Meet Me in Hawaii

by Georgia Toffolo

  He’d had his lesson and she needed to put some distance between them again. If they got back now, she could have the boards away and give Zoe a call, get planning her visit – No, scratch that, Zoe was visiting the Caribbean, not at home in Sydney, quick mental arithmetic told her it would be far too late to call her.

  She could call Victoria and Lily though. What and wake them up at the crack of dawn? No, she couldn’t do that. It wasn’t their fault she was desperately in need of distraction. She started to paddle even though he hadn’t moved.

  ‘Hey, Malie…’

  She closed her eyes and knew she wasn’t being fair to him, it wasn’t his fault either.

  She looked to him over her shoulder, all relaxed and happy and far too appealing. ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Can we stay a bit, just enjoy the sun going down?’

  She hesitated.

  ‘If you haven’t got to rush off, that is?’

  No, she didn’t have to rush off. She needed to.

  But she had no plans. Other than gaining the distance she needed. And it just felt foolish, selfish even. He was enjoying himself and when she imagined how busy his life must be with work as well as his charity efforts, to bring an end to his day just because she couldn’t keep a lid on how she felt was just… well, it sucked.

  ‘Sure.’ She brought the board back around and lined it up alongside his, pushing her body back up to sitting. ‘I guess you don’t get to do this much.’

  He gave a gentle scoff. ‘I can’t remember the last time I sat and did nothing.’

  ‘You should find the time for it,’ she said, trying to avoid looking at him and failing miserably.

  He smiled. ‘Do you get to do it often?’

  ‘I always try and see the sun rise or set.’

  ‘Like you were last night… when I rudely interrupted.’

  ‘You didn’t rudely interrupt.’

  ‘No?’

  ‘No, your rude interruption came after the sun had set.’

  He laughed, the sound low and husky and stirring up her insides.

  Keep a lid on it, Malie.

  Thor is your type.

  Not Edward Cullen.

  She laughed at her own madness.

  ‘I love your laugh.’

  Her eyes snapped to his and his own flared with what looked to be surprise. He hadn’t meant to say it. But he had, and… oh, God. She swallowed, her tongue suddenly feeling too thick for her mouth.

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to…’ He raised his hands palm out. ‘I just… well, anyway… it was just a fact.’

  A fact?

  ‘Well, keep your facts to yourself…’ her words were hot with the whole thing, the effect of his praise, his appeal, the way her mind wanted to find out what else he loved, ‘especially when they’re all personal.’

  He dropped his hands and her eyes traced the move as they landed on his scrunched-up board shorts and the exposed length of his thighs that were as toned as the rest of him. Not that she needed to remember the rest of him right now. Every. Toned. Inch.

  She launched her eyes back to his face and felt her entire body overheat as they locked with his.

  ‘I apologize. Best behaviour from now on in – scout’s honour.’

  ‘You were a scout?’

  ‘Er, no, but I have it on good authority that the saying still stands.’

  ‘Good authority?’

  ‘Jonny… but the rest of the crew agreed.’

  She laughed now, good and hearty. ‘I bet they did.’ She shook her head. ‘You’re as bad as them, Todd Masters.’

  He shrugged his shoulders and looked back to the horizon, to where the sun had now started to dip into the sea. ‘I’m going to take that as a compliment, they’re all pretty great.’

  ‘You know…’ she began thoughtfully, ‘for a man who avoids friendships and family bonds because it keeps life easy, you sure care about these kids a great deal.’

  He looked to her, his face suddenly sombre with her shift in focus. ‘That’s different. If I do my job right, if the charity does what it’s supposed to, they will all move on eventually. I’ll just be part of their past.’

  ‘You give them the tools, the social skills, the ability to move on?’

  ‘Of course, otherwise I’ve failed them and I’m not a man to take failure lightly.’

  ‘I’m not suggesting you are – but what about your family, friends, those that do stay around?’

  ‘There isn’t anyone, save for my father.’

  ‘And you’re happy living like that?’ She couldn’t imagine not having Victoria, Zoe and Lils. To have no friends at all. She knew she was pushing the same conversation from earlier but now she had him to herself, she couldn’t let it go. A man with a heart such as his, he shouldn’t live in a closed-off way, be so shut down.

  ‘Love and loss, Malie.’ His voice had turned husky, rough. ‘I think we both understand why it pays to avoid it.’

  She hadn’t expected his brutal honesty, or the way it cut so deep. She’d never agreed more and felt so sad and regretful all the same.

  ‘But you must be close to your father now, even after…?’

  ‘It’s difficult, especially when every time I visit him, I’m reminded of all the ways he won’t let me help.’

  His gaze dropped, his mouth forming a tight line as he seemed to withdraw from her and into his thoughts.

  ‘It’s really getting to you, isn’t it?’

  His eyes came back to her. ‘When you have the power to help people and your own father won’t let you… It’s driving me more than a little crazy.’

  ‘How often do you see him?’

  ‘A few times a year, when I’m back in London and have the time to call in. I try to avoid the house as it only makes things awkward. When I have its condition thrust in my face like that, I can’t help but bring it up. And that always ends badly.’

  ‘Do you talk on the phone much?’

  He went quiet, his face going back to the sun.

  ‘We’ve never had that close a relationship,’ he admitted eventually. ‘He was too interested in the bottle when I was younger, and now… now, I’m not really sure how to have a relationship with him.’

  She could feel the hollowness of his words, knew he was hurting beneath it all. She thought of her relationship with her own parents, the distance between them, the Christmas she had just spent with them – the emphasis on time for families making it all the more pronounced – and her skin prickled. ‘What about Christmas? Did you spend it together?’

  He let go of a drawn-out breath. ‘I put an event on at the Foundation, some of the kids are a little old for Santa but most turn up, a lot of effort goes into choosing gifts and putting on a festive spread. My father came along and chipped in.’

  ‘That sounds nice, really merry.’

  He smiled a little. ‘It is the season for giving, after all. I guess you could see that as spending Christmas together, doing something we both care about.’

  ‘Sounds like you have more of a relationship than you think.’ ‘Perhaps… He’s been sober for a long time now and he uses his personal experience to help with the counselling side of things; you’d be surprised how many kids start to find sanctuary in a bottle.’

  ‘I can imagine.’ She gave an involuntary shudder. ‘Is your father a volunteer?’

  ‘Yes. I tried to pay him, but he saw it as charity… Can you believe it?’ He threw her a look. ‘I pay everyone else involved but him, he won’t take a penny.’

  ‘He might see it as a way to make up for the past.’

  He looked at her long and hard, his voice quiet as he said, ‘I never thought of it like that.’

  She gave him a small smile. ‘If it makes you feel better, I think you’re doing better than me, I don’t have much contact with my parents at all.’

  ‘I must admit I was surprised when you hinted as much earlier. I know you obviously work thousands of miles away, but I got the impression you’d grown up close,
that you got your love of the ocean from them – surely with what you do now, you would still share that bond.’

  You’d think so, wouldn’t you? The chill set in. The ache of loss and longing. ‘They quit surfing when my brother became too ill to surf himself.’

  It was her turn to stare out at the setting sun now, unable to look at him for fear of what he’d see in her, of how weak and vulnerable she would be in that moment and how easily he could become a distraction from it all again.

  ‘They shut down the surf school and locked up our boards – if he couldn’t surf none of us could.’

  ‘They forbade you?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said it so quietly, ‘to the point that I had to hide my surfboard at Zoe’s and sneak out with her.’

  Her throat closed over with the memories – of being devious when she didn’t want to be, of hurting and not being able to escape it in the water because it was shrouded in guilt. ‘I’d never needed that time on the water more and…’

  She shook her head, her eyes lost in the beauty of the sunset, her heart lost to the memories.

  ‘And so, it created distance between you?’

  Slowly she turned to look at him. ‘Pretty much… and when Koa died…’

  Tears pricked at the backs of her eyes, just as they had the previous night, tears she hadn’t let fall in so long. She swallowed and took a breath, but the compassion in his gaze kept them coming, forcing her to look away.

  ‘It was worse. I carried on sneaking about and they carried on ignoring me, and then we were in that car accident and suddenly they were all over me. I knew they were scared they could lose me, too, but that made them ever more watchful, ever more controlling, and I couldn’t stand it any longer.’

  ‘So, you left and pursued your dream to surf?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘It was brave of you.’

  ‘Selfish, I think they called it.’

  ‘But surely they must be proud of you now, to see what you have achieved, to see how you are helping people, sharing your skills, teaching people to find solace in the ocean.’

  She laughed but it was harsh, angry. ‘They don’t see it that way – they think I’m an adrenalin junkie destined to live a short life. Hell, maybe they’re right.’

  ‘They’re not right, you do what you love, and you share that love with others. There’s nothing wrong with that.’

  ‘No?’ She turned to face him, the depth of feeling in his face tugging at her, making her want the other kind of intimacy back, the lustful distraction she knew he could provide, regardless of the consequences.

  ‘Absolutely not.’

  ‘You’ve not seen my real passion yet, though.’

  He grinned. ‘Which is?’

  ‘How about I show you?’

  Malie, what are you doing?

  She ignored her freaked-out self and raised her chin, uncaring.

  His eyes narrowed. ‘Now?’

  ‘No,’ she laughed, ‘not here, tomorrow morning. If you’re free?’

  ‘I can make myself free.’

  ‘You heard of the Banzai Pipeline?’

  ‘Is that a place?’

  ‘It’s just off the North Shore, Ehukai Beach. If you can get there tomorrow morning just after sunrise, you can witness my passion for itself… then tell me you don’t agree with my parents.’

  He looked at her quiet for a moment and she didn’t look away. She was too caught in the emotions flickering across his face and trying to decipher their meaning.

  ‘I can’t work out whether you’re trying to push me away by inviting me to witness whatever this crazy act is, or if you’re letting me in on the real you.’

  He had a good point. She didn’t know either but the idea of him being there watching her rip it up on the waves filled her with more excitement than just the prospect of surfing Pipe. ‘Does it matter which?’

  ‘I guess not.’

  Chapter Eight

  IT WAS AN HOUR’S drive to the North Shore and when he saw the state of the parking, he was glad he’d set off early. Cars lined the roadside and the designated car park was already full.

  It took ten minutes to find a gap big enough take his hire car and he wished he’d opted for a smaller vehicle. He wasn’t sure what possessed him to get the convertible Mustang… OK, that wasn’t quite true. He’d got it because it suited Malie’s personality best. Vibrant red, it was fun, sexy and impossible to ignore. Not that she’d given any indication she would go anywhere with him after, and he knew he shouldn’t even be hoping for it. But he was.

  Didn’t matter that there was no future, no crossing of lines, nothing, he wanted to spend as much of the day with her as possible.

  He parked up and followed a group of surfers, listening to their pumped-up talk of double overheads and the ultimate tube riding. He had a fair idea of what they meant and even though he could hear the roar of the waves, it still didn’t prepare him for the scene that greeted him beyond the trees that lined the beach.

  The sky was clear blue, the golden sand dotted with people, but beyond that the waves were insane. It was the only way he could describe it. If double overhead meant twice as tall as a man, someone had forecasted wrong because they were at least twenty feet and they were swallowing up surfers left, right and centre.

  And Malie was somewhere here?

  Was she out there already? His heart was in his mouth as he thought it. Surely not. He knew she liked to live a little crazy – she’d hinted as much the night before – but this?

  And he felt foolish now, with all the people here; how was he supposed to know where to look for her? Why hadn’t he thought to ask her?

  Stupid question. He knew why well enough. He was too busy being caught up in her and her invitation to think straight.

  So here he now was, surrounded by sun-drenched men and women all looking perfectly at home laughing, cheering on their mates, groaning at what they called wipe-outs, and there was he, a city boy, dressed in his usual shirt, shorts and trainers. He toed off the latter, stuck his socks inside and pushed his aviators up his nose – at least they helped hide his sudden confusion.

  ‘Hey dude, you lost?’

  Some shaggy-haired guy, lanky but muscular and wearing just a pair of low-slung board shorts, paused before him and raked his hair out of his eyes as he squinted at him. He sounded Australian, hardly a local himself.

  ‘I’m that obvious?’

  ‘’Fraid so,’ he said, taking in his ensemble. ‘You here to watch?’

  He nodded. ‘You don’t happen to know Malie Pukui, do you?’

  What a stupid question. The place was teeming with people, he might as well have just walked into the centre of London and asked a tourist if he knew his father.

  The guy’s eyes lit up. ‘You’re kidding, right?’

  Todd frowned. ‘No…’

  ‘Everyone knows Malie, she’s a beaut! Not many that can handle a wave like her, male or female.’

  Now he felt extra foolish; of course a surfer would know who she was. ‘She told me to come watch her surf. Is she around?’

  ‘Is she around?’ He gave a laugh. ‘She’s out there, dude.’

  The guy turned to face the sea, his hand over his eyes as he scanned the surfing dots. How he could identify anyone from here, Todd had no idea.

  ‘See that cluster of surfers off to the left, in the line-up?’ He gestured with his hand and Todd felt his heart lurch again as he watched the waves swell and curve.

  ‘Yes.’ His voice sounded distant as he strained to make her out, not daring to believe she was being lifted by waves as tall as these.

  ‘She’s in the pink and white, matching the colour of her board… and it looks like you’re in luck, this wave’s hers.’

  ‘How can you—’ He was about to ask how could he tell but then she was moving, taking off on the lip of the wave, its face colossal and curving as she ripped down it so fast he couldn’t breathe. And then she was turning back into it, taking it ho
rizontally, as it curved over the top of her, dwarfing her. She looked tiny, vulnerable, and surely she was going way too fast?

  The spray kicked up in the air, one minute she was visible, the next she was gone. Gone. His stomach lurched.

  ‘Wait for it. Wait for it…’ It was the Aussie who spoke – Todd couldn’t have found his voice if he tried – and then suddenly she erupted from the closed end of the wave, her arms outstretched. He could imagine her whoop from here but any sound was drowned out by the thundering crash of the wave, the cheers from the shore.

  ‘Pretty special, ain’t she?’ The Aussie fist-bumped his upper arm, waking Todd from his trance.

  He swallowed. ‘Yeah.’

  ‘You can come sit with us if you like; knowing Malie, she won’t be in for another half an hour.’

  It beat sitting like an outsider. ‘Cheers.’

  He couldn’t tear his eyes off her as she navigated the waves, taking on another and swinging the board up through the air.

  ‘Yeah, go, Malie!’ the Aussie bellowed, his fist pumping the air now. ‘You see the air she just caught with that one?’

  Yeah, he saw all right; the leap of the board, the image of her as she twisted round to come straight back down the wave, the speed, the power, the control, it was mesmerizing – and he almost walked straight into a red flagpole. He sidestepped it and looked up: WARNING. Rip currents. You could be swept out and drown. IF IN DOUBT DON’T GO OUT.

  Alongside it was another: WARNING. NO SWIMMING.

  He could see further red flagpoles dotted down the beach.

  ‘No swimming doesn’t apply to surfers then?’ he asked.

  The Aussie laughed, ‘You’re funny.’

  He wasn’t intending to be.

  ‘Whoa, not cool.’

  Todd looked to him, but his eyes were on the water. ‘What’s not?’

  ‘She just got dropped in on.’

  ‘Dropped in on?’

  He tried to see her but the bright pink and white had vanished. Then he saw the board fly up through the air, no Malie. His chest convulsed. ‘Where is she?’

  ‘She wiped out; someone took her out. Not cool, not cool.’ He shook his head and carried on walking.

  ‘Hey, shouldn’t we get the lifeguard?’ He stared at the spot where he could make out glimpses of her board in the white froth. Surely, she’d been under too long. ‘Hey… hey…’ he chased after him, ‘what if—’