Page 59 of New Day at the Beach House

She was going to fall over any second, she could feel it, but then she got her arms out and her core engaged and, for a few impossible seconds, she was up, gliding almost airborne on the crest of the wave, the world beneath her feet, the breeze blowing her hair back, the salt spray dancing over her skin.

She was flying. Arms out, she turned to look for Alex and lost her balance. As she started to go down, she grabbed the rails of the board. The wave washed over her, and she came off the board, but she was in close enough to plant her feet on sand now. She walked toward the beach a little more, stopping when the water was just below her knees to get her bearings.

She picked her board up, holding it under her arm. She spotted Alex. He was still on the wave.

He rode it all the way in, then jumped off, grabbed his board, and sloshed through the water toward her. “You did it, baby! You did it! You got up on your first wave. That’s freaking amazing!”

He kissed her on the mouth, right there in the middle of the water.

She was laughing and crying, happy tears that completely surprised her. She nodded. “I can’t believe I did it.”

“I am so proud of you,” he said. “You conquered your fear. A lot of people would never have made it into the water, but you not only made it, you rode a wave. You are a rock star. How did you like it?”

She sniffed, grinning ear to ear. “It was the coolest thing I’ve ever done. I felt like I was flying.”

He nodded. “It’s like nothing else. Until you’ve experienced it, you can’t really understand what it feels like to soar like that.”

She licked her lips, tasting salt. “I want to do it again.”

He smiled. “Yeah?”

She nodded. Maybe there were sharks out there, but she didn’t care quite so much anymore.

They spent two more hours in the water. Kat got up three more times, although the second time she went down just as fast. Trina managed to get to her feet twice but once only made it to her knees. The boys got up every time they caught a wave.

On her last attempt, Kat didn’t have the strength to push up and realized she was wiped out, no surf pun intended. Her arms and legs felt like jelly. She waved at Alex and pointed toward the beach. He nodded, so she went in.

He followed a few minutes after her. “You okay?”

“I’m great, I’m just beat.” She wanted to sit, but she’d be covered in sand if she did that. “I’ve got nothing left.”

“You did really good today. You lasted longer than I thought you would.” He glanced back. “Miles and Trina are on their way in, too. I think we’re all ready to call it a day and get something to eat. Sound good?”

“Sounds perfect. Any chance we could shower?”

He nodded. “We can use the facilities at the firehouse, if that’s all right with you guys. There’s a women’s locker room, too, even though we don’t currently have any women on the crew. We used to, but Jill moved to Texas because of her husband’s job. Anyway, you’d have it to yourselves and there’s towels and everything.”

“Works for me.”

Trina and Miles walked up to join them, boards under their arms. Trina looked as tired as Kat felt.

“Man,” she said. “That was fun but exhausting.”

Miles laughed. “Surfing burns a lot of calories, which is why we’re going to Coconuts and eating everything on the menu.”

Trina shook her head. “I don’t know about everything, but I am definitely getting dessert.”

“You know what?” Kat said. “So am I. After we shower. I need to get this salt off me.”

Alex nodded. “All we have to do is load up the boards, then we’re off.”

While the boys took care of the boards, Kat and Trina pulled off their rash guards, and dried themselves as much as possible. Kat explained about going to the firehouse to clean up and change.

“Cool,” Trina said. “A shower would be the best right now. You did pretty good out there today.”

“So did you,” Kat said. “I want to do it again. Do you?”

Trina nodded. “Yeah, I’m game. I’m kind of surprised you do, though.”

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