My leftover feast was such a success that those of us under the age of fifty decided to keep the party going and take it to the waves Monday morning. The forecasted weather was in the low seventies, and the wave report was even better: offshore winds and four-foot waves.
“Do you surf, Jami?” I asked when we met up bright and early before work.
“It’s been a long time since I tried, but Parker offered to teach me.” She smiled up at him as he handed her a board. One of his favorites. He’d never even let me borrow it, and I knew how to surf.
“How nice,” I said to him, ignoring Taylor’s raised eyebrow.
“Just following your example.” He smiled.
“Hopefully you’re as good a student as Blake,” I said to Jami. Parker’s mouth switched directions, and his eyes wandered to Blake.
“I’ll probably spend most of my time on shore,” she replied. “I told Hailey I’d watch Xander for her.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t thought to offer that. “Let me know if you need help.”
On cue, Hailey pulled up in the ancient Honda Civic that Ashton had found for her and got running again. Once she parked and had Xander and all the baby stuff that went along with him out of the car, we all headed toward the beach.
Parker and Jami walked ahead of everyone else. He not only had his board tucked under his arm but Jami’s also since she’d offered to carry Xander so Hailey could carry the board I’d loaned her. They were so busy talking they completely ignored the rest of us. I wasn’t jealous or anything—Blake was fun to talk to. It was just weird not to have Parker to myself, since I usually did. I guess I was used to him being around all the time. He didn’t even line up next to me in the water like I thought he would. We always had our best conversations waiting for waves. It’s the only time he ever chilled out.
Suddenly things had changed. Every time Jami went in to watch Xander—which was a lot since she didn’t have much success getting up on her board—Parker went with her.
“I think he’s into her,” Taylor said when she caught me watching them instead of looking for my next wave. Bobbing up and down in the water usually soothed me, but not that day.
“Maybe. I don’t know.” With each rise of the ocean, I’d catch a glimpse of Jami and Parker playing in the sand with Xander, laughing and smiling like they were a little family. With each dip, I’d lose sight of them at the same time my breakfast tried to make its way out of my stomach. “She doesn’t seem like his type,” I said, more for my benefit than Taylor’s.
I lay down and slowly paddled to meet Blake. The waves were bigger than what he’d surfed his first time, but he seemed confident he could handle them. I hoped he was right and his glances back to shore weren’t out of regret or, worse, fear. He definitely didn’t look stoked to be out there.
I gave him some tips then watched him get worked by a wave before I caught my own and rode it in to shore. I paddled out again and encouraged Blake to give it another go. And another . . . and another, but he kept wiping out and getting angrier each time he did. Finally he paddled in, carried his board out of the water, and plopped down next to Jami.
I rode a few more waves but wasn’t really feeling it. I was about to head in when I saw Parker paddling toward me, taking advantage of the lull in the waves.
He lined up next to me, sat up, and swiped the hair out of his face. He’d never looked bad in a wet suit, but I’d never noticed how good he looked in one. Especially the one he’d chosen this morning, which hugged his shoulders and chest in a caped-crusader kind of way.
“What’s up with Blake?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” The bobbing ocean wasn’t making me sick anymore. In fact, my stomach had a nice roller-coaster tickle going on. “He got raked over. He’s probably thrashed.”
“Yeah, maybe.” He started to paddle, and I followed, but our wave went mushy on us, so we sat up to wait for a better one.
“You and Jami looked like you were having fun.” I checked the swell behind me, mostly to avoid his gaze. I’d said the words, but I didn’t really want to hear they were true.
“Yeah. She’s nice. You should give her a chance.”
“What do you mean give her a chance? I invited her here, didn’t I? I’ve talked to her. What else should I do?”
“Technically I invited her. You say the bare minimum to her.” He looked over his shoulder, and I followed his glance. The water was flat. “You’ve gone out of your way to welcome Hailey into your life, so why not do the same for Jami? Their stories aren’t that different.”
He glanced over his shoulder again then paddled hard to catch a sick wave. He took the drop and then did a bottom turn. It was a cool trick, but there was no beauty in his form. He surfed to conquer a wave, to achieve something, not to be a part of it. That’s what always bugged me about watching him.
I was doubly bugged now because of what he’d said. He lobbed me a major “do this better” and then sailed off to punch his surf clock. Lecture Little Liza Belle, check. Ride wave, check. Go do all the things for Jami that Eliza should be doing, check.
Plus, I’d missed the best swell of the day because I’d been too busy stewing over what he’d said. I caught the next wave and showed Parker how to really enjoy surfing. After taking the drop and doing my own bottom turn, I carved the face, anticipating where the wave would go next and following it to its end and my happy place. I hopped off when my board hit the soft sand, and then I walked up the beach to where everyone else was sitting. Parker clapped, and the rest joined in, so I stood my board up, stuck my right foot behind my left, and curtsied.
They showered me with compliments, but the only one I heard was Parker’s.
“It’s always an experience watching you ride a wave like that,” he gushed.
I didn’t like that he was sitting by Jami again, but I’d take the compliment and try to forget his advice about her. A task easier said than done.
I got some help forgetting about Jami when a bigger problem reappeared a few days later, when Hailey dragged into work as sad as a kid who’d lost her brand-new puppy. “He’s back,” she said. Then she tossed her diaper bag onto the couch and crumpled next to it, cradling Xander close to her chest.
“Who?”
“Elton,” she mumbled. “Who else?” The week she’d gone without mentioning his name had given me hope she was over him. I had to force back a sigh and an eye-roll before answering her.
“How do you know?” I picked up a sunflower and cut its stem with more force than necessary.
“I saw him walking out of the studio.” She laid her cheek on Xander’s head and held him tighter to keep him from wriggling out of her arms.
“I thought you were ready to move on.” I stuck the sunflowers into a vintage-looking jar, giving the simple arrangement all the attention I should have been giving Hailey.
“I was . . . I am.” She set Xander on a blanket with some toys and joined me at the table. “I just want to make sure . . . I don’t know. I guess I hoped maybe he’d change his mind while he was gone.”
“Change his mind about what?” My arrangement didn’t work out like I wanted, so I took them all out and started again.
“Like, maybe he’d decide I really am awesome, like you keep saying I am.” She bit her lip, and all the insecurity I’d been trying to help her overcome was back. “Like, I want him to see me and regret not taking the chance when he had it.”
On first thought, staying as far away from him as possible seemed like the best move, but then I reconsidered. “You could go to a class and show him you’re not embarrassed to be around him and you’re only interested in him as an instructor.”
“Oh yeah, that would be a total burn—showing him I’m only into yoga now.” She stood taller with each word until she came to the last one. Then her renewed confidence slipped, threatening to pull her back into the depths of despair. “Will you go with me though?” she pleaded.
I rearranged my sunflowers and thought over her question even though I knew I had to say yes. I didn’t want Elton to think I’d changed my mind about anything. But I did want to support Hailey, and I wasn’t going to throw away all the money I’d spent on yoga packages just to avoid him.
“Okay.” I stuck in the last sunflower and stepped back to assess my creation. “And only so you can know for sure you’re over him. You really can do better. Take all the good stuff you’ve learned from him and use it, but forget about him.”
“Deal.” She forced a smile. “Can we go tonight?”
The last thing I wanted to do after a busier-than-usual day at work was see Elton, but it was better to rip the Band-Aid off sooner rather than later. So I agreed, and within a few short hours I found myself lying on my mat, forcing myself to stay awake.
“Namaste, fellow yogis.” Elton’s voice brought me back from the pleasant half-sleep I’d drifted into. “I’m glad to be back with you after so many weeks gone, and I have some good news to share with you, my most ardent supporters.”
My eyes were still shut, but that didn’t stop me from rolling them.
“I know you were sending me good thoughts while I was away, and I received them.” His voice came closer, and I opened one eye to see him standing at my feet. “Your wishes for me and my dreams for myself have been actualized.”
I played dead hoping he’d move on. He didn’t.
“I met someone,” he said. Even with my eyes closed I could tell his words were directed right at me, but it was Hailey who gasped. I opened my eyes, catching the frown he directed at her.
“She’s moving here next month to teach and coach with me as we start our life together,” he said while finally moving away. “I know you’ll find her as motivating and inspiring as I am—maybe even more so.”
I didn’t have to look at Hailey to know Elton’s words were stabbing her in the heart despite the soft, gentle voice he used. I peeked anyway. My worst fears were confirmed. Tears ran down her cheeks, sliding off her face as she stayed on her back even after Elton instructed us to move into child’s pose.
The class had to be the longest of my life and the total opposite of what yoga was supposed to be. Instead of releasing anxiety, it increased mine by about a hundred times. I couldn’t keep my eyes off Hailey, and she couldn’t keep from tearing up every few minutes. Instead of focusing on any postures, my attention was on Hailey and how to get her out of class. I mouthed, “Let’s go,” but she shook her head.
I finally convinced her before the last two-minute vinyasa was over. We were headed out the door when Elton called my name. I pretended not to hear, but he caught up to us, stepping in front of me to block our exit.
“Hi!” He leaned against the open door, making an escape impossible. “I don’t know if you heard what I said about Erica, but I’d love for you to meet her when she gets here.”
“Um, sure.” I blinked. Had he forgotten the last thing he’d said to me? The thing about our stars being “totally aligned” or whatever?
“You two will connect.” He went on, not even acknowledging Hailey, even when I moved so she was directly in his line of sight. “You have the same kind of energy—similar auras.”
“Similar auras?”
“Yeah. Red.” He waved his hands around me, like he wanted to pet whatever colored magnetic field surrounded me.
“Okay.” I had no idea what he was talking about. I looked terrible in red.
“I want to hire you to do a meet-and-greet kind of thing so my friends and clients can get to know her. You can invite your friends, too.” He didn’t even crack a smile, even though he had to be joking. “I know you don’t really do that anymore, but I figured you’d do it in return for all the help I gave Hailey.”
I looked behind me expecting to see Hailey, but she’d slipped out—likely through the back exit. Smart. I turned back to confront him. “I paid you for those classes.”
“I gave her a lot of free sessions because she’s a friend of yours and because we’ve known each other for so long.” His voice had an innocent tone to it, but there wasn’t any innocence in his manipulation. “I know you had ideas about me being more than a mentor to her, and I’m sorry I didn’t feel the same, but I gave her something better than my heart. I gave her my soul. She’s come a long way.”
I fought back a gag. No way would I let him take all the credit for getting Hailey to enroll in school or set some high goals. That was me. But, at the same time, I couldn’t deny he had helped her. So, I decided to be gracious rather than argue an inarguable point.
“Fine.” I smiled through gritted teeth. “Let me know when you want to do it, and I’ll plan it at a discounted rate.” As though I didn’t already have enough to do with Taylor’s wedding and Parker’s party. But once it was over, Elton and I would be even—as far as I was concerned, anyway—and I would never again feel any obligation to attend his yoga class instead of the one I actually liked.
I left without saying goodbye and met Hailey at my car, where she was leaning against the door, waiting for me to unlock it. She turned her face to dry her tears, but I saw them before she could.
“I’m glad that’s over,” she said after she’d climbed in and shut the door. “It totally sucked, but I think I’ll be okay now. I can face him and pretend nothing ever happened.” She took a cleansing breath and let it out.
“Good.” I stopped myself from pointing out nothing had ever happened between them. I also stopped myself from telling her about Elton’s party. I’d break the news to her before I sent the invites so she wouldn’t be shocked when she got it, but hopefully by then she’d really be over him.
In the meantime she had no shortage of tears between the time I pulled away from the studio until I dropped her off at Taylor’s to pick up Xander and her car. By then, I’d almost vowed never to play matchmaker again.