Emma stood up and cheered, waving her arms. She ran to the water to meet the girls and yelled out, "Ava, you're in first place, and Kacey is a close second!"
"Whoo-hoo!" Ava cheered and looked behind her to find the guys.
Josh was up on his board, but instantly fell off. Rick was just getting on again. He tilted the board and slid off as the board popped up into the air.
The girls stood on the shore together and laughed until their sides hurt.
"They haven't got a clue!" Emma cried.
"And they bragged so much about not needing any lessons!" Kacey exclaimed.
"Right!" Ava asked, "Should we go give them a hand?"
Kacey nodded, "Yeah, why not? Come on!"
The girls paddled out to where the guys were trying to get up on their boards and informed them that Ava had won and Kacey came in a close second.
"Oh, sure! Rub it in!" Josh teased, "Okay, I give up. It's not as easy as I thought it would be!"
"You want some help?" Kacey asked.
"Sure!" he replied with a grin.
Kacey gave Josh instructions while Ava helped Rick. Once they learned how to get up on the boards properly, the guys were able to keep their balance. They made short runs at first, but soon got the hang of it and were able to keep up with the girls.
After two hours of surfing, the couples decided to check in with Emma and get something to eat.
They walked up to the pier and found a counter service restaurant with picnic tables. They all sat together eating and watching the other surfers.
"Man, this weather is great!" Josh commented, feeling the sun and the wind on his face.
"The water's a little chilly," Kacey commented.
Rick stuffed a french fry in his mouth and replied, "I think it's perfect. If it were any warmer, you'd feel like a tea bag!"
Everyone laughed and then finished lunch. They walked around on the pier looking at the various things for sale. The girls showed them where they had jumped off the pier to save the girl who was caught by a shark.
"Let's go back and do some more surfing. We still have another hour left on our surf board rentals," Rick said. Everyone agreed and headed back to the beach.
After another hour of surfing, the group returned their surf boards and hiked back to their convertible.
"You guys did really great out there!" Kacey commented.
"Yeah, once you taught us how to do it, we were fine. Thanks for the lessons," Josh said as he kissed Kacey.
"Yeah, me too," Rick echoed and kissed Ava.
Emma sighed, "Okay, enough with the kissing. Let's get back to the hotel."
The girls laughed and Kacey started the car. Soon they were heading back to Lake Buena Vista. On the way, they stopped and bought ice cream for Ava and for themselves.
The guys promised to take the girls out to a nice restaurant for dinner, so they all went back to their hotels to change clothes and get ready. At six o'clock, the girls arrived at the hotel where the guys were staying. Kacey pulled up in front of the lobby and Ava got out of the car to find them. Josh came through the door and waved to her, then went back in to get Rick.
As the girls sat in the car waiting, Ava suddenly said, "Emma! Look who's coming to dinner!"
Emma looked up from her cell phone at Ava, asking, "What?"
"Look!" Ava pointed.
Emma looked toward the lobby entrance and saw Rick, Josh, and her boyfriend, Dave.
"Dave!" Emma cried, "What's he doing here?"
"Hi!" Dave called, waving his arm. Emma jumped out of the car and ran to meet him.
He picked her up and whirled her around in a hug.
"Dave! I though you couldn't come!" she cried.
"I convinced my boss to let me off early today so I could fly down here and be with you."
"But we're going home on Sunday!" Emma declared.
"I know," he shrugged, "I wanted to be with you so much, but I couldn't get time off work. I hope you understand."
Emma hugged and kissed him, "I do! And I forgive you!"
"Thanks!" he said, sounding relieved.
"Come on, guys, we'll be late for dinner!" Josh reminded them, and everyone squeezed into the convertible.
Once they were at their table at the restaurant, they ordered dinner, and then Dave asked the girls about their rescue of the girl attacked by a shark. They gave him all of the details, and Emma told him about the sea turtle rescue.
"Gee, it sounds like you've really had some adventure!" he replied.
"And then our room was robbed!" Emma told him.
After Emma finished relating the whole story, Ava said, "The saddest thing is that we haven't caught the guys who robbed the hotel, and we're going home on Sunday. That only gives us one more day to find them so Tanya can get her job back, and hopefully we can get our stuff back. We also want to help Tanya get her job back."
"There must be something we can do," Kacey said.
"We need to catch them in the act of robbing a room," Ava explained, "but how can we do that with only one day left?"
Soon their meals arrived, and the conversation turned to food. But Kacey was still thinking about Tanya, and how she had promised to help her get her job back. Mr. Robertson would not likely hire her back until the robbers were caught. If only they could catch the robbers in the act of taking something...
When dinner was over, Dave asked Emma to go for a walk with him out on the beach near the hotel. The others stayed in to talk some more about the robbery.
Dave led her out to the beach where they stood watching the colorful sunset. He had his arm around her shoulders, and she snuggled against him.
"It's so beautiful here," she said, "I really hate to leave on Sunday."
"Yeah, it's really nice," he said. They were both quiet for a while, and then he reached into his pocket and brought out something.
"Emma, I've got a special present for you."
She grinned and looked into his eyes.
"You do? I love presents, but it's not my birthday yet-"
"I know. But I didn't want to wait another six months for your birthday to give this to you."
He handed her a small box, and she guessed it was large enough to hold a pair of expensive earrings.
"Oh, Dave, you're so sweet! I didn't get anything for you-"
"Open it," he said.
She opened the box and found a diamond ring. Emma's heart stopped as she realized what was happening, and she gasped in shock. Chills ran through her whole body.
Dave smiled at her, asking, "Emma, will you marry me?"
Her jaw dropped and she couldn't speak.