Chapter 65

Hunter

The next day

Sun, sand, surf and my girl, nothing could be better. Well, getting her up on this board would be an improvement. Hayden and I had been trying to teach her how to surf for weeks now, in preparation for our holiday. Luckily this was a pretty remote beach off the highway and there weren't a lot of people around, but still. Jamie's legs wobbled as she tried to pop up and ride a tiny little wave, but I knew she was gonna wipeout before she even got started. Her balance was off, she was too far forward on the board, but mostly, she doubted she was gonna make it. Sure enough, she fell over into the water, emerging with a splutter.

"Maybe we need to have her ride our boards first," Hayden said as we paddled over.

"That's not how we learned," I told him.

"Maybe she needs that kind of help."

"She doesn't need help," I insisted. "She needs to trust herself."

Jamie knew how to do that now. She'd always been capable, but it was only after standing up to her parents that she seemed to recognise it in herself. With that in mind, I jumped off my board, wading through the shallows to get to my frustrated girl.

"I can't do this!" she snapped, tossing the board out onto the sand. "I'm too gumby."

"You're not."

"I trip over everything!"

"You're so close, Jamie."

"I'm not." She kicked the waves and then headed towards the sand. "Let's just go. We'll get to the Summernats earlier and…" Her voice trailed away as I grabbed her arm.

"Jamie, you've got this." Her eyes met mine and I saw the simmering frustration there, but I pushed on. "Anyone who can fix problems in tiny little parts in complex machinery like a car's engine can learn how to do something like surf."

"Pretty sure they're different skills. By your logic, you'd be awesome at doing oil changes."

I grinned.

"Babe, try again for me. Once you learn how, it'll be amazing. We can go on surf holidays?—"

She looked sideways when Hayden came running up.

"Oh, so that's what this is about? Getting me on board when you bully Brock into going to Bali rather than Detroit to see the Ford factory?"

"We're going to Detroit to look at old cars?" Hayden tried to cover his disappointment, but failed.

"After we go to Bali." My smirk had her lips twitching and seconds later she smiled. "With what you've been through this year, a little wave is nothing to you. Less than nothing."

Jamie knew I was talking her up, but it didn't stop her from looking back at the waves. A long sigh and I knew I had her, so I wasn't surprised when she headed back towards the surf.

"Find your centre of balance," I said.

"Don't look for a wave that's too big," Hayden added.

"Put your arms out for extra balance."

"Don't stand up too straight at the start."

"If you have to, just kneel up."

"Or surf in on your belly until you get a feel for it."

"You can do this."

She ignored our advice, her entire focus trained on the waves.

"Babe…" I said as she paddled past the whitewash and out into the bigger waves. "Jamie!"

"Don't." Hayden reached over and slapped me on the chest, stopping me from going after her.

"Those are real waves," I snapped. "She could get hurt."

"Some would argue dating three brothers is equally as risky, but Jamie manages it just fine. Anyway, look."

When my head whipped around, I saw it. Surfing was more of an art than a sport, less constructed of angles and velocity and more something you did by feel. She sensed it right now. The crest of the wave and when to pop up, where the board needed to sit and how she'd need to balance upon it. My girl, she was surfing. She was fucking surfing on a reasonable sized wave and it was just then that she realised it.

Her eyes going wide, the breeze lifting the wet strands of her hair, then the look of pure delight, I'd remember the way she looked that day until I lay on my deathbed. I let out a big whoop of excitement, Hayden doing the same and even Brock, the sand hating grump, came running down the dunes to witness it. She rode that wave down to the shallows, then flopped down into the water, the sounds of her laughter drowning out the hush of the sea. Hayden and I rushed over, sweeping in to collect her up in our arms, Brock splashing forward to join us.

"You did it!" Hayden threw her up in the air, making her squeal. "You did it!"

"Of course she did." I grinned then and when she returned to Hayden's arms, she smiled right back. "There's nothing my girl can't do."

"Including do burnouts at the Summernats in the HQ?" she asked Brock slyly.

The Summernats were one of the biggest car meets in Australia, with people converging from all over the country to show off their hot cars and this year we were all going. Brock's jaw muscle flexed in response to that idea.

"Hey, it's usually blokes who do the driving and girls that get their tits out, right?" I said. "I could rip my shirt off, give the crowd something to cheer for."

"Or want to pour bleach into their eyeballs," Brock replied. Jamie hung on his every word, but I wasn't sure why. There was only one answer for our girl. "Yes."

"Yes?" Was I peeved that she was more excited about burning rubber than surfing? Nope. I'd eye the pretty cars, but I couldn't tell a HQ from an LMNOP. "Yes!" she threw her arms up and then ran around on the sand, doing a victory lap while we focussed very hard on the fit of her bikini.

"Blokes are gonna try and get her to flash her tits for them," Hayden growled. "You know that right?"

"Over my dead body." Brock and I looked at each other and snorted because we'd said that at the exact same time. We rarely had moments where we were of the same mind, but it was happening right now.

"We keep an eye on her the entire time, punch the shit out of any fucker who tries to mess with her," Brock continued.

"So same old, same old."

When I grinned, they did too, right before we ambled closer.

"Ready to tear up the road to Canberra?" I asked her.

"I was born ready," she said, grabbing her surfboard and rushing towards the car.