Page 70 of Ride the Wave

We’ve been sitting at a table in the outside area of this bar for all of two minutes and I already regret not going straight home after dinner. It’s not fair on José – I can’t muster up any attraction to him anymore. I’ll finish this drink and then I’ll make my excuses.

‘I’m happy it’s such a warm evening and we can sit outside here,’ he muses, clasping his hands together. ‘I hope to open a bar on this street in the near future.’

‘I thought you specialised in residential properties.’

‘Currently, yes, but I hope to expand the business in a variety of ways,’ he says, puffing out his chest. ‘If we can finalise—’

He pauses mid-sentence as a flicker of recognition crosses his expression and I follow his eyeline to see the person passing by who has caused the distraction.

‘Leo!’ I exclaim, straightening, my heart jumping into my throat.

He’s standing frozen to the spot on the street right next to our table. In casual board shorts, flip-flops and a faded-grey t-shirt, he looks unbelievably sexy without any effort – and couldn’t look more different to my date.

But just the sight of him is making my stomach twist into knots.

It’s the confirmation I really didn’t need that I am here with completely the wrong person.What am I doing with José? I should have cancelled tonight.

I’m about to do the polite thing and introduce them to each other, but something about the way they’re looking at each other makes me think that might be unnecessary. They clearly know each other. And from the glowering expression shrouding Leo’s face, I’m not too sure they’re on the best of terms.

‘Evening, Leo,’ José says, adjusting the lapel of his suit jacket and looking him up and down with glaring contempt.

Leo doesn’t reply, he just looks to me, his eyes flashing with a mixture of confusion and disbelief. He gestures to José.

‘Thisis who you’re dating?’ he asks me, his tone sharp.

‘You know each other?’ I say apprehensively, glancing from one stony-faced man to the other.

‘In a business capacity,’ José remarks, prompting Leo to snort.

‘Unbelievable,’ Leo mutters, shaking his head at him before narrowing his eyes at me. ‘This is the man who owns the company pressurising my dad into selling the surf shop so that he can build a block of flats right there by the waterfront.’

Oh fuck.

I gasp, recoiling from my date. ‘José, is that true?’

He shrugs. ‘I’m trying to promote tourism in this village. I want to modernise it and secure its future. What’s wrong with that?’

‘Nothing, except when you’re trying to tear down the town, its traditions and charm to do so,’ Leo argues.

‘Oh, don’t be so romantic about it,’ José says tiredly, reaching for his drink. ‘A surf shop is hardly part of this village’sculture. You can buy your boards somewhere else.’

As he casually takes a sip of his wine, I stare at him in shock.

Taking a deep breath, Leo must decide he doesn’t want to get into it because he doesn’t give José another glance. Instead, he hones in on me.

‘I hoped you might be better than this,’ he mutters, his eyes filled with disappointment. ‘Maybe I was wrong.’

Whoa.

It may have been lacking in detail, but his tone and expression tells me that I was on the receiving end of a huge insult.

‘Leo, wait,’ I begin, as he marches away in the direction of his flat.

He doesn’t stop and he doesn’t look back. He disappears around the corner and he’s walking at such a pace, there’s no chance I’ll ever catch him up. All I can do is watch him go.

How could I have been this stupid?

Adriano told me about property developers and the tension rising between them and local businesses like his. When José was rambling on about his projects, why didn’t I think to check whether his Burgau ambitions lay anywhere in the vicinity of the surf shop? I would have cut the date short as soon as I found that out, fully aware that I might be jeopardising my relationship with my interviewee and his family.

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