Crashing Waves Read online

  "Great, don't forget to call Alex in the morning and let her know that you changed everything. I guess I'll see you either tomorrow or Wednesday. Have a safe flight home."

  "Thanks, bye."

  ~ ~ ~

  Rory had been home for a few days, when she'd finally decided to stop fighting with the angel and devil on her shoulders. "Shit, Rory, just do it already!" she said, reaching for the phone just before it began to ring. Talk about ironic. She almost didn't pick it up.

  "Hello?"

  "G'Day to you too, my little ankle biter!"

  Rory almost fell over backwards when she heard the voice with the thick Australian accent on the other end.

  "Hey, Uncle Mick!"

  "How the bloody hell are you, kid?"

  "I'm good, how about you?"

  "Not bad, zonked a bit. I just wrapped a Mickey Mouse case. Your mum's been busy as a cat buryin' shit too!"

  "It sounds like the firm's doing well at least. I've been pretty busy myself. I just flew back from the Winter X Games. My riders came out on top though, so I had a good time."

  "Good on ya."

  "Thanks."

  "You don't sound too stoked about it, kid."

  "It's all good, Uncle Mick."

  "Pig's ass, Rory! What's got your feathers ruffled?"

  Rory knew her uncle could pick up on everything. Even three thousand miles away, he could tell something was bothering her. She walked over to the couch and sat down.

  "Uncle Mick, it's complicated."

  "What's wrong? I thought your company was doing great."

  "It is. I couldn't be more pleased with my job."

  "Alright, if you want me to help you, Rory, you have to spit it out. Is something wrong with Martie? Do you have a new mate?"

  "It has nothing to do with Martie, and no I don't have a new mate, bloody hell," Rory sighed, hearing laughter on the other end of the line."It's not funny damn it!"

  "Rory, I haven't heard you like this in a long time."

  "I guess if anyone can give me some advice, you're the one to do it Uncle Mick and if you tell Mum, I'll be mad as a cut snake!"

  "No worries."

  "I had someone contact me, sort of a fan I guess you could say. Anyway, she's a surfer and she wants me to train her to go pro."

  "Well what did you say to the girl? Is she a shark biscuit?"

  "Of course I said no, many times I might add. She kept on and on, so I finally went and watched her rip one about two weeks ago, and Uncle Mick she has talent…but, I just can't do that again. You know I haven't picked up a board in over four years. How in the hell am I supposed to teach and train someone to polish their skills?"

  "It sounds a bit more complicated than that."

  "It is. She's a huge fan of mine from way back and she doesn't quite understand that I don't surf anymore. I don't want to disappoint her. I'm a washed up has been," she sighed. "I told her I'd personally find her a trainer."

  "You shouldn't sell yourself so short, kid. You're a lot more than a has been, especially if someone is seeking you out to train them. I understand if you don't want to do it. What I don't get is why you're letting this bust your gut."

  "Because…shit, I don't want anyone else to train her, but I just don't think I can do it, Uncle Mick."

  "Oh pig's ass! You can do anything you set your mind to, Rory. You know this. It sounds to me like you're having mixed feelings and not just about training her. Well, tell me, is she a beaut?"

  "Of course she is, but she's a kid!"

  "Give me some slack on the chain you're pulling. So, she's younger than you. What the bloody hell does that have to do with you being friends with the girl and helping her? Give it a whirl, Rory, and if it doesn't work out, then at least you tried and you can stop walloping yourself and walk away."

  "I guess you're right. Martie's going to be pissed —she's been knocking this girl for a while."

  "She's your best mate, Rory. Of course she's going to protect you. You just have to be fair with her. I'm sure it'll work out." It might do you some good to get back on the other side of the sport again. "So when are you coming back Down Under? Don't make me go walkabout across the pond to find your ass!"

  Rory laughed with her uncle for a few minutes. "I'll be there in a month or so."

  "I'll see you soon. I'll say hey to your Mum for you."

  "Yeah thanks, see you soon."

  "Hooroo," he said as he hung up.

  Rory set the phone down and stared at the wall for a few minutes. Damn you, Uncle Mick, why are you always right? Rory, it's not going to hurt you to be friends with her. Besides, she does need the proper guidance.

  Chapter Seven

  As soon as Rory stepped out of the elevator, she stopped at Alex's desk.

  "Hey, I need you to set up a meeting for me and Martie with the snow team for tomorrow afternoon."

  "Sure thing."

  Rory walked into her office and sat down behind her desk. Now is as good a time as any. She took her glasses off, tossing them on the desk. She rubbed her temples slowly, trying to ease the building tension and arrange her thoughts before she reached for the phone. She quickly dialed the number from memory.

  "Hi, can I speak to Austin Tinsley please?"

  "This is her."

  "Uh, hey, this is Rory Eden. How are you?" Rory scolded herself mentally for her nervousness.

  "Hi, uh…I'm good. How was your trip?" Austin nearly dropped the phone. She hadn't expected Rory to call her.

  Rory smiled, thinking back to the events of the trip. "Cold, but I had a great time."

  "That's good."

  "I haven't had a chance to find you anyone, yet. I have so many things going on right now."

  "I totally understand how busy you are."

  "Actually, the reason I'm calling is because I wanted to see if you were doing anything Saturday morning."

  Austin's gray eyes bugged out of her head. Did she just ask me out? No way! "Uh, I'm not doing anything. I was going to go surfing but…"

  "Great, I wanted to see you surf again. It might help me a little more with matching you up to someone."

  "Sure, where do you want to meet?"

  "Hmm, that's a good question. I haven't even seen the surf reports for this weekend. I just got back into town a few days ago and I've been in my office most of the time."

  "I think Lunada is supposed to be happening this weekend. My friend Lori was talking about going up there."

  "Sounds good. Call me on my cell sometime tomorrow and let me know the tides and the surf report. It's pretty rough out there and medium tide is the safest, so I'll meet you when it breaks."

  "Great, I'll call you tomorrow and I'll see you Saturday morning."

  Rory hung up the phone, nervously fidgeting with the pen in her hand. There's no reason to be scared, Eden. You're just watching her surf. You're not getting in the water and she doesn't bite. Training her and sleeping with her are two completely different things. Calm down! Rory tried to rationalize with herself, but it wasn't working.

  At the same time, Austin was sitting on her living room couch in shock. Lori walked through the front door of the apartment, stopping when she noticed the astonished look on her best friend's face.

  "Who died?"

  "Huh?"

  "You look like you just saw a ghost or something, are you okay?"

  Austin shook her head lightly. "Rory Eden just called me. She wants to meet Saturday morning to watch me surf again. She said she's trying to match me to a trainer who will work the best for my skills or something like that."

  "Wow, that's cool. I hope you're not in over your head though, Austin. She's very restrained when it comes to her personal life. Don't get too close to her, you might get hurt."

  "I know. Hey, she gave me her cell number and told me to call her tomorrow with the surf report at Lunada. She wants to go at medium tide so I have to tell her what time to meet me."

  "Did you want me to go with you?"

  "Nah
, it might be better if I'm alone with her since she's so skittish about the whole situation."

  ~ ~ ~

  Rory sat at the head of the table in the conference room with Martie on her left side. The snow team took up the remaining seats.

  "As you all know, there was a lot of excitement in Aspen. Our riders performed well and Adler Troy shocked the world by coming out as a lesbian. I had a meeting with Adler before the Superpipe finals, expressing our interest in signing her. She was very interested and well, one thing led to another and she made a life-altering decision. She's gutsy, headstrong, independent, courageous, and driven to succeed. These are all qualities that I look for when signing sponsorship deals. Every snowboarder and surfer with factory equipment from Eden Boards is essentially a face for the company." She paused.

  "With that being said, I want everyone to know that by the end of the day today, Adler Troy will be the newest face of Eden Boards. I spoke with her attorney this morning and she's being released from her contracts effective immediately. I'm excited to bring her on and I want to show the nation that Eden Boards doesn't see color, nationality, sexuality, gender, or anything else discriminatory. Adler's a great person, once you get to know her, which I'm sure you all will because I've invited her and her girlfriend to come and tour our facility at the end of the week. Stephen, I want to thank you for all of the hard work you did researching her contract information and working with the legal team to have her contract drawn up with us so quickly. We'll need to get her up and running and comfortable with our equipment as soon as possible. The Olympics are less than a week away. Let's meet in the morning to go over everything in more detail, Stephen."

  He nodded.

  "Martie is there anything you need to add?" Rory asked.

  "Uh…" Martie looked at her notes. "I don't believe so." She was shocked and a little pissed that she didn't know about Adler Troy's contract going into the meeting.

  Everyone exited the room and Martie followed Rory into the elevator.

  "Hey, what's going on with you? You confused me back there. Since when do we sign contracts that I know nothing about?"

  "It's not a big deal, Martie. It literally happened all while I was driving to work this morning." Rory leaned back against the wall as the elevator started its ascent to their floor. When the doors opened she gestured for Martie to follow her with a quick nod of her head. Once inside her office, Rory shut the door and walked over to her desk, tossing the folder next to her computer monitor. She sat down lazily, removing her glasses and rubbing her face with both hands.

  "You look stressed, Rory. Talk to me. I hate to see you like this. You've been acting funny for a few weeks now."

  "I talked to Uncle Mick yesterday."

  "Oh really, how's he doing?"

  "Not bad. He's working like a mule. The firm's been pretty busy."

  "How's your mom?"

  "Busy running everyone's life in Queensland."

  "Yeah well you know how your mom is, Rory. You're just like her when it comes to working and you know it. You would both rather bust your ass a hundred hours a week than have someone do it for you. It's a drive and ambition that I've never seen in anyone, except the two of you."

  "Hmm…so anyway, he's looking forward to my going back there. I have a feeling they'll rig the plane so that I can't fly back to the states," she laughed and Martie snickered.

  "Actually, Martie, I brought you in here to tell you something. I can't really discuss it right now, but I need you to know that I've made a decision that affects the company and…"

  Martie jumped out of her seat. "What are you talking about, Rory? Are you selling the company? Taking on a partner? What the hell is it?"

  "Calm down, it's nothing like that at all. In time, I'll tell you and everyone else. Right now, I haven't even made anything official. I finally made my decision yesterday after talking to Uncle Mick."

  "Oh man, this can't be good. Are you in trouble or something?"

  "No, of course not."

  "Okay, then why the hell would a criminal defense lawyer help you make a decision about this company?"

  Rory grinned. "It wasn't necessarily about the company. It's actually more personal than anything. He basically talked me through it."

  Martie sat back down with one eyebrow raised up. Personal? What the hell are you trying to say, Rory? Spit it out already. She wasn't sure what to say or how to react to what Rory was telling her, so Martie just did the only thing she knew how to do when it came to her best friend.

  "I trust you, Rory. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's fine and I hope it makes you happy. I've never known you to make a mistake or do something to jeopardize yourself or your career. Although, I am very curious to find out just exactly what it is that you're not telling me. I'm sure it'll come in due time." I could probably beat it out of you, but then you'd hate me for a while. I hope you haven't gone and gotten yourself in too deep. Sometimes it's hard to swim when the water is over your head. I'm damn sure going to find out what's going on, whether you tell me or not. I'm not going to let you get hurt. You're up to something and I really don't like the smell of it.

  "Well, I guess that's it, then."

  "So, what's next on the agenda with Adler Troy?"

  "She's supposed to fax the signed contract back later today, then Stephen will schedule a session with her to get her measurements and all of the other stuff that we need for a new team member. I'm really excited about the future of our company, especially where snowboarding is concerned. I think you will really like her. She's a lot like us. I had a really good time, just hanging out and talking with her."

  "Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that she's living her life out and proud. I just hope it doesn't negatively affect us."

  "I don't think it will, honestly. I'm glad she did what she did. I think it expands the sport even further. Now, if we could just have a surfer come out, that would be icing on the cake." Rory smiled.

  "You know, you could've been the one to do it," Martie said.

  "Yeah well, so could you. I never told you to stop surfing the tour."

  "I make a hell of a lot more money sitting in an office." Martie smiled. She'd left the tour to be at Rory's side and eventually help nurse her back to health. She'd never been as good a surfer as Rory, but she'd enjoyed being on tour and traveling the world, nonetheless. It had been fun with Rory beside her, but after Rory retired, she'd known it would never be the same, so she'd retired too. She still surfed for fun when she had the chance though.

  ~ ~ ~

  Austin was sitting in her room, reading a magazine when Lori knocked on her door.

  "I saw your light on. You're up early. The sun's barely shining," Lori said.

  "I guess it was the excitement, who knows." Austin shrugged.

  "Yeah, I just checked the surf report and it looks like it could be overhead swells by medium tide. I'll probably ride out there myself."

  "Damn, I couldn't ask for a better day then. This is probably my last chance to prove myself to her. I feel like I've been called back for a second audition." Austin laughed.

  "It sort of is, if you think about it," Lori said seriously.

  "Okay, I was joking, but go ahead, Lori, make me more nervous than I already am."

  "Why get so bent out of shape about her, Austin? I've seen you ride some of the sickest waves with a badass attitude and more confidence than anyone around. I've never known you to hesitate, Tinsley. Don't let her bother you. She obviously likes what she sees; otherwise, she wouldn't want to see it again. I doubt she'd be trying to help you out either."

  "I know, I know. Last time she watched me, I fucking choked on the line, man. Luckily, I was able to talk some sense into myself and I came out okay, but what if it happens again? She's going to think I'm a loser or worse, scared!"

  Lori sat back on the couch laughing hysterically.

  "Damn it, Lori, this isn't funny!"

  "Okay, calm down. You're definitely not scared. You have talent
and she sees it. I don't care much for her these days with the corporate attitude, but she was a hell of a surfer and she knows her shit, Austin. The best thing for you to do is go early, take a run down the beach and clear your head. If you can't bring it together long enough to rip in front of her, how the hell are you ever going to surf a competition?"

  "You're right, as usual. I just don't know if that'll work or not."

  "Well, you'll never going to find out sitting here on your ass. Go on, get out of here. I'll be out there eventually. I won't go around you guys though. Just don't crowd the line, or I'll kick your ass, and then you'll definitely have something to be embarrassed about in front of her."

  Austin laughed, shaking her head.

  ~ ~ ~

  Austin was out in the water, floating on her board with her feet dangling over each side. She could barely see the shore, but her eyes were able to make out a certain blond-haired, blue-eyed woman, walking confidently through the dunes. As she swam in, Austin saw Rory looking at her through the waves. "Damn, you're cute. I'd do anything to kiss you again," Austin whispered, laughing at herself and shaking her head as she walked out of the surf, to the woman waiting patiently for her.

  "Morning," Rory exclaimed.

  "Hey."

  "I see you've beaten me to the punch this time."

  "It's always good to get a head start. Besides, I made a terrible impression last time by showing up late, and then choking on the line. I figured what the hell, I'll go early and hope she's not there, so I can work out the bugs and get over my embarrassment."

  Rory smiled. She was nervous deep down inside, for reasons she knew, but didn't want to admit. She hid it well on the surface.

  "Well, shall we get the show on the road? The line's going off and looks like a pretty decent ride. It should work you a bit," Rory said, peering out at the waves.

  "Yeah, I've been here for an hour. It's been tight all morning, hanging around five feet. It almost kicked my ass a few times."

  "Great! I hope you're not completely worn out yet. This is the kind of wave that rides almost flat before it curls into a tight tube. It's the best for scoring major style points. Let me see what you can do."