Page 91 of Sparks Like Ours

As if on cue, Taylor leaned in to Isabel’s ear. “You sure you wantto do this?”

“No,” Isabel answered loudly. “But if I’m the one who got her intothis mess, I should at least be ballsy enough to try and get her out of it.”

“You go, little pale girl,” Stephanie said, with zero inflection,as she slowly walked past.

Gia exhaled. “I’m ready, Iz. Go.”

“I get that jobs are important. Hell, I almost ruined my entirerelationship over one. But at the end of the day, you don’t grow old with yourjob. You don’t kiss it good morning. It doesn’t hold your hand when your friendis sick in the hospital. So, I guess what I’m saying is…fuck surfing.”

“Language,” Larry Herman mumbled between bites of caramel fudgeripple.

“I can’t temper it, Herman,” Isabel bit out, “because this is myfriend’s future we’re talking about.”

“Fuck surfing, huh?” Gia said. “How is it that easy? It’s myentire life.”

“Didn’t look like it yesterday,” Hadley offered quietly, and wentmeekly back to her ice cream. That one hit a nerve. Because no, all that hadmattered to her in the world twenty-four hours ago was Elle, and that she wasokay. When she left her at that hospital, all she wanted to do was run back tobe by her side. But no, it wasn’t that easy. She had a whole life to considerand all the time, energy, blood, sweat, and tears, and that wasn’t even takinginto account what Elle had on the line, too.

“It’s a nice thought, and trust me, I’d love to buy into the happyfairy tale, too, because that would make everything so much easier. But,listen, there are real-world logistics at play. I can’t just throw awayeverything I’ve dreamed of because my emotions got in the way.”

Hadley intervened, playing mediator as she so often did. “It’sokay, G. We all just want to see you happy. That’s the only reason we check inon you.”

She nodded, letting her blood pressure simmer. “I know.”

“And nobody faults you for following your dream,” Autumn said.

Isabel opened her mouth and, with one look from Taylor, seemed tothink better of it. “Agreed,” she said finally.

“Great! We should probably have more ice cream,” Hadley said,clapping once and scrambling to get them back on track. “Larry, what can I getyou for round two?”

“I’ll stick with vanilla,” he said, straightening, as if havingbeen called on in class.

“How ’bout some caramel lattice drizzled on that?” Autumn askedwith a knowing wink. That seemed to perk him up.

As the group chatter took over and the afternoon blossomed intolaughs and their typical fun-loving antics, Gia found herself unable to fullyengage. When everyone agreed to head to the beach to watch the sunset, sheopted out altogether.

“I think I’m gonna hang back,” she said, trying to appear casual.

“You sure?” Hadley asked. She studied Gia with sympathy, whichjust made the whole thing feel worse.

“Yep. I need some downtime.”

“Okay,” Had said reluctantly, and caught up with the others.

Gia didn’t sleep well that night.

Or the night after.

Too many emotions that she didn’t know what to do with swirled andcircled endlessly. She attempted to take it out on her board and spent thethird morning surfing. Not just any surfing, either, angry surfing thatreleased a great deal of that pent-up energy she hadn’t been able to shake fordays. By the end of the marathon session, she was raw, exhausted, and spent.With literally nothing left to give, she stared up at the clouds that movedquickly across the sky, signaling an impending storm. Something important wasbrewing in her, too.

She dragged her board back to her Jeep and fastened it to therack.

The drops fell about that time, but she welcomed them. Feelingmore than a little sliced in half, she trudged back out to the sand and took aseat as the drizzle evolved into a downpour. She watched as stragglers raced totheir cars, but Gia didn’t move. For the first time, she allowed herself to beopen to what the universe had in store for her. As the rain fell in a blindingonslaught, and the wind whipped past, and the waves crashed, for the firsttime, she admitted to herself what was most important. Scary? Hell yeah. But itwas the most honest moment of her entire life.

“Fuck surfing,” she mumbled, and a smile crept onto her face. Thenand there, she understood. She wasn’t the same person as she was six monthsago, so why would she expect her priorities to be the same? Honestly, how couldthey be? She loved surfing with all her heart, yes, but taking control of herlife and living it with Elle didn’t mean she had to give it up entirely. Shestood up and stared into the tumultuous ocean, recognizing the parallel inherself as of late. She laughed. No more.

In the scheme of things, did it really matter if she dropped atournament here or there if she was in love and happy? So she’d be number sixor seven instead of number one or two. She was ranked seven just a year and ahalf ago and had been pretty thrilled about it at the time.

She ran a hand through her drenched hair. She could have Elle andstill surf. It would just take some readjusting in her head. Gia squintedhappily through the pouring rain and kicked a puddle with renewed energy. Andwhat was more? Maybe, over time, she and Elle would figure out how to betogether and still surf their best. Crazier things had happened in life, andwasn’t it worth the risk? Wasn’t Elle?

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