Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
However, he hadn’t exactly gone about acting on that decision in the most straightforward way. He hadn’t emailed her or phoned her like a normal person would. No, instead he’d gone down to the beach, to the very edge of the water that had nearly sucked him under forever, and watched her ride those waves with the fearlessness and grace he’d admired in her portrait. Watching her in real time, he’d seen something magical about the way she danced on the waves. He’d felt a yearning deep within him. Almost a pull, as though something was encouraging him to wade out into the water just to be with her—even as the very thought of doing that made him break out in a sweat.
The scientist in him tried to investigate his own motives and accept that maybe her being a water goddess was part of her attraction. He had a feeling that there were a lot of people who could find him a house he would want to buy, but not so many who would challenge him in the way she did. Because he had to get over his fear of water, or he was never going on another mission to space. The thought chilled him to his very core. Being an astronaut was his whole life. He couldn’t imagine another way of living.
Herschel Greenfield had never faced a challenge he couldn’t rise to. He was famous for it. He was single-minded in getting around every obstacle put in his way. And there had been many. How else had he gone from being one of the millions of kids in the world who dreamed of being an astronaut to finding himself one day up in space looking down on that gorgeous, glowing blue and white planet? No matter how big or how small, when he set his mind on a goal, he didn’t rest until he’d achieved it. When he’d decided to bake his mom a birthday cake in space and sing her “Happy Birthday,” he’d figured out a way to do that, even when it had seemed an impossibility. Was he really going to give up the career he’d spent his life preparing for, the career he loved, because he was scared of water?
Even the thought made him feel ashamed.
He went to the window of his hotel room and looked out to where the ocean teased him, still looking gray and hardly postcard beautiful, but alluring all the same. Each rising wave appeared to him as a challenge. He stood there, looking at the surf that seemed to tease him, and said aloud, “I’m going to give myself this week, and then I’m going to make myself get there.”
He wasn’t even sure what his words meant. Get there? Get where? Did he think he was going to be swimming in a week? Or would his aim be to put his big toe in the water?
Even the thought had his heart pounding and panic rising in his chest. However, he’d always been a natural athlete, which had helped him pass with flying colors all those excruciating physical tests required of astronauts. It wasn’t difficult to imagine himself on a surfboard. He was fairly certain he had the stamina and ability and muscle strength to do it. His balance was excellent too. He could even walk a tightrope.
The picture formed in his head, and it stuck there. Mila, as he’d seen her that morning, riding so proudly, standing so gracefully, knees bent, hair streaming back in the wind. And himself, beside her on his own board. Maybe he wouldn’t ride with her confidence and style—she was a former professional, after all—but one day he might stand on a surfboard and ride a wave.
No, one day he would stand on a surfboard and ride a wave. He had a long way to go to get there, but he would start small. One baby step at a time.
Mila Davenport looked like she ruled the waves. If anyone could help him get back out there, it was she. Besides, if she were next to him, watching his progress, he’d be doubly determined to overcome his fear. He wanted, he realized, to impress her.
But did he still have it in him to impress a woman like Mila? One year had passed since he’d nearly drowned. It didn’t seem like so much as a minute had gone by when he pictured the disaster that had nearly cost him and his crew their lives. The whole scene was still vivid, raw in its intensity. He’d lived with this terrible fear for a year. Now it was time to suck it up and move on.
With nothing better to do, he pulled up the online real estate listings for Carmel Heights. Yes, Mila had said she would take a look at what was available, but again his nature as a researcher and a scientist meant that he couldn’t hand control over to someone completely. He needed to know as much as he could before going into a new situation. She said she was good, Jay Malone had said she was good, and the reviews on her website were of happy clients who sang her praises, but Hersch knew himself well enough to know he’d be making his own assessment of her skills and ability.