Page 47 of Chasing Waves

“Hi, Evie. I’m—”

“Charlee. I know. And you are Genesis,” she said proudly.

Turning to Levi, I couldn’t help but giggle at his mortified expression.

“Uh, yeah. So, we are going to go catch some sets,” he said quickly. “Come on, Evie.”

“It was nice meeting you,” Evie said, grinning from ear to ear.

Levi shook his head as they walked down to the water.

Genesis and I shared a knowing glance and started laughing.

“Busted,” she said. “Oh, my God. Did you think what I was thinking? Those eyes.”

“I totally thought she was his daughter. That’s quite an age gap for siblings.”

“It’s called an oops,” Genesis stated.

Evie looked to be a beginner and Levi kept an eye over her carefully. It was sweet to see how good he was with her. Levi might still be a little immature, but he was a kind man and mature in all other respects. I pulled my eyes from Levi and turned to Genesis.

“What?” I smiled.

“You like him,” she stated curiously.

“I do,” I admitted sheepishly and my heart sped up a little with the admission. I had left out Levi in all of our sharing because I was embarrassed about how young he was, but also, I was ashamed because it still felt like cheating to me.

I dropped my head and fidgeted with my fingers.

“Char, I told you already. It’s okay to be happy and sad at the same time. Bridger would want this for you.” She wrapped an arm around me, and we both watched Levi and Evie surf. “It makes sense now why he was asking about you so much yesterday. I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out. I’m losing my touch,” she chided herself.

“What was he asking about?” She had piqued my interest.

“Mainly about you and me, but we got into Jayden and your parents and Bridger, of course.”

“Wow, that’s a full history lesson.” I was a little shocked and somewhat annoyed. “How long were you over there?”

She turned to me. “You aren’t upset with me, are you? I didn’t realize you guys had a thing, and I didn’t go into detail about anything, I promise.”

“I’m not mad. Just surprised. It’s fine,” I reassured her. “Did he mention anything else about Bridger? Is that why he’s here?”

“Oh, I don’t know. He was actually pretty vague about the whole thing.”

I glanced back out to the water, watching him nail a good set. “Do you think it bothered him when he found out I was Bridger’s wife?” My stomach knotted a bit, realizing how much it would bother me if he stopped coming around.

“If it did, he didn’t let on. He was pretty chill about everything.”

I thought that was interesting.

In the brightness of the sun, I could almost pretend Levi was Bridger out there. His body moved in very similar ways as Bridger. It was almost uncanny.

“He’s really good. Too bad he doesn’t compete anymore,” Genesis said.

“Yeah,” I said more to myself. It was too bad.

Levi

My whole body flushed when my sister outed me to Charlee. I was beyond thrilled to see Charlee this morning, but I had not expected Evie to be so bold. At least Charlee seemed amused about the whole thing. I loved seeing her smile.

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