Page 13 of The Tides Between Us

CHAPTERSIX

GIANA

Ididn’t hear from Declan after the other night. It surprised me when his name came across my phone with a message. He wasn’t specific on when he was going to stop by the rehab center again, but it was now Saturday. I was off for the weekend and our weekend crew would be tending to the animals. My schedule was only Monday through Friday, unless they absolutely needed me there.

It was early in the morning and I went out to the beach to watch the sunrise. With work, I wasn’t always able to get out here, but it was something I liked to do when I had the chance. I loved this time of the day. I lived in silence already, but there was something enchanting about early mornings.

I was habitually an early riser and I enjoyed the walk to the ocean. The feeling of the sand between my toes was nostalgic. It made me think of my mother. When my brother and I were little, she used to take us to watch the sunrise. We would watch the dolphins and bring shells home. But she always insisted that we walk barefoot.

She loved to dig her toes into the sand. She loved connecting with the earth and nature on an intimate level. She was the one who taught me to love and appreciate the world around us. She was the reason why I was doing the work I was doing.

I stared down at my pedicured feet as I buried my toes beneath the granules. My eyelids fluttered shut and I inhaled the smell of the salty air, envisioning my mother with me. Her soft blonde curls furling around her face from the breeze that drifted across the ocean.

She was so beautiful—inside and out. And damn, I missed her. I was thankful for my brother Nico and for how close we were, but it just wasn’t the same. No one would ever come close to her, and I knew he missed her as deeply as I did.

Lifting my head, I opened my eyes and looked back out at the sea as the sun was cresting the horizon. “I wish you were here, Mom,” I mouthed the words into the void. The light shimmered across the surface of the ocean.

Bending my knees, I lowered myself down to sit on the beach. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there, watching the sun lift higher and higher into the sky. I was lost in my thoughts, in a world of my own that was encapsulated in silence. Fingers tapped softly on my shoulder, startling me as my entire body lifted from the ground.

I whipped my head around, my eyes wide with fear until they landed on his golden ones. “Declan?” I mouthed as an overwhelming sense of relief mixed with confusion that instantly flooded me.

He flashed me that damn smile, equipped with dimples and all as he dropped down onto the beach beside me. Droplets of water dripped onto his forehead from his wet, wavy hair. I resisted the urge to brush them away. I refused to let my eyes trail away from his face. He was only wearing board shorts and I knew I would be done for if I traced the curves and planes of his body with my gaze.

“Top of the morning to you.” His lips moved with the words as he continued to smile at me. “What brings you out here this early?”

I lifted my hands and went to sign back to him, but remembered he wouldn’t be able to understand me. His face fell, the smile sliding off his lips in an instant. His eyebrows pulled together and I watched his throat bob as he swallowed roughly. I pulled my phone from the front pocket of my hoodie and showed it to him with a reassuring smile.

His lips lifted but the smile didn't reach his eyes as he nodded.

I typed out a message before handing my phone to him. He wrapped his hand around mine and didn’t take the device from me. His bare knee brushed against mine. Everywhere his skin touched me lit up my nerve endings.

Giana

I like coming out here in the mornings when it’s calm and quiet. It’s peaceful and comforting.

His eyes were soft and warm. “You’re an ocean soul too, aren’t you?”

I nodded, typing something out as he held his hand over mine while I was holding the phone.

Giana

I grew up with the ocean and it’s the only life I’ve ever known. I’ve learned to respect her and appreciate the wonders and beauties she holds.

“She’s pretty fucking magnificent, isn’t she?” His lips moved and I watched them, completely captivated and mesmerized. “The beauty of the ocean doesn’t come close to touching you, though.”

The air left my lungs in a rush and I froze under his gaze. My stomach flipped and my heart pounded against my ribcage. I had to have been imagining it. I had to have read his lips incorrectly. My lips parted slightly and a shallow breath escaped me.

“Do you know how to surf?”

He was suddenly switching gears, but he was switching them effortlessly. The words he spoke were heavily laced within the salty air between us even though neither of us acknowledged them. The air between us crackled with electricity.

I shook my head and tapped my fingers on the screen of my phone again.

Giana

We don’t really have the waves for it here. I tried when I was younger, but never really knew how to do it properly.

“Maybe I can show you sometime.”

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