Page 67 of Experiments in Offline Dating

We waded out. The water lapped around our knees. We stood in an area that was dry pebbles an hour ago, and looked out over the ocean at what was now a full-blown storm. The rain pelted down on us in sheets.

“You ready?” he asked me, and his face was all seriousness as he grabbed my hand. The way he had three times now. This time it was an anchor that held me down and told me I wasn’t going to slip away into the crashing sea and be lost forever.

A wave curled into a mouth and gathered to a roar before it crashed on the jagged rocks. I jumped at the sound of it. Tadhg squeezed my hand and we started walking, heads down, while the rain whipped our hoods and blurred our eyes. The rocks were slippery with wet seaweed and I lost my footing, but Tadhg steadied me.

Then we got to the dip where we’d had to wade before, only this time it was much wider and deeper.

“We’re going to have to go in,” he yelled at me over the noise. “It’s going to be cold, and the waves can pull your feet out from under you and drag you out, or they can push you forward and smash you against the rocks.”

“Okay.” I was shaking with the cold, and fear had started to seep quietly into my bloodstream. But I nodded. At this point, I’d do anything he told me to.

“I’m taller and heavier, so I’m going to wade in, and you’re going to hold on to me. Do not let go, no matter what happens, Maya. Do you hear me?”

I nodded vigorously and took a deep breath in and held it until my lungs burned, to steady myself.

“If we get pulled out to sea, you hang on to me. We’ll be safer together. Do you understand?”

“Don’t let go. I promise.”

But he didn’t grab my hand then. He walked in front of me and bent down. “Right. Climb on my back.” What? “Now. Let’s go.”

I didn’t argue. I did as he said and curled my arms around his neck.

“Legs.” He reached back and slapped my thigh. “Put your legs up.”

I gave myself a hop, and he caught my knees in his elbows. He stood and my head swam. Jesus Christ, this is insane. Then he stretched out, grabbed my feet, wrapped my legs around his waist, and clasped them in front of him until my feet hooked together.

He gave my arms a little shake. “Tighter, Maya.”

“I’m going to choke you.”

“Tighter.”

He was so fucking broad that it wasn’t as easy as it should have been. I grabbed each arm with the other, and strained my legs tight around him as if my life depended on it, and I wondered if maybe it did. He tested my legs and arms, and I tried not to break the hold. Then, grabbing a calf in each hand, he walked into the waves.

We couldn’t see how deep it was, but everything looked different from before. Tadhg took big firm strides, holding my legs as he went. When the water hit his crotch, I heard a sharp intake of breath. One step farther and it was my turn. Ice raked across my skin, soaked into my clothes, found its way to the few spots I had managed to keep dry and warm. Soon we were up to my shoulders. My teeth were chattering. The waves were pulling at us, trying to pull us apart, trying to pull us down. In an instant, we were swallowed whole by a wave as it smashed over our heads—bitterly cold salt water in my eyes and mouth. I could see nothing. But I held on tight. When the wave receded, Tadhg’s feet were still on the ground, and I sputtered salt water into his hair, coughing and trying to draw a breath.

My feet were numb now. But the long stretch of my body pressed against Tadhg’s back so tightly that some of me was warm, at least. I focused on that warmth as it passed between us, sharing heat, sharing this moment of insanity.

Another wave crashed and washed over our heads but didn’t pull us under. Tadhg didn’t let go. Another few long strides, and we were coming out the other side. But I didn’t loosen my grip until I was told to.

“You all right?” He didn’t have to shout this time. My head was right next to his.

“Yeah. I’m all right,” I breathed through his wet hair.

When we got out of the ocean and had only the rain to contend with, he patted my thigh again, then leaned down and let me slide off of him. Suddenly, the ice was there. The wind slapped at my soaked clothes without his heat.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, you?”

We could see we were okay, but it somehow felt better to hear it out loud.

“Ready?”

I nodded.

“Good, because we’ve got a bit of a climb next, and then we’re home free.”