“Whoop! Whoop! Go, Auntie Midge! You da man!” shouted Teddy, ignoring his dad and Mia, as was his latest policy when it came to their rogue PDAs.
“Teddy, darling,” Verity said from my other side. “I don’t think they need cheering on the video they’re making. And Yaz is anything but a man.”
“She kicks arse out there,” he said, giving Verity a playful shove. “And she’s so da man it’s totally unhooked.”
“I just hope she makes it back in one piece,” I said under my breath and Verity elbowed me in the ribs.
“Hey, aren’t you meant to be the ultimate in chilled today?” she asked. “With your new look and all.”
I was dressed in board shorts and flip-flops, which was as close tosurfer dudeas I was ever likely to get. I ignored her and looked out to sea. Finally Yaz seemed to be heading inland. When she hit the surf, I jogged over to help her bring in her sail and board. To my extreme annoyance, I wasn’t the only one ready to haul her stuff out. Bodhi was closer and had already unhooked her board from her sail before I could make it out over the breaking surf. The fucker winked at me as he walked past. Yaz looked surprised to see me as she waded out of the water. I made a gesture to take her sail, but she just raised one eyebrow and laughed. Both dogs were dancing around her feet as she made her surefooted way up the sand.
“Sorry, big man,” she said. “But I’ve got this. Wind’s too strong unless you’re used to the sail.” When I got up to the bank with her, she proceeded to sort out her windsurfer and all her other equipment with the same adept efficiency with which she’d handled the sail. And we were all left looking on as she and Bodhi loaded up the sails and boards from the day of teaching.
“What brings you all down here?” she asked. Now that she was on the floor rolling up her sail, both dogs were able to lick her face and nuzzle at her neck. She eventually had to pause her efforts to oblige them with head scratches, followed by full-on rolling around on the floor with them.
My chest seized at the surprise in her voice. How many award ceremonies of Max and Verity’s had she been to? I could picture her now atmygraduation from medical school and at all the minor victories along the way. We’d celebrated my consultant job when she was eighteen and that had been after I’d started avoiding her in. It didn’t stop her turning out to support me, though.
“We wanted to see what all the fuss was about,” Verity said into the awkward silence. “This one has been banging on about it for weeks.”
Yaz darted me a surprised look, which made me feel even more of a shit. Of course, she didn’t know how much I admired what she did on the water. I’d never bothered to tell her.
“I always knew you kicked butt out there, Auntie Midge,” Teddy said, trying to control Roger and get him back on the lead so Yaz could pack everything up.
“Thanks, Ted,” she said, smiling at him as she reached up to unzip the back of her wetsuit. I started forward to help her, but bloody Bodhi was there again before I could jump in front of him. He smirked at me as he swept Yaz’s hair out of the way and took way too long to pull the zip down, standing so close his lips were practically touching her neck.
“Well, I hope they got some good shots. Helps with the promo for the centre, doesn’t it, Bode?”
“And for Brazil,” Bodhi said as Yaz started shimmying out of her wetsuit. “Don’t forget about that.”
Yaz bit her lip. “Bodhi, I’ve still not agreed to anything with – ”
“You’re going to Brazil?” Verity asked, her gaze sharp on Yaz.
“We’ll kill it out there with guiding,” Bodhi put in.
“It’s just an idea,” Yaz said softly to Verity. “I haven’t committed to it. I just…I did think it might be a good change for me. Just for a few months.” She’s shed her wetsuit entirely now and the rash vest below was practically transparent, with her bikini leaving little to the imagination. But that was Yaz – totally at ease with her body. Happy to be covered in salt and sand as long as she was looking out on the sea and doing what she loved. “Listen, I’ve got to go and talk to these peeps now.”
The film-makers were signalling her over for an interview and, in typical Yaz fashion, she simply shrugged on some cut-offs, left her salty curls to hang down her back, and didn’t even check in a mirror before she jogged over to them. But not before Max had given her an uncharacteristic bear hug and told her how proud he was of her. My heart felt heavy as she had to clear her throat and blink away tears of surprise at her brother’s gesture. Everyone else said their goodbyes as well, Teddy lifting her up off her feet and spinning her around in celebration.
“What are you going to do about that?” Verity asked me in a low voice as we watched Yaz walk away.
I shrugged. “What do you expect me to do, V?”
“Give her a reason to stay,” she whispered before turning to leave with the others.
Bodhi and I were the only ones left watching her interview, just out of her earshot.
“Would have been a lot easier for me if she’d just shagged the director,” Bodhi said in a casual tone as he leaned back and against his van and crossed his arms over his chest. I had been engrossed in watching one of Yaz’s animated descriptions to the camera crew, using her whole body to demonstrate something she’d done on the water.
“You are such a piece of shit, you know that right?” I said through gritted teeth.
He shrugged. “She needs to know how to play the game, man. There are lots of hot chicks out there who can rip it up on the waves. If she wants more airtime then she’s gotta loosen up. For a bird that pretends to be chill, she’s pretty frigid.”
I took a deep breath in through my nose and let it out slowly through my mouth. It wouldn’t do my cause any good to punch Yaz’s business partner in the face. I needed to bide my time so that I could tell my ‘friend’ later what this slimeball had been saying behind her back and have her actually believe me.
“Talk like that about her again and you’ll be in my emergency department needing a pretty extensive trauma survey from my colleagues. Understand?”
He smirked. “Whatever. Yaz is non-violent, man. Don’t think you’re gonna get to her v-jay-jay that way.” With that, he walked off in the direction of the volleyball court, where a group of Yaz’s friends were gathered. They were an eclectic bunch – some surfer types, hippies in tie-dye, a couple sporting some pretty impressive dreadlocks. All were tanned, and a fair few were covered in tattoos. They all seemed at home on the beach with the same salt-encrusted barefoot look as Yaz, and they all had this beautiful, slightly wild quality to them – again, like Yaz. Even with my board shorts and flip-flops, I did not fit in with these people. I glanced at Yaz again. She was laughing into the camera – totally uninhibited, completely free, almost painfully beautiful. I needed to focus on what was important. I took a moment to calm down, then headed off in her direction. The interview had finished now and one producer was standing just a little too close to her. She flinched slightly when he reached up to brush from sand from her cheek. I quickened my pace.
