Language of Love

Chapter 45 - Bronte

Waking alone in a king-size bed in an unfamiliar room confused Abi for a moment, until the fog of sleep lifted a little and she remembered that yesterday her and Troy had moved into their apartment.

She smiled as she stared up at the ceiling. She had come to Australia with the expectation of improving her languages and having an adventure then returning home to England to start her own language tutoring business. Australia had outdone her expectations and given her what she hoped would be a whole new life. Now, here she was sharing an apartment with a man she had fallen deeply in love with, so quickly that it hardly seemed rational.

At that moment, said man shouldered his way through the door carrying a tray laden with breakfast. He placed it on the bedside table beside her then sat himself on the bed.
"Morning." He said, leaning in for a kiss before settling against the headboard beside her and popping a strawberry in his mouth, letting out a happy little hum.
Abi helped herself to a croissant and sank down a little in the bed to settle her head against his shoulder.
"How's the swell today?" She asked, knowing he'd have checked the charts whilst prepping breakfast.
"Waves are good for beginners. Might be good to try out your board this morning. Swells s'posed to pick up over the weekend and waves might be a bit big for you then."

They finished their breakfast and headed down to the beach, carrying their boards as the sun rose. A few locals greeted them as they crossed the sand towards the shoreline. They waved their hellos. Abi followed Troy, trusting his experience at picking the best spot for them to paddle out at Bronte.

Paddling out as the sun lit the water in fiery reds and oranges was magical. Abi could see why Troy was such a regular early morning surfer. Beyond the swell they sat beside each other and watched the sunrise. Troy reached over and took her hand before pointing a little further out.
"Dolphins!"
Abi let out a sigh of awe.
"Can we get closer?"
Troy nodded and they paddled out further. The pod of dolphins seemed unbothered by their approach and continued to breach and jump.
Abi watched wide-eyed as they paddled right into the pod, and the dolphins swam around them. Tentatively she reached out her hand and ran it along the side of a dolphin that passed close by.
"Troy look!" She said with excitement as she did so. He laughed at her excitement but also reached out his own hand to stroke a dolphin.

Eventually, the dolphins swam out to deeper water.
"That was incredible!" Abi exclaimed. Troy smiled fondly at her.
"It never gets old." He responded.
"Catch a wave?" He asked.
They paddled back into the surf zone.

Abi caught a small wave and rode it back to shore. Troy followed her in on the next wave, carving as he went. They paddled back out together.

They were paddling to catch their 3rd set when a scream came from nearby. Troy was immediately in lifeguard mode and paddling away from her. Abi lifted up slightly on her board and saw 2 heads, roughly in line with them, being pulled out to sea. Abi paddled after Troy.

By the time she reached them Troy had pulled one out from the water by his hair. The other swimmer, a woman, wasn't so bad but looked tired.
"Let her grab your board Abi. Help her keep afloat." He instructed as he manoeuvred his exhausted patient carefully onto his board. Abi got her board closer to the woman who grabbed on with relief.
"You're right." Troy reassured them."I'm an off duty lifeguard."
"Thank you." The woman gasped, her accent American. "We went for a swim but the current is so strong. He's not a good swimmer. Is he okay?"
Troy eyed his patient.
"Might have inhaled some water."
Troy shifted his attention to Abi.
"You right? Just keep balancing the board with ya weight away from hers. Reidy's on his way out. He'll take her in."

Reidy quickly reached them.
"Good job Gonz." He said with a nod. "You get him in. I'll take her. Jump on the board love."
The American lady pulled herself clumsily onto Reidy's board. Troy was already making his way in with his patient.
"First rescue Bambi!" Reidy shouted as he pulled the woman towards him on his board and paddled for shore. Abi followed.

On the beach Troy was handing his patient over to Azza B and providing oxygen when Abi dragged her board in. Reidys' patient was fine and thanking them profusely.
"Reckon we get him checked." Troy was saying as Abi dropped her board and walked up beside him. Azza radioed Central to call an ambulance. The American lady fussed over her boyfriend before turning to Abi.
"Thank you so much. Y'all are heroes."
"It's their job." Abi replied.
"It's like something from that TV show! Bondi rescue! We were going to Bondi tomorrow to try to see the lifeguards."
Abi fought down her laugh.
"Well, you met them a day early."
"What?! But this isn't Bondi."
"The Bondi lifeguards also work at Tama and Bronte."
"Oh my days!" The woman practically squealed. "Where's Whippet? And that handsome Hoppo fella?"
Reidy failed to cover his snort, which made the woman look at him more closely.
"Ohhhhh! I know you now. You're Reidy!"
Reidy seemed pleased to have been finally identified whilst Troy and Azza rolled their eyes and focussed their attention on their patient, whose partner seemed to have forgotten about him in her excitement.
The ambulance soon arrived and the guys ushered them off. Sighing in relief when the ambulance doors shut off and silenced the woman's non stop talking.

An hour later, Troy started his shift at Bronte and Abi returned to the apartment before heading off for her teaching.

Still without a car she opted to walk and was halfway there when her phone rang. Hoppo's name lit up the screen.
"Hey boss." She answered.
"G'day Abi. Got your first rescue under ya belt this morning ay?
Got a proposal for ya. You heard of APOLA?"
"Yeah. It's the lifeguard association."
"That's the one. APOLA are looking to do some work with other lifeguards over in Europe. At the meeting today it was decided we'd organise a trip this winter and send some Bondi lifeguards as representative's. We'll need a translator too, when we're over there and to help with the liason before we go. You up for it? It'd be a fair bit'a work. APOLA would pay you a consultancy contract, travel and board."
"Really?! That'd be amazing! But I'll have to check how it would affect my visa."
"It'll be right. I'll get APOLAs HR team to sort that for ya. Britain will be one of the visits. You could take a week to see your family. We were also thinking Portugal or Spain and Finland. Bondi Rescue will be involved too with some promo so the producers will probably contact you about that."
"My Finnish is pretty limited tho Hop."
"Reckon you study it you'll be near fluent in no time. Yous seem to pick up a new language every week."
"Thanks Hop. I really appreciate the opportunity."
"No worries."
"Which lifeguards are going?"
"Gonz'll be going. Couldn't separate ya if I tried. Me and Corey O will probably do half each. Probably Maxi, Reidy or Whip."
"Let me know the dates. I'll sort it with the language school."
Abi hung up the phone and let out a little squeal of happiness. It earned her strange looks from passers by but she didn't even notice as she hurried to lessons with thoughts of visiting different countries in her head.