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I smiled. “I had a wonderful time today too.”
I enjoyed every moment of it. McKenzie was fun, and even though I never liked doing this, she seemed to know just how to…melt my heart a little bit.
I never showed emotion like this. Even when I tried dating again, going out with random women I liked, I never felt as…calm and happy as I did with McKenzie. It was like she knew the way to my core.
But…would this last.
After we finished dinner, I took her hand and pointed to the boardwalk. “The ocean’s right over there. Let’s go.”
“Ooh, wonder what you have planned this time,” she purred.
“It’s a surprise,” I said.
I didn’t have anything planned. In fact, it just wanted to walk down the boardwalk with her.
As we stepped forward, McKenzie walked a little bit faster. “The ocean!”
We walked to where the end of the boardwalk was. She looked out at the clear water in front of us.
“This is…beautiful,” she said.
“It sure is.” I squeezed her hand a little bit tighter.
For a moment, neither of us said anything. We didn’t have to say anything to one another.
But then, McKenzie spoke. “Thank you again, Aaron.”
“Of course. Want to go down there?” I pointed to the little beach nearby.
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
We climbed down the stairs and then walked across the beach. McKenzie took her shoes off and walked across the sand.
“It tickles my toes,” she said.
“That it does. It’s why I like to walk on it,” I said.
We got to the edge where the water touched the sand. She stood in the water and looked out.
“I haven’t been to the beach in years. I just haven’t had the time. Between the mess with my mom and dad, and of course, going through college to get my degree, my life was so focused on that, that I rarely had time to enjoy the little things,” McKenzie admitted.
I was the same way. It’d been a long time since I came out here.
I stretched my arms and looked outwards.
“Yeah, I haven’t been out here since…I came out here with Natalie,” I said.
McKenzie turned to me, and she nodded. “That was Emily’s mom, right I saw her around, but I guess you’re not together anymore.”
“We haven’t been together for a long time. Probably at least five years at this point. But yes, it’s been a while,” I said.
I didn’t want to bring the mood down, but remembering this brought me a heavy heart. McKenzie reached out and took my hand. She squeezed it with reassurance.
“I can tell that it’s bothering you. If you want to talk about it, we can. Otherwise, we can discuss it maybe sometime down the road,” she offered.
I nodded.
“That’s fine. You should know what happened. It was mostly my fault. And I guess why some people think I’m cold,” I admitted.
