Always Summer by Nikki Godwin Page A

even more
hopeless than an actual shrug. Then he leans back against the
seat.
    “I wish I could just be open about it, but
you can’t here,” he says. He turns his head toward me but doesn’t
move his body. “This sport doesn’t allow it, and I don’t want to
cause Drenaline Surf to lose any business.”
    I shake my head. “This is California. People
are all about free love and being who you are,” I remind him. I
can’t believe he even thinks it’s an issue. “You can totally be
you.”
    He reaches over and pops open his door. He
grabs his coffee, takes a sip, and shakes his head. Then he steps
outside and waits for me to follow. I meet him at the trunk of his
car.
    “Surfing is the most homophobic sport out
there,” he tells me. His voice remains low, and he glances around
to make sure no one is close enough to hear him. “Do you see any
gay surfers? I mean, there’s this one guy in Los Angeles who surfs
the qualifying series, and he’s blasted for dyeing his hair neon
colors. He’s not even openly gay, if he’s even gay at all. You just
can’t do it in our sport.”
    He leans back against the trunk of his car
and plays cool when Jace pulls into the parking lot. “Can we just
leave this in our household until it needs to be public?” he
asks.
    I nod my head. “Just us,” I tell him.
    Deep within me, I pray that whoever is
leaking info about Drenaline Surf doesn’t get on to this
secret.

Chapter
Thirteen
    Saturday morning, Drenaline Surf is a
madhouse. We hadn’t even planned on being in town, much less being
slammed with business, but the surf event that was supposed to
happen in Sunrise Valley has been moved to our beach.
    “So is the dude okay?” Topher asks, looking
up at me from a box of T-shirts.
    “I’m not sure. They haven’t updated the
public since he went in as critical last night,” I tell him.
“They’ve closed the beach.”
    Part of me doesn’t even want Topher to surf
today – or any of our guys for that matter. We all know that shark
attacks happen, and surfers risk it every time they venture into
the ocean. It’s their natural habitat, not ours. But in the back of
everyone’s minds, it’s something that happens on other beaches, in
other cities, far away from anyone we know or love.
    “Shouldn’t you be down the beach putting on
a jersey and getting psyched up to surf?” I ask, pulling the box of
shirts away from him. “It’s competition day.”
    “I know, but it’s so busy here. They need
help,” Topher says. “I still love the store. It needs me right
now.”
    I put the box aside and give him a tight
hug. “You’re precious,” I say, trying not to laugh because he’s so
serious right now. “Emily, Alston, and Kerianne are handling it up
front. They’ve got this. Go surf.”
    “Fine,” he mumbles. He presses a quick kiss
to my forehead before leaving through Drenaline Surf’s back
door.
    I follow behind and peek outside, just to
make sure he’s getting ready. He walks over to his truck and pulls
a board from the back. Miles lingers around in his boot while
Topher waxes the board. I close the door and sift through the
papers on Jace’s desk to find today’s itinerary. Everything is off
course now that the event has moved here.
    But even among the chaos outside, Crescent
Cove feels magical today. The vendors are smiling along The Strip.
Tourists are hanging out on the beach, amazed to see an actual surf
competition. People from all over this part of California are
hanging out on our sand, waiting to watch some epic waves go down
in the next few hours.
    The air smells of grilled hot dogs, and the
waves are washing in a perfect breeze. For the first time in weeks,
I feel alive out here, like I’m back where I was last summer,
waiting for a magical moment to happen. Of course, back then I was
waiting to find Colby, and things were kind of messy, but there was
a sense of hope. There was still a dream to chase. I was on my way
– and today feels like