Diving In by Galway Gretchen

Author:Galway, Gretchen [Galway, Gretchen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romantic comedy
Publisher: Eton Field
Published: 2013-12-02T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

AT 5:46 A.M. MONDAY morning, Nicki stepped out into the hallway wearing a huge floppy sunhat. She was juggling three beanbags in one hand while she closed the door behind her with the other.

Ansel stood in the hallway, watching her and smiling. Her circus skills continued to amaze him. “I want to see you do that on the boat,” he said.

“You just might.” She got the beanbags going higher in the air for a few cycles before catching them and striding down the hall. “Let’s go before I wig out.”

He hurried after her. “You won’t,” he said. “I’m too good of an instructor.”

They’d had one more outing to the beach together—though she’d said she spent hours at the pool without him with a resort instructor, a female one this time. Ansel would’ve joined her, but he had to meet with the solar panel people and the resort manager, and interview a few property managers on the island to oversee the office building after the deal closed. He was wearing down Brand’s resistance to the oceanfront building, but Mr. MBA had concerns, as usual, that Ansel was struggling to address. He’d been looking forward to a day off.

At the door to the stairs, Nicki hesitated. Then she marched over to the elevator buttons with her sword arm extended. “I’ve been avoiding this stupid thing too long.”

“Don’t you think you should fight one dragon at a time?” he asked.

She pushed the button with her thumb gently, as if it were a baby’s nose. “Shh.”

They waited in silence for the car to arrive. The lights over the door blinked at the third floor, then the fourth, another pause…

She lifted the beanbags, kneading them between her fingers. He could hear her taking deep breaths, see her ribcage expanding with them.

Finally the car arrived; the doors slid apart with a beep. She stood frozen, so he put out a hand to hold it until she was ready or decided she wasn’t, but then she rushed forward and waved him in after her. “No problem,” she said. “Piece of cake.”

He watched her carefully during the descent, especially when they stopped several times to take on more passengers, but she seemed giddy now, greeting an elderly couple with a bright hello, asking a small girl already wearing a full snorkel mask about her plans, high-fiving her when she said she was going on a boat, too.

On the ground floor, Nicki held the door for everyone to get off first, even Ansel, then walked with him to the valet guys at the front of the resort with a wild smile on her face.

“Are you all right?” he asked her.

“Totally. Just had to break through. It’s not the ride, it’s the getting on. Can’t explain it.”

“Maybe it’s that moment of decision when you give something else all that power over you.”

Smiling at him sideways, she adjusted the bag on her shoulder. “Maybe.”

Since he’d called the valet guys already, the car waited for them at the curb. They climbed

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