I say. “He starts them on the beach and then they get one of these, and eventually, they get a proper board. It’s the best way to learn,” I say with a shrug. “Gets them comfortable in the water.”

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