Meet Me in Hawaii by Georgia Toffolo (best affordable ebook reader TXT) 📗

The commentator’s grin widened; Todd’s own grin just as extreme. ‘Well, hear that, folks, we have this Todd dude to thank for getting Pukui out there – this guy must be one in a million, hey, Malie?’

She laughed softly. ‘Yes… Yes, he is.’

‘There we have it, folks, now back over to the judges for their summing up of today’s heats.’

Todd shook his head, scarcely believing all he had witnessed, all he had seen in Malie’s face, but there was one thing he knew for sure: he couldn’t bear the miles between them anymore. Couldn’t bear being apart. He understood that it didn’t necessarily mean she was ready to give him more, and he wouldn’t pressure her to choose. But he had to be there for this competition. This huge moment in her career. Her life.

He had to.

‘I can’t believe I’m doing this,’ Malie said as she looked out at the waves, barely aware of the crowd that had thickened over the course of the week, since day one of the competition. But today was the final, this was it.

‘We can,’ Kalani said from beside her. ‘It’s long overdue.’

‘Too right, dude.’ EJ went in for a high-five which he had to rescue himself from as Kalani left him hanging. He grinned at Malie instead. ‘You’ve got this, you know that.’

‘Just be careful,’ said her mother, unable to hide her worry as she watched the waves the Banzai Pipeline was famous for crashing in the distance.

Hani, her father, wrapped his arm around her mother and gave Malie a supportive smile. ‘As EJ said, you’ve got this, we know you do.’

She smiled her thanks. She knew how hard this was for them but the fact that they had come out – had been there for a week now and watched her surf every day, even been out on the waves with her – meant the world. Things were already so much better and although her mum was worried, she knew that’s all it was. It wasn’t the memory of Koa haunting them, it wasn’t the kind of suffocating fear she’d endured after his death, it was the natural fear of the unknown and the hope that she would do well.

And boy, did she hate the waiting. She couldn’t sit still, bobbing up and down, prepping her board even though it didn’t need it, keeping her body physically busy until it was her turn. Trying to keep her mind busy, too, because every time it went quiet Todd was there, and the pain of missing him didn’t get any easier. If anything, it only proved how much she wanted him in her life. How much she wished he could be there now to witness the changes she’d made already. How much further she still wanted to go so that she could have him in her life. Because that was the next step.

She wanted to claim this crown and then she wanted to hunt him down and tell him the truth.

That she loved him. That she’d been a fool not to have seen it sooner and recognize it for what it was. To have realized that no amount of separation, no amount of mental talk, no amount of time or fear of the future could change the fact that she loved him. She really loved him.

‘You’re up, kiddo,’ her father nudged her, pulling her thoughts back to the here and now.

She turned to him and grinned. ‘Wish me luck.’

‘Not that you need it, love,’ her mother said.

‘Good luck,’ her friends and family called, and she raced off, her trusty board under her arm, her heart and focus on the win.

Win the crown.

Win the man.

In that order. She hoped.

It all felt so possible. With the adrenalin racing through her system, the knowledge that her parents were there and that they supported her, the enduring spirit of Koa in the water with her, and in her heart there was Todd, his presence almost tangible, like she could feel his eyes on her now, watching her, cheering her on.

She waded into the water and threw herself onto her board, paddling and duck-diving the waves, feeling Koa’s presence, talking to her, encouraging her. From the first wave to the last he was there, and she needed it. It was a tight competition; she wasn’t the youngest, she likely wasn’t the fittest, but she wanted this. For Koa and herself, she wanted this win.

Time was ticking, it was her final wave and she knew in her gut, this was it. As she rose up on her board and took off down the line of the wave, it wasn’t just Koa who was there riding it with her, it was Todd. His faith in her so unbreakable even when she had pushed so hard to keep him away. She felt their power combine with that of the sea and could sense the crowds cheering even as her ears filled with the roar of the ocean curving over her head and forming the perfect barrel. It was immense, epic, the tube ride of her life… if only Todd was there.

The thought stayed with her as she made her way back to shore, the buzz of the crowd drawing out her grin, their hoots and the calls impossible to ignore. There would be time for sadness later. She waded out of the water to their talk of a definite win. A definite win. Just as her friends had always told her. And still she couldn’t believe it.

Not even when the podium was before her and her name was called, her parents hugging her, her friends high-fiving her, Kalani swinging her a full 360 in the air so fast she almost lost her balance as she climbed the steps, but then she was there looking out, the crown hers, the crowd’s cheer like a soundtrack to her dreams.

‘Speech,’ they called. ‘Speech!’

She smiled, felt tears tighten up her throat as she coughed them free, scooped her hair out of her eyes.

She knew