Free The Topsail Accord by J. Kalnay

dolphins fishing, you can’t see the sharks that are following right behind them and that are fishing too. Everything likes to fish in the morning light and the evening dusk. So swimming out there to touch them would be really dangerous.”
    “ I’d still love to wade out there once, or swim out there, and feel them brush by. Even if there is some danger. Some things are worth a little risk.”
    “ Yes they are,” I say. Her eyes stay fixed on the dolphins, my eyes stay fixed on her.
    “ What about in a kayak?” Shannon asks.
    “ Much better,” I say.
    “ So you shouldn’t go surfing at dusk or dawn then?” Shannon says.
    “ Nope. Full daylight,” Joe answers.
    “ I would like to buy you a surfing lesson for your birthday,” Shannon says.
    “ I’d like that,” Joe says.
    “ I’ll buy it online, and tell you the details when I come over for coffee this morning,” she says. “Which day next week would be best for you?”
    I am glad, and not surprised, that she asked me first about buying the gift, and about scheduling the lesson.
    “ Thursday will be best for me,” I say.
    She laughs out loud at my blatant flirt. Smiles at me, and starts jogging. “Come on,” she says. “I said a surf lesson...”
     
    We are getting close to where I parked, and she can see the public beach access steps coming over the dune. She slows down and begins walking to the steps. I follow along beside her. We stop at the bottom of the steps.
    “ So you’ll have my coffee ready for me at nine?” she asks.
    “ Yes,” I answer.
    “ That’s something I could get used to,” she says.
    My mind races. I’ve never been hurt by a renter. By a visitor. And after just three days I am going to be hurt terribly by this visitor who is no renter.
    She climbs the first step, turns back towards me, puts her hands on my shoulders, draws me towards her, and kisses me. It is the softest kiss I have ever experienced. And my first real kiss since I can’t remember when. I can taste the salt from her run, and feel the lean muscles in her arms.
    “ I could get used to that too,” she says. “See you at nine.”
    She steps past me, heads back towards the firm sand near the water, and starts jogging up the beach towards her house.
    My head spins, the taste of her salty kiss still fresh on my lips.
    I am in deep trouble.

Joe
     
    “ Good run?” Karen asks.
    “ Yes. She can really run.”
    “ You didn’t try to keep up did you?”
    “ Wisely no. She warmed up with me, then did a couple of mile repeats really fast, then cooled down with me.”
    “ So she’s really that fast?”
    “ Yes. You should see her form. It’s perfect.”
    “ Taken out of context you may have just asked me to go lesbian,” Karen says.
    “ Shut up,” Joe says.
    They share a laugh.
    “ She kissed me,” Joe adds.
    “ What?” Karen says.
    “ She ran back to the steps with me, then she kissed me. I was totally not ready for that.”
    “ But don’t tell me you weren’t thinking about it,” Karen says.
    “ I wasn’t thinking about it. Not right then. I was just liking being out on the beach with her, and thinking about how she’s heading home tomorrow. So I wasn’t thinking about it at all.”
    “ How was it?”
    “ Salty,” Joe says.
    “ Nice,” Karen teases.
    “ She asked if she could buy me a surf lesson for my birthday.”
    “ She asked?”
    “ Yeah. I thought it was very good form to ask like that. First, that I wouldn’t be weirded out by getting the gift, and second, whether I really wanted the lesson. She’s different like that.”
    “ Yeah she’s different. And rich.”
    “ Rich? What are you talking about?”
    “ She struck oil. Literally. Right after she struck natural gas. So she’s rich.”
    “ Exactly how do you know this?”
    “ Google. Her sister said you Googled her, and found out about her and her sister. So I did the same, but apparently more extensively and then I actually read the articles instead of just