Page 34 of Serenity at Seagrove
"They're good kids, eager to learn, with no agenda except the pure joy of hitting that ball really far. I'm trying to remember back when I felt the same way. When competition wasn't a thing and I was just competing with myself."
Luna watched him arrange the food and noticed that his movements were getting more fluid by the day. He was way less guarded with his physical movement.
"You know, you're different when you talk about teaching."
"Different how?"
"I don't know, more at peace, maybe? Like you found something you didn't know you were looking for."
Their eyes met briefly before Archer looked away, opening a container. "Well, maybe I have."
They ate in comfortable silence, watching the waves roll in. Luna couldn't help but steal glances at him, watching how the light played across his features and how, when he was around her, the tension in him seemed to lift.
"Tell me something," he finally said. "Something I don't know about you."
Luna considered the question, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Well, I used to be afraid of the ocean."
"You? But you're always talking about its healing properties."
"Well, that came later. But when I was little, after my parents split up, I would always have these dreams about drowning. It took me years before I would even put my feet in the water."
"What changed?"
"My abuela. She taught me that sometimes things that we fear the most are the things that will save us." She smiled at the memory. "Anyway, she would stand in the waves with me in Puerto Rico when I would visit and hold my hand and teach me to breathe with the rhythm of the water."
He was quiet for a moment. "Like you're teaching me to breathe through the pain."
"I guess so," Luna said softly. "We all need someone to stand in the waves with us sometimes."
The sun started to sink behind the horizon, casting the sky in hues of orange and pink.
"Do you ever miss Austin?" Archer asked.
"Sometimes, but not in the way you might think. I mean, I miss knowing where everything is and all of the familiarity of that, but I don't miss who I was when I was living there."
"And who were you there?"
"I was somebody who was always running, trying to fix everyone else so I wouldn't have to look too closely at my own broken pieces." She drew patterns in the sand beside the blanket absentmindedly. “Here I can just be. I can be whoever Luna is that day."
He nodded. "I get that. Before my injury, I was always chasing the next tournament, the next win. And I guess I thought if I won the next thing, I would feel something change inside of me. But I never really had time to stop and think about what I really wanted. And now..." He trailed off. "I am learning that maybe the things worth having aren't ones that you have to chase."
The words hung between them.
"You know, the kids at your lessons seem to understand that instinctively."
"Kids do," he agreed. "Most kids, anyway. They don't have all the pressure or expectations. They just follow joy without guilt or reservation.”
A cool breeze swept in from the ocean, making her shiver slightly. Archer reached over for his jacket but then seemed to catch himself, remembering that there was still a professional boundary between them, she supposed.
"Well, we should probably head back," Luna said. "Early class tomorrow."
"Right," Archer said, helping her pack up. "Thanks for sharing dinner with me and telling me the story about your grandmother."
"Thanks for asking," Luna said, smiling.
CHAPTER10
Luna sat cross-legged on Serenity's deck with Janine after their morning yoga session. Everyone else had left, leaving them alone with their hot tea and the rhythm of the waves in the background.
