Act II of Nyra’s Journey
New Adult Romance
Date Published: November 2022
Publisher: PhoenixPhyre
He’s nothing like her hopeful dream—and everything she wants.
Nyra’s transition from college grad scrambling for her first career job to full independence is as on track as it can be, these days. With her new marketing job is going well, even if she’s still living at home,Nyra’s pretty sure the light at the end of the tunnel is not an onrushing train.
Still, she gets bored, sometimes. A whimsical decision to take up surfing brings her together with Tai Abrega, a professional surfer and shaper so delicious Nyra’s imagination hasn’t even gotten around to fantasizing about a man like him, yet. Surfing awakens a latent, mystical connection with the sea along with a driven passion for the man himself.
But embracing one possibility often demands abandoning another. How can Nyra fit Tai and the seductive siren song of freedom into her “safer” vision of perfect? Can she blend her conventional world with his freespirited lifestyle, or is she doomed to disappointment and heartbreak? New Adult fans of It Ends with Us and Finding Perfect are sure to enjoy this upbeat tale of hope.
The Year of Maybe Act II of Nyra’s Journey continues the story begun in Best-Case Scenario.
EXCERPT—Chapter
21—Aleutian Juice
It’s mid-morning
and the “offshores” have subsided, leaving the waves at Upper Trestles pristine
and glassy. Periodic hoots punctuate ride after ride, as the locals shred the
first “Aleutian Juice” of the fall-winter season. An early winter swell has caught
all but the watchful by pleasant surprise, with clean, hard breaking waves in
the six-to-eight-foot range.
Nyra’s new full
suit keeps her toasty warm, except that her feet feel a little numb. The water
temperature has been dropping steadily, with the strong north-west swell
pushing colder water south. It’s hovering around 57 degrees.
With Pepper’s help, she’s got what
amounts to a perfect fit, complete with a comfortable cradle for what Tai calls
her “up-front assets.” The bright coral piping seemed a little flashy to Nyra,
but Tai said it made her easier to keep track of, so she agreed to it. When she
tried it on the first time, she almost didn’t recognize herself. She couldn’t
place what was different, exactly, but...
“Hey, Ny! How’d that inside section
turn out?” Nyra looks over her shoulder. Tina Crouch, one of the team riders
for Pepper’s women’s team, is paddling out.
“Hey, girl!” Nyra splashes a little
water at her as she paddles alongside. “Where’ve you been? It was really epic
earlier with the offshores.”
“Had trouble getting out of bed
this morning.” Tina looks down to inspect an invisible ding along the rail, an
impish smile on her lips.
Nyra looks at her sidelong, through
narrowed eyes. “Yeah? All right, what was his name?”
“I’ll never tell.”
Is Tina copping or just playing
along? Nyra isn’t sure.
“Is it going hollow inside?” Tina
asks.
“Not consistently. Pretty sectiony
inside. Take the lip bash and kick out is your best bet, at least for now. But
way better than staying dry!”
“I hear that!” Tina nods in the
direction of the horizon and starts paddling farther outside. “Tide’s pulling,”
she notes, before whipping her board around as the wave jacks up to throw. One
double-armed pull is all it takes to get her into the wave. Nyra paddles over the
back to be rewarded by another wave at least two feet larger.
Paddling a little farther north,
Nyra finds herself alone right under the peak. She cranks her own board around
and claws into the wave, just as the lip is beginning to feather. Angling
subtly for control, she pops up and lets the nose of her board fall off down
the wave face, negotiating the elevator drop over the glassy surface. Sunlight
winks at her in the crystal water as wind sings in her ears.
Leaning into her bottom turn, she
stabs her trailing foot into the tail block, aiming the nose of her board for
the lip. God, is there any better feeling than this? Following the nose
of her board to the lip, Nyra redirects near the top, pulling the nose of her
board around and jamming the tail into the lip coming over. She feels her fins
break loose and hears an appreciative hoot from someone paddling out. As she
streaks for the trough, her heart sings. She’s one of them now—and getting
hotter every time she surfs.
Leaning into another searing bottom turn, she
aims for the lip, but it’s already coming over. Without thinking, she redirects
and ducks as the wave goes hollow. For the first time in her life, she’s
completely locked in the tube. She’s so mesmerized by the sensation, she almost
forgets to push the nose down slightly for speed, as Tai had coached her. At
the last moment, she remembers and listens for the sound of the wave breaking.
Flashing back into sunlight to a
chorus of hoots from two guys paddling back out, Nyra hears a few more distant
hoots from the beach. She’s so amped up, she pumps her board for more speed,
and runs too far out on the shoulder. So far that her dying momentum is all
that reminds her to cut back into the curl, while she still has enough speed.
As she cuts back, she scrubs even more speed and her board almost stalls as
she’s pulled back up the wave face, a little out of trim.
Just in time, she remembers to
stomp the nose of her board and plummets back down the wave face, winding up
for a past vertical lip smash like Tai pulls off nearly every time. She pushes
on the tail block and frees up the nose, letting the breaking lip carry the
nose around for her.
“Whoo-hoo,” she exults as her board
races for the bottom again. She winds up for another bottom turn and rockets to
the top of the wave. It’s probably only a little above head high now, but
there’s still enough energy to pull off a floater before she catches a rail and
gets launched.
She resurfaces and flips her
ponytail to her back. First tube ride! Good enough to stop for the day.
Grabbing her board, Nyra prones out on the way to the beach, until it’s about
knee deep. She stands up in the shallows and rock-dances the rest of the way,
resting the rail of her board lightly on the water’s surface for balance.
Her eyes sting as she wades the
final few feet to the wet sand. It’s the sting of seawater, she tells herself.
But she knows better. Fortunately for her, the saltwater streaming down her
face camouflages tears of pure joy.
About the Author
Dirk’s path to authorship wasn’t quite an accident, but almost. Through his two previous careers, first as a Marine officer and subsequently as a corporate trainer, Dirk started way more stories than he finished.
But when his employer filed for Chapter 11 in the backwash of the 2008 financial melt-down, he found himself cordially invited to leave and not return. Out of work and excuses, he focused on finishing his first novel, West of Tomorrow, while looking for another career position.
Since then, Dirk has written and published Best-Case Scenario, Act I of Nyra’s Journey a collection of short fiction entitled, Through the Windshield as well as Tier Zero and Eryinath-5, The Dancer Nebula, Vols. I & II of the Knolan Cycle.
The Year of Maybe, sequel to Best Case Scenario, is due out in Novemeber 2022.
Dirk also contributes to Medium, blogs on his website, and will accept editing work, by special request. Besides his work as a writer, he is an accomplished snow skier, woodworker, photographer and a compulsive gym rat.
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The Year of Maybe sounds like a compelling read that I won't be able to put down!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing it with me and have a sunshiny day!
Fun excerpt. I could picture myself surfing! Thanks!
ReplyDelete