Page 75 of Until Forever

“Okay,” I said with a mischievous grin. “I will. But on one condition.”

“Psh, I should have known. You don’t do anything without conditions,” he teased. “Alright, let’s have it.”

“I’ll race you back. The loser has to serve drinks to the winner for the rest of the night.”

“Okay,” he said slowly, looking around in confusion. He eyed the shore, thinking I meant we were racing on foot. I used it to my advantage and dove straight into the water, where I actually meant for the race to be, and got a head start on my way back to the party.

“Cheater!” Keith shouted.

He quickly took off his shirt and dove in after me. We were neck and neck all the way back, right up until the final stretch. I figured Keith had already humbled himself enough that day with his speech. I wasn’t going to make him lose to me in front of everyone on top of that. Also, I still felt a little bad and wanted to do whatever I could to make it up to him. So once we were nearly back at the marina, I let him get the advantage on me. I held back and let him win.

Not that it did any good. The moment he reached the finished line, he circled back around to me and pulled me in his arms. A crowd had gathered to watch us swim in. Half of them were cheering us on, and the other half were wondering what the hell we were doing.

“Lana and Keith,” I heard one of them say. “Those two are always getting into trouble together.”

Everyone cheered and clapped when Keith pulled me in and kissed me right there in front of all of Silver Point. He held my hand and led me out of the water. The moment we were on land again, he was quick to scoop me up into his arms and carry me away so we could be alone.

Keith had always been my rip tide. All I had to do was to give in and let him carry me away. Only this time, I hoped he would never let me go.

30

LANA

ONE YEAR LATER…

I pulled my van up in front of the Silver Point Elementary School and waited for Claire to emerge. She walked out with a smile on her face and her arms full of papers.

“You better put those away,” I scolded as she climbed into the passenger’s side. “No work during happy hour.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to grade these papers while we hang out. All I’m doing for the next hour is eating chips and salsa and drinking margaritas with you. But after that, I do have to go home and work,” she sighed.

“Should you grade papers under the influence of tequila?” I laughed.

“My students and parents wouldn’t complain if they knew. I find it makes me give out better grades.”

“Fair enough.”

I drove us to our favorite Mexican restaurant, which we made a habit of visiting once a week to catch up. I never officially moved out of our childhood home, where Claire still lived alone, but I spent most nights at Keith’s new place. The marina had been enough of a success that he was able to buy a bigger house by the lake, and I loved it there. But I would have loved being anywhere with him.

We snagged our favorite booth and ordered a pitcher of margaritas along with queso dip to go with the chips and salsa. We snacked and drank as we browsed the menus, even though we almost always ordered the same thing.

“How’s it going now that you’re back at work?” I asked her after we ordered. She had been back to teaching for a few months now, ever since the start of the new school year.

“I’ve never been happier,” she said with a content sigh. “I think I enjoy it even more now than I did before. I appreciate it more, you know? But I guess I could say that about pretty much everything. Like salsa!” She scooped up a big chunk of it with a chip and shoved the whole thing into her mouth, closing her eyes and savoring the taste.

I was so glad she was still with us and that she seemed happy.

“How are things at the marina? It’s closing up soon, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “The tourist season is officially over. We’ll still stay open for the regular patrons, of course, but the restaurant and store are shutting down for the winter. We hired someone to work the front desk, so we finally get a much-deserved vacation.”

“Good. You’ve earned it. You and Keith have worked so hard on that place.”

“Thanks,” I smiled. “I’m excited to get back out to LA for a little while. Keith is coming with me, which means he finally gets to see my surf shop.”

She stared back at me with a mischievous spark in her eyes. “Hmmm. I take it things are going well between you two?”

I blushed with a smile and rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I’m in love and actually in a relationship. A real one. Which means hell must be frozen over.”

---