Part 13 (1/2)

'Me?'

'You,' Helen repeats. 'I thought he was nearly there and then Elise comes along.'

'Nearly there? What do you mean?' I swish closer.

'It was just a feeling I had. Before I left, you two seemed to be closer than ever.'

'We were.' I feel a twinge of sadness. 'Then she ...' I tail off. 'So, you were the first to know about the engagement!' I have to bring this up.

'Don't read too much into that, they had a reason for telling me, I just can't say what.'

Oh G.o.d I pray they're not planning on getting married out here. No, it can't be that. It wouldn't happen so soon after the engagement, surely?

'It feels weird, him having so many secrets from me,' I confess.

'Well, hopefully you'll get a chance to talk on this trip. Get back to how you were.'

'Do you think that's even possible now?'

'Anything's possible,' Helen insists.

I sit quietly for a moment.

'What do you think of her?' I venture, trying to sound casual though Helen has always been able to see straight through me.

'You want me to say something bad, don't you?'

'If you could!' I joke.

'I'm not going to,' Helen sets me straight. 'I made a No Negativity pledge to The California Club.'

'Oh. Okay.' I look down at my board, feeling a little bit told off.

'But if I did have to ...'

'Yes?'

'I'd find it really easy!' she teases.

I grin back at her. That's all I need to know. I gingerly match Helen's belly-up position it feels like I'm lying on an extra firm water bed. Every time a wave sloshes me, I spasm like I'm about to tip up but Helen just rolls with it.

'You look so comfortable out here,' I note, shaking off the latest dousing.

'It took me a while but Reuben has been amazingly patient. He used to be a lifeguard so I felt in safe hands.'

'A lifeguard, really? Did he teach you any tricks of the trade?'

Helen thinks for a moment. 'Well, if you do try and rescue someone you first have to acknowledge that you are seriously putting your own life at risk most times they'll grab on to you in the panic, pus.h.i.+ng you under so you have to pretty firm with them and get them to follow your instructions or they'll drown you both.'

'How firm?'

'Splas.h.i.+ng water in their face or bending their thumbs back to breaking point if they continue to grab at you-'

'Oh G.o.d!' I gasp.

'It's a life and death situation,' Helen a.s.serts. 'I think the best trick if someone has locked their arms around you is to push them upwards by the elbows and you go down deeper into the water they're not going to follow you there, they want to get up!'

'All this just to get them to behave then you have to rescue them too!' I shake my head.

As Helen explains the various procedures, I watch the sun sneak behind the one cloud in the sky. It's chilly without the direct rays but I'm reluctant to go in, wanting to prolong the antic.i.p.ation of wrapping a warm towel around me.

'Do you ever pinch yourself you know, that this is your life now?' I ask.

'Every day,' Helen affirms.

'Really?'

'Sometimes twice a day.'

'And it's all because of The California Club?'

'Well, a lot of this was here already ...' Helen flicks me with seawater to make her point.

'I know that!' I swipe her back. 'But it really works, this program or whatever it is?'

'It does if you believe in it.'

I think for a moment. 'Do you think I could have chosen a better wish?'

No reply.

'Helen?' I look over and find her sights eagerly trained on a guy in khaki shorts loitering on the edge of the parking lot. There's something weird stuck to his leg... I try to focus oh, it's a tattoo one of those jagged Maori tribal prints running the length of his right calf. I'm about to comment on how that design has been done to death when I notice the delight in her eyes.

'Is that Reuben?' I ask.

'I'll be back in ten!' is her reply as she slides on to her stomach and swooshes back to the sh.o.r.e.

'As in Hang Ten?' I call after her.

No reply.

I continue to bob on my board as a daddy surfer skims past with his three-year-old son on his shoulders then return my gaze to Helen and the tattoo guy they seem deeply engrossed. He's wearing sungla.s.ses and the hood of his sweats.h.i.+rt is up so I can't get a good look at his face but he definitely looks cool. I wonder if it is her boyfriend. Let's see if they kiss.

'Yikes!' There's a thud-jolt as Zo's board collides with mine.

'I think my hair is dreading,' she frets, with good cause. 'Me and Sasha are going in. You coming?'