Cinderella in the Surf by Carly Syms Read Free Book Online Page A

circled on my calendar for as long as I can remember."  
    "And now you're not gonna surf in it."  
    "I don't have a choice."  
    "So then I guess Piper isn't wrong," he says, then quickly blushes when I look up at him sharply. "Wait, wait. Hang on, that came out bad. What I'm tryin' to say is, she's obviously awful for bringing up Alex the way she did. That's terrible and there ain't no place for that kinda thing. But she's right. You can be the one to stop her, you know. You should be out on the board for that competition."  
    I shake my head. "I still don't get it. What does she want?"  
    Walker shrugs. "Who knows? Does it matter? She's buggin' you."  
    "Yeah, she said she's happy my best friend is dead. I think that'd be enough to bug anyone."  
    Walker cracks a grin. "You raise a good point."
    The flames spark and crackle in front of us, shooting a stream of fire into the sky before the thousands of tiny pieces flutter harmlessly down to the sand and go dark.  
    "Looks like a volcano erupting or something," Walker says, and the change of subject is obvious but not unwelcome.  
    "I have to go back, don't I?"  
    "You can't ask me that, Rachel."
    "Why not?"
    "Because it can't be a question," he says, shifting on the log so he's facing me, and I want to look away from the truth in his eyes, but for whatever reason, I can't make myself do it. "When you're ready to surf again, it's gotta be because you know you are. Can't be because it's what I or anyone else told you to do."  
    "They've been telling me to go back since it happened and I haven't listened to anyone. I know what I have to do. I can't let her get away with what she said." I toss the stick into the flames and listen to it crackle as it burns.  
    "You're sure?"  
    I shake my head. "I don't know. Maybe I'm not ready, but it feels like it's time. And even if it's the wrong thing to do, then I'll just find out surfing was only good for me when it was us."  
    Walker nods and smiles. "Good," he says. "Good. You should do this."  
    I take a deep breath and watch the last end of the stick burn and fade into nothing.  
    I feel a chill run down my spine as I realize it doesn't exist anymore. Here one second, gone the next.
    Like so many things.
    "What now?" he asks.  
    I look down the beach toward our bungalow, one of the hundreds of tiny lights littering the shoreline, but of course I can't pick ours out among all the others.  
    It doesn't matter, though, because tucked neatly under one of these lights, resting comfortably behind some storage bins and probably propped up against one of the stilts, is my old surfboard.  
    My beautiful red and pink board, so much a part of me for the last decade that I'm surprised I've managed to function this long without it, is waiting for me.  
    I stand up from the log and dust off the back of my white shorts. "I have to go."  
    "Wait," Walker says, getting to his feet. "I'll go with you."  
    "No." I'm already several steps away. "I have to do it myself."
    He nods and grins. "Then get out of here," he says, and my eyes flicker over to the fire I started. He follows my gaze. "Don't worry about that. I'm a southern guy. I'll put out the flames."  
    I smile and turn and run from this spot so close to the canoe, so close to where it all happened, and to the bungalow, where I'll finally find my long-lost love.
    Again.
    It's not until I'm home with the door shut tightly behind me that I realize Walker and I never talked about what happened at Hilo's the other night.
    And how it hadn't been weird at all.  

CHAPTER EIGHT

    By the time I got back to the bungalow last night, I'd realized taking the board out into the ocean probably wasn't my best move. It was late, almost midnight, and I'd be completely alone.
    Maybe that's how it's going to be when I get back in the water, but I'm thinking being by myself is better with daylight on my side.
    I'm ready to surf again, but I'm pretty sure I'm not ready to be stupid about it.