And now melancholy was setting in. I shook off the feeling of things changing without me truly understanding why. Maybe it was intuition. Foresight. I could feel the sands of time shifting under my feet just like the sand I was standing on.
I scanned the group to see who was hanging out. My house wasn’t too far up the beach. Did I want to hang out or go home, shower, and finish the book I’d been reading?
Bodhi Finn was standing at the edge of the circle with his board shorts riding low and his chest bare. He looked the sameway he always did. His beachy curls were doing that thing they did. The thing that first drew me to him. He was the epitome of a California surfer boy. All tanned, bleached hair, and hot body. He was laughing at something as he ran his fingers through those curls and tilted his head back. Bodhi was hot. There was no other way to describe it. He was always the life of the party. Turned out, the stupid jokes and nonstop talk about partying and surfing got old. His gorgeous body was the extent of his good qualities.
I shook my head, smiling despite myself. Bodhi Finn was a beautiful, beautiful disaster of a human being. As deep as a tidepool.
A figure skipping toward me made me smile. “Hey,” Capri greeted me. “You looked good out there.”
“Thanks.” I nodded toward the fire where Bodhi was now flexing his biceps.
She groaned and shook her head. “What did you ever see in that guy?”
“Uh, hello, the same thing that has all the girls drooling over him right now. I’m a red-blooded woman.”
“He has been here six minutes and has not shut up. His big toe barely touched the sand before he started talking about his new gym routine. Which he’s clearly still talking about.”
“To be fair, the gym routine is working.”
Capri stared at me with horror and then started shaking her head. “No.”
“Objectively,” I added. “As a person with eyes.”
“Do not,” she said flatly. “That is a no-go. Absolutely not.”
“I’m not. He’s just nice to look at. I’m fully aware his physique is his entire personality. But you cannot deny that is one very fine physique.”
She shrugged. “I’ve seen better.”
“Have you, though?”
“Bless his abs,” Capri muttered.
We both laughed and headed up to the fire. I planted my board upright in the sand a few feet back from the circle. It was exactly what a normal summer evening looked like. Cold drinks and a warm fire with people I’d known my whole life. This was my town.
Bodhi spotted me and flashed me that cocky grin.
“Hey, baby,” he said, walking toward me. He had the casual swagger of a man that knew he was one of the hottest around. “I was watching you out there. Your form on that last wave was perfect. I mean, damn.”
“Thanks, Bodhi.”
“No, I mean it. You have a gift. I’ve been surfing since I could walk and I still don’t have your instincts.”
“Thanks.” I accepted the White Claw that materialized in my hand from somewhere to my left. That was the beautiful thing about this community. Nobody made a big deal out of anything.
“You want to get out of here later?” Bodhi asked. “Just us. Walk the beach.”
I took a sip of my drink. “Nope.”
“Come on. Like old times. You look good, Summer. Really good.”
“Bodhi, we’ve had this conversation.”
“We could have a different one,” he flashed that sexy smile and then winked.
That grin and winky-wink used to work on me. I thought it was cute, and yes, it definitely worked, but then I had to have conversations with him. I could be easy, breezy, and casual, but there were times I’d like to talk about something other than surfing or weight-lifting or muscles.
“We really can’t.” But I was smiling because it was impossible not to. He was so completely himself at all times. There was something almost admirable about a man with absolutely zeroself-awareness. “Go flex at somebody who wants to be flexed at. That cute little brunette is making eyes at you.”