Waves of Love (Surf’s Up Book 1) by Lori Ann Mitchell Read Free Book Online Page A

morning, when the locals wouldn’t chase me off or make fun of me. I got pretty good, pretty fast, because… well, it was all I cared about. Started skipping school, grades were dropping, dad didn’t care.”
                  “But you wanted him to?” she prodded.
                  He shrugged. “Possibly. Probably, but… by then, the beach was my home, and the ocean was my family. The surfers, my friends. I basically lived there. I started keeping a journal, you know, in a spiral binder from school. My counselor called me into her office one day; she was worried about my grades, my future, and I gave it to her. I don’t know why. Like you said, maybe I wanted it to get back to my dad or something, but… whatever. She showed it to one of the English teachers and they happened to know a literary agent and, well… here I am.”
                  “Here you are,” she teased him, “teaching older women how to surf.”
                  “Will you get over that?” he chuckled. “My point to all that was, Sage, I know what it’s like to lose a family. Not the way you did, but…”
                  Sage peered at him, curiously. “How… how did you hear that?”
              “Small town,” he explained, not wanting to get the realtor in trouble. “I… I didn’t tell you all that to brag about myself. I wanted you to know that, if you ever want to talk, you know, about what happened… I’ll understand.”
                  She nodded, then corrected him. “I’m not sure you would,” she said, not unkindly. “I mean, don’t get me wrong: I couldn’t imagine growing up without a mother, and then having a father who replaced her with a stream of other mothers. It’s a different kind of pain, and I can’t understand it. Because my parents were always there for me, every day. And when dad got sick, Derek, honestly… my mother was the only reason I stuck around.”
                  “Really?”
                  “Really. I just… I’d never experienced grief before, and to feel it for the first time, at such a young age, and such an important relationship in my life – my father – honestly, I was a crazy person. My mother kept me sane, not because she was in any better shape, but… I knew I had to live for her, had to be there for her, had to keep it together because she couldn’t afford to lose the only person she had left. And I think… I think her grief was so strong, she just… gave up.”
                  Sage’s voice trailed off, recalling that dark, bleak and soul-crushing time in her life. “She quit eating, or at least, eating right. Started drinking, smoking… and this was a strict vegetarian who never had anything stronger than a glass of champagne on New Year’s. I just…” She chuckled, humorlessly, dryly, shaking her head. “I’m sorry,” she said, peering at Derek through threatening tears. “This is supposed to be a day of celebration, not… mourning.”
                  “In my experience,” he said, standing gently, “happiness and sadness are never too far apart.”
                  She chuckled, despite herself, heart lifting after the rugged trip down Memory Lane. “How is one so young also so wise?”
              He paused at the edge of the deck. “All surfers are wise, Sage. Don’t you feel smarter already?”
                  He left her there, alone, chuckling as he drifted inside the roomy cottage. It was a perfect fit for him: large and sprawling, hardwood floors, funky furniture, surfer prints on the walls, the walls themselves painted a pleasant mix of oranges and rusts and tans.
                  She sighed and sipped the last of her beer, knowing she should get back to Sequels but simply not motivated enough to. In the least. Besides, the shift was covered, as it always was,