Page 4 of Riding the Waves

CHAPTER 2

After suffering four hours of chattering and squabbling from the back of the car, Amy’s nerves felt well and truly frayed. Her seven-year-old twin boys fell eerily silent as she pulled into the car park at Thurley beach. The long stretch of sand was located about a mile along the coast from the picturesque village of Hope Cove.

Amy hadn’t been back there since before the boys were born. Returning now felt significant. While she was married, there was so much she couldn’t let herself think about. An entire section of her heart that she’d closed off in order to keep her marriage intact. But her marriage wasn’t intact any more. Everything felt different.

The car park at Thurley beach was exactly as she remembered it, and a rush of nostalgia sucked the breath from her lungs. Beside the expanse of gravel, scattered picnic benches adorned the patch of grass, which was dappled white and yellow from clusters of daisies and dandelions.

At the far corner of the car park, Amy’s gaze was drawn to a blue and white VW van. Surely that wasn’t the same one. She pulled up beside it and her eyes fixed on the blue polka dot curtains in the back window that she’d installed herself. A cool tingle crept up her spine and made her slightly lightheaded as she continued to stare.

When she’d met Damian, his business was operating out of the van and a trailer. She knew he’d since upgraded his premises and she’d assumed that had meant the van had gone. His love nest, he’d jokingly called it. The two of them had spent many nights sleeping in the back of it.

“Where’s Daddy?” Billy asked, unbuckling his seatbelt and leaning between the front seats.

“On the beach, I guess.” Stepping outside, the salty air whipped at her cheeks. Marty took her hand while Billy rushed ahead. “I used to work up there,” she said, pointing out the golf club, which was just visible up on the headland.

“What did you do?” Marty asked as the breeze caught his blonde hair and swept it onto his face.

“I was a waitress in the restaurant.”

She’d worked the summer job alongside a friend from university. The best thing about it had been the proximity to the beach. She could still recall the buzz of excitement she’d felt when the lunch shift was over and she’d have three hours off to surf and sunbathe … and ogle the owner of the surf shack. She’d fallen for Damian immediately and couldn’t believe her luck that he’d liked her back.

“I can’t see Daddy,” Billy said when they caught up to him on the coastal path at the top of the beach.

“He might still be out surfing,” Amy said, her eyes flicking between a few surfers out in the bay. The business had grown from renting equipment to a surf school too. She felt a warm glow every time she thought about Damian accomplishing his dream.

“There he is!” Marty shouted excitedly.

The boys ran towards the modified shipping container at the top of the beach. In front of it, the deck was cluttered with rows of surfboards, a hanging rack full of wetsuits, a few tables and chairs and a collection of people mingling around. A tall blue flag flapped in the breeze, advertising the surf shack.

Amy’s heart fluttered as the boys tore along the beach and called out for their daddy. She spotted him at the exact moment he turned. His face lit up at the sight of his two boys charging towards him, and he opened his arms to sweep them up as though they weighed nothing at all.

Amy’s feet seemed to move on autopilot, taking her in his direction. In the years since they broke up, Damian had hardly changed a bit. In fact, she could’ve been looking at him on the day they’d met. Just like then, he wore a black wetsuit peeled down to his hips, revealing his broad, tanned shoulders which tapered to his sculpted abs and hips. His sandy hair had been bleached by the sun and tousled by the wind and salt water.

When their eyes met, his lips curved slowly to a playful smile. His eyes sparkled as he looked at her in that way that made her feel as though there was no one else in the world.

Instantly, her cheeks heated, and she told herself not to get all doe-eyed over a guy who was absolutely no good for her. She might still feel the physical pull of him, but lust and romantic notions would only get you so far. It definitely hadn’t been enough for them – not once there were two demanding babies in the mix.

He kept his gaze on her while the boys clamoured around his legs, vying for his attention.

“Hey,” he said in that lazy lilt of his that did peculiar things to her insides. “How was the drive?”

“Good, thanks.”

A woman appeared from behind the rack of wetsuits and casually slung a T-shirt at Damian. He responded with a wink that made Amy ponder the nature of their relationship. She was your typical surfer chick, with denim hot pants and T-shirt tied in a knot above her navel. Amy guessed she’d be a fair bit younger than Damian – maybe early twenties to his early thirties. Not enough of a gap for it to be shocking.

“It’s been a while since you were here, hasn’t it?” Damian commented, lifting a lively Billy on to his hip. “I don’t think it’s changed much.”

“No,” she murmured, gazing out at the beautiful stretch of sandy beach and the waves that rolled violently onto the shore, spitting out foam as they went.

“Did you find a place to stay tonight?” Damian asked. “Like I said, you’re welcome to crash at my place.”

The offer to stay had been a new thing. That would never have happened when she was still happily married. Or appeared to be.

“Thanks,” she said. “I actually found a cottage to rent.”

Marty leaned his head against Damian’s stomach and looked up at him with such adoration it made Amy’s heart swell. At least until he opened his mouth.

“Mummy’s staying here, too,” he said in an excited rush. “She’s got a job, so she’s going to stay for the whole holidays. We’ll all be here together.”

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