3. Dan

The sun was beating down on my shoulders as I sat down on the sand and stared out at the ocean. Abel had been right, and the moment I shared that with him, he'd give me a big I told you so.

The water was great, and the waves were even better.

After a long morning of surfing, I washed off in the outdoor shower of the condo and changed. But I had come out to the very spot where I'd seen her. Her. I felt like a fucking crazy person. I'd only seen the back of this woman. For all I knew, there would be no way I could ever recognize her again.

Yet, for some damn reason, the pink rock was still in my front pocket.

I reached for it and stared down at it trying to come up with clues about the woman who had painted it or had dropped it. Is it her handwriting? Did she paint it? Or did she buy it because she needed to believe in something? What did she need to believe in? Is she okay?

I shook my head and glanced around.

The beach was quiet. Probably because even though I'd been out in the water for a few hours, it was still before noon. I stretched out a leg and froze when I felt my foot touch something. I leaned over and shook something out of the sand. A pen. Not any pen; it looked like a paint pen of some kind.

Maybe she'd left this?

Maybe she would come back for it?

Fat chance!A cynical voice perked up in the back of my head. Jesus. What the hell was wrong with me? Just the sight of the back of some woman, her hair dancing in the wind, and I was acting like some lovesick teenager when I was supposed to be getting my life together!

Maybe I fucked up? Maybe I should have stayed and taken the teaching job? Retired from the Navy in a couple of years. But wouldn't that just mean putting off the inevitable? I'd still find myself in this very spot just a couple of years down the road. I wasn't the kind to sit around and not do anything. As much as I loved surfing and swimming, there was no way I could do just that for the rest of my life.

I mean, I could. Even now, I had enough money stored away so I could travel around the world and surf. Be a man of leisure. But that didn't have any substance for me.

Abel had left SEALs three years ago and started a pool business. After a mission, his knee got fucked up and he'd called it a day. He'd started his own company, and as far as he let on, he was doing great. I knew if I asked, he'd take me on. Teach me all about installing and maintaining pools.

But that wasn't for me.

Maybe I should start my own thing?

A business of some kind.

It didn't sound half bad. After being told what to do and when to do it for over half my life with the Navy, the idea of being my own boss didn't sound too bad. I had enough to start something, and if I didn't, I knew I could get some kind of loan.

But what kind of business?

One step at a time.I stood up and brushed the sand off my legs. When I turned to head back to the condo to make some lunch, everything stopped inside of me.

A woman, she had to be about five one, five two max, was there. Like I'd thought her to life. Was I hallucinating? Her back was to me. It's her, a hopeful voice whispered, but I batted it away.

What were the chances?

When she turned, time didn't just slow down; it came to skidding halt. My heart, my poor, stupid, forty-year-old heart, actually learned what it felt like to beat.

To really beat.

With one look at this woman whose name I didn't know, I knew she was mine.