Tracy

010:

She plopped down in the dry sand at the top of the bluff beside Raine Maverick, Lieutenant in the Navy, aviation instructor at Miramar, in San Diego. Their boards rested side by side. She pulled the wetsuit off her shoulders and let it dangle around her waist. Dug her toes into the cool wet sand. Her toes felt not just cool, but cold. The wind---though chilly, was her friend.

"I take it surfing is more than a hobby for you." Raine began, not able to see her expression as they faced the sea.

"More---- yes." She felt like a woman of few words now that the inner turmoil had come to a close. "Not for you."

"I surfed as a kid. Haven't been for a while." He admitted. "Aviation and the service keep me fairly busy."

She knew she should ask about that, it was the polite, right thing to do. But she was too drained and relaxed. She just wanted to sit here companionably. And not think. Why she felt she could do that with him she didn't know.

Let him ask the questions if he needed conversation. She was good at dodging answers.

"Earlier you said that getting away from Casey helped your headache. Is Casey a source of pain in your life?" Well, that blew away dodging answers as a first question. Intimate. Personal.

She thought about it. Was Casey a source of pain? Pretty much.

"Where were you guys heading when the accident happened?" Raine tried when she wasn't forthcoming.

"Tapas. In Newport. It's a club. Have you heard of it?"

"Yes. Going there to eat I suppose?"

She snorted. "He was playing and wanted me to accompany him—regardless of the fact that we are not playing together."

"Can't you play with whomever you want to?"

"I can, but it's not that easy. I'm under contract to Rocks at the moment, I have a studio backer. I can't just randomly turn up at a club and go onstage. Casey should know that, but his solo career isn't-- shall we say-- flourishing."

"I would have thought he had plenty of money, Pepper's Alignment was huge in its heyday." He slowly filtered sand through his fist, letting it blow and slip. It was downright cold out here, he wondered how she was standing it.

Her voice was nostalgic. "We were kids that hit the scene at exactly the right moment with exactly the right messages, and exactly the most novel of genres. That's all, and yeah, he should have money, but he's spent a lot of it. And no, he doesn't work as hard as he could. He's a guitarist not a composer. Guitarists don't make big bucks."

"He needed you and Bridget and Julian to do that for him." Raine nodded astutely, still sliding the cold sand in and out of his hand. He had a hard time believing he was sitting out here in the freezing wind, soaking wet and shivering just to be close to a girl whose funny quirks and strange temperament had trapped his mind like only one other ever had.

She grinned and played with the sand the way he was, letting it mix with his. "Bridget writes lyrics and music on her own, Jules and I collaborate." She slid her hand into the sand under his little pile and turned it face up, catching the fingers like a baby sea turtle beneath. "Bridge is extraordinarily talented. She wrote her first songs even before Pepper's got together."

"Where is she now?" Raine let sand drip and slide into her waiting fingers, liking the play, and letting her little claws scrape against him.

Tracy smiled out to the waves, thinking of her best friend, and missing her with her whole heart. They'd been friends through the best and the worst of times. They still were. They didn't have to see each other every day to pick up wherever they left off.

"Where do you go when your mind wanders off?" Raine cleared his throat.

Too much time had elapsed between her last answer and this one. She looked back to his face, in shadow, in honesty.

She answered the previous question, not the mind wandering one. "She's in England, going to school."

He sighed, having hoped to actually get a little more personal with her. But he addressed her answer, "You miss her."

"More than you will ever know."

Raine drew in his breath sharply. "I've had friends. Friends I miss very much. I do understand."

Tracy stood up, the wetsuit dangling. "Did you bring clothes, Raine Maverick? I'll treat you to dessert." She extended her hand and he looked up at her trying to decide what he made out of her actions. Cryptic and condensed as if she thought five steps in front of him, five steps into the future and waited for him to catch up. He took her hand.

Tracy closed her fingers around his, not pulling, simply holding his grip steadily, staring into what available light lined his features.

"I brought clothes."

She blew out her breath, a startling revelation burning in her eyes. For split seconds, she felt things and allowed herself to feel things she'd never thought to feel. Good things, burning comprehension. This guy was about to become more in her life than a surf buddy.

She yanked on his arm hard and he managed to lift himself without putting any undue stress on her injuries. Sudden close proximity should have made them step apart, for as little as they actually knew each other, but for once in her life, Tracy did not step back.

She just stood there, feeling, hearing her ocean music, and the lack of headache and tension.

Raine looked down into her face, exquisitely crafted cheekbones, wisping curls framing darkly ringed eyes and ears, her pixie nose and full lips alluring and at once stunningly compelling. He was shocked at his reaction to her, the desire to kiss her even now was very strong.

He stepped back, covered his action by picking up his board and facing the wind.

"I'll take you up on that, Miss McCaffrey."

Tracy grabbed her board and trudged against the wind and the heavy wet sand back up to their cars.

*****