AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A live band played classic rock covers on a makeshift stage while people strolled up and down the main street filled with art and food and crafts.
Natalie took my hand as we walked, looking at anything that struck my fancy. I pulled her into a woodworking booth and took some pictures to send to Gray.
“Look at this,” Natalie said, pointing at a booth selling items made from seashells.
I pretended to be interested, but you could see the blobs of hot glue and I would bet all the money in my bank account that the person didn’t gather the shells themselves. They looked like they’d been ordered online in bulk. I could just tell.
Natalie and I shared a look and she complimented the owner of the booth on her work.
I dragged Natalie away as soon as I could.
“Your stuff is much better than hers. You could have a booth here,” she said.
“Yeah, except, I don’t even have enough stuff to make a booth. I’d have to collect a lot more shells.”
“Shells, you say?” Natalie said.
“Yeah,” I said. “Why are you being weird?”
“Look, churros!” I was yanked to the churro booth, but that didn’t stop me from wondering why Natalie was being squirrelly.
After we finished our churros and licked the melted cinnamon and sugar from our fingers, we listened to the music a little and swayed from side to side while we leaned on each other.
“Will you dance with me?” Natalie asked.
“Of course.”
When we were kids, we’d practiced dancing together. We’d even figured out how to waltz and everything after watching it in a movie.
“We’ve still got it,” Natalie said as we moved effortlessly together. As if no time had passed.
“Yeah, we do.”
* * *
“Next stop,”Natalie said, after we’d gotten tired of dancing.
“More stops?” How long was this date going to be? She had really planned this whole thing out.
We headed back toward Castleton but veered down another peninsula that led to an even larger beach than the one where I usually hunted for my shells.
Natalie pulled something out of her bag.
“Let’s go get you some more shells,” she said, handing me one of my mesh shell bags. She must have stolen it when I wasn’t paying attention.
We paid at the ticket booth, then took off our shoes before heading onto the sand. It wasn’t as fine and white as the sand in Castleton, but the beach was many times the size. As far as the eye could see. Sailboats raced themselves across the ocean, and you could even see a massive cruise ship in the distance.
“Wow,” I breathed.
“I know,” Natalie said. “Gorgeous.”
She took my hand again as we walked down to where the water met the sand, the little waves lapping at our toes.
The tide was out, revealing a motherload of shells and rocks. You had to be careful that you didn’t step on something sharp, but we picked our way across the beach, quickly filling our bags.
Natalie kept finding rocks with white rings around them, which were supposedly good luck.
“You’re going to have quite a collection,” I said. Her bag was getting heavy and kept banging against her leg.
