Free The Almost Wives Club: Kate by Nancy Warren Page A

a day. Enough that Mike the surf shop owner let her keep the board and wet suit. Enough that she didn’t have to dip into her bank account or have too much time to wallow.
    She’d developed a casual joking kinship with some of the other regular surfers and a guy named Manuel had invited her to join a bunch of them for a drink later. She knew the invitation meant they accepted her. She also thought that a bar and a crowd of young, hot surfers offered excellent opportunities for a woman who was planning to ruin her perfect reputation. She was wondering whether she’d go, and if so what she’d wear, when she headed up the beach after a few hours on the board.
    She stopped dead.
    Standing in her path was a man she would never, ever forget. A man she’d never, ever imagined she’d see again.
    The man from the restaurant that fateful night stood blocking her path. He was a little sunburned, wearing casual shorts, a faded T-shirt, flip flops and dark sunglasses. He hadn’t shaved in a couple of days. He looked as at home here on the beach as he had in a trendy LA restaurant.
    “What are you doing here?” she demanded.
    Nick held out a familiar printed form. “I’m here for a surf lesson. I understand you’re a good teacher.”
    “Are you out of your mind? Suffering from amnesia? I’m not teaching you how to surf.”
    “Now that’s a shame. Because Mike at the surf shop assured me you were available.” He showed her the form. “I’ve paid in advance.”
    “Here’s what you can do. Get on your phone and tell your boss, my former fiancé, that I am not coming home. I am not marrying him, and sending a private investigator after me will not encourage me to change my mind.”
    “Are you sure you’re not going to marry him?”
    She pulled herself up to her full five feet seven inches and then strained for an extra bit of height. “I. Am. Positive.”
    His grin was both relieved and carefree. “Good. And I’m not here because Ted hired me.”
    She was highly suspicious. “Really. You felt like a vacation and Carlsbad jumped to mind.”
    “No. Look, have dinner with me tonight so I can explain.”
    She sent him her most withering stare, though with the salt water stinging her eyes she wasn’t sure how successful it was. “The last time I had dinner with you, I ended up with a broken engagement. I don’t think so.”
    “Come on, we both know I did you a favor. You needed out of that relationship. He’s not right for you.”
    “So not your business.”
    “Kate,” he stepped closer, “I came here for you.”
    She closed the distance between them. Watched him watching her, expecting she would fall into his arms.
    She snatched the receipt for the surf lessons out of his hand. “I’ll see you here tomorrow at 1 p.m.”
     ***
    The surfers’ hangout had a few things going for it. First, it was close to the beach. Second, the beer was cheap. When she walked in, she saw Manuel and his buddies right away, crowded round a table in the corner. “Hey, Kate, you made it,” Manuel said, sliding over to make room for her. He poured her a glass of beer from a jug in the middle of the table and handed it to her.
    “Thanks.”
    There were a couple of female surfers there, a couple of women she assumed to be girlfriends, but most of the group was male. They talked surfing. And waves. What was coming up this week? An Australian invited them all to his home country to try out the waves. “Seriously, mate, a two hundred meter ride’s nothing. You want to walk the plank? Come to Oz.”
    “And yet he’s here,” Manuel said. Manuel was from Argentina. He’d been in Hawaii for the last two years surfing. He competed internationally and was sponsored by two companies. She wasn’t surprised. She’d seen him surf.
    “You should compete, Kate. I’ve been watching you. You’re good.”
    She smiled at the compliment but shook her head. “I love surfing. It’s a fun sport, but I don’t want to spend all my life