Buffy didn’t know how long she had slept, but the few clouds that had been clinging to the sky were now gone and she was burning up from the sun now high over head.

She sat up quickly when she remembered why she was at the beach and let the breath in her lungs slowly escape when she saw that Spike was still on his blanket. The umbrella, directly above him now, put his whole body in the shade. His laptop was put away under a towel and his beach chair empty as he slept on top of the blanket, on his stomach, face turned to her.

So peaceful. She allowed herself to stare and tears welled up in her eyes. Spike was alive. Really alive! And he looked good. Healthy. His back rose and fell as he breathed deeply in sleep. Looking away, she swallowed hard and had to restrain herself from going over to him. Instead, Buffy stood, stretched and then gingerly made her way past the other sunbathers to cool off in the water.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had such a relaxing day. Ten years ago, going to the beach on the weekend was what she’d looked forward to, but then she was called and finding the time for surf and sand had been limited. The waves were relatively small and she walked straight into the refreshing water, letting the white caps wash around her, until she was in just to her shoulders. Buffy swam for a few minutes and then headed back to her blanket, back to Spike.

He was still sleeping. She reapplied sunscreen and was just putting the bottle away when Spike’s friend showed up, now dressed in Bermuda shorts and a faded Ocean Pacific t-shirt.

“Dude, rise and shine.” Spike stirred and then sat up, rubbing his eyes and reaching for his glasses. Dirk sat down and ran a hand through the sand. “Gage just called and he’s having a heart attack because your cell goes directly to voice mail.”

Spike reached into his bag and flipped the phone open. “Battery’s dead.”

“Well, you’d better call him back before he sends out a search party.”

“I should be going back in, anyway. Do me a favor and bring all this stuff back to the apartment for me, okay?” Spike stood, gripping his laptop bag and slipped into his sandals.

“Fer sure. I’ll just have a brewski first and check out the Betties.”

Buffy watched Spike walk away before she went into action, trying to pack up her stuff as casually as possible. With her bag slung over her shoulder, she waited until she was at the steps to the parking lot to quicken her pace, taking two steps at a time. She crested the steep climb just in time to see Spike enter the lobby of the tall apartment building next to the parking lot. He wasn’t kidding when he said he had a short walk to the beach.

Buffy took her time going to her car. She placed her beach bag in the trunk, put her sundress back on and then grabbed her purse, only taking a brief moment to pat her hair down after taking off the visor. She looked up at the rectangular building with balconies all around. It was highly unlikely that she’d be able to figure out what apartment he lived in.

The air-conditioned lobby was a welcomed relief from the glaring sun. She took off her sunglasses and let her eyes adjust to the dimmer light and spotting the manager’s office, she headed straight for it. A weathered old man sitting at a desk looked up and smiled.

“Can I help you?”

“I hope so. Do you have any apartments for rent?”

His expression didn’t leave her much hope.

“If you’d come in two weeks ago, you could have had your choice of apartments.” He stared at his computer monitor while tapping on the keyboard. “We do have a furnished, one bedroom available, though.”

Buffy sat down in one of the chairs, placing her purse in her lap.

“Ooh. I’ll take it!”

“It’s one of the highest rents we have for a one bedroom. Top floor with an ocean view, west side.”

She shrugged as she dug in her purse for her Council issued credit card and said, “Cost is not an issue. My company will be paying for it.”

“Great! Why don’t you fill out this credit check form while I print out a rental contract? You can take the contract with you, read it and if your credit is good, you can come back tomorrow with it signed and move in right away.”

---

John trudged towards the beach with Dirk at his side. The surfer carried both of their boards plus a duffel bag with changes of clothes and the hot breakfast burritos. John had his laptop case, the ice chest filled with beer and the umbrella. They’d had a cup of coffee before coming down, but as was their custom they were quiet, both barely awake at such an early hour.

The sun was just rising and John paused at the top of the steps to take in the view that greeted him almost every day. The waves were so-so, but the nearly empty beach was a balm to his soul. They had a couple of hours before the sand would be crawling with sunbathers and The Strand filled with an ever-moving line of runners, cyclers and rollerbladers. The diehard joggers were out already, taking advantage of the cool air before they went to their nine to five jobs.

The two surfers were set up in minutes, with the laptop case concealed under the blanket with the towels piled on top. They spent another five minutes stretching out and then John zipped up his wetsuit, grabbed his board and grinned at Dirk.

“Go!” Dirk shouted.

They took off for the water, kicking up damp sand and yelling at the top of their lungs. Dirk was younger, but John was in better physical condition. He reached the water first, jumped on his board, ignoring the shock of cold water to his hands and legs and paddled out as fast as he could.

He stopped and smirked at his friend who finally caught up to John, sat up on his board and tried to catch his breath, saying, “Dude, one of these days, I’m going to beat you.”

John leaned back and admired the ever lightening sky. “You can keep trying, mate.”

Along the line-up, the water was dotted here and there with other surfers, waiting out the lull. John loved this time in the water with his board gently going up and down. If he got a chance to get out before dark, he’d have dreams after where his body was bobbing in the gentle yet powerful pull of the ocean. In the mornings, it was a time for him to meditate, clear his mind and get ready for a day of writing.

The surf report had predicted larger waves than usual for this time of year. They could both feel it when the first wave of the set began to build. Dirk bounced with excitement and John laughed and said, “You take it.”

Dirk didn’t hesitate. He started paddling and John watched as all but his head and shoulders disappeared on the other side as he rode the medium sized wave. Another was building. John felt the pull and the rush of adrenaline hit him like a drug. He could hear Dirk’s shout at the end of his ride, as John paddled faster to catch the impending wave. Standing at just the right time, John balanced, tilting his forward foot into the wave. Flying, floating, soaring over the small yet perfect wave, he let the freedom wash over him, and not wanting the ride to end, he pumped his board to take it all the way in.

As he caught up to Dirk, the surfer yelled, “That was an epic wave, man.”

John nodded in agreement. A wave didn’t have to be huge to be perfectly shaped.

“I’m going out again,” Dirk added. “You coming?”

“I’m not going to be able to top that one. Think I’ll just get an early start on the writing.”

Dirk shook his head, but didn’t complain. More waves for him. John watched him duck dive a breaking wave and turned back to shore. The sky was now filled with morning light and gray clouds that would burn off as the day wore on. People were already starting to arrive. Mostly the vacationers who rented one of the apartments like his own for a month or three.

As he approached his spot, he noticed the girl who’d been next to him the day before. Like yesterday, she was alone, her blonde hair pulled back in a severe ponytail with a visor shading her forehead and sunglasses firmly in place. Only today, she wore a royal blue bikini instead of the yellow one. She was applying sunscreen to her beautifully shaped legs. He imagined going over and asking if she’d like help getting the lotion on her back, but he chuckled inwardly at himself. He always sounded suave and worldly in his head, but he knew if he tried to approach her he would get tongue-tied and end up slinking back to his own blanket, humiliated.

It was his curse. Dirk couldn’t understand why he got so shy around women, but it was one area that the big guy never teased John. Woman usually approached John. Dirk on the other hand would plunge headlong into a conversation with any female who stared at him for longer than two seconds. Unfortunately, after ten minutes in his company, women were usually turned off by Dirk’s forward and uncensored mouth and they’d storm off to gossip with the other girls about how much of a jerk that surfer dude was.

John was sure he felt the woman’s eyes on him as he peeled out of his wetsuit. The black Bermuda shorts underneath were wrinkled, but he was more curious as to why she was staring at him than becoming self-conscious. John stole a glance at her. She held a magazine open in her lap, but he could see over the sunglasses and her eyes definitely darted away from him to the magazine when she knew she’d been caught.

Now he felt uncomfortable, wanting to glance her way, but not wanting to be caught doing it. He towel dried his hair and ran a hand through it, trying to tame the wavy curls. He sat down in his low beach chair, not bothering to put his t-shirt on, and reached into the duffle bag for a breakfast burrito wrapped in aluminum foil.

John groaned audibly when he spotted Corky Paladin making his way towards him, carrying his dinged up long board under his arm.

“Hey, John, how’s it hanging?”

Taking a big bite out of his breakfast, John shrugged and made some noises that he hoped would pass for an answer. It was one thing to be a beach bum, but it was another to not pull your own weight. At least in John’s eyes. He couldn’t count how many times the jobless man had borrowed his shower, leaving the place a mess and helping himself to half of what Dirk and John had stocked in the cupboards.

“Got any more of those?” Corky asked.

John leaned over, pulled one out of the bag and caught a glimpse of the woman in the blue bikini. She quickly flipped to another page of the magazine and kept her head down, but he wasn’t fooled. There was no doubt in his mind that the woman was eavesdropping.

With a mouth full of tortilla, egg and cheese, Corky asked, “Are you and Dirk going to the party at Hermosa tomorrow tonight?”

“I think Dirk has to work and I have to make an appearance at a birthday party for my agent’s boss. I might stop by on the way home.”

John knew the guy was fishing for a ride, but all he had to do was ride his bike over on The Strand.

“I saw Misty yesterday. She’s going to be there,” Corky said.

“Good for her.”

“I don’t get you, man. That Betty is still totally hot for you.”

“We broke up weeks ago.” John shrugged. “She needs to move on.”

Corky gestured with his arms out, as if he was catching a wave. “Mind if I move in on that then?”

At least Corky was good for a laugh. Misty would tear him to shreds if he made a move on her, but he didn’t care either way. “Do what you want.”

“I’m stoked!” Corky got up and grabbed his board. “Think I’ll go hunt down some new threads for tomorrow.” He touched the dark stubble on his chin. “I might even shave.” He walked off, still eating the burrito and called over his shoulder, “Catch you later.”

Shaking his head, John got out his laptop and switched it on, his fingertips already buzzing to get moving over the keyboard. Last night, he’d dreamt about the next scene, where Jacob Gold gets injured and Summer Slater reluctantly comes to his rescue. He just opened the file for chapter twenty-two when movement off to the side caught his attention.

The woman in the blue bikini stood up and stretched. He wished he had his own sunglasses on so he could stare longer at that perfect, muscular body with gentle curves. She flipped the visor off and tossed it on the blanket. Next, she let her hair down and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. She looked familiar, but as soon as she dropped the sunglasses and he got a good look at her face, he dumped the laptop and jumped up in complete shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing!