“Seashell Shuffle is a game my aunt came up with. No gambling included, I promise. If they’re anything like we were, they’ll have so much fun, looking for different shells, that they’ll forget there was a game in the first place.”
“You’re tricking them,” he teases. “You’re more devious than I remember.”
I shove at his shoulder. “Like you haven’t told them a white lie every once in a while.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m going to be in big trouble once they get access to the internet and find out that TVs don’t need to be turned off to charge every couple of hours.”
I laugh. “My dad told us the TV worked like those ride-along horses at the mall. Charged us a dollar for every hour we wanted to watch.”
“Damn, he would have made a fortune off of Isaac andme.”
Ahead of us, the kids start chasing the tide in and out, giggling and jumping back when it touches them.
My memories overlap and settle onto each other like waves. “We spent most of our time outside, so I never really thought about it until I was older and wanted to know about all the shows the kids at school were talking about.”
“What did you do in winter?”
“We still went outside; we just got wetter.”
He makes a strangled little sound in his throat, and I blush all the way to my shoulders.
Dominic is determinedly comparing the shells he finds and putting back the ones he doesn’t want, scooping sand back over them, like he’s tucking them back in to sleep. Meanwhile, Daphne is chasing seagulls, and I could swear it’s twenty years ago and I’m watching Skye do the same thing, her long hair blowing in the wind.
Skye always ran toward the things that terrified her. I’ve always admired that.
Benji finally has enough of collecting sand in his sneakers and stops to remove them, banging them against his thigh until they’re empty before stuffing his socks inside. He carries them on his opposite side, and I can’t take it anymore.
We can’t know until we try,right?
I slip my hand in his. Benji doesn’t comment on it, his grip tightening around mine, but he’s definitelysmiling.
Today has been fun. It always was, with him.
“What’s Isaac doing right now?” I ask, curious. I wonder if I’ll get a chance to meet him while they’re here.
“Ring shopping. He’s proposing when he gets home.”
Oh. “Have they been dating long?”
“About a year,” he says, and my heart stutters.
Would Benji have asked if we’d stayed together? How long would he have waited?
You said you’d wait for me, as long as it takes. But what if I don’t want to wait anymore?
We’ve come to a stop in the sand, and I stare up at where the hotel stands guard over the shoreline. Belle Wether was a few years older than I am when she built this place. She only had a few years with the love of her life, and they say she never loved again. That half her heart died with him and the rest she dedicated to her work.
I think I understand her now.
“I’ve always wanted to get married here,” I say.
“I know.”
I whip my head over to him. “What do you mean, you know? I’ve never told you that before.”
“No, but you love the beach and this hotel, and you once told a customer that you wanted to get engaged under the stars.”
“You remember that?”
