Page 34 of Journey to You

Picking up the pace, she headed for the water’s edge where the ocean tickled the sand. She loved the tranquility of Colva Beach. Her mum had said it was special but Tamara had attributed Adhira’s partiality to the fact she’d met Harrison here.

But her mum had been right. This place had an aura, a feeling, a sense that anything was possible, as Tamara stared out over the endless ocean glowing turquoise in the descending dusk.

She slowed her pace, hitched up her peasant skirt, and stepped into the waves, savouring the tepid water swirling around her ankles.

As a kid, she used to run through the shallows at St. Kilda beach, jumping and splashing and frolicking, seeing how wet she could get, her folks strolling hand in hand alongside her, smiling indulgently. They’d head to Acland Street afterwards, trawling the cake shops, laughing as she pressed her face against every window trying to decide between melt-in-the-mouth chocolate éclairs or custard-oozing vanilla slices.

And later, much later, when her tummy was full and her feet dragging, she’d walk between them, each parent holding her hand, making her feel the luckiest girl in the world.

A larger wave crashed into her legs, drenching the bottom half of her skirt, and she laughed, the sound loud and startling in the silence.

How long since she’d laughed like that, truly laughed spontaneously?

Ethan had made her laugh last week, several times… she shook her head. She needed a new focus rather than the same old.

With her skirt dripping, she trudged up the beach, heading for her hut. Maybe a long soak in that huge tub, filled with fragrant sandalwood oil, would lull her into an Ethan-free zone?

As she scuffed her feet through the sand, a lone figure stepped onto the beach near her hut. She wouldn’t have paid much attention but for the breadth of his shoulders, the familiar tilt of his head, and she squinted, her pulse breaking into a gallop as the figure headed straight for her, increasingly recognisable with every determined stride.

It couldn’t be.

In that instant, she forgot every sane reason why she should keep her distance from Ethan and sprinted towards him, her feet flying across the sand before she hurled herself into his open arms.

Sixteen

Fearing she might be hallucinating from heatstroke after spending too long in the sun earlier, Tamara asked, “Is this real?”

Ethan smoothed her hair back, his other hand holding her tight against him. “Very.”

“What are you doing here?” She touched his face, her fingertips skimming his cheek, his jaw peppered in stubble, savouring the rasping prickle, still not believing this was real.

“I came to see you. To be with you.” He brushed his lips across hers, soft, tender, the barest of kisses. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

She couldn’t comprehend this. One minute she’d been alone and confused, the next he was here. For her.

“But after what happened in Delhi—”

“I was an idiot.” He clasped her face between his hands, his beseeching gaze imploring her to listen. “I owe you an explanation.”

Her response of ‘you don’t’ died on her lips. Considering the retreat and parry he’d been doing and the way they’d parted, he owed her that at least.

“I’m staying in that hut you just passed. We can talk there.”

She stepped out of his embrace but he swiftly pulled her back into his arms, hugging her so fiercely the breath whooshed out of her lungs.

“Tam, I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” she murmured against his chest, her cheek happily squashed against all that lovely hard muscle.

He held her, their breathing in sync with their beating hearts, and for that one, brief moment, Tamara understood the incredible power of the emotion that drew her mum and dad together on this very beach all those years ago.

There was something magical about this place, something transcendental, and as the first stars of the evening flickered overhead and the faintest tune of a soulful sitar drifted on the evening air, she wondered if it was time to take a chance on love again.

“Any chance this hut of yours has a fully stocked fridge?” He patted his rumbling stomach. “Feels like I haven’t eaten in days.”

“Better than that. The hut is part of a resort, so I put in an order for my meals first thing in the morning and they deliver.”

“Great. What’s for dinner?”

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