Beach House Reunion (Beach House #5)(48)

Linnea felt his excitement in the tension of his muscles, heard the thrill in his voice. She almost felt that she too was one of the surfers gliding across the water. It was poetry in motion. She leaned against him.

“Wow” was all she could say.

He squeezed her shoulder and looked down at her. “Think you want to try?”

She leaned back in his arm, and their gazes met. “Oh, yes.”

“Then there’s only one more question to ask.” He released her and put his hands on his hips. “Are you regular or goofy?”

Linnea laughed and shook her head, wondering if he was joking. “Huh?”

“I’m serious. Get on your surfboard like you’re paddling.”

“You want me to lie on the board? Here on the sand?”

“Yep. Get on the board,” he said, ushering with his hand.

“You’re the teacher.” Linnea lay belly-down on top of the board and looked up at him, waiting for him to tell her what was next.

“Okay,” John said, coming close. “When I say, ‘Pop up,’ jump up on the board, one foot in front of the other. Almost like a warrior yoga pose. Don’t think about it. Just do it. Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Pop up!”

Linnea sprang to her feet, holding her arms out for balance in a yoga pose, and looked to John. “Like that?”

“Just like that.” He looked down at her feet. “Okay. You’re regular.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

He pointed to her right foot. “See your foot? Right foot forward is goofy. Left foot forward is regular.”

“So is regular good?”

“There’s no good or bad. The flow of surfing is for everything to be natural. You don’t want to conform to any preconceived formation. Just do what comes naturally. So, my friend, you’re naturally a regular.”

“And you are?”

He grinned. “Goofy all the way.”

She offered a crooked smile. “Figures.”

“Now that we know that, we’re going to take this leash”—he knelt on the sand and picked up the leash connected to the board—“and wrap this Velcro band around your right ankle.”

She felt his hands attach the strap around her ankle.

“You have skinny ankles,” he said.

“I heard that a good surfer has big feet for balance.”

“If that were true”—he lifted his foot into the air—“I’d be pretty good.”

“You know what else they say about a man with big feet?”

He met her gaze and said with a straight face, “Big feet, good surfer.” They laughed. “But unfortunately, that’s not true. If anything, I’m guessing a little thing like you would be able to find her center of gravity on that big board better than a big clod like me.”

“Is that supposed to be encouraging?”

“It is. But there’s only one way to find out. Come on, Gidget.”

“Okay, Big Kahuna.”

He paused and looked at her askance. “Big Kahuna? I’m not that much older than you.”

Linnea just shrugged, pleased he understood the reference.

The water reflected the shimmering blue of the sky. Because the waves were so good today, a line of surfers already sat bobbing at the break, their laughter echoing in the wind like birdcalls. Linnea hoisted her board and stepped into the ocean. She gasped at the chill of the first splash and, laughing with excitement, held tight to Big Blue as they crossed the shallows. The water reached John’s hips, and his body glistened with water.

Later, they stretched out on the boards in the deep water. John paddled his board closer to her.

“You remember the last time you tried to paddle through the waves?”

Linnea groaned and said with exaggeration, “Don’t remind me!”

“I’m going to get you over them, don’t worry. There are two different ways to get past the white water with a big board like this,” he said. “If it’s a small wave, you do what we call the push-up. That’s best for the waves here. You start by getting a lot of momentum. Head straight for it. If you’re angled or sideways, the white water will knock you off your board.” His brows lifted but he held back his smile. “I think you remember that. As you approach the breaking wave, push up so the wave rolls over your board and underneath your chest.”

He pushed himself up on the board. She didn’t miss his arm muscles flexing.

“If the wave is more powerful and you find yourself facing a wall of white wash, you grab the sides of the board like this, and do the turtle roll.”

She laughed. “I like the sound of that.”

“I thought you would. For that, when the wave hits, you flip upside down, hanging on to your board while the wave rolls over you. Then you pop back up. You shouldn’t have to worry about doing that here. For today, let’s just concentrate on the push-up method.”

“I think I can do that.”

“Oh, yeah,” he added, tugging at the leash on his ankle. “Here’s why you need the leash. First, it might just save your life. You get tired, you get pounded by the waves. And sometimes rip currents take you for a ride. With your surfboard, you’ll stay afloat. And one of these leg ropes will prevent your surfboard from hitting your fellow surfers. That’s a biggie. And finally”—he smiled—“if you have a leash, you won’t spend most of your surf time chasing after your surfboard. You can’t be sure some nice guy will be around to grab it.”