The Moment of Letting Go - J. A. Redmerski Page 0,22
But maybe it isn’t, because everything inside of me wants to take it and to throw the too-soon rules right out the damn window.
I reach into my bag instead.
“Wait a second,” I say as I retrieve my cell phone again. “Let’s take a picture first.”
Luke looks vaguely surprised.
“All right,” he agrees. “Selfies are doable, but none of that duck-lips stuff.”
I laugh lightly as he steps up beside me and drapes an arm around me from behind.
I snap the shot of us together, step to the side, and type Paige a text message that reads: Change of plans. I booked a later flight out. His name is Luke Everett. He works at the surf school. If anything happens to me, he’s the one to look for.
I hit send. She’ll probably be bummed we won’t be on the same flight home, but she’s always telling me I need to live a little, so I’m sure she’ll be happy for me too.
Standing behind me, Luke’s light laughter fills the air.
“Worried I’m going to kidnap you and tie you to a chair in a room with beads and incense?”
“Not really,” I say, smiling over at him, “but just in case—are you offended?”
He laughs. “Not at all. Kind of impressed, actually.”
Paige responds saying she’s worried that I’ve lost my mind, but she hopes I’ll have fun, and that she’ll make sure to tell the cops if she has to. Then I drop the phone back inside my bag.
Moments later I hear Paige’s voice calling out over the sound of waves pushing against the beach.
“Sienna!” She’s running toward us, quite ungracefully through the sand, her flip-flops getting stuck and nearly causing her to trip. Luke looks at me. “Your assistant?”
I nod. “Yeah, and my best friend. Prepare yourself—she bites.” He laughs under his breath.
Then he stands taller, interlocking his hands on his backside, puffing out his chest a little and raising his chin. He looks like he’s preparing to meet my dad, and it’s adorable. Completely fake, but adorable—the smile gives him away.
Paige stops in front of us and, while catching her breath, she eyes me as if to say, Daaaaamn, Sienna.
She looks right at him, all joking aside, her pretty blue eyes narrowed with severity, her thin arms crossed loosely over her chest.
“What’s your full name?” she asks him.
“Luke Michael Everett.”
“Where were you born?”
“Sacramento.”
I’m trying not to laugh—they look so serious!
She twists her bottom lip between her teeth in contemplation.
“You work at the surf school in the hotel?”
He nods. “I sure do. Part-time. And the other part-time I work at Big Wave Surf Shop.”
“And someone in the surf school can verify this?”
He nods again. “Yep. Ask for Allan. I work there three days out of the week and I give surfing lessons here whenever he has them to give and I have the free time to take them.”
Paige’s eyes narrow even more, her head turning a slight angle. Luke’s lips continue to gradually turn up with that smile of his.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-four,” he answers right away.
Paige looks at me, then back at him. He beams at her with white, straight teeth. She’s about to crack up now, I can tell, but she manages to hold it in a little longer.
I stand here with my lips pressed together, unable to contain the humor in my expression.
She looks down at his feet.
“What size shoe do you wear?”
My eyes bug out of my head and I look at her with a big, hard gaze that says, You didn’t just ask him that!
Oh, yes, I absolutely did, her grinning gaze says in return.
“Paige,” I cut in, “meet Luke. Luke, this is my best friend and former assistant, Paige.”
She smiles with teeth this time.
“Former assistant?” Luke asks, looking between both of us.
She nods. “Yeah, I quit today.” She hits me lightly on the arm. “This girl is a tyrant to work with; I just couldn’t do it anymore.” She shakes her blond head, but her grin never fades.
I laugh lightly. “It’s a long, boring story, but I’m not a tyrant.”
Luke’s lips smash together, suppressing laughter.
“OK, look,” Paige says to Luke. “I love this girl”—she shakes her finger at him—“and if anything happens to her, just know that I will hunt you down; you got me?”
Luke’s eyes fall on me from the side without moving his head.
“Yes, ma’am,” he says with a nod and an almost frightened kind of smile. “I’ll take good care of her.”
After a moment, once Paige is satisfied, she drops the serious act and grabs me