Page 87 of Try Me

Pearl looked up at Nate, and their eyes clashed. “I understand,” she admitted. “But I don’t agree. Declan is too talented to rely on gimmicks,” she said. “You need him more than he needs you.”

Nate’s eyes narrowed, and he smoked thoughtfully. “You’re new to the scene,” he said. “So let me spell it out for you. You and Bishop are done tonight. Fuck him all you want behind closed doors, but your public relationship is over, or else.”

“Or else what?”

“You don’t want to know what I could do to your little career before it even started. You think anyone else is going to sign a woman surfer? I’m your only shot, and you know it.” He stabbed the air with his cigarette for emphasis. “You need to break up with him tonight,” he said. “It’s in your best interest to do it first. Beat him to the punch, or you’ll be starting your career as the woman who got dumped by Declan Bishop.”

Pearl was quiet the rest of the trip. When they pulled up in front of the hotel, she was so ready to get out of the car that she practically jumped out before it stopped.

“Don’t be stupid, Pearl,” Nate said as she opened the door. “You know he’s no good for you.”

Pearl got out and slammed the door behind her. Hurrying through the lobby, she pushed past the tourists on her way to the elevator. Halfway there, Pearl stopped and changed her mind. She wasn’t ready to face Declan yet. She needed to think.

Instead of going to his room, she strode through the lobby and outside. She stopped only to undo her sandals before walking straight to the beach. As soon as her toes hit the sand, and she took a deep breath, she felt her mind clear.

The ocean was Pearl’s solace. One of the worst things about being landlocked at boarding school was the absence of the ocean. She’d missed the warm waters of Hawaii like a family member.

Pearl walked along the shore, letting the tide lap her feet. Waikiki Beach was crowded with tourists, but the sparkling sand, the welcoming water, and the endless blue sky were still home. Pearl dug her toes in the sand and lifted her face to the sun.

The ocean, for all its changing tides, was a constant. The ocean was vast and unforgiving. It took, and it gave, pleasure and pain, life and death, carrying on no matter what got in its way. Her mother had lived and died on the ocean. Sohayla had given the ocean her last precious breath, her last smothered sigh.

But the ocean didn’t take Sohayla’s legacy. Pearl was there to carry it on.

“Excuse me.”

Pearl looked down to see a little girl of about eight years old standing next to her. She had brown hair pulled back in pigtails and a smattering of freckles across her nose.

“Are you a surfer?” the girl asked.

“Yes.”

The girl’s smile widened, showing two missing front teeth. “I saw you on TV. You looked like you were flying!”

Pearl remembered soaring in the tandem commercial. Declan had made that possible. She’d put her trust in him, and he hadn’t let her down.

“It was much better than flying,” she told the girl.

“I want to fly like that someday,” the girl said, gazing out at the waves.

“You will.” Pearl held back tears as she understood what she had to do. She had to let Declan go.

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