Page 37 of Bean
I backed away from my brother and turned to grab my water bottle from the side table. “Shoot.”
“There’s a guy doing surf lessons on the beach like ten steps from here. And I have swim trunks in my car.”
I rolled my eyes. “You have to sign up for those things, man. You can’t just walk up and be like, ‘Hey, teach me to surf.’”
Andrei dug into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled yellow flier. The text was bold and the graphics were cheap stock silhouettes of a figure on a surfboard. Who had…one leg? Weird. “See right here? It says walk-ups welcome. He’s probably just getting started. They have practice boardsandhe takes cash.”
Learn to surf!Call or text Heath.
The address really was right near my townhouse. I glanced out the window at my brother’s car. “Did you do this on purpose?”
Andrei laughed. “No. Call it kismet…or serendipity. Whatever. You know what I mean. It’s exactly what you’reasking for, and it’s gotta be better than standing around staring at the wall.”
The idea of hanging out by the water was a million times more appealing than staying in the townhouse, knowing I wasn’t making any progress and was only making Andrei’s job harder. I shoved my hands into my pockets, but I could feel myself conceding.
“Fine. Will you call me later and give me an estimate on when this will be done?”
Andrei nodded, his serious business face on. “You know I will. But if you leave it to us, you know it’ll get done right.”
I did know that. I hadn’t wanted to sink more money into it than I had to, but it would be worth it. And I had the cash. I had the settlement from selling my old place with Gio and the shared Lexus was currently at a dealership getting appraised. And my severance was almost an entire year’s worth of salary sitting in my bank.
What was I going to spend that on besides making myself happy?
“Shake on it?” I asked.
Andrei rolled his eyes,yanked me close, and hugged me. We weren’t super touchy-feely most of the time, but it felt good to have some familial affection. I’d been missing that most of my life, leaving me a little starved, so I took what I could get.
“We’ll make it worth your while, and I won’t leave you flat broke,” he promised. Grabbing my hand, he shoved his keys into my palm. “Now go get the shorts, change, and make some hot friends with eight-packs so you can stop thinking about your guy.”
That was easier said than done, but damn if I wasn’t going to try.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I headed to the beach. It was fifteen minutes after the time stated on the flier—a quarter past eleven—so I wasn’t sure I’d be welcome. But at the very least, I could dip my toes in the water and then meet this Heath guy and see about joining up next week.
I’d lived by the coast for a good portion of my life, but I’d never done anything like this. Most people didn’t think the Bay Area was good for surfing, but that was better for the locals. We had a bad enough tourist problem in the heart of the city. I didn’t mind that we got to keep these spaces for ourselves.
Meandering down the path, I saw a small crowd on the beach, most of whom didn’t look like they were there for lessons. Then, right near a little rocky alcove, I saw a pop-up cabana with several boards stuck in the sand, a little table, a clothesline filled with rash guards, and a collection of chairs.
And then my heart skipped a beat because I immediately recognized the dark-haired man sitting alone in one of the chairs.
Bean.
My heart was in my throat. I hadn’t seen him since the night I taught him how to suck my cock, and while we’d texted and attempted to match schedules, we hadn’t been able to find the time. And now he was here, close enough I could walk over and take him in my arms if that wasn’t against our rules.
Not that we’d really defined any rules.
I started toward him, coughing loudly so he’d look over. And he did. He shielded his eyes from the sun as he looked at me, a small smile playing on his lips.
“Hi there.” His tone said he didn’t recognize me. But then he gave me a long, careful look. His lips moved silently like he was muttering an internal dialogue, and then, with some uncertainty, he said, “Rhymes with Derek?”
I grinned. Maybe it was silly, but pride and joy rushed through me. He was remembering. “Yeah. Jarek.”
“Jarek,” he repeated.
“You’re getting better at that,” I pointed out.
His ears went pink. “It helps now that I can tell myself our story.” Before I could ask what he meant, his eyes widened and he flew to his feet. “Oh, sugar snaps. Were we supposed to meet today? Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I must not have written that down!”
“Hey.” I closed the rest of the distance between us and set my hand on his arm. Was I allowed to touch him like this? He hadn’t pulled back and wasn’t tense. In fact, I’d swear he swayed into me a little. “We weren’t supposed to meet. My brother had a flyer for this surfing thing, and I thought it might be a good idea to take up a new hobby. I didn’t know you’d be here.”