“Well, you should. You can’t enjoy life without someone, Mo.”
I rolled my eyes because my grandma loved to try to matchmake. “When exactly did grandpa pass?”
She scoffed. “That Irish fool wasn’t someone to enjoy life with. He passed from the heart attack he had coming for years.”
“So, you’ve lived without someone for a very long time. I can too.”
“No. I had your mother, and I had you.”
Her statement shot through my heart. I couldn’t let her see that, though. “I’ll be fine.”
“A man would be good for you.”
“I don’t think I need to deal with the men in this town. They’re all struggling for power and measuring…” I trailed off.
“Their dicks?” She raised an eyebrow at me. “I don’t know how I ended up where I am but I can tell you. It’s all they’re doing. Try to remember to enjoy the small things. And ignore the big dicks.”
I laughed at her advice and that night, I let one or two tears fall at the idea that I wouldn’t have her to walk with soon.
Our time was running out. I was okay with it. She’d molded me to be. But I’d miss her. I’d miss my carefree life.
The water lulled me to sleep, like I belonged to it. I hoped I always would.
8
Morina
Like the ocean rocking me to sleep, the sun’s warm rays nudged me awake. I watched it rise as I carried my board to the water. I nodded at two of the guys I always met early at the surf. We didn’t talk much. We were there to wake up with the water, not with other humans.
The water washed over me as I dove in. It pushed my wild hair away, naturally smoothing it back the way the wind couldn’t.
The waves approached and I ducked one after the other. Into the breeze, then into the deep. Air and water. Air and water. A rhythm the ocean created or maybe the wind did. The sun warmed us as we took our first wave, and the ocean cooled us as we fell back in before we hit the sand.
The water wasn’t a place I went to think.
It was a place I went to escape and be held hostage at the same time. I needed this. I was addicted to it but it was one of the only places I felt free.
As the air got warmer and warmer, the town came to life and I rode in my last wave.
“You done for the day?” Bradley asked, not that he cared at all other than he wanted me to make him a smoothie soon.
“I’ll get the truck open soon. You can’t be that hungry.” Bradley was about my age and had been a loyal customer since I started working the truck.
“Not like the smoothie is going to curb my appetite anyway.”
“Then go to the cafe down the street.” I knew he wouldn’t.
He scrunched his nose at me. “And deal with the line? Nah.”
I rolled my eyes and rung out my hair as best I could. “You’d wait in line all day for me.”
He eyed me up and down. I was in a bikini and although I could have lost the extra weight on my ass, he stared at it every chance he got.
“You bet I would.” He winked.
I chuckled. We had a good friendship. Comfortable. And when we were both single, we’d indulge every now and then. With a dark full head of hair and a buff body, Bradley was a good amount of fun. The butterflies weren’t there, and I’m sure his heart wasn’t connected to mine in a passionate way, but we scratched one another’s itches when we wanted.
Except this last week, no one could seem to scratch the itch the way a certain man in a jet had. “Give me ten and I’ll have a Pink Princess ready for you.”