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“Higher.” He took a single step inside. That was about as far as he could go. “Let’s move things outside so we can create some sort of path through the mess.”

“Sounds good.”

About an hour passed and we’d finally gained some ground. We had moved bigger pieces of furniture outside the shed, and I was winding my way through others.

“Everything is seconds away from crashing to the ground in here,” he said. Boxes were stacked precariously high, the piles leaning against one another at odd angles. It was all coated in dust and spiderwebs, and I could feel a layer of both on my skin and hair.

“Yeah, it’s crazy. Be careful,” I said. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if he got injured while helping me.

Theo was unstacking a tower of boxes, moving them one by one outside. When the stack was low enough, I climbed over it, deeper into the building. That’s when I saw the unmistakable shape of a surfboard against the far wall. It was covered with some sort of drape. I pointed, and Theo nodded, a smile spreading across hisface.

“Do you think that’s it?” he asked.

“Maybe.” My heart was racing. The path to reach that surfboard was not clear and it took a lot of maneuvering, but finally, I reached the stack of boxes that covered the bottom half of the board. I assessed them, giving them a little shake, and then began climbing.

“What are you doing?” Theo asked, from right behind me.

“I just want to take off the cloth and see if it’s even the board before we try to move these boxes through that maze we barely squeezed through.

Worry colored his features. I couldn’t decide if he was worried that this wasn’t the board or that the boxes were wobbling a bit beneath me.

He answered my question when I slowly stood and he said, “Please, Finley, be careful. Maybe I should climb up there.”

“You absolutely should not. This is all me,” I said.

One of his hands reached up and wrapped around my ankle, holding me steady.

“Will you catch me if I fall?” I teased.

“If you fall, I will be buried beneath this pile of boxes.”

“I better not fall, then.”

He mumbled something under his breath that I didn’t understand as I reached for the yellowing fabric.

“Cross your fingers,” I said, and pulled it off. Beneath the drape was just a basic foam surfboard. My hopes crashed to the ground.“No.”

“That sucks,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s whatever,” I answered, trying not to let the disappointment settle in.

“Will you sit now…please?” he said, his hand still on my ankle.

“Am I stressing you out?” I asked, pretending to lose my balance.

“Finley, I swear,” he said.

I laughed and lowered myself to sitting before he took me by the waist and lifted me off the box.

“My hero,” I said.

“Do you want it?” he asked.

“Uh…what?”

“The board. Alice said if we found one, we could have it. Do you have a surfboard?”

“I don’t.”