Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
Rowan smiled. Tino had arranged a formal blessing of her new board, a tradition for most of the boards he created and shaped for his clientele.
Since her father’s stringer had been repurposed, and his memory was part of the process, the ceremony was extra special.
“Yes, but I told Everett it was okay if he couldn’t make it.
The Purity opening is end of this week.”
“Wow, that came fast.” Lea eyed her in the way only old friends could. “Why does it feel like there’s something going on with you? Ocean or boys?”
Amusement warred with despair. “Funny, I asked Kelsey the same thing when she was upset. Mine, unfortunately, is a boy.”
“Bastard. Did he dump you because he’s going back?”
A laugh escaped her lips, but it sounded more like tears. “No. He actually declared his love and asked me to go back to New York to live with him and his daughter.”
“No fucking way.” Lea’s eyes widened. “Are you that good in bed?”
She shot her a look. “Funny. I’m serious, Lea. I’m kind of freaking out.”
“Because you love him, too.”
Slowly, Rowan nodded. Her chest hurt. “Yeah. Damn suit stole my heart when I wasn’t even looking. I can’t imagine being without him. And Kelsey is the most amazing kid. Being with her would be a dream. Getting to be a mom. But . . .”
Lea sighed. “Your home is here.”
“My home is here.”
“Fuuuuck.”
“Even worse? He didn’t ask me. He just made this big-ass announcement that he wants me to come to New York, kissed me, and left. It was like I got trapped in a rom-com I didn’t want to watch. He literally assumed I’d be happy to give everything up to chase him to New York.”
Lea winced. “Does he know you at all? How bad did you hurt him?”
A half laugh escaped. “I was in shock, so he’s still intact. For now.”
They both fell into silence, caught up in their thoughts. The waves roared. Laughter floated in the breeze. The sun slipped from behind a cloud and scorched her skin. She half closed her eyes and pictured not having this—the place where her very heart beat and her soul sighed.
“Lea? Don’t people do things like that, though? Move away for someone they love? For the bigger compromise?”
Her friend’s voice hardened. “Okay, I’m going to be real here. You go to New York and it’s a honeymoon for a bit. Is he still in a job that owns him?”
“Yep, even worse. He’s close to a promotion that’s more hours and travel.”
“And while he has that, what do you have besides Kelsey?”
She nibbled her lip. “He said I can decorate a new place. Do anything I want.” Her voice edged. “I don’t have to work because he has money.”
Lea shook her head. “Hell to the no! Doesn’t sound like a setup that will make you happy.
This has nothing to do with how much you love each other, or how great Kelsey is.
You have salt water in your veins, Ro. You will be miserable in the city.
Maybe not at first, but when things blow up and you’re alone, it’ll be far worse—because you may not be able to leave. ”
Lea was right. She’d known it from the first. Everett’s declaration was all about his needs. He could go back to being the man he was when he arrived, because she’d be there to hold it all together.
Oh, she believed he loved her. But not the way she needed. Once again, he wanted to fix the problem and make everything neat and tidy. On his terms.
“You’re right,” she whispered. “Oh God, this sucks.”
Lea reached out and hugged her. The scent of salt and sea burned her nostrils. “I’m sorry, Ro. But you almost lost yourself this past year. Don’t do it again when you’ve just found her.”
“Even if I love him?”
“Even if you love him. Because if you do this, he needs to know the true you. Not the one he wants you to be.”
She sniffed and slowly broke away. “I hate when you tell me the truth.”
“I know. But it’s necessary.” She rolled to her feet. “Let’s do a few more and clear your head.”
Rowan headed back into the ocean with a heavy heart. It was all coming to a crest, and she worried about the ultimate fallout.
For all of them.
Tino had outdone himself.
The sun dropped low behind the palms, painting the beach in molten gold.
A trade wind curled through the gathering, warm with salt and plumeria.
They’d chosen the far end of the beach—locals’ territory, where the reef curved close to shore and the sand held the day’s heat.
Serious surfers came here early. By sunset, it was their church.
Tonight, it was hers.
Rowan’s little makeshift family was already gathered—Lea, Tino, Cousin Howie, Brie, Chelsea, and two of the older women from the beach who had known her dad since she was five. Everett and Kelsey stood slightly apart, as if waiting to be told where to plug in.
“How many boards I’ve blessed?” Howie said dramatically, folding his massive arms. “A million. But this one is my favorite because it’s for my favorite woman in the world.”
Rowan scoffed. “You say that to everyone.”
“I say it to everyone, but I only mean it with you.”
Everett gave him a look. “Do all of you flirt for sport?”
“Yes,” Lea and Howie said at the same time.
Kelsey rushed over to Rowan, practically vibrating. “Rowan, is this the board Tino made with your dad’s—what is it called again?”
“The stringer,” Rowan said. She brushed the pad of her thumb along the thin stripe. “It’s the spine of a board. Everything else is built around it.”
Kelsey smiled. “Like how you and your dad were?”
She couldn’t help pulling the girl in for a short hug. “Yeah. Kind of exactly like that.”
“I like that saying.” Kelsey traced the handwritten words etched in the board. “Find your line. You say that to me a lot.”
“I do. It’s important to a surfer and works well as a life lesson, too.”
Kelsey smiled and fell back to hang with Brie and the girls. Everett leaned toward her. “Explain this to me. I don’t want to accidentally offend anyone.”
Rowan’s lips twitched. “You’re doing great just not wearing a suit.”
He shot her a look that warmed something inside her chest. Teasing had become an intimate way of flirting she looked forward to.
“It’s not a religious thing,” she continued quietly.
“It’s a thank-you. To the ocean, to the ancestors, to whoever kept us all safe long enough to stand here.
And it’s a way of telling the board what we want from it. ”
“And what do you want?” Everett asked.
She looked at the ocean. Then at Kelsey. Then at him. “Peace,” she whispered. “And the courage not to run anymore.”
Tino stepped forward with a small wooden bowl filled with seawater and a lei of ti leaves.
His voice was steady—earth and tide blended into sound.
“Rowan Delaney,” he said, “daughter of the ocean, daughter of Jack Delaney. This board carries the line of the one who taught you. The one who loved you. The one you carry with you.”
Rowan bowed her head.
Tino dipped the ti leaf bundle, letting water fall along the board’s rail like rain sliding off a roof. “May this board take you where you fear. May it bring you home again. May it remember what it was built from.”
The older woman beside him began a low chant. Howie’s big hand landed briefly on Rowan’s back in solidarity. Brie leaned into Chelsea. Kelsey watched with her whole heart on her face.
Then Tino turned toward Everett and Kelsey. “Family of Rowan,” he said.
Everett blinked. “I . . . I don’t think—”
Tino only smiled. “Anyone who stands for her stands here.”
Everett didn’t hesitate as he stepped forward. Kelsey grabbed his hand. Tino handed the bowl to Kelsey. “Pour a little.”
She tipped the seawater over the nose of the board. The last rays of sunset caught the droplets, turning them gold before they hit the sand.
“How come it looks like the ocean’s crying?” Kelsey whispered.
“Because she misses her,” Howie said softly.
Rowan’s breath caught. God, it was too much. The old emotions from her past sprung free and refused to be contained. Memories hit her like a clicking camera but this time, she didn’t fight them. She accepted them, like the ocean accepted her back.
Tino chanted the Hawaiian phrase that finished every board blessing he ever did:
“E ho?i ke kai iā ?oe. E ho?i ?oe I ke kai.”
May the ocean return to you. May you return to the ocean.
When the blessing ended, the group broke into laughter and hugs.
Chelsea took Bagel out of his carrier and tried to persuade him to “give blessings” too, which resulted in him running straight into Everett’s feet and rapidly thumping.
He rubbed his twitching nose against his sandals, making everyone laugh.
“Why does he always come to me?” Everett muttered.
“Because prey always runs toward danger,” Rowan said sweetly.
He shot her a look. “You’re amusing at board blessings.”
Kelsey giggled. “Dad, Bagel likes you. He only thumps at people he respects.”
“Lies,” Everett said. “All lies.”
Rowan watched them and her world tilted sideways. This man. This child. This board. This beach. Her friends. All of it braided together in a way that made her chest ache.
She should’ve felt whole.
But instead, a truth whispered up her spine like a warning: You can’t leave this.
Not the waves or the sand. Not her father’s board. Not this version of Kelsey.
Not this version of herself.
Everett caught her gaze. Something bright and relieved crossed his face, like he already thought the future was decided. She looked away first.
Because Rowan knew what she needed to do. But not tonight. Tonight was for celebration and remembering.
Tonight was for all of them.