Jordan’s eyes widened. “I take it you saw the mermaid shot on my laptop.”
“Mermaid shot?”
“That’s what you looked like to me. And I’m sure you figured out that I took that before I knew who you were.”
“Yes.”
For a moment the two sat looking at each other. Jordan tried to read Sierra’s thoughts. To him it seemed as if the shadows were being siphoned from the room and light was filling the space between Sierra and him. He felt rocked in the deepest part of his soul.
“How about some more coffee?” Sierra sprang from the couch.
“Sure.” Jordan handed her his mug. To his slight embarrassment but not surprise, he saw that his hand was shaking.
As Sierra reached for his coffee mug, her hand was shaking too.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sierra carried the two empty coffee mugs to the kitchen and hoped Jordan hadn’t noticed the way her hand trembled. She couldn’t believe the rush of emotion that had come over her when Jordan called her picture the “mermaid shot” and then had looked into her eyes so deeply it seemed he could see all the way to her heart.
No guy had ever looked at her like that before.
The intensity and honesty that she saw in his expression and that she knew he could see in hers was too much. That was why she stood and pulled herself away. She had to figure out what was going on.
As Sierra poured the coffee, she told herself it was impossible to feel this drawn to someone in such a short time. And yet, why not? She couldn’t say she ever truly had been in love. Was this what the first blush of love felt like?
Sierra remembered that Jordan liked his coffee with milk and poured some in, preparing his coffee with care before returning to the sofa.
“I have to ask you something,” Jordan said.
“Okay.” Sierra settled at the end of the couch and took a sip of her coffee, trying to keep her feelings hidden and her heart calm.
“I just wondered if you and Mariana have plans for tonight. Once we’re sprung from our house arrest, I need to get down to the beach. I’ll be taking pictures most of the day. But I’d really like to have dinner with you. And Mariana.”
“I’ll ask her. It should work out unless she has plans with the friends she stayed with last night. If she does, then it would just be me.”
“That would be fine.” Jordan’s expression was warm and easygoing.
Sierra looked away. Part of her wanted to give in to the strong feelings growing inside right now. Another part of her warned that she should be on her guard and not open up too much or come across too eager or available. What could come of their relationship since they had such a short time together?
Just then they heard the squeak of car brakes and the sound of a car door slamming.
“Sounds like we have company,” Jordan said. He and Sierra went to the door and both leaned out to see who would come around the side of the house.
“Who do you think it is?” Jordan asked. “Mariana or the Island Fix It Man?”
Before Sierra could make a guess, Mariana came around the side of the house and stopped short in front of the collapsed stairs. She looked up and shouted, “Sierra!”
“Hello! Right here.” Sierra waved.
Jordan added a wave.
Mariana’s mouth opened, but no words came out. Sierra wished she had a camera to capture the moment. Mariana had often made Sierra speechless, but Sierra couldn’t remember a time she had had the same effect on her friend.
“Sierra, what are you doing?”
“Waiting to be rescued.”
“There’s a guy up there with you.”
“There is?” Sierra playfully looked around.
“What are you doing? How did you get up there? Who is this guy?”
“This is Jordan. Jordan, this is Mariana.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jordan said.
Mariana wasn’t polite in her response. She stood with her hands on her hips, staring up at them with her sunglasses on top of her head. “Jordan, whoever you are, and whoever you think you are, you need to know that this is no ordinary woman you lured to your penthouse.”
Sierra turned to Jordan. “Did you lure me?”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“He didn’t lure me,” Sierra replied to Mariana.
“As a matter of fact, she was the one who knocked on my door.”
“I did,” Sierra added.
Mariana looked as flustered as Sierra had ever seen her. “And then the stairs fell off?”
Jordan and Sierra looked at each other. Turning back to Mariana they nodded.
“And the electricity went out.” Jordan’s expression made it clear that he was having as much fun with this as Sierra was.
“Sierra, why didn’t you tell me last night?”
“Because I knew you would try to come back in the storm. And besides, telling you like this is way more fun.”
Sierra loved being the one who had the chance to drive her friend a little crazy.
“I’m going to look in the garage for a ladder. That’s what I’m going to do.” Mariana bustled off as Jordan and Sierra stood at the open door, peering down, sipping their coffee.
“Nice day,” Jordan said.
“Yes, it is.” Sierra was still in her playful mood. “It’s a very nice day.”
They could hear the sound of the rickety garage door rising. At the same time, the sound of a motor scooter coming their way grew louder. As Jordan and Sierra watched, an older Asian man on a bright yellow scooter came around the side of the house where the broken stairs gathered in a heap and made a roadblock. He came to a stop and used his flip-flop–covered feet to balance the small scooter as he surveyed the mess.
His back was to them, and Sierra noticed that he wore his T-shirt tucked into his tighty-whitey underwear that rose above the edge of his elastic-waist shorts. Sierra thought that was a peculiar way to wear his clothes, but not half as odd as what she spotted next. The man carried a red flyswatter with the long wire handle tucked into his tighty-whitey waistband. The flyswatter sprouted from the back of his shorts like a monkey’s tail.
“Morning,” Jordan called out.
The man climbed off the scooter, and as he walked toward the garage, the flyswatter whacked his back in an uneven rhythm with the slapping of his flip-flop sandals.
“Hello!” Jordan said.
The man turned around. “Oh, there you are. Aloha. Hey, you got big trouble here.”
“Yes, we do. Are you the Island Fix It Man?”
“Yes, yes. My son is on his way with the truck. We can fix this. We fix everything. One time we got a cat out of a dryer vent and even the tail that was caught. But the vet couldn’t sew it back on.”
“So you fix everything but cat tails,” Jordan said.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
Mariana appeared from around the corner, hauling a dented aluminum ladder. “I found one.”
The three observers watched as she set the ladder in place and discovered what Sierra had already guessed when she saw Mariana carrying the ladder. It was too short. The ladder rose halfway to where the stairs had snapped off. She looked disappointed and then noticed the Island Fix It Man.
He gave her a nod and, without saying anything, collapsed the ladder, tucked it under his arm, and carried it back to the garage. With every step the flyswatter slapped his back, and his flip-flops slapped his feet.
Mariana looked up at Sierra and Jordan with amusement on her face. She held out both hands, palms up. “What’s going on here? This is nuts. Is this some sort of American television show? Is the joke on me?”
“No,” Sierra said. “The joke is not on you. That’s our Fix It Man. His backup support is on the way.”
In a low voice, Jordan said, “It looks like his backup support is following him.”
Sierra and Jordan exchanged grins, and Mariana said, “Do you two know each other? I mean, from before yesterday?”
??
?Yes,” they answered in unison, and then they both laughed.
“We went whale watching on Maui,” Jordan said.
“He was the photographer at the wedding,” Sierra added.
“Then, what? You decided to bring him back here with you?” Mariana asked.
“No, he followed me.”
“Actually, you followed me. I arrived first.”
“That’s right. He was here first. He’s on assignment to take pictures at the surfing competition.”
Mariana looked more confused than before. “How did you know you were both staying at the same place?”
“We didn’t,” Sierra said. “It was a God thing.”
Mariana’s expression didn’t change. She looked at them without blinking. “You say that all the time, Sierra, but this time I almost believe it.”
“Believe it,” Jordan and Sierra said in unison again.
They turned to each other and gave a funny sort of team victory gesture that was a cross between a high five and a knuckle bump. Sierra laughed at her own awkwardness. She didn’t know what the current expressions or gestures were in the US.
All she knew was that Jordan was grinning at her, and she was feeling pretty happy.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jordan’s cell phone rang halfway through the stairway repair project. He had ignored it the first time it rang earlier that morning, but it occurred to him that it might be Derek calling with an update on whether he had caught a flight that morning and was arriving in time for the competition.
Leaving Sierra by the front door, Jordan grabbed his phone and saw that the call was from Derek, as he had suspected.
“Hey, what’s happening? How’s Mindy?”
“She’s about the same.”
“So you’re still in California.”
“Yeah, I can’t leave her. Not like this. She kept telling me to go and get on the plane this morning, but her mom can’t come to be with her, and I don’t think I should leave. She has a couple of friends who have been checking in on her. One of them called a few minutes ago and said she could stay with her starting tomorrow. That means I could try to catch the first flight out of LAX in the morning. All this depends on how Mindy is doing.”
“I really feel for you, Derek. I know I keep saying the same thing every time I talk to you, but I’m so bummed this is happening to you guys.”
“I know. Worst timing ever. But it is what it is, right? I’m going to make some calls and see if I can be a late arrival and still make the lineup for tomorrow. The big storm you guys had over there delayed everything a day; so that’s in my favor. If you could manage to brew up another storm today, that would buy me some more time.”
“The skies are clear. Another storm doesn’t seem likely, but I haven’t checked the weather report.”
“I did. No storms are predicted. I was just hoping.”
Jordan glanced out the front window at the sun-filled morning. The sky was a primrose shade of blue with only a few floating whiffs of clouds. The waves rolled in with thunderous curls, cresting at about twenty feet in his estimation. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this in case it bums you out even more, but the waves are monstrous.”
“I know. I’ve been watching the online feed. You guys have perfect conditions today. It’s killing me not to be there. Are you getting some good shots?”
“I haven’t gone down to the beach yet.”
“Why not? Competitions started almost an hour ago.”
“I know. The storm took out the staircase to this second-floor apartment. The repair guys are here now.”
“Well, I guess I’m not the only one missing the big event, then. And by the way, what was with the girl last night? Sarah? Was that her name?”
“No, Sierra. Her name is Sierra.” Jordan glanced at the door and noticed that Sierra turned and smiled at him when she heard her name.
“And? Come on, details, bro.”
“Sure. Okay. I’ll do that. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Oh, so you’re back to code-speak. She must still be there.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s all I’m going to get out of you?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
Derek let out a huff of air into the phone. “All right. Later, then. I have some calls to make. I’ll talk to you when you’re able to use full sentences.”
“Sounds good. Say hi to Mindy for me.”
“I will.”
Jordan hung up and packed his camera and equipment. The minute he could clamber down those stairs, he knew he needed to be on the beach. His first stop would be the judging stand. If he could find the right person to talk to, he might convince the guy to let Derek come a day late and still compete.
“Is everything okay with your friend?” Sierra came over to where Jordan was carefully packing his camera case.
“Mindy still isn’t doing well.”
“She hasn’t miscarried, though, has she?”
“No, she hasn’t.”
“It’s great that she hasn’t lost the baby.”
“Yeah, but not so great that Derek is missing his big shot at this competition.”
“But the baby is what really matters.”
Jordan looked at Sierra and felt a twinge of irritation at her comment. “Of course.” He knew he wasn’t trying to diminish that part of the complicated situation. Was that what she thought? “I’m not saying the baby doesn’t matter,” Jordan said. “Of course the baby matters. But you have to understand that Derek has been working for this opportunity for years. And here it is, first day of the competition, perfect conditions, and he’s not here.”
“I understand.” Sierra lowered her chin and looked at Jordan without blinking. “But the baby is what really matters.”
“Right. I just said that.” Jordan’s twinge of irritation grew into exasperation, and he knew it showed in his voice. After all the warmth and compatibility he had felt toward Sierra last night, he hadn’t expected those emotions to be overshadowed by a burst of irritability. “You don’t have the whole picture.”
Sierra didn’t look away or retreat in response to his sharp words. That surprised him. She seemed to take in his last comment and consider it before she said, “You could be right. I don’t have the whole picture. But to my way of thinking, people are always more important than projects.”
Jordan stood and gave her a careful look. “Of course they are. But what’s the point in having a goal or a longtime dream, only to find that you’re blocked before reaching it? Wouldn’t you fight your way through the obstacles to make it happen?”
Sierra looked down for a moment as if his words had struck a sore spot.
“I’m just saying, sometimes you have to press forward and fight for your goals,” Jordan said.
“And sometimes you have to let them go without a battle and move on to whatever is next, whether it’s your dream or not.”
Jordan saw a flicker of sadness cross Sierra’s expression, and he realized she must be projecting this discussion about Derek onto her situation in Brazil. He knew she had had to give up the afterschool program with the teen girls. Was that what this conversation was about for her?
“Why?” he asked. “Why would you give up and do something that’s not your dream?”
“Because…”
Jordan noticed that her eyes were filling with glimmers of tears.
“Because why?” he asked.
“Because sometimes you have to…you have to change and be willing to help others.” Sierra blinked and looked away. “I’m not sure how we got onto this topic.”
“You were saying that people are more important than projects.”
“They are.” Sierra folded her arms and stood with her shoulders back, communicating an air of assurance.
“What if the people are the project?”
Sierra’s eyes narrowed.
“Isn’t that how it was for you with the afterschool program with the girls?”
Sierra
looked at Jordan as if he had just pulled back a curtain and seen something in her heart he wasn’t supposed to see. “I didn’t think we were talking about me,” Sierra said quickly. “I thought we were talking about your friends.”
“We were.”
“So why are you bringing my situation into this?”
“Because I’m trying to make the point that every situation is complex with lots of different sides. You can’t always make a blanket statement and assume it applies to every circumstance.”
Jordan could see Sierra’s jaw tightening as the side of her face twitched. He had a few more points to make about Derek and Mindy but chose to back down. He knew this could easily turn into a circular argument with plenty of misunderstandings. It was best to pull away and not risk the possibility of another jab at her vulnerable spot. Jordan had a feeling he could easily jeopardize this barely begun relationship and demolish it. He had managed to do that more than once with his friendships.
Just then the son of Island Fix It Man called to them from the bottom of the staircase. “Hello up there! Can you come to the landing?”
Jordan made his way to the open door. He was aware that Sierra hesitated a moment before she followed him.
“Let me throw this rope to you,” the repairman said. “You need to anchor it to something steady up there.”
The man tossed up the rope, but Jordan missed it. He tossed it again, twice, but both times Jordan missed it. On the fourth toss Jordan caught it and was aware that Sierra had watched his fumbling attempts. She didn’t tease him, though. Clearly their earlier lighthearted spell of bantering had passed.
What impressed him, though, was that she stepped in and worked alongside him to anchor the rope. Most women he knew would have pulled back after the sort of conversation they just had. Sierra clearly wasn’t like most women.
And at the moment, he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sierra watched as Mariana opened the small refrigerator in their downstairs apartment and pulled out two bottles of water. Their apartment was the same floor plan as Jordan’s. The living room and kitchen were one open space with a long counter and three bar stools separating the two rooms. Jordan’s apartment had less furniture and a round kitchen table. This apartment was more nicely furnished with a rectangular table along the far side of the room. Plus this apartment had two bedrooms instead of one with a bathroom between the two.