Lorelie Brown - Riding the Wave

Sage cracked her bottle of water open and drank a third of it in one swig. Avalon sipped at hers.

The weird tension gripping her limbs wasn’t going away. But then, she didn’t know why she’d expect any different. Sage could ride out silence without worry; she’d always had that gift. She let go and took what was coming.

Sometimes it drove Avalon batshit crazy. Sometimes she wanted to be like her.

The tiny plastic top of her own water snapped open with a twist as she fidgeted with it. She bounced her heels on the bench.

Sage swatted at her calf. “Quit that.”

“Sorry.”

But Sage didn’t take the opportunity to open conversation. Of course. Any other woman would have been curious why Avalon said she needed to talk.

So she’d have to start the conversation herself.

Fuck, she hated this.

She swallowed down the anxiety, willing her heart to beat calmer. It didn’t work. “Where will you move your shop if your mom sells Wright Break?”

Sage shrugged. She still had white dust clinging to her sweaty shoulders and thin-strapped tank top. “There’s a place down on Seventeenth that I was looking at yesterday. It’s got good light, excellent ventilation.”

Avalon couldn’t help but gasp. It felt as sharp and hurtful as betrayal and it didn’t make one speck of difference that it wasn’t logical. This whole situation was leaving her flipped upside down. Even the fact that she’d been stupid enough to agree to meet with Mako made her sick to her stomach. But he’d hinted there’d be possible consequences if she didn’t. Sudden tears burned at the back of her eyes. She forced her gaze down to her knees. “You’re going to give up?”

A thick wash of confusion twisted Sage’s clear features. “Give up? What?”

“Your mom can’t close this place. She’s not old enough to retire. What will she do?”

Sage smiled. “China, apparently.”

“What?”

“She said last night—when you were out, again, mind you”—Sage waved the bottle of water at Avalon in mock chiding, a disappointed schoolmarm look on her face—“that she’s always wanted to go to China.”

“No way. She’s never said that before.” A dull shock went through Avalon. She set the bottle of water to her side, the better to twist her fingers together.

Sage shrugged. “Apparently she’s always felt silly for wanting it. When she traveled so much with Dad, you know? Like she should have been Zen and enjoyed seeing what she did. Lots of places with extensive beaches.”

“While she sipped mai tais on the sand. Not such a hard gig.”

“Except when it is.” Sage hitched her elbows out a few inches, the better to lean back. Her hair brushed against the table, golden strands snagging against rough wood. “Except when you’d rather be drinking . . .” She sat up abruptly. “I don’t know. What’s something authentically Chinese? Not Panda Express–style?”

Avalon shrugged. “Coca-Cola? I think I heard it’s huge over there.”

Sage’s toes poked Avalon’s thigh. “Very, very funny.”

“You keep me around for a reason.” God only knew it was the truth. Would become more so the truth too, if she could iron out the situation with Mako. Make sure that even if not everyone was happy that things were at least improved.

That was kind of her gig, after all.

Her mind tripped a hundred miles an hour. No decisions had been made yet. And there was nothing that said Eileen couldn’t both own the store and go to China. People took vacations all the time.

“Has she made up her mind?”

Sage pulled a face. “Of course not. This is a huge thing. And half the time, I think she’s still in a fog from . . . the other stuff.”

Something sharp and weepy lanced behind Avalon’s eyes. The man she’d loved like a father—the man she’d thought better than anyone she’d ever met—had done something horrible.

Even worse than that, he’d kept it up.

One of her brightest memories was standing on the shore with Hank’s arm around her shoulders while he explained that everyone made mistakes. But what set good people apart was the willingness to own up to mistakes and make them better.

Not hide them for decades. Not forcing his son to hide for him.

She chewed on the inside of her bottom lip. If she was meeting with Mako this afternoon, she needed all the pieces. To know exactly what she was dealing with. “What about you?”

“Me?”

“Have you thought about buying your mom out of the store?”

Sage shook her head in denial. “Nope. Got enough on my plate.”

She was tempted to invite Sage along to the meeting, especially since the other woman had always been better at staying steady. Avalon always felt like she was pinging along at supersonic speed. But Mako had asked to talk to Avalon, saying that he wasn’t getting anywhere with anyone else. He’d earned the stonewall treatment, but Avalon knew people like him. Knew the trouble they could get up to. Sometimes the Wright family was too good for their own good. They couldn’t imagine anything worse than the article that was already on its way out. Thanks to her mom’s world, Avalon knew how shady people could get.

And Sage, for all her calm, seemed to feel things on a deeper level. Took them more personally.

Avalon wasn’t about to expose her closest friend to more pain than needed. That was half her mission in the family, after all. To be a buffer, to make things work in the best possible way.

“What about . . .” She took a deep swallow of water, which chilled her throat but couldn’t cool her worry. “Mako. Does your mom want to meet Mako? Have you thought about it?”

“I don’t know about Mom.” Sage sighed. “Me . . . I think I’ll want to get to know him sometime. Eventually, you know? Even if he keeps being an asshole. Better than someone unknown.” Her fingers closed around the water bottle, until the plastic crinkled under the pressure.

Sage set the bottle to the side, flashing a weak imitation of her normal smile. When she laced her fingers together, her knuckles popped white, but she drew long, slow breaths. Intentionally, it seemed.

The Wrights were good people. They deserved a good life. And she’d do anything in her power to make it happen. Even if that meant acknowledging another Wright. They’d thank Avalon in the long run if it tempered Mako.

But even if they didn’t, it’d be worth it to help them after they’d done so much for her.

She slipped off the table, then brushed off the back of her thighs. Sand clung to everything given the first opportunity. “I’ll catch you on the flip side, babe.”

Sage pulled her long blond hair out of its ponytail and ran a hand through it, flipping it to one shoulder. “Wait a second. I thought you wanted to talk to me.”

Avalon wasn’t exactly content, but at least her stomach had quit doing backflips. She already had her answer. “I did.” She smiled. She’d always been good at teasing a smile out of Sage. Considered it one of her duties, in a way. The girl was prone to hitting a point at that steady calm where nothing could shake her. “Didn’t you notice my mouth moving? Voice coming out?”

“Sure, but mine was running way more.” She flashed a devious look from under her lashes. “Tanner. Please tell me you wanted to talk about Tanner.”

Avalon shook her head almost frantically, then had to scrape a piece of hair away from the corner of her mouth. “No.”

“C’mon,” Sage wheedled. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“I am so not talking to you about him.”

“Any other guy you would. And it’s not like I want details.” Sage shuddered. “Not at all. I want to know where you guys are headed.”

Looking off at the plain stucco wall, Avalon bit the tip of her tongue. A sharp tingle of pain worked its way up her jaw, but she couldn’t seem to center. Nothing ever worked for her. “I’m not sure we’re headed anywhere. We’re having a good time.” She grinned at Sage. “Summer fling. You should try one. When’s the last time you got some?”

Sage lifted from her seat in a show of grace that was this side of levitation. “No way. I don’t need some.”

“Your girl parts are going to wither.”

“Then let ’em.” She redid her ponytail with a couple quick snaps of a rubber band. “Everyone I have the time to know lately is a surfer. And the absolute last thing I need is a surfer.”

“Oh, but I need one?”

“Sure.” Her eyes lit up. “In fact, you should marry him. Oh, that’s brilliant. Marry him, let him go off on the circuit and then you’ll be my sister for real! I’m a genius.”

“Oh, fuck no,” Avalon said automatically.

But she didn’t want to admit how damned good that idea was starting to sound.

Tanner really tried not to get a big head about all the bullshit surrounding his surf career. He had skill and determination and he’d been lucky enough to get his start both young and well. For all his faults, Hank Wright had been a pretty damn good surf coach.

But the way the WavePro staff treated him when he walked in the offices could almost convince him he shit rainbows.

As if seeing his own face life-sized on the walls wasn’t enough, they ushered him into a fancy boardroom with a black marble-topped table.

The chairs were some miracle of chrome and black webbing that felt really good after the five miles he’d run that morning and the three hours he’d spent on the water when the tide was up. He didn’t have time to screw around. The San Sebastian Pro was right around the corner.

After an hour-long meeting, he was pretty much zoned. His manager and his accountant rattled on at length with almost half a dozen reps from WavePro.