Chapter 18 #3
“Well, go ahead. Step into the water. You might want to roll your pants up though. I mean... oh, oh, oh. There you go. Okay.” She tossed her hands in the air. “Don’t roll your jeans up.”
He walked right into the ocean until he was knee-deep. Then he bent down, stuck his hands in the water, and splashed some forward. He laughed as a wave hit his legs and pulled at them as it retreated. “This is marvelous,” he said, a huge smile on his face. “I must come here with Aaron.”
“Aaron? You mean Betty’s husband?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m sure you two would get along great. Toss a Frisbee around. Build a bonfire.” She rolled up her pants, waded in, and joined him. “Yikes.” The water was cold.
She tried not to shiver as she stood beside him. “Great, right?”
He laughed and looked at her. “You are cold.”
“Yeah? What gave it away?” She laughed, unable to help it.
He looked so delighted that it almost made up for the weird remarks he’d been making earlier. Maybe he was just teasing her and her parents.
Though that wasn’t going to go over very well at the station if he became fire chief. But who was to say he would? She still didn’t know why he was in the States.
He took a few steps farther out. “I like it, even if it is cold. It cools me down.”
“It cools you down? You mean you run hot?”
He looked her directly in the eyes. “Very.”
Phin found herself swallowing and taking a step back. She just didn’t know what to make of him. Rhaz Stormfyr was very different. Maybe too different.
Yet there was something about him that pulled at her. Not in a, oh great, what a good-looking guy sort of way. It was more than that. He had a presence she liked. Authoritative. Commanding. Powerful.
He joined her and headed back toward the dry sand. As soon as he reached it, he sat down, pulled up his legs, rested his arms on his knees, and stared at the ocean.
“It is soothing,” he said after a moment. “The sound of the waves coming down upon the shore. I understand the appeal now.”
“Do you?”
“Yes. I have heard many stories of the sea and oceans, and now I am witnessing their vast beauty and power for myself.” He gave her a wide smile. “Thank you for bringing me here, Phin. You have done me a great service.”
She snorted. “Okay, you don’t have to be so formal about it. I brought you to the beach.” She shrugged. “That’s it.”
“Yes, but you are used to seeing it all the time. I am not.” He heaved a sigh. “I can think of a lot of people who would like to see this. They may go their entire lives without visiting such a wonder.”
She sobered. “Really?”
He nodded. “Yes. I know quite a few.”
“Well, then you should take a picture. So you’ll have it to take home when you go.” The words were harder to say than she expected. Eventually he would probably return to Dubai, or wherever he actually came from, and that would be that. Chief Morrison would have to find another replacement.
She pulled her phone from her back pocket, held it up, and snapped a picture of the ocean.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I took a picture. See?” She brought it up on the screen.
Rhaz looked at it, his eyes widening. “How did you do that?”
“For real?” she asked. Then she stopped. “Oh. Right. You don’t use a phone. But you do know you can take pictures with them.”
She snapped her fingers. “Oh, that’s right. You don’t watch television, so you wouldn’t see advertisements for phones. Or know you can run down to your local cell phone store and buy one.” She bit her lower lip and grimaced.
“Why do you look like that?” he asked.
“Because I’m kind of going out on a limb here, buddy. It’s weird that you don’t have a phone, you don’t watch TV, and apparently neither does anybody else where you’re from.”
She shook her head. “You know, that doesn’t jive with me.”
“There’s that word again,” he said. “Jive. What does that mean?”
She let out a long sigh. “It means I think you’re lying. Telling stories. Making stuff up. Avoiding my questions.” She looked him in the eyes and waited for his response.
“Ah, I see. You wish to know more about me.” Regret filled his eyes. “I’m afraid there’s only so much I can tell you, Phin Ironwood.”
Her expression softened at hearing her name. “Well, if you’re serious about replacing Chief Morrison as fire chief, you need to learn to tell people the truth.”
“I did not say I was from Dubai. Anon said that. I live someplace else.”
“Oh.” She looked away, her cheeks flushing. “That explains a lot. Um, sorry.” She cringed and looked back at him. “Did I insult you? Offend you?”
He waved a hand dismissively. “Not at all. It’s just that we come from different worlds, you and I, and yours is so much different than mine.”
He gazed out over the ocean again. “I would show you mine if I could.”
“Well, maybe one day I’ll see it. Hop on a plane and you can give me a tour. That is, if you return and don’t come back here.”
He smiled, but it was weak. “I’m afraid I do not know yet what I will do.”
Phin nodded, said nothing more, and instead fell silent as she gazed out over the vast water beside him.