Page 66 of No Greater Love
Her face brightened immediately. "Can we make it bigger? With more towers? Oh, and can we try boogie boarding today? I saw some kids doing it yesterday and it looked so cool."
I glanced at Nate, who was trying not to smile. "I've never actually boogie boarded," I admitted.
"Neither have I," Paige said. "We can learn together!"
And that's how I found myself an hour later, standing in knee-deep water with a foam board under my arm, getting instruction from an eleven-year-old who'd watched exactly three other kids attempt this activity.
"You have to wait for the right wave," Paige said with complete authority. "Not too big, not too small. And then you jump on and ride it in."
"Sounds simple enough," I said, though watching the other boogie boarders, it looked like there was significantly more skill involved than Paige's explanation suggested.
Nate waded out to join us, his own board tucked under his arm. "Famous last words," he said.
My first attempt was a complete disaster. I mistimed the wave, got tumbled head over heels, and came up sputtering with sand in places sand should never be. Paige and Nate were trying very hard not to laugh.
"Maybe start with smaller waves?" Nate suggested diplomatically.
"Maybe start with a different sport," I muttered, but I was already wading back out. I was not going to be defeated by a piece of foam and some water.
It took me six tries, but I finally caught a wave that carried me all the way to shore, Paige cheering like I'd just won an Olympic medal. The rush of riding that wave, the simple joy of Paige's excitement, the way Nate was grinning at me when I stood up—it was pure happiness in a way I hadn't experienced since I was a kid.
"Again!" Paige demanded. "Do it again!"
We spent the next hour taking turns with the boards, Paige getting braver with each wave while I slowly got less terrible at reading the water. Nate, predictably, was naturally good at it—something about his military training probably gave him better balance and wave-reading skills than us civilians.
I found myself watching him as he helped Paige position herself on her board, the patient way he explained how to paddle, how to time the wave. His shoulders were already getting tan, and there was something about seeing him in full dad-mode that made my heart do complicated things.
"You're staring," he said, catching me looking when Paige ran off to rinse sand out of her board.
"I'm appreciating," I corrected. "There's a difference."
"Appreciating what, exactly?"
"The view," I said, gesturing vaguely at his chest, then grinned when he actually blushed a little. "Also, you're really good with her. It's... attractive."
"Just good with her?" he asked, stepping closer.
"Good with me, too," I admitted, then splashed him before he could get too smug about it.
After lunch, we headed to the campground pool, where Paige immediately made friends with a group of kids who were organizing an elaborate game that seemed to involve a lot of screaming and splashing. Nate and I claimed chairs in the shade and watched her careen around the pool like a tiny, determined torpedo.
"She's going to sleep well tonight," I observed.
"That's the plan," Nate said, though I caught him looking at me in my bikini with an expression that suggested his thoughts weren't entirely focused on Paige's bedtime.
"What?" I asked, even though I knewexactlywhat.
"Nothing," he said, not very convincingly. "Just... this is nice."
"Yeah," I said softly. "It is."
We sat in comfortable silence, watching Paige attempt to teach her new friends some elaborate diving technique she'd apparently invented on the spot. The afternoon sun was warm on my skin, and I felt more relaxed than I had in months. Maybe years.
This was so different from anything I'd grown up with. My family vacations had been tense, scheduled affairs; my father checking his phone constantly, my mother making lists and getting frustrated when things didn't go according to plan. There had been no spontaneous boogie boarding, no lazy afternoons by the pool, no sense that the point was just to enjoy each other's company.
Watching Nate with Paige, the easy affection between them, the way he could be completely present without needing to be anywhere else or do anything else… it was a revelation. This was what love looked like in practice. Not grand gestures or dramatic declarations, but patient attention, shared laughter, the simple pleasure of being together.
"Tasha!" Paige called from the pool. "Come see this dive!"
