I take a taxi to my hotel, but I can’t check in because it’s too early. I wander around the hotel in my slacks and blouse, nervous and exhilarated. My phone rings just as I contemplate going into the hotel restaurant for lunch. It’s Kai. “Where are you?” he asks.

“At the hotel. Can’t check in until three p.m.”

“So get your suit and come on down to the beach.”

“But you’re working, aren’t you?”

“I can still get you a setup.”

I so want to see him. “When do you go out on your next lesson?”

“In a half hour, but it’s only an hour lesson.”

“I’ll be there soon.”

On the beach, I find Kai just about to begin the land lesson, and yet when he spots me in my suit and sarong, toting my oversize straw bag, he leaves his student to come over and kiss me on the cheek, take my beach bag from me, and walk me to the umbrella and lounge chair.

“I’ll see you in an hour or so,” he says, patting my butt once before returning to his lesson. I sink onto the lounge’s blue padded cushion and feel so much, feel more than I thought I could feel—feelings right now that are more good than bad, feelings that remind me I’m a woman. And human. And that even bad, divorcée me needs love.

I need love.

Swallowing, I reach for the bottle of sunscreen and squeeze a big white dollop in my palm and begin spreading it across my shoulders. I need so much love that it scares me. When did I become starved? Greedy? And does any other woman feel this way?

Kai drops next to me on the lounge chair after his lesson. He’s wearing a Billabong hat, sunglasses that hide his eyes, and remnants of white sunblock all over his nose and jaw. Even dusted with salt water, he looks magnificent. He kisses me quickly, and I duck my head, covering my smile, hands knotted in my lap.

“You look beautiful,” he says, and I look up at him, a blush spreading across my face. I shake my head once, my heart beating hard, the frantic tempo reminding me of an inexperienced girl with her first real crush.

“How was it out there?” I ask, pulling a strand of hair behind my ear.

“Good.”

I nod, fingers locking, unlocking, and suddenly we have run out of things to say. Kai cocks his head, looks at me. “What’s wrong?”

I shake my head. There’s nothing wrong, but I’m so jittery inside, as if I’ve had too much coffee and am flooded with caffeine. “I’m just glad to be here.”