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“I’m going to have to buy an umbrella or something,” she said.
“We can rent one, if you need it.”
“Yes, I’m totally doing that,” she said.
We stopped at the rental shop and Natalie got her umbrella and we dragged ourselves down to the sand with our accessories.
“Why do you need so much stuff to enjoy the beach?” I asked, huffing and puffing. Chairs, towels, sunblock, extra clothes, snacks, water… So much crap.
“Because you don’t want to be caught without something,” Natalie said, pausing to catch her breath.
“What about there?” she asked, pointing.
“Looks good,” I said, dragging the chair behind me.
It took two of us to get the giant umbrella in the sand and tilted the right way, and make sure that it wasn’t going to blow over.
“Now this, I missed,” Natalie said, sitting back in the chair and sticking her feet in the sand.
“I know. I haven’t been to the beach nearly enough this summer,” I said. I was always tired from work, or hanging out with Paige and Esme, or being miserable on my own, that I forgot that I had access to an awesome beach.
“Smile,” Natalie said, turning her phone on me.
I put my hand in front of my face.
“Oh, come on,” she said. “This is my first beach day back in Castleton. We have to document it.”
“Fine,” I said, making a silly face and then smiling like a normal person.
“Are you going to post that?” I asked, as she typed on her phone.
“Yeah, why not?”
“I don’t know.”
What would people say if they saw us together? What would they think?
“You look totally cute, see?” She turned the phone to show me. She’d put a filter on the picture and edited it a little.
“You made me look a lot better,” I said.
“Not true. I just enhanced what was already there.”
She posted the picture and I got a notification that she’d tagged me.
Natalie sighed happily and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes.
“I missed this sound so much.”
I couldn’t stop looking at her. While her eyes were closed, I took a picture of her on my phone. I couldn’t resist.
I also took a video of the beach, panning from one side to the other. It really was the most perfect day.
Are you happy now?
The message from Wyatt came through at the same time I got a notification that I had received a payment.
I fumbled in my hurry to check the amount, and then breathed a sigh of relief when it was what we’d agreed on after the hotel room issues.
