Page 41 of This Could be Love

I lowered my eyes. “The thought must be excruciating for Chip as well.”

“If that’s the case, he sure does his best to hide it.”

I looked back up questioningly.

“I mean, Griffin Chipman is known on the island for exactly two things. His record…and his parties.” All of a sudden she was distracted by something. “Gabe’s on his way back! Thank God, it must not have been anything that bad.”

She was right. Nainoa could keep on playing, Gabe told us shortly thereafter. The tension in his face had disappeared. As if nothing had happened, he took his shave ice back from Kay and spooned some into his mouth.

But it wasn’t as easy for me to move on to the agenda. WhatI’d learned about Chip haunted me for hours. While using the chest press, while Gabe massaged me, while in the shower, and while jogging down the beach and watching the surfers. I got goose bumps thinking about what it would feel like to be involved in my best friend’s death. How heavy Chip’s guilt must have weighed on him. And Keiko must have been experienced enough to be able to assess the risk. All the same, he’d paid for it with his life.

“You looking for someone?”

I turned around. A few feet away from me Vince was kneeling in the sand, rubbing down his board with a white clump of who-knows-what. He was wearing a pair of colorfully patterned trunks that I hadn’t seen before. Maybe that’s why it took me a while to realize that he had asked me the exact same question as in my dream.

“You coming from training?”

Dream Vince had asked almost the same thing, which is why I stared at him dumbfoundedly for a moment before nodding.

“And what haveyoubeen up to today?”

My question didn’t just sound awkward, it was embarrassingly superficial. On the other hand, small talk was probably not the worst way to go when standing in front of the guy you’d been having sex dreams about.

“Sanding.” He held up the backs of his hands, which were speckled with paint.

“Cool.”Cool? God, Louisa!“Is that wax?” I muttered quickly, pointing at the lump in his hand.

“Yeah. It gives you more grip.”

“Ah.”

“You ever been surfing?”

I shook my head.

He glanced at his board. “You wanna…give it a try?”

“No,” I replied, a little too roughly. As he seemed a bit offended, I quickly added, “It’s too dangerous.”

“Too dangerous?”

“The risk of injury is too high. For me.”

He frowned. “Surfing’s a pretty low-injury kind of sport. Every now and again you get a cut or…”

“You die.”

It shot out of my mouth like a bullet, and Vince stared at me in shock.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean… I’m a bit…” Instead of finishing my sentence, I focused on the sand.

“Did something happen?”

I looked up. His expression was soft.

“No, not really. I heard about the thing with Keiko today. How he died.”

“I thought you knew about that already.”