Page 57 of Always a Chance
“What are you doing?” Jamie asked, shoving me over so he could sit on the end of my towel, getting it wet.
I straightened myself. “Nothing.” They’d find out soon enough what it was I really did. Would they still surf with me?
“Doesn’t look like nothing.” Nate sat in the sand, crossing his legs and leaning back. They both wore only swim trunks despite the cool water temperatures.
“I’m working.” I closed the notebook. “Or I was.”
They shared a look before Jamie asked, “What could possibly be so important it’s keeping you from the best surfing day we’ve had in ages?”
“Can’t a guy just sit on the beach in peace?”
“Absolutely not,” Nate said.
Jamie shook his head. “There is no peace in this world. Ever.”
Nate reached over and shoved him. “You just say that because you have three stepsons who are driving you insane.”
“You try having three boys in their twenties, and then we’ll talk.”
As much as their banter was amusing, I really just wanted to write. “You guys have a reason for bugging me?”
“Come out with us.” Jamie gestured to the waves. “It’s my day off, and I only have another hour before I have to go meet Callie to help at the diner.”
Nate nodded enthusiastically. “And Sam is out of town on a photoshoot, so I have custody of my brother tonight.”
I laughed at that. Nate’s brother was an adult who didn’t always act like it and was best friends with his wife. “I’m sorry, guys. I really need to keep going.”
Jamie sat back. “Wow, I never thought it would hurt this much being rejected by Johnny Kelly.”
Nate pressed a hand to his heart. “You broke this, big guy. Just know, I’ll always love you.”
Rolling my eyes, I pushed to my feet and bent to pack up my belongings. “See you fools later.” Hiking my board up under my arm, I took off toward the parking lot.
I’d almost reached the car when I heard my name. “Yo, Johnny!”
“Oh, for the love of—”
“You leaving?” Tanner asked, jogging the distance from his shop to my car.
“That’s usually what it means when someone is packing up their car.”
“How were the waves? I’m dying to get out there, but Hannah is at school.”
“That’s your fault for only having one employee—a teenager, at that. Bye, Tanner.”
“Wait.” He put a hand on my door to stop me. “Where are you going?”
“To work. I do have a job, you know.”
He held his hands up in front of his chest. “Whoa there, bro. It was just a question.”
“I’m sorry.” I pushed a hand through my hair. “I just need to get some work done, but Aidan’s sisters have taken over our place after some sort of mass breakup. There are too many distractions on the beach, and now you—”
“I get it. You’re stressed. Is it the article?”
I wanted to say no, but a part of me knew the real reason I wanted this book to be better than any before it. It was my peace offering to the publisher, my hope that everything I’d built wouldn’t crash and burn.
“I don’t know, man.”
