Page 45 of Try Easy

The Rescue

Lou

Lou adjustedthe lens on her camera, trying to get all of Makaha Beach into one wide shot.

Makaha was a long way from the crowds of tourists at Waikiki Beach. Except for the divers they’d shared food with earlier and a family having a picnic, the sparkling sands of Makaha were deserted. This was truly unspoiled Hawaiian paradise. The dry, rugged slopes of the Waianae Mountains rose high above the shoreline, looking like fierce guardians of the bay, and the blue Pacific stretched as far as she could see.

Everywhere Lou looked, she saw the natural beauty of the island. To the north, she could see the westernmost edge of the island, where the peak of Ka’ena Point loomed over the sea. To the south, there were sand and palm trees.

In the ocean, there was Keoni.

Lou took a dozen pictures of Keoni, trying to capture what made him so intriguing. He was in his natural element in the ocean. He surfed without effort, making the impossible look easy.

Lou lowered her camera and stared out at Keoni with her own eyes. She had to admit to herself that she was enchanted with him. It was impossible not to be. Keoni was easy to talk to, and he made Lou laugh even when he wasn’t trying. He was a family man who loved to tell stories about Hawaiian culture, play his guitar, and spend every moment he could in the water. Lou would have traded in everything her parents gave her for the love she knew Keoni’s family shared. Even though they didn’t have a lot of money, the Makais were rich in love.

Lou wanted the same thing for herself someday. She wanted a close-knit family filled with love and security. She and Paul had planned on having that together, but after meeting Keoni, Lou wasn’t so sure she could go back to that plan. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop her attraction to Keoni. What did that say about her relationship with Paul? How could she want Keoni if she was in love with Paul?

Lou went back to where she’d left her towel, took off her sundress, and stretched out in the sun. A million thoughts swirled in her head, but she didn’t want to focus on any of them, she just wanted to feel the sun on her body. She wanted to forget everything for a while, and let the Hawaiian sun work its magic on her.

She pushed aside her conflicting thoughts and enjoyed the ocean breeze and the magnificent sight of Keoni on the waves. His body gleamed with sleek muscles, and he moved with precision and grace. He surfed fast and turned hard, then transitioned off the top of the wave, stalled, and disappeared into the deep blue channel of the barrel.

Lou sat up straighter, holding her breath until he sped out of the tube safely. The red surfboard flashed in the sun as he zoomed toward shore.

Lou started to exhale, and then her breath caught as a wave broke violently against the steep shoreline and doubled back, heading straight for Keoni.

Her palms went damp, and her heart lurched as she braced herself for Keoni to fall.

But he didn’t. Instead of wiping out, he turned disaster into opportunity. Crouching down low on his board, he grabbed the sides with both hands and flipped into the air. In an incredible aerial feat, Keoni let the wave spin him upside down. He hung suspended in the air for an impossible moment, his body curled tightly into a ball. Then, in one fluid motion, he arched and landed on the incoming wave. His board landed on the water in a graceful kiss, and he zoomed back out to the ocean.

Lou jumped to her feet and clapped, completely enthralled by Keoni’s skill. She didn’t doubt Keoni would change the world of surfing. With talent like that, he was destined for greatness.

Lou ran to the edge of the water to wait for him, bursting with joy. She wanted to throw her arms around him and feel the energy of his body next to hers. Lou stopped herself just before she splashed into the water. Her excitement had almost made her forget all the reasons she couldn’t be with Keoni.

But now the realization that she wasn’t free to throw herself into his arms came crashing down on Lou, killing her joy.

Lou turned her back on the shore, clenching her fists at her sides. How was she going to bear being around Keoni for the next few days?

It would be torture. Impossible. Being near him was just too tempting. She should have said goodbye to him long before now. Lord knows, she’d tried. Every time they were together, Lou felt herself being drawn closer and closer to Keoni as if pulled by an invisible magnet.

Lou waded into the water and tilted her face to the sky, watching a lone seagull. She didn’t realize she was breaking a cardinal rule in Hawaii by turning her back on the ocean. She didn’t even know she was in danger until a rogue wave crashed over her and pulled her under the water.

One moment, Lou had been looking up at the sky, then the next she was eating a mouthful of sand. She managed to let out a startled scream before she was dragged under the water.

For a moment she was too shocked to react, and then adrenaline shot through her veins, and she started to fight back. She kicked wildly against the current. She was a good swimmer, but she was used to the calm waters of Lake Washington, which didn’t surge with a fraction of the power of the Pacific Ocean. Striking out at the wave determined to drag her out to sea did nothing but exhaust Lou, and use up the precious air in her lungs. If she could just claw her way to the surface, she could suck in a breath and scream again, hoping to grab Keoni’s attention. He had been surfing nearby, but it had happened so quickly that Lou couldn’t be sure he had seen the accident.

Her lungs started to burn with the need for air, and she knew she didn’t have time to think, she needed to move. But which way was up? She couldn’t be sure.

The waters of Makaha, which had seemed brilliantly translucent from the shore, were surprisingly black underneath. She had been sucked into a bowl-shaped depression in the sea that teemed with spiky coral. Another wave crashed over her, spinning her upside down and dragging her over the sharp coral.

Salt water filled her nose and mouth, and the bitter taste of fear clogged her throat. The roar of the ocean was suffocatingly loud, and Lou felt as if she was lying on the tracks as a freight train zoomed over her.

Her mind was fuzzy, but she had enough sense to realize she might die. It had been years since Lou had prayed, but she felt the words forming in her mind.

Please, god, don’t let me die.

She didn’t want to die. She was too young. She was only twenty-four years old, and she hadn’t done half the things she’d planned to do. She was going to marry Paul, and live in a charming brick bungalow by the water.

Keoni’s face came to mind, and Lou became even more confused. She didn’t know what she wanted. Only one thing was certain. She didn’t want to die.

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