Better vs. Worse

by Mary E Thompson

  Better vs. Worse

  Opposites Attract, book two

  Mary E Thompson

  Better vs. Worse

  Opposites Attract, Book Two

  Copyright © 2018 Mary E Thompson

  Cover Copyright © 2018 Mary E Thompson

  Book cover photo from Pixabay, Photo used under CC0 Creative Commons

  Surfer cover photo from depositphotos, Copyright © EpicStockMedia

  Chapter header vector from depositphotos, Copyright © emaria

  Published by BluEyed Press

  All Rights Reserved

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, businesses, locations, and events are either products of the author’s creative imagination or are used in a fictitious sense. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-944090-56-2

  Print ISBN: 978-1-944090-57-9

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Epilogue

  You are cordially invited…

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Mary E Thompson

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  There was nothing better than being out on the ocean, surrounded by deep blue water. Just me and my surfboard. That was peace. I could think out there. I didn’t have to worry about money or family or the woman I was in love with.

  It was just me.

  I lined up my board and paddled lazily with the wave. It picked me up and carried me toward the shore for a second. I slipped off the back end, letting it go on without me.

  I trailed my hand through the water and eased back on my board, staring up at the sky. The clouds moved above me, changing from nondescript shapes to more nondescript shapes. I never understood how people could see things in a cloud. I just saw clouds.

  Shaking my head at myself, I sat up and paddled in, catching a ride with another wave. Sand dragged along the bottom of my board, stopping me at the shoreline. I laid there for a few minutes, trying to force thoughts out of my head. Thoughts I had no business having.

  It had been weeks since I saw Ada. Since she threw herself at me in the ocean right where I laid on my board. And I rejected her and sent her running.

  I still wanted to kick myself. If I hadn’t turned her down, she might not have gone sprinting into the abyss. No one had heard from her, not even my sister, Ada’s best friend. She was gone. They all wanted answers from me, but I didn’t have any, so they were pissed.

  I deserved it.

  With a groan, I pushed myself up and grabbed my board. I stashed the board on my lanai and dropped into a chair and stared out at the water.

  Then I got to work.

  I measured the board I was riding and wrote everything down. The wood I had would work perfectly. It was straight, long, and wide. Perfect for a template for a new surfboard.

  I laid the wood across the sawhorses I picked up at the hardware store and sketched right onto the surface. I knew the shape I wanted, but I wasn’t about to make any cuts. I had to work the wood for a while and make sure it was just right.

  Making a surfboard was a dream of mine since I first rode a wave. The idea that something started as a tree, was covered in foam, and became a vehicle to carry me across the water fascinated me.

  I only shared my dream with one person. And he shot me down immediately. He said the same thing as everyone else. I was a surf bum without any real ambitions.

  Ada threw that in my face when I rejected her, too.

  She was right. I’d always settled for what I had. I never reached for more. More meant taking risks. I knew what that led to.

  I worked for hours on the board. When the dimensions were perfect, I took a saw to it and cut out the shape. It was starting to look like a surfboard. At least a blank for one.

  I had all the supplies I needed to make my board. It was going to take a while, but I needed to do something. I had too much time on my hands. Time that didn’t do me any good if I was just sitting around.

  After a quick lunch, I cut the stringer and added my foam. I set it aside to dry and went back into the water.

  “I wondered if you were ever going to come out,” a voice said when I came up from a wave. “I’ve been out here for almost an hour.”

  I shook the water from my hair, wincing when it slapped me on the cheek, and smiled at Virginia Kelley, my closest friend and ex. Ginny was on Oahu last I knew, getting in some time in the serious surf. I paddled closer and gave her a one armed hug. “Welcome back. You should have come and grabbed me.”

  Ginny snorted. “Been there, done that. What are you working on?”

  I glanced at the shore and wondered how much she could see. Nothing, I hoped. “Just a project I’ve been thinking about. What are you up to?”

  “I needed a break. My dad’s been up my ass all week. He still wants me to take over the plantation.”

  “And you still don’t want to.”

  Ginny shook her head. “I know I’m foolish to think I can make it onto the circuit, but I want to try again.”

  “Not foolish,” I admitted. I had dreams of being a pro surfer once upon a time, but when my parents died, I gave that dream up to raise my sister.

  I understood Ginny’s reluctance to work her dad’s coffee plantation. My dad worked for her father when I was growing up. After he died, I went to Mr. Kelley and asked him for a job so I could support Kiki. He gave it to me readily, but he was a hard-ass. He worked like a man half his age, and had no qualms telling me I was throwing my life away surfing.

  He wasn’t the only one to tell me that.

  “I feel like I’m letting him down. Then again, I’m always letting him down. Why would this be any different?” Ginny flashed that smile of hers, the one that got her into my bed in the first place. We were friends growing up, but after my parents died, she was there for me. One night, after too many drinks and not enough sleep, she gave me a smile that made me feel like I was more than the failure I felt like.

  “Your dad just wants you to be happy.”

  She snorted again. “Yeah, right. And he hopes I’ll marry a guy like you, too.”

  I laughed with her. Her dad never liked me. Even less when he found out we were together. The relationship didn’t last, but her dad’s hatred of me did. It had been years since we split up, and he still wouldn’t smile at me.

  “I know my dad’s trying, but I’ve never wanted to grow coffee for a living. Not like my brother.”

  Ginny looked to the sky. The clouds offered no view into the heavens where her little brother, Dave, and my parents watched us.

  “Maybe he should sell the plantation.”

  Ginny tipped her head back and laughed. Her long, dark ponytail touched the surface of her purple board, clinging to her matching purple rash guard in places. When she met my dark eyes with her own purple tinted ones, the impact of her gaze shocked me like it always did.

  She was a beautiful woman.

  Maybe I should try things with her again. We were good friends. We got along. We both loved to surf. And she never accused me of being an overgrown child.r />
  But she wasn’t Ada. That was what always got me. Every woman I slept with, looked at, thought about…none of them were Ada.

  “I told my dad to sell, but he refused,” Ginny said, bringing me back to the conversation. “He’s as stubborn as they come.”

  “Sounds like someone else I know,” I muttered with a grin.

  Ginny cupped her hand under the water and splashed me. We tossed water back and forth until we were both dripping wet and laughing.

  “I know what I want. I can’t let anyone stand in the way of that,” Ginny said when we stopped splashing each other. “Dave always told me to go for it.”

  I sobered quickly and nodded. Ginny’s brother was her biggest fan. He encouraged her to surf all the time, even helping her sneak out at times when their dad didn’t want her to go. His death hit Ginny hard, especially when her dad came down on her about running his plantation.

  “Then go for it, Gin. Don’t let him hold you back. Push through and do it. There’s always a competition this time of year. Sign up.”

  Ginny thought for a second, then nodded. “I will. Thanks, K. For now, I’m going to beat you to this wave.”

  She took off, leaving me too far out of reach to catch her or the wave. I snagged the next one and met her on shore.

  “Water?”

  “Yes, please.”

  We walked together to my house, trailing sand and water into the kitchen. I handed her a bottle and grabbed one for myself, then followed her back to the lanai.

  “What’s that?” she asked, spotting my board, drying on the sawhorses.

  “Nothing,” I said immediately, knowing it wouldn’t fly with her.

  “It’s a board,” she said slowly, getting up and approaching it. “Are you making a board?”

  I nodded. “Just a little project.”

  She shook her head and inspected the template I had leaning against the side of my house. “This isn’t a little project. I love this shape. Is it yours?”

  I nodded.

  “Will you make me one?”

  I immediately shook my head. “No. It’s not like that. I’m just playing around.”

  She leveled me with a look that could only come from someone who knew me. I couldn’t bullshit her, and her eyes said so.

  I caved under her stare. “Fine. I want to make boards. I always have, but I never had a chance.”

  “Good for you. This is going to be awesome. I want to be your first customer.”

  “I don’t know if it’ll be any good.”

  She scoffed. “Of course it will. You can do anything. You hide behind that hang-ten attitude you’ve perfected, but you’re smart. I see the marks on this. You didn’t half-ass this design.”

  I sucked in a breath and followed her fingers as they traced the lines I drew on the template. She was right. I sketched the general shape I wanted, then I measured everything. Precisely. Five times. I wasn’t going to leave anything to chance and end up with a board that didn’t do what it was supposed to do.

  “Do you think you can have one for me by the competition?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know how long this is going to take.”

  Ginny chugged the rest of her water and tossed the bottle in the bin. “Then I’ll get out of your way so you can keep going. Purple. I want a purple board. Like I have. Same shape as this one, but smaller so I can ride it without looking like a child.”

  I knew better than to argue with Ginny when she made up her mind. I just nodded and watched her jog back into the water and dive under a wave. She popped back up a few seconds later and waved. I waved back, then studied my board. It would be another day before it was dry and I could do more work, but I still had things to do.

  Like design the damn thing.

  I drew different logos and design options but nothing felt right. I didn’t even know what to call my company, if I ever started one. I was surrounded by wadded up paper and getting more and more frustrated by the second when my phone rang.

  “Hey Kiki,” I said to my sister.

  “I’ve been trying to call you. Where are you?”

  “Home. Why?”

  “I need some help. Three waiters called in sick and I can’t get by tonight without the help. Is there any way you can—”

  “I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” I assured her. “Black tie?”

  Kiki snorted. “This is Hawaii. We’re never black tie. But a clean pair of shorts and a nice shirt would be good.”

  “Black?”

  She hesitated. “Yes, please.”

  I snickered. “See you soon, sis.”

  I showered and changed into an outfit appropriate for serving guests at a wedding and headed to Opposites Attract. I pulled into the parking lot, breathing a sigh of relief when I saw how empty it was. There was no way the wedding had already started, which meant I had time to help Kiki get set up before show time.

  I got out of my Jeep and was walking across the parking lot when I saw her. Strolling casually toward the office as though she hadn’t disappeared for weeks. She smiled at one of the other waiters, accepting a hug from him, and holy fuck did my blood boil.

  I stalked across the parking lot, keeping her in my sights. She didn’t see me approach, which was definitely to my advantage. I was on her in seconds, grabbing her arm and spinning her to face me.

  The shock was quickly replaced by a mask of apathy, but anger flashed in her eyes, tinged with unease, before she looked away.

  “Where the hell have you been? Kiki’s been going nuts trying to find you.”

  Ada shook her head and met my eyes. I could see the depths of her fear in them. Fears that I knew first hand. Fear that kept me from telling her how I felt about her for years.

  “I needed some time to myself,” she admitted.

  Her voice was different. She wasn’t the feisty Ada I knew. This Ada was worn down. Beaten and bruised.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She shook her head and gave me a smile that didn’t get anywhere close to her beautiful hazel eyes. Eyes I could stare into and get lost if I let myself.

  But it wasn’t smart. I wasn’t educated or clean cut or wealthy. Not like the guys she went for. I was a guy who went straight to work after I finished high school. I never had big dreams about fancy jobs or big houses or expensive stuff. A beach and a surfboard was all I ever needed.

  I didn’t need an education to know getting involved with Ada would only end with pain. Mine, not hers. She knew what she wanted from life, and it wasn’t a guy like me. It was one of those guys I’d never be. Which was why I kept my hands to my damn self even though she looked like she needed a hug.

  “I’ve spent a lot of time convincing myself I needed a lot of things. I’ve been trying to figure out what I really want. The problem is, I’ve been telling myself I need a certain kind of guy. A guy that meets all these arbitrary requirements. I’m not sure about that anymore.”

  “What are you talking about?” I demanded, reaching out to cup her elbow before she walked away.

  Big mistake.

  Touching her sent a bolt of lightning through me so fast it burned me. I ached to tug her against me and never let go. To believe her words and trust that she really meant it.

  “Everything I’ve ever told myself I wanted is the opposite of you. I’ve tried to convince myself I needed someone who was opposite of you. I had this crush on you for so long, and you never reciprocated, so I told myself I needed someone who was nothing like you. But now I’m not so sure I was wrong. Maybe I really do need a guy who’s the opposite of you. You don’t have anything for me. You don’t want me, and it’s time I get that through my head and stop trying to force something that’s definitely not going to happen.”

  Ada delivered her parting blow with all the flourish of a funeral director. She didn’t offer me anything beyond her words and her back, telling me I’d truly crushed her.

  I wanted to yell, but it would only alert everyone else that somethi
ng was seriously wrong. Something none of them could fix. It was up to me, and I didn’t know how in the hell I was going to solve it.

  I numbly followed Ada to the back where people rushed all over the place as though they were singlehandedly responsible for the wedding. I spotted my sister and pushed Ada from my mind so I could go to work.

  “Where do you need me?”

  “Kapena. Hey. Um, you can go. I’m sorry. I’ll figure it out.”

  “Ada told you to get rid of me?” I accused.

  Kiki immediately shook her head. “No. Of course not. I just figured it would be easier on both of you if you weren’t here together.”

  “I already saw her. I’ll stay out of her way. If you don’t need the help, I’ll go, but that’s not what you said just a few minutes ago.”

  Kiki chewed on her bottom lip and glanced at the waiters scurrying around. “Fine. I need the help. If you can handle it, I’d really appreciate it.”

  I nodded and went to work. I knew the drill from helping her get the place off the ground. It was easy enough to jump in and help the guys finish setting up the space for the reception and the tables for dinner.

  We finished just in time. As per usual, all the guests showed up together. We were ready for them and directed them to the beach for the ceremony.

  “I didn’t know you’d be here,” a voice said from behind me once the guests were gone and things settled down.

  I spun and grinned when I saw Alvin, Ada’s brother, behind the bar. “You work here? Kiki didn’t tell me.”

  Alvin nodded. “I do. She hired me a few months back.”

  I clasped his hand over the bar surface and nodded. “Good to see you. It’s been too long.”

  “It has,” Alvin agreed. “What have you been up to?”