Page 36 of Riding the Waves

A creak on the stairs drew Amy’s attention and she felt her stomach twist with guilt as Damian quietly put his head around the door. He opened his mouth, then closed it again when he realised Anthony was on the phone. His eyebrows twitched together, but he made an effort to smile at Amy before retreating downstairs.

It would have been better if she’d mentioned to Damian about getting Anthony on the phone. That way, she wouldn’t have felt as though she was sneaking around.

Ten more minutes went by before she ended the call with Anthony, and it took another five minutes for her to settle the boys in their beds.

“Sorry,” she said to Damian when she finally made it downstairs and lingered in the living room doorway. “Anthony had been wanting to do a video call with the boys. I should have mentioned it to you before.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “I bet the boys enjoyed chatting with him.”

“They did.” She shifted her weight. “Thanks for dinner.”

“No worries. When do you want to come over next?”

“I don’t mind, but I know Marty is keen for me to come to the beach again one day so he can show off his surf skills.”

“He’s doing really well with it,” Damian said, a hint of pride in his voice. “I thought he might decide it wasn’t for him and give up, but he’s really got into it.”

“I’m glad. It’ll be nice to see how he’s improved.”

“You’re welcome to come along any time, but I was planning on taking them to the beach tomorrow morning. Judging by the weather forecast we might have some bigger waves, which would be fun for them.”

Amy pulled a face. “That sounds treacherous.”

“Not really big.” Damian grinned. “Just a bit bigger. It’ll be fun.”

“Tomorrow sounds good. Will you go early?”

“Yeah. I want to be around to help Callie open the shack. I’d also like to be there before the beach gets busy.”

“Okay.” She told him to message her when they were heading out in the morning and she’d see them there.

“Amy!” He called to her, just as she was about to leave. “I’m glad everything is going well with the publishing gig.”

She pursed her lips, confused by the comment.

“It was nice to hear you so enthusiastic about work,” he said. “You always seemed a bit flat when it came to your other job.”

“Did I?” she asked, surprised that he’d ever paid that much attention. “I guess I just always worked to pay the bills. Whether or not I liked it was irrelevant.” Though she supposed if she’d hated it, it would have been more of an issue. She was pretty ambivalent about it.

“That’s a shame,” Damian said, a depth to his words that made her pause.

“It’s fine,” she said. “But it’s definitely fun working with Emily, Lizzie and Scarlett. It doesn’t even feel like work. I just read books and discuss them. It’s like a book club!”

“Not a bad way to earn money,” he said.

She nodded, thinking it was ridiculous now that she continued to let him think it was a paid position. It wouldn’t matter to him one way or the other what the arrangement was, but lying to him felt weird, even if it wasn’t about anything important.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” she said, then made a quick getaway before she could find anything else to feel guilty about.

CHAPTER 17

The sun had already warmed the air when Amy set off for the beach the following morning. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and she was sure Damian’s information about the weather must be wrong. At least until she reached the clifftop path and was hit by a gust of wind so strong that it stopped her in her tracks. At the beach, the waves were definitely bigger, and she felt a jolt of concern about whether it was safe for the boys to be out there.

Just as the thought came to her, she spotted Billy with a look of concentration on his face as he rode a wave all the way onto the beach. It was only a week since she’d last watched them, but his improvement was noticeable. He seemed much more in control of the board.

Damian stood waist deep in the water, holding Marty’s board for him while he lay on his stomach and waited for a wave. She happily noted that Damian didn’t have a board himself and was completely focused on the boys. It had been silly of her to worry about safety, as though Damian wouldn’t have considered it.

Marty had just popped up onto his board when he caught sight of her. For a moment, it seemed the distraction would cause him to fall, but he found his balance again and stayed standing all the way in.

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