“Yes. Of course.” He had heard of that line of surfboards from Derek.
“Are you exclusive with Surf Days?”
Jordan wasn’t sure how to answer. He knew Derek hoped to pick up sponsors if he did well in the competition. Jordan hadn’t expected to be courted, though, as a photographer. That is, if that was what Scott was doing. It surprised Jordan; yet his being on assignment for Surf Days must have been significant enough to put him in the running.
“I’m open to discussion,” Jordan said carefully.
“How about if we talk over dinner tonight? Six o’clock? Ted’s?”
Jordan really wished Derek was here to help interpret this offer. Was Moana Alii a sponsor Jordan wanted to talk with? And who was Ted? Why did Scott assume that Jordan would know where Ted’s place was?
“I have plans for dinner tonight. Tomorrow night maybe?” Jordan’s thoughts had gone to how it would be ideal for Derek to be the one to take this meeting. If it was moved to tomorrow night, both of them might be able to go.
“Can’t do it. I’m booked the next four nights, and then I’m heading back to the mainland.” Scott pulled a business card out of his pocket. “How about if you give me a call after you’re done with your dinner tonight? I can come meet you wherever you are. Let me know.”
They shook hands again, and Scott made his way down the beach where he struck up a conversation with another photographer. Jordan clicked through another ten minutes of shots and checked his watch. He had a little more than an hour and a half to drive back to Sunset Beach, edit the photos, and send them off to Bill. It seemed doable.
As soon as he was back in the car, he called Derek and gave him the rundown on meeting Scott.
“Jordo, you gotta do it. What are you doing talking to me? Call the man back right now and tell him you’ll meet him at Ted’s like he asked. This is what we’ve been after, man. Don’t blow this one off.”
“Okay, okay. But tell me, who is Ted?”
“It’s a place. Ted’s Bakery. It’s the place to go on the North Shore. You gotta take this meeting, Jordo. You really do. Give him a call right now before he books dinner with some other photographer at Waimea.”
“All right. Okay. I will.” Jordan hung up with Derek, and as Jordan sat in traffic, he placed the call to Scott and said he would be able to meet Scott at six after all.
“That’s good news,” Scott said. “I’ll see you at Ted’s.”
“Okay, I’ll see you there.”
As the rush of what had just happened dissipated, Jordan suddenly remembered why he had told Scott he couldn’t meet with him and slammed his palm on the rim of the steering wheel. He had made dinner plans with Sierra for tonight. She was expecting him to take her out to eat.
Certainly she would understand that he had to take this meeting. It wasn’t as if his invitation to dinner was an actual invitation for a date. He distinctly remembered including Mariana in the suggestion that they go to dinner. That’s what it was. A dinner suggestion. Not a date.
Jordan inched his way toward Sunset Beach not feeling good about how things were shaping up for the rest of the day that had begun with such a grand, front-row view of the dawn.
A sharp thought came to him. This was the time in his life when he needed to focus on his career, not on a relationship. As mesmerizing as Sierra was, Jordan didn’t want to start anything long distance that he couldn’t maintain now that his career was opening up.
He spent the rest of the drive to the beach house convincing himself that Sierra already had come to the same conclusion. The timing just wasn’t right for their relationship.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sierra heard a car pull into the beach house’s driveway and went to look out the bedroom window. It was Mariana’s.
Sierra opened the front door and tried to sound lighthearted. “Where did you go?”
“To the store. Why? What are you so uptight about?”
“I didn’t know where you were.”
“I wasn’t gone long. You were headed to the beach to be with Jordan. I didn’t think I needed to leave you a note.”
“I didn’t find Jordan.”
Mariana looked confused. “He said he was going to take photos on the beach with the other guys. I heard him.”
“I know. So did I. But he wasn’t there. I looked everywhere. And when I got back here, I saw his car was gone.”
“Are you worried about him?” Mariana asked. “Worried that he wasn’t being honest with you?”
“No, not at all. I’m sure something came up or changed with his schedule. It’s not a big deal.” Sierra watched Mariana as she unloaded nail polish, sunscreen, and a six-pack of diet soda from her grocery bag. “He didn’t happen to leave a message on your cell phone, did he?”
Mariana pulled her phone out of her bag. “No.” She looked at Sierra with her concerned mother expression. “He’s a guy. He’s working. When you’re around, he’s interested. When you’re not around, he’s going to focus on his work. That’s how it goes.”
Sierra scowled at Mariana.
“It’s true. Once you go through a few more relationships, you’ll learn this. This is going to be a good experience for you. Good practice.” Mariana walked away and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
Sierra didn’t like Mariana’s assessment. Jordan wasn’t just any guy. What they had shared was over-the-moon amazing. The more she had thought about how they had connected in such an extraordinary way and how things had been so natural for them last night, the more convinced she was that something strong and important was going on between them. Jordan wasn’t just “practice” material for her to expand her experiences with guys.
Sierra leaned against the kitchen counter and folded her arms. She was stuck. If she went out to the beach again, she might miss Jordan when he came back to the house. If she stayed at the house, he might end up being gone for the rest of the day, and she would have forfeited a significant portion of her Hawaiian vacation.
“Mariana?” Sierra headed for the bedroom and called out to the closed door. “What are you doing the rest of the afternoon?”
“I’m going to Tianna’s. We’re going to Ted’s for dinner.”
Sierra didn’t know who Ted was, but she wished Mariana would stick around with her for a while instead of running off to Tianna’s again.
“What are you going to do?” Mariana asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want to come with me?”
“No, I’m having dinner with Jordan, remember? You were invited too.”
“Yes, I remember. That’s why I’m leaving.”
“You don’t have to do that. I mean, you don’t have to leave. Not this early, especially.” Sierra hated talking to a closed door. She also hated sounding so pathetic, as if she didn’t know what to do with herself if her playmates went off with someone else.
“Sierra, will you relax? You have your guy. Now have a good time with him. That was the point of this vacation, remember?”
“For you, maybe. That wasn’t my purpose. This vacation hasn’t exactly gone the way I thought it would.”
The bathroom door opened, and Mariana emerged with her hair up in a twist and her makeup freshly applied. “Well, guess what, Sierra? This vacation hasn’t exactly gone the way I thought it would, either.”
“What does that mean?”
“Think about it.” Mariana brushed past her, smelling of sweet vanilla and guava from the lotion she had bought. “I’ll see you later.”
Sierra followed her to the door. “Are you saying you’re upset because I met a guy before you did? Is that what you’re saying?”
“No, of course not.” Mariana gave her a look that communicated her anger and frustration, but Sierra wasn’t sure what she had done to upset Mariana.
“What is it, then? The fact that I went to Maui and left you here alone for two days?”
Mariana narrowed her eyes. “Do you remember what I
told you when you asked why I didn’t invite Allyne and my other roommates to come on this vacation?”
Sierra thought back. “You said they were the ones who got to go to Paris.”
“I also said I would rather have you come with me because I knew I would have more fun with you. So far, Sierra, I have to tell you, even starting with the ride to the airport in Sao Paulo, you have been anything but fun. It’s like we’re not even on vacation together.”
“But you said it didn’t bother you that I went to Maui.”
“I know.”
“And you are the one saying we’re supposed to be meeting guys.”
“I know.”
“So what are you saying about not being on vacation together? The storm changed everything for us yesterday. We haven’t even had a chance to do anything together yet.”
“I know.”
“How is all that my fault then?”
“I didn’t say anything was your fault. I just said it wasn’t fun.”
Sierra had never felt this frustrated with Mariana. She knew Mariana’s goal in life was to have fun, but this was ridiculous.
“I’m going to Tianna’s. I’ll see you later.” With that, Mariana left.
Sierra stood by the door of the beach house alone, frustrated, and confused.
Unfortunately, she remained in that same mental state for the next few hours as she took a shower, made a snack, and ended up trying to nap on one of the lounge chairs on the front patio. Being caught in the middle was torture.
When she finally heard a car rolling into the driveway, Sierra hopped up and went inside. Deciding she shouldn’t appear too eager when Jordan walked in, she went to the fridge and pulled out a can of something Jordan had bought called “POG.” She looked closely at the label as she heard his footsteps approaching the door. It was a drink made from passion fruit, orange juice, and guava juice. Sierra popped the top and took a sip.
Jordan entered, and she greeted him casually. “Hi there.”
“Hey. How are you doing?”
“Great.” It wasn’t the truth, but she didn’t want any of her floundering emotions to show through.
Jordan went directly to his laptop on the kitchen table and pressed the ON button. He pulled a few cords out of a bag and went to work, plugging things in.
“Did you get some good shots?” Sierra asked.
“I hope so.” Jordan looked at his watch and then glanced at Sierra where she stood by the refrigerator. “Listen, I have a deadline I’m trying to hit in sending these off, and I have a meeting I need to go to.”
“Okay.” Sierra maintained her smile.
“The meeting is a dinner meeting. It’s at six o’clock. So I apologize, but it looks like we’ll have to move our dinner plans to tomorrow night. Is that all right with you?”
“Of course. Sure. That’s fine.” Sierra kept her demeanor up, as she headed for the front door. “I’ll give you some space,” she said, trying to sound as upbeat as possible. “Hope it all goes well. See you sometime later.”
Making her exit with almost as much of a decisive closing of the door as Mariana had given, Sierra headed for the beach with the can of POG in her hand. She didn’t want to cry. She didn’t want to be upset. She didn’t want anyone to see her or talk to her right now. This dip in her emotions had to be due to jet lag or the convoluted argument she had had with Mariana. It couldn’t be related to Jordan or that Mariana was right about his not keeping his word—both when he said he would be on the beach and when he said he would take her to dinner.
For the second time that day Sierra meshed her feet in the warm sand. This time, instead of heading for the crowds, she headed the other direction, away from the beach house and away from the few dozen spectators left on the beach now that the day’s competition was done.
She walked to the water’s edge. The enormous waves were still rising and falling far out in the water, at least twenty yards from where Sierra pressed her feet into the firm sand. Once the waves made their white, foaming dive, the liquid splinters calmed down to a manageable slosh and raced to shore where the water slid across the sand at only a few inches’ depth before rushing back out to sea.
Sierra could feel the power of the waves even though she was only ankle-deep in the blue-and-white foaming saltwater. All that roaring power seemed to calm the intensity that had been roaring inside her. The late afternoon sun warmed her right arm. She drew it behind her back so that it wouldn’t get sunburned. The wind picked up the ends of her hair and twisted them every which way.
Drawing in a deep breath, she tried to be understanding about Jordan’s need to work and to keep up with his important meetings. That was why he was here.
She thought again of how Mariana was here to have fun; she was out doing her best to make sure that happened.
Then Sierra reminded herself why she had come. It had nothing to do with Jordan. It had nothing to do with having fun with Mariana. Her future needed to be decided. And the time had come for her to give that important detail her full attention.
Now, if only she could do that without chiding herself for giving in to such infatuated fairy-tale thoughts about Jordan. What was it Mariana had said about Jordan being a good experience for her? Good practice?
That was what her time with him had been. A good experience, but nothing more.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Working as quickly as he could, Jordan clicked through the photos he had taken at Waimea and moved the best ones to a new folder. He checked the time and went even faster through the last two dozen shots. Then, selecting the top ten, he went to work editing the shots for clarity and composition. He heard his phone buzzing from inside his camera bag, but he let it go, staying focused on the project and the deadline that was less than ten minutes away.
The clock on his computer showed the time as 3:59 when Jordan hit SEND, and the e-mail went to Bill, letting him know the photos had been posted to Bill’s password-protected photo site and were ready for his review. Leaning back, Jordan stretched.
“That was too close,” he murmured. Looking around, he half-expected Sierra to be there. He knew she had gone out when he was in the heat of his deadline. Now that he had a little time before his dinner meeting, he wished she were here so he could spend that time with her.
Jordan went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. He carried it out to the patio and surveyed the wide beach. The late afternoon sun broke through the clouds on the horizon and spread a golden blanket of light over the white sandy beach. The colors were like nothing he saw at sunset in Santa Barbara. This amber glow of enchantment was what made Hawaii distinctive and also made for breathtaking pictures.
Within a few minutes Jordan had scooped up his camera and was on the beach, his feet wedged into the sand, as he captured a dozen shots of the ocean, beach, and sky. He edged his way toward where a few of the event photographers were still hanging out, packing up their equipment and talking about how the competition had gone that day. Jordan didn’t know any of them. He gave a friendly nod to one of the guys, who looked up and acknowledged him. In the morning Jordan would be on the beach with these guys, like the new kid who starts school a day late. He didn’t know how competitive the men were or if they were a tight circle. But then he realized that it didn’t matter if he felt welcomed. He had a job to do, and he intended to do it to the best of his ability. The last thing he wanted was for an eager amateur to supply Bill with photos that should be coming from Jordan’s camera.
Walking farther down the beach, Jordan took some shots of the judges’ booth and the banners advertising the event’s sponsors. He kept an eye out for Sierra but didn’t see her. The way she had slipped out when he needed to concentrate and had been so understanding of his deadline impressed him.
Jordan wished again that she were here, walking along the beach with him. He knew this was an important season and that he needed to concentrate on his career. Hadn’t he already coached his thoughts and emotions to a
ccept that this wasn’t the time to enter into a long-distance relationship?
Still, he had to admit, he missed her.
Jordan found himself once again thinking of Sierra at six o’clock when he drove into the crowded parking area next to an unassuming building that matched the address for Ted’s Bakery. Clearly, this was the place to be. Beachgoers stood in line waiting to get inside. Jordan joined them next to a wall that was painted with a bright blue surf scene that included a long wave curling across the wide space. Several dozen surf logo stickers were affixed around the front door in a way that reminded him of how a teen would decorate his closet door. To his right were round picnic tables covered by bright blue umbrellas.
“Is this the line?”
Jordan turned to see a young woman with long, dark hair dressed in a bikini top and a colorful piece of tie-dyed fabric knotted low around her slim hips. “Yes.”
He quickly turned forward and looked for Scott, not sure if they were supposed to meet inside or at the picnic tables.
“What time is it?” The young woman touched his arm as if trying to get his attention.
Jordan checked his watch. “It’s six o’clock exactly.”
“Do you live here?”
“No.”
“Where do you live?”
Jordan hated to be rude, but he was here for an important business meeting, not to be chatted up by a scantily clad teenager who was asking too many questions.
“I live in Santa Barbara.” He was turned only halfway toward her and didn’t make eye contact as he gave his clipped answer.
“Hey, I live in California too!” This seemed to be enough of a connection for the gregarious young woman to wrap her arms around Jordan, cuddle up under his arm, and give him a big side hug.
Caught off-guard by her sudden expression of affection, Jordan raised his arm and looked down at her. She clung to him like a koala bear with her head pressed against his chest.
“Great,” he muttered, trying to pull away.
She held on to him and looked up at him with her wide brown eyes. That was when Jordan could see that she wasn’t sober.