A New Hope - Robyn Carr Page 0,79

Charlie asked.

Frank frowned at the question. “I had a couple of secret weapons. There was my brother, for one thing. But also I helped kids with their homework all the time. Kept me safe. Why are you listening to that video? You like astronomy?”

“Yeah. I like science. Where are you a student?”

“MIT,” he said.

“To be an astrophysicist?” he asked, in awe.

“Physics is my study but I love astronomy so I’m looking at it, but who knows? I’m not even two years in yet.”

“You live here when you’re not at MIT?” Charlie asked.

“I’m home for a visit—just a few weeks. I’m getting ready for fall. How about you? What are you headed for?”

I’m headed for being a freshman if I live that long and no one beats me senseless for being a nerd, Charlie thought. “I start high school in the fall. So I don’t know.”

“You know what you like, though, right?”

“Science. Math. Star Trek and House.”

He laughed. “A Trekkie doctor, I like it.”

Troy came outside with a cup of coffee. “Oh, God, there are two of you!”

Frank laughed and looked back at his screen. “You have your laptop out half the time,” he accused Troy.

“Schoolwork, young man.”

There was the sound of whooping and laughter wafting across the bay. “And here come the women,” Frank said. Two young women were approaching on paddleboards from the marina side of the bay. “Do you know when Landon and Cooper are going to get here?”

“Soon,” Troy said. “But there’s not enough wind on the bay yet.”

“There will be,” Frank said. “Stick around, Charlie. We’re going to have some fun today. Windsurfing.”

“Really?” he asked a little excitedly.

“Well, I’ll be windsurfing. No one else has done it yet. Cooper’s renting us some equipment.”

“I don’t know how you talked him into that,” Troy said with a laugh.

“He said if it works he might turn it into a business opportunity.”

“That explains it. By the way, I’ve been windsurfing. Badly, but I’ve done it,” Troy said.

As the women got closer to the shore in front of Cooper’s, Frank put away his laptop, got up and went down the steps to greet them. He left the backpack on the deck by his chair. The women were wearing wet suits with long sleeves and were covered down to their knees. And they were gorgeous. They pulled their paddleboards up onto the sand, Frank lending a hand.

“Those are not women,” Troy advised.

Frank kissed the redhead.

“On their way to becoming women. On their way fast, I’d say. But they’re still girls. They never had girls like that when I was his age,” Troy muttered.

Landon’s truck came across the sand to Cooper’s. The bed was full of equipment. And as if Frank commanded the heavens, the wind immediately picked up. And the beach became a swarm of activity. Equipment was unloaded. Landon pulled on a wet suit. There seemed to be some assembling required. Troy locked the back door of the bar and wandered down to the beach. Charlie could see that the windsurfing boards were slightly lighter and trimmer than the paddleboards.

Frank pushed off, Landon close behind him, and they paddled out into the bay. Frank, on his knees, raised his sail and it sat for a moment, then a small gust took it and he stood tentatively, turning the sail into the wind and he was off, skidding across the bay. The girls screeched and whooped happily.

Charlie stood up to watch from Cooper’s deck.

Landon was struggling to get up, to adjust his sail, and in he went. He got himself back on the board, tried again, went into the ocean again. Every time he got dunked the girls howled with laughter. On his fourth try he got up and the cheers were wild. He turned his sail into the wind and blew across the bay. Where he fell again and everyone laughed.

Spencer came outside; Mikhail wandered down the beach. Spencer’s son and daughter were at the water’s edge, waving and splashing with their feet. The girls with the paddleboards pushed off the shore and paddled out into the water just to get a closer view. Landon and Frank were gliding all around the bay, leaning into turns, leaning away, shifting their sails into the wind. For a little while they sailed in tandem, like twins.

God, that must feel good, Charlie thought.

Cooper was beside him. “Go on down there, Charlie,” he said.

Charlie was on his way instantly. Then he stopped. “I should take my backpack and laptop to my mom’s car or something...”

“Forget