Tidal Wave (Paradise Lost Book 3) Page 3

  “Diana.” It would be fun to sneak up on her, but I’m too excited to see her. I can’t even think she might not feel the same.

  She turns, curious to see who’s here. I know my grin must look like a lunatic, but I can’t help it. It’s damn good to see someone I care about so much. She squints and studies me a second, as if she’s seen a gorilla in a tea room. Then her big brown eyes fly open and she squeals. “Blake!”

  I run toward her, ready to grab her in a bear hug, but stop at the look of panic in her eyes. She springs back before I can touch her. Oh, man. So everything isn’t the same. She didn’t just go back to normal.

  The scars aren’t all on the inside, either. As I get closer, the faint pucker of skin around her eyebrows is a reminder of that horrible night that put her in the hospital for nearly a week. The fucker that sent her there got away and she was left to rebuild her life.

  And one of her best friends walked away from her. I’m a total loser, asshole.

  She brightens and holds her arms out. I open mine and wait, giving her the time and space she needs. Slowly, she enters my embrace and holds me tight. “Oh, Blake. It’s good to see you.”

  “You look amazing,” I say to her hair.

  She steps back in her baggy golf shirt with Paradise Found’s logo over the pocket. Her shorts hit mid-thigh. Her hair, from my memory usually straightened and styled, flows in wild disarray. She’s not wearing makeup. “I don’t look amazing. I look pissed off.”

  She may not dress to the nines in her heels and clingy clothes, but she sounds like Diana and that puts the grin back on my face. “What’s got you fired up?”

  She points toward the water. “You see that?”

  The ocean is swaying with late afternoon gentle motion. “The water?”

  “Exactly.” She plants her hands on her hips. “Water and no boats. I told them, I said, that engine sounds wrong. Did they listen? They did not.”

  I know I shouldn’t think it’s funny, but, damn, I’ve missed this bitchy part of Diana.

  “So off they go in two different directions. And what happens? Exactly what I said would happen. Duh.”

  She’s not appreciating my grin. “The motor goes out, of course. And now I have to hang around here and wait for them to tow the boat back in. Probably means I’m gonna have to give back some of the fees, but I’ll be goddamned if I’m giving back all of it. I’ll go half, that’s all, because they got a whole day of diving.”

  This Diana has none of the refinement she’d been trying to cultivate four years ago. Back then, her heart’s desire was to find a rich man to take care of her. When she found a rich man to beat the crap out of her and rape her instead, she must have given up on genteel speech.

  “I take it you’re working for Kylie.”

  She gives me a full-frontal uh-uuuh. “I don’t work for anybody. I’m a full share partner and she ought to be glad of it. If it wasn’t for me, she’d give the place away.”

  I have a hard time believing pragmatic Kylie doesn’t have a clear handle on her business. “So they’re out there and need help?”

  She eyes me and lifts her mouth into a grin. “What a great idea. We’ve got that pongo boat just sitting here. If you go to the dive site, you can tug the broken boat in and Kylie can bring her people back. Then I don’t have to refund any of their money.”

  I start back toward my rental car. “Hang on, I’ve gotta get out of these jeans and I’ll be right back.”

  Just like old times, I shed my jeans in the parking lot and pull on a pair of board shorts, not really caring if anyone catches sight of my lily white ass. How many times had Kylie and I changed after or before work using the car doors for our only cover? Of course, most of the time we went wherever we had to go with a t-shirt over our swimsuits, Kylie adding a pair of running shorts.

  Island life. No worries, man. Except when you get involved with the rich tourists, financial giants, or TV stars and they screw you over.

  I have no desire to think about that now. I’ve spent the last four years getting over Liesa and the choices she made. Today, I’m back on the island, seeing my friends, about to feel the ocean spray in my face. The only mind space I have is for being happy.

  But the time I get back to the dock, Diana has the boat ready. “You remember the dive sites?”

  I’ll never forget. As dive master at Dive Love, where Kylie and I met, I knew the sites like I knew the neighborhood where I grew up. Along with my knowledge that if you wanted to win at Hide and Seek, the best place to hide was between the rows of tomato plants in Mrs. Simpson’s garden, I knew the green moray eel liked to hang in the caves at Babylon and you might catch eagle rays at Bloody Bay.

  That familiar pang hits my gut when I think about finding seahorses. Kylie and I had been dive masters for nearly a year, always searching for the elusive buggers. But on Liesa’s first dive ever, she’d spotted them in the grass at Spotter’s Bay.

  She’s probably not even diving anymore. Liesa is so shallow and has an attention span of a fruit fly. She’s on to something else, maybe mountain climbing in Japan, or cycling in Argentina, and always, the lavish shopping trips to Rodeo Drive.

  I crank the pongo boat’s engine and set a course, using the buildings on the beach as a guide. None of the dive sites are too far from shore and all are marked with buoys. Finding sites in a vast ocean might seem random to tourists but if you’re out here enough, you make the connections between landmarks and buoys. It becomes easy.

  I sit in the back of the long, banana-style boat. The pongo will only hold about a half dozen people who squat on low benches along the sides. The engine is in back, sort of like a glorified fishing boat. The nose rises with my weight and the engine whines like a coked-up sweat bee.

  It’s only a boat ride, bouncing across the waves, the impact of the boat slamming through my body. I can taste the salt on my lips. The horizon is endless. Flying fish rise on the water next to me. In four years I haven’t felt this happy.

  What about Erika? Didn’t you feel that happy the first time you kissed her?

  Of course. Erika. She’s perfect. Petite, sweet, dark hair falling down to her waist. She is always willing to do whatever I want. She lets me decide where we’ll eat and she makes the reservations or goes to pick it up. She does my laundry, runs errands, is by my side helping me. The guys in my study group all tell me she’ll be the perfect wife for a successful attorney. Because to be successful, you must clock a shit-ton of billable hours and work nonstop. This is the kind of wife they all want, one who will take the chores of household and social life and make a career of assisting you in yours. And who wouldn’t envy the eye candy on my arm?

  None of the girls in our study group weighed in on it, because we’re not stupid enough to discuss it in front of them.

  Yes, I’m the lucky guy. She picked me. Out of all those guys, it’s me she wants. And I can’t wait to get back to New York City to see her. It’s going to be great planning our wedding.

  And that’s the way I feel about it. All of it.

  Not far from where I expect it, I see two boats limping along.

  The boats aren’t large, both can accommodate about a dozen divers, along with a dive master and driver. They’re obviously used boats but the paint is new and the colorful parrot fish logo is bright.

  My spirits soar when I catch sight of Kylie. Leggy, her blonde hair secured through the back of her ball cap, she’s at the back of the lead boat. She’s watching the rope tied to the second boat but when she sees me approach, she straightens and peers toward me.

  I’m sure the rush I feel is because she’s Kylie, my best friend. Not because she looks so much like Liesa. From this distance, the blonde hair and her thin build, and the way she holds herself with such confidence and determination, are so similar to Liesa. Even the way she rejected my love is like Liesa.

  But Kylie never lied to you.

  And what I felt for her was nothing like the spinning and spiraling Liesa put m
y heart through with the very first sight of her. Liesa ripped my heart right out of my chest, warmed it and brought it to life in a way no one ever had before. Then she shoved it into an ice bucket and walked away.

  I know better now. It’s true, I don’t feel the same way about Erika I felt about Liesa. Or even Kylie. I know that love is not something to rely on. It only ends in disaster. My disaster.

  So, yeah, to be honest, Erika doesn’t make my heart pound. But she is devoted to me and thrilled to share our lives together. Not like Liesa, who only wanted to unlock another achievement by losing her virginity on her own terms, not scripted on Liesa’s Life.

  She didn’t let me in on the game, so I ended up the loser. But I’m smarter now.

  Kylie waves. A nice, friendly, generic wave. She doesn’t suspect who this boat’s driver is and I’m grinning again, loving the surprise and excited to see her all at once. I only half worry she’ll be pissed at me for dropping out of her life.

  I cut my engine so I’ll glide toward the boats slow enough to not create a wake. I’m focused on Kylie. She looks the same as she did four years ago when we dove together every day. The divers watch my approach.

  I turn to grab a line to toss to her and she still hasn’t figured out who this guy is driving her own boat. But when I straighten and face the boat, rope in hand, her mouth drops open and her eyes fly so wide open I can see the blue from here.

  She lets out some kind of wild animal scream and before I can react, she scrambles between two seated divers, climbs over the boat rail and launches herself into the pongo boat.

  The bow crashes against the water when she lands but she propels herself into the air again, still screaming that crazy, wordless shriek and she lands in my arms.

  It would take a Cirque du Soleil performer to keep our balance and I can’t even do a cartwheel. Well, not a good one anyway, because the one we do as we sail overboard wouldn’t earn a 0 on any judge’s scorecard.

  We kick to the surface, her arms still around my neck. “Blake!”

  “You’re drowning me.” I slip under and her arms release.

  When I surface, she swats at me. “You goddamned asshole. You fucking shitheel.”

  A gasp from someone on the boat makes her clamp her mouth shut. She treads water and looks up at the boat. “I’m sorry. Let me introduce you to the best dive master in the ocean and the worst best friend anyone ever had. This is Blake Taylor.”

  I stroked to retrieve the pongo before it floats away. I lift one arm up and wave. “I’m not that bad. And also, I’ve come to save you.”

  The divers on board seem like a forgiving lot as they applaud and cheer.

  Kylie throws me a kiss before she swims to her own boat and climbs up the ladder on the platform at the back. She starts to bring in the rope from the other boat and yells across the waves to me as I clamber aboard the pongo. “I’ll see you back at the dock. Toss your rope to Zach.”

  Zach? Zach Lowrey? I’m trying to process this when the engine of her boat kicks into high gear and her driver hurries to get the divers back to shore.

  I focus on maneuvering close enough to the other boat to toss my line. Sure enough, there’s that pencil-dick, Zach Lowery, standing on the other boat, waiting for my help.

  If I’d have known he was the other dive master, I might have let him swim the damned boat to shore. I hate that prick.

  Because he married Liesa? Because he broke Kylie’s heart?

  Why he was here, on this boat, made no sense. How could Kyle forgive him for what he did to her? What about Liesa? Did this mean she was still here on the island?

  Zach looks about as happy to see me as I am to see him. We aren’t close enough and between the engine on my boat and the sea breeze, we’d only be able to talk if we were committed to communicating. Which we aren’t.

  We secure the lines and I turn us toward shore. The half-hour it takes to tug the boat in is filled with questions. The excitement of seeing Diana and Kylie has taken a downward turn at the sight of Zach. The pretentious asshole.

  By the time we make it to Paradise Found, the divers from Kylie’s boat are long gone. She and Diana stand on the dock, waiting to help de-board Zach’s divers.

  I toss my line to Diana and she ties it off with expertise that surprises me. She was a hell of a cocktail waitress last I knew, the idea of her tying nautical knots, playing mechanic on boats, and spending days in cutoffs and t-shirts is a side of her I don’t know.

  Kylie’s wide grin keeps lashing my way as she and Zach unload gear and banter with their divers. I don’t interfere because this exchange is important to business. This is where the divers handed over tips but more importantly, this last impression can make all the difference in whether they’ll return to your shop next year and if they’ll say good things about you on diver’s listserves or Trip Advisor.

  Kylie and Zach are working together like Kylie and I used to. They play off each other’s jokes and tease the divers. Diana stacks dive bags and scurries around helping the divers unload tanks and weights. She doesn’t have much to do with the customers. She’s lost that spark that helped her earn her rent in tips. Will she ever get it back?

  Seeing Zach and Kylie so easy with each other drives me crazy. He’d done to her what Liesa’d done to me. They led us on, played up the love thing, all for TV ratings. How could Kylie forgive him and more than that, how could she act as though they’re friends? I’d never been jealous of anyone before and I hate to admit the curdling black goo in my gut is jealousy over Zach. He’d stolen my girl and now, it seems, he’s taken my best friend, too.

  It’s you who left, dumbshit.

  Finally, the last of the divers trod up the dock toward their rental cars. I jump in and help schlep the empty tanks to the shed.

  Kylie comes up behind me. “Put those tanks down and give me a proper hug, you jerk.”

  I do as she directed. “Your own shop. I’m really proud of you. How did you manage it?”

  Zach passes us carrying a load of weights. He tips his head. “Hey, thanks, man. That made a big difference you towing me in. We’d have a tough time making payroll this week if we’d have had to refund the fees.”

  We?

  I turn back to Kylie and catch the tail end of the look she lands on Zach. Holy shit. That’s pure grade, 100% love shining in her eyes. What the hell?

  She must notice the disbelieving expression on my face because she laughs and throws an arm around my shoulders. “You’ve been gone a long time. You son of a bitch. Why didn’t you ever respond to me?”

  Diana bumps the backs of my knees and I stagger. “Or me? You deserve for me to kick the shit out of you.”

  I laugh. “I believe you could do it.”

  She raises her arms in a Popeye pose. “Believe it, son. I’ve earned my red belt in taekwondo. No one can touch me now.”

  I want to laugh, but the reason why she’d learn to protect herself is too sad. “I’m sorry I walked out on you.”

  She shrugs. “We all had shit to deal with and we all dealt with it our own way.”

  Kylie gives me a playful shove. “Spill, asshole. I hope you did your time at Columbia. That means you should have graduated last year. Are you rich and successful, yet?”

  Usually, I keep my awards and achievements to myself. Ken and Deb raised me not to brag and I felt uncomfortable letting on if I’d done well. A real Lutheran thing from my Midwest roots. But this is Kylie and Diana. I let a proud smile creep onto my face. “Graduated summa cum laude, third in my class.”

  Kylie launches herself into my arms again. “Whoo hoo! I knew you’d do it!”

  “It took me an extra year, though. I had to take a leave of absence when my mom had breast cancer.”

  Kylie’s face falls. “Oh, no.”

  I jump in quickly. “No, no. It’s all right. She’s doing well.”

  Zach pops out of the equipment shed. He grins at me. “Okay. Okay. You’re going to have to stop pawing at my wife or I’ll have
to defend her honor.”

  Wait. What?

  “Your wife?”

  Kylie plants a kiss on his mouth and stands in the circle of his arm. “Four years.”

  Diana watches this with a bit of a smile.

  “Four? That’s when—” I stop and look at Zach. “That’s when you married Liesa.”

  Zach gets a fake puzzled expression on his face. “I never married Liesa.”

  “But that day. At the beach.” I sound like someone who’s been hit over the head and drug through mud.

  Diana pops me on the back. “Oh, honey. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

  “I guess so. You’d better start now.” I feel shell-shocked.

  Kylie glances at her dive watch. “Not now. We’re running late because of the boat. Let’s meet for dinner. Where are you staying?”

  “I haven’t got a place yet. I’ve got an idea, though.”

  Zach starts to walk away. “You guys figure it out. I’m going to start filling tanks.”

  Diana takes off with him, heading toward the dive shop. “You’d better get your ass back here tomorrow so I can see you. Right now, I’ve got a class I’m going to be late for.”

  I call after Diana. “I’ll stop by before I go to the airport.”

  She almost slides to a halt. “What?”

  Kylie’s face clouds over. “You got here today and you’re leaving tomorrow?”

  “That’s fucked,” Diana says while she advances on me.

  I hold up my hands in surrender. “I’ve got things I need to do.”

  That can wait.

  I let my gaze drift from one angry woman to the other. “Okay. The truth is I didn’t know if you’d be happy to see me. So I thought I shouldn’t hang around long.”

  Zach returns and grabs two more tanks.

  Kylie waves at Zach. “I’ll be right there.” To me, she says, “We’ll talk about this over dinner. What’s your idea?”

  “How about I come to your place and cook my famous garlic shrimp.”

  She looks alarmed. “Oh. No. That’s not a good idea.”