Page 71 of Catch a Wave
I prop my board on the side of the Jeep, and Kai and I give one another a bro hug.
Once my board is on the roof rack, I take the back seat so Mavs can sit up front next to Kai while he drives. It takes a little over a half hour to drive from the Honolulu airport to the North Shore where Kai and Mavs live with their parents. We talk about the competition, who’s already here, and the forecast. Surfers watch the weather more than the local meteorologists. We need to know when to expect a swell or a riptide. The moon cycle, wind currents, even storms halfway around the world all impact conditions.
Outside the Jeep, the big city gives way to more wide open spaces and mountains off in the distance. Thick clusters of Bana grass and trees line the roadside. Before long we’re in Haleiwa, a small town on the North Shore just before all the major breaks.
I’m the houseguest, staying with my girlfriend’s parents the same day I meet them. And with my best friend, who acts happy to see me, but also, like he wouldn’t mind drowning me for dating his sister when he told me not to. No big.
The Kapule family’s home is on a side street off Kamehameha Highway. The yards are filled with palms and mango trees and low growing tropical plants. A waist-high stone wall runs along the front of the property and their house sits back, elevated with a porch wrapping around the front and sides. Kai pulls the Jeep up the driveway that runs alongside the house.
Mrs. Kapule comes out through the front door. She’s a short woman with a round figure and one of the broadest smiles I’ve ever seen. She’s wearing a flowered Hawaiian sundress and her hair is pulled up with combs on both sides.
“Aloha, Bodhi! Welcome to our home!” She steps off the porch and approaches the Jeep.
“We should have warned him,” Mavs says to Kai in a low voice.
“Nah. He asked for this when he started dating you.” Kai looks at me through the rearview mirror and smiles a smile that reeks of sweet vindication.
I brace myself for whatever they think they should have warned me about. As soon as the door opens and I step out of the backseat, Mrs. Kapule rushes me with a force that would knock me off my board if I were in the water. She wraps her arms around me and hugs me tightly. My arms are pinned to my sides, so I stand stock still while she holds me in a vice grip hug with strength I wouldn’t have guessed she had.
“Okay, Mom. That’s plenty,” Mavs says from behind her mom.
Mrs. Kapule steps back and looks me over. “Yes. Good. He’s good.”
“Oh my gosh. Mom. Stop.”
“No. Mom,” Kai says with mischief in his tone. “Go for it. Bodhi loves hugs. Don’t ya, Bodhi?”
He’s testing me, and maybe getting even for the fact that Kalaine and I are growing so close. It has made my relationship with Kai a little awkward, to be sure. But I’m counting on the fact that we’ll work through the initial discomfort in time.
“Yep. I’m a hugger.” I chuckle and wink at Mavs.
“I’m so glad you are here,” Mrs. Kapule beams up at me. “Kalaine’s father will be home later. He’s at the shop now. You will have to visit him at his work while you are here.”
Kalaine’s dad owns a surf shop in town and is known by locals for shaping boards.
“I’d love that,” I tell Mrs. Kapule. “I’ve been wanting to learn more about shaping someday. Maybe when I retire from the circuit.”
“You should learn now. If you’re like most surfers, you’ll say you’re retiring, but you’ll keep on going until the ocean tells you she is finished with you. And even then you will pout like a baby losing his favorite toy. It’s always the same no matter when it happens. So, learn now. Don’t put things off until when you stop surfing in competitions.”
I nod. She’s probably not wrong.
We carry my things inside and Kai shows me to my room. Then Mavs borrows the keys to Kai’s Jeep and the two of us take off for Waimea, only five or six miles up the coast from where Kai and Mavs grew up. The waves aren’t huge right now, but we’re expecting the results of a tropical storm at sea over the next few days, so we should have impressive waves for the competition.
Mavs and I park the Jeep and walk to the shore. We find a spot on the sand and I sit. She nestles down between my legs and leans back on me. We stare out at the water, my chin resting on her shoulder, her hair blowing into my face and getting tangled in my beard at times. I’ve grown it out a little because Mavs said she liked it that way. Anything for her. Anything.
“I can’t believe you’re here.” She tilts her head so she can look up at me from over her shoulder, swiping her hair to the side over her other shoulder so nothing separates us.
“I can’t either. And you’re right here in my arms. I never want to leave you again.”
“You don’t have to leave for seven days. So, let’s just not think about it, okay?”
“Not at all?”
“Not at all. I want to pretend you’re here for good. That way we don’t waste any of this week being sad about you leaving.”
“Okay.” I place a soft kiss on the top of her head.
Mavs swivels and kisses my lips. We sit there, on one of my favorite beaches in the world, kissing and talking until we have to head back to her family’s house for dinner.
