Page 62 of Playing the Field
I continue navigating around the cove until we’re back in shallow water. Gracie looks so content in her chair that I decide to leave her be. No reason to insist she try paddling if she doesn’t want to, not when we’re having such a perfect time as it is.
That’s why it shocks me when she turns around and confidently says she’s ready to try paddling on her own. “What’s the worst that could happen? I could get wet. I’m waterproof.”
“Yeah?” I can’t help grinning at how chill she is. The power of the ocean, I guess.
“Yeah. Let’s do it.”
I hop off the board and hold it steady while she shifts out of the chair and gets into position on her knees in the center. “You good here for a sec while I get my board?”
The board shifts beneath her when I let go, and she panics for a second, grabbing onto the edges and humming anxiously. “Yeah. Okay. I can do this.”
Moving as fast as I can, I hold the beach chair overhead and slog through the shallow surf. I chuck the chair onto the sand and grab the other board. In under a minute, I’m back in the water.
Her look of relief when I’m next to her makes me feel a hundred feet tall. I hold on to her board to steady it. “I’ve got you. Want to try popping up?”
We’re deep enough for her to try standing, but shallow enough that she won’t get soaked if she falls. Gracie puts one foot and then the other one beneath her and stays in a squat for a moment, white knuckling the edges of the board.
“That’s great. Now use the paddle to steady yourself and see if you can stand. If it feels wobbly, you can drop back to your knees.”
She does as instructed, wobbling as she slowly rises. I think the wobble is more about her shaky knees than the motion of the water, but I’m not about to distract her with that information.
“Okay, I think I’m up.”
I laugh. “You’re definitely up. Now try paddling.”
She carefully puts her oar in the water, and once again, I marvel at the care she takes in everything she does. Her oar moves through the ocean methodically. Twice on one side, twice on the other.
Watching her sail out toward the horizon, I feel so proud of her that I forget I’m supposed to be paddling along next to her. She turns to look at me before I can tell her to keep her eyes forward.
I catch the round-eyed look of fear right before she topples off the board and falls into the water, which is still only waist-deep. Drops cling to her face and hair. Cringing and paddling quickly toward her, I half expect our excursion to be short-lived.
“I’m sorry,” I say when I reach her. Her tee is half soaked as she stands with both hands on the board. “I got so distracted watching you that I didn’t stay next to you. Are you over it?”
“Over it?”
“Want to call it a day?”
“Are you kidding? I can’t get much wetter. Let’s do this.”
Before I can give her a boost, she pushes herself atop her board and gets back onto her knees in the center. She blows out an impatient breath. “Are you ready, or what?”
I give her a little salute. “Ready, boss. Let’s go.”
For the next half hour, we paddle side by side as the sun teases us with a sunset that’s still at least a few hours away. And that’s a good thing because I have a lot more planned for us before our sunset kiss.
CHAPTER 31
Gracie
“Well, that was awesome!”I’m practically bouncing in the passenger seat, and I’m not a bouncer. I’m calm and methodical and measured.
But not when I’m with Hunter. Somehow, the time we spend together has me reaching into a reservoir of joy I didn’t know existed. I’m the girl who always has a plan, always knows where she’s going.
And today, I’m also the girl who got up on a stand-up paddleboard and rowed out to sea next to a hot athlete and made out with him on the sand afterward. I like this version of me.
Now we’re parking again, this time at the Malibu Lagoon, which seems to be mainly a destination for bird-watchers and nature lovers. Hunter introduces me to a ranger after he finishes pointing out a good birding area to a couple of parents and their little kids.
“This is Gracie. She’s new to town, and I thought she oughtta know about this place,” Hunter says, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the sculpted marine habitat where signs explain the preservation efforts underway.
