Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
STERLING
“Would you ever try going pro with snowboarding again?” Maisy asks softly.
We’re wrapped up in blankets in front of the crackling fireplace, the flames painting her skin gold, her head resting against my chest as she traces lazy circles on my abs with her fingertips. I feel so comfortable, so content, I’m amazed I haven’t drifted off already.
I let out a low hum. “I thought about doing it for a while after I quit,” I admit. “But I don’t think it’s my passion anymore.”
She pauses her tracing for a beat and then continues, looping an infinity sign just above my navel. “What is your passion now?”
The answer comes easier than I expected. “Surfboards,” I say, chuckling. “I love making them. There’s something about customizing every detail for a surfer that feels so fulfilling, in a way snowboarding never was.”
I feel her smile before I see it. “I never asked you how you got into that.” She lifts her chin, her blue eyes studying me.
I shrug, a little sheepish. “Before I decided to settle down in Saltwater Springs, I traveled for a while.”
Maisy’s brows lift. “Where’d you go?”
I grin. “The whole world.”
Her eyes widen, and she pushes up onto her elbow. “The whole world?” she repeats back to me.
“Pretty much,” I say with a chuckle. “Remember that travel bucket-list you made on Pinterest? A few months before we broke up?”
Her lips part, surprised.
“I found it printed out. I don’t even remember when I did it, but it was shoved between a couple of books in my room.
After the accident, after you…” I trail off, swallowing hard.
“When I finally packed up to leave, I found it again. And I thought, maybe if I saw the places that caught your eye, I could… I don’t know, understand you better.
Feel like I still had some sort of piece of you? ”
Her mouth trembles, the shine building in her eyes again. She doesn’t speak, but she doesn’t need to.
“Anyway,” I go on, my voice quieter now, “I ended up in Australia around the end of my travels, and I signed up for a few surfing lessons, just for fun. But I liked it so much that I ended up staying for a few months. I took workshops and learned the basics of shaping boards. Eventually, I found a pro shaper who agreed to take me on as an apprentice. That’s where I really learned the techniques, the craftsmanship, and the traditions behind it. ”
“That must’ve been incredible,” she breathes, her hand pressed flat to my chest like she can steady the beat of my heart.
I nod, smiling at the memory. “It was. Six months went by before I knew it, and when my visa ran out, I had to come back home. That’s when Colton told me that his surf team was looking for a board shaper, and…” I let out a low laugh. “I don’t know. It felt like fate.”
Maisy is silent for a while, her gaze fixed on me, eyes shimmering. Then she lays her head back against my chest, her fingers resuming their soft, absentminded patterns over my skin.
“I’m glad you found something you’re passionate about,” she whispers. “That’s all I ever wanted for you, Sterling. For you to have something that made you feel whole. Something that made you happy.”
My hand drifts through her damp hair, fingers combing absently. “Maisy,” I murmur. “You were that for me. You always were. Before snowboarding, before surfboards, before any of it—you were the thing that made me feel whole.”
Her body stiffens just slightly against mine, and I feel her heartbeat quicken where her palm still rests over my chest.
I sigh, pressing a kiss to her hair. “I’m glad I found something I love doing, too. But don’t think for a second it ever came close to what I felt for you. What I still feel for you.”
For a while neither of us speaks, the fire crackling and the sound of our breathing the only noise in the room. Finally, she shifts and tilts her head back to look at me again.
“How do we even fit back into each other’s lives again?” she whispers.
I let out a slow breath, running a thumb across her shoulder where the blanket slipped. “I don’t know,” I admit. “Saltwater Springs feels like home right now and I don’t think I’m ready to leave there just yet.”
Her lips part, and I see panic flash in her eyes. “But…my whole life is here. The mountain, my family—this is home. I’m not ready to leave here either.” Her voice cracks and she sits up, pulling back from me.
I grab her wrist gently before she can run off again and pull her back down to my chest. “Hey,” I say softly, catching her gaze.
“Breathe, Maisy. We don’t have to figure it all out tonight.
We don’t need a master plan, or answers to questions we don’t even fully understand yet. We’ll take it day by day.”
“That’s it?” A breath shudders out of her, and I squeeze her hand.
“That’s it. We’ll keep choosing each other, one day at a time, and we’ll figure the rest out later.”
I cup her face, brushing my thumb along her cheek, and pull her into a slow and gentle kiss. I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but right now this is exactly where I want to be.
“I’m going to fucking kill him.”
My eyes snap open and I feel every muscle in my body go rigid as I stare at Levi standing in the doorway, his face twisted with rage.
Maisy is still asleep, soft breaths puffing against my chest, her naked body tangled with mine under the blankets. I grit my teeth and gently shake her.
“Mais,” I murmur, my eyes staying on Levi. “Wake up, Maisy.”
She mumbles something against me before she blinks awake, and when she sees Levi, she screams and clutches the blanket tighter around her.
“Get out!” she shouts at Levi.
“Maisy,” Levi growls, “get the fuck away from him.”
I push myself up slowly, keeping one hand on the second blanket wrapped around my waist. “Levi, just listen to me. I can explain everything, but you need to calm—”
“You fucked my sister?” he roars, charging at me before I can finish.
His fist connects square with my jaw, snapping my head to the side. Pain detonates down my neck and I feel the taste of blood fill my mouth. Maisy screams, scrambling to her feet as she tightly clutches her blanket.
My hand flies up to my jaw as a throbbing heat spreads across my face. I keep my shoulders squared, the blanket clutched at my waist with one hand while the other stays lifted between us in case he tries to punch me again.
“I’m not hitting you back,” I rasp through my aching jaw. “You’re my best frie—”
“Oh shut the hell up, man. You promised me, as my best friend, that you wouldn’t fuck around with my sister anymore. That you would keep the boundary while staying here with her, but instead you got in her head and got what you wanted.”
“I swear to you, I didn’t take advantage of her.”
“I’m supposed to believe you now when you make a promise?” Levi laughs humourlessly.
“Levi, enough!” Maisy snaps, and he freezes as he looks at her. “You don’t get to walk in here and treat him like that. This isn’t some stupid mistake or Sterling manipulating me into putting out, okay? I wanted this.”
“Maisy, you literally came up to the chalet because you didn’t know what you wanted anymore.” Levi scoffs before turning to look at me. “Sterling, go change and pack your shit. I’ll call you a cab.”
“No!” Maisy shouts, panicked, her voice cracking. “I’m going with you.”
I reach for her hand, brushing my thumb across her knuckles.
“Shh,” I murmur softly, keeping my eyes on her even though I can still feel Levi’s glare burning a fucking hole into the side of my face.
“It’s okay, Mais. You should stay and talk to your brother after I’m gone.
Maybe take some time to decide if being with me is what you really want. ”
Her head shakes furiously, strands tumbling across her cheeks. “No, don’t do this. Don’t leave me behi—”
I cup her face gently. “Hey.” My voice is steady, meant just for her. “I’m not leaving you behind. But I want you to really think about us, without me being here and crowding your space and your senses. And if you still want me after you’ve given yourself that time, you know where to find me.”
She blinks up at me, tears pooling, and I press a gentle kiss to her forehead, breathing her in like I need to memorize the moment before it’s stripped away. Then I pull back, forcing my hands to drop even though it feels like tearing something out of me.
The blanket stays cinched tight around my waist as I turn and walk to the room I’ve been staying in. I dress in silence, then pack my things.
A gift box tumbles out of my pile of clothing, and I open it to find the ornament I never had a chance to give Maisy. I sling my bag over my shoulder, quietly place the giftbox in her room, and don’t look back as I leave.
By the time I step out into the cold air, the cab headlights are already waiting at the edge of the driveway. The driver pops the trunk, and I toss my bag and board inside before sliding into the backseat.
All I can think about the whole drive is Maisy’s tear-filled eyes, and the hollow weight in my chest knowing I betrayed my best friend.
Before long, Saltwater Springs greets me with its easy calm, the storm that chased me out finally gone, and the waves rolling steady against the shore.
Stepping onto the cracked pavement outside my place, I breathe in the salt and the sense of home that settles in my chest at being back here.
I should feel whole again. I should feel like myself.
And yet I feel like there’s still something missing.
Someone.
Maisy.