Lost and Found

There was no point in trying to get out of it. “Your ass,” he said cheerfully. “It’s cute.”

She laughed. “Thank you.” She brushed past him to leave her office, disappeared into the bedroom and returned, shoving her arms into a thin blue hoodie.

They rode toward Santa Barbara. “Where are we going?” she called Nate, who was in the lead.

“I don’t know. Wherever we end up.”

This was what he loved—just taking off and going somewhere, without knowing where he was going. Like his life used to be when he was a kid, working at the beach renting bikes. Once he’d gotten a couple of people working for him, he’d take off on his bike with his camera and shoot for hours, wherever he felt like going. A pang of regret that he couldn’t bring a camera and shoot squeezed him, but he pushed it aside. At least he was out in the fresh air, the wind blowing in his face, rushing past his ears. He loved riding fast, but when he glanced behind him and saw he’d left Krissa far behind, he slowed.

“Sorry!” he called to her as she neared. “I got carried away.”

“I can’t keep up with you, Mr. Triathlete,” she puffed.

He laughed. “I’m not a triathlete any more.”

“You’re still an athlete. I’d say you’ve recovered from your food poisoning.’”

Except for his eyes. He didn’t say it. Just thought it. Again.

They cycled on, Nate pedaling slower so he could stay close enough to Krissa. When they arrived at the turnoff to the zoo, he said, “Let’s go in here.”

She followed him along the road and they parked and locked their bikes outside the entrance. “I haven’t been to the zoo in…God, I can’t remember the last time I came to the zoo.”

“That’s too bad,” he said. “I like the zoo. Come on.”

They wandered along the path, eating ice cream, standing and watching the giraffes with their impossibly long necks.

“We should bring Cameron’s kids here sometime,” Nate said. “That would give her a break.”

She looked at him, her head tipped to the side. “Really? You’d do that?”

“Sure.” He held her gaze, squinted. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like I just grew a tail or something.” He glanced over his shoulder and brushed his hand over his butt. “I haven’t, have I?”

She smiled, a slow, special smile. “No. I’m just…impressed. I like that you’d do that.”

“Whatever.” It wasn’t that big a deal. But a zoo was even more fun with kids. They moved on to the lions.

After a couple of hours of the zoo, Krissa looked at her watch. “I was just supposed to take a break for a little while,” she reminded him.

“Are you having fun?”

She nodded and he saw her swallow.

“Good. Then let’s bike a little further.”

They cycled past East Beach, busy despite the cool winds and rolling waves, past Stearns Wharf, and when they reached the Breakwater, Nate turned off the path into the parking lot. “Let’s go out on the Breakwater,” he called to her, again leading the way. They dismounted and walked their bikes past the fishing boats, little shops and restaurants. The fishy, salty odor of the ocean intensified here, but the strong wind whipped it quickly away.

The flags lining the walkway on tall poles snapped and flapped stiffly. Waves crashed against the concrete so hard water flew across the sidewalk in places and they had to jump out of the way of a spray of saltwater a few times, laughing, breathless. The wind whipped Krissa’s long hair around her head, across her face and she kept trying to control it.

“This is hopeless,” she said, a frown edging her forehead. Nate stopped, and propped his bike against the wall. He took her hair in his hands, smoothed it back as best he could, and held it at the nape of her neck. She glared up at him.

“You look a

She sighed. “Yeah. Sorry. I should have worn it up.”

He reached into a pocket of his cargo shorts and fished around, pulled out an elastic band. “Don’t ask me why I have this. I have no idea.” He wrapped it around her messy ponytail a few times to secure it.

She gave him that look again—like he’d grown a tail—and then smiled. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” They stood there, smiling into each other’s eyes. Nate let his hands rest on her shoulders. Then a huge wave exploded against the breakwater wall and shot high. Icy seawater rained down on them, drenching them. Krissa screamed and ran, Nate grabbed his bike and followed, and once in a dry place they stood, laughing uncontrollably and gasping for breath.

“I’m soaked!” Krissa cried, holding her arms out to her sides. Water had darkened spots of the blue hoodie.

“You’re okay.” They faced each other and Nate wiped water from her face with his fingertips, lingering on her peachy cheek. He watched his thumb stroke across her bottom lip, then their eyes met. He smiled.

They walked on and paused where the breakwater curved, far enough from the waves that they didn’t have to worry. They leaned on the concrete on their elbows, side by side, and stared out at the ocean.

The breeze tugged tendrils of Krissa’s hair loose to swirl around her face. She pushed them back, but didn’t seem bothered. The fresh air had brought a pinky flush to her cheeks and her eyes sparkled. Yeah, this had been good for her.

They turned their backs to the ocean and regarded the mountains behind the jumble of masts in the harbor.

“Would you like to live on a boat like that?” Nate asked her.

“No way!”

“Why not? You love the ocean.”

“I wouldn’t want to live on it, though. I’m…afraid of it.” She peeked at him through her lashes as if she was embarrassed.

“Afraid of it?”

She turned to him. “Yeah. It’s so huge. And deep. It’s like it’s…endless. I like to look at it from afar but I’m kind of scared of it.” She paused. “One time I was out on a boat with my family, whale watching with a guy my dad knew. We got off course. We were so far out you couldn’t even see the shore and there were no other boats around.”

He watched her with fond amusement. “Was it stormy?”

“No.” She shook her head and her cheeks pinkened a little more. “It was fine. It was a beautiful day. But I panicked when I couldn’t see anything but water. I don’t know why. Everyone thought it was fu

“Ah.” He put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her.

“I felt like we were lost,” she said. “It’s so huge and endless, you could get lost so easily.”

“You can get lost anywhere.” You could get lost in life.

Their eyes met. “I know.”

Nate dragged his gaze away from her and back out to the ocean. “Kind of fu

“But it’s calm water. I don’t know how you do that. Your pictures make me feel…I don’t know…soothed. Like the ocean is scary but it’s calming, too.”

“I use a really long exposure,” he murmured. “It smoothes out all the little ripples and waves on the water. Of course, I do wait until it’s very calm. Sometimes I wait days for the right conditions.”

“You’re very patient.”

“I guess.”

“Not like me.”

He gri

She cuddled into him and smiled. He liked that she didn’t take herself too seriously.

“I guess we should head back,” he said, regret sliding through him.

It took them longer to get home than they’d anticipated and Derek was already there, for a change.

“Where the hell were you?” he asked, irritation drawing his brows together.

“We went for a bike ride.” Krissa smiled down at her water-splotched sweater. “We walked out on the Breakwater and it was so fun! The waves were huge. And we went to the zoo.”

“The zoo?” Derek looked from Krissa to Nate. “Well.”

Krissa glanced up and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Derek shook his head and scowled.

She studied him for a few seconds, then said, “I’ll go change and then make di