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We shared a quick laugh.
“Well, that was embarrassing.” He put his hands on his hips and stared out to where his shell had failed him.
“If it makes you feel better, it took me and my…” I paused, but then decided to continue, “husband months before we were successful.”
He turned back to me. “It actually does, a little bit.” He raised pinched fingers.
He didn’t ask about Bridger, which I was grateful for.
“Do you surf?” he asked.
“No.” I shook my head and moved the sand around with my bare toes. I wasn’t lying. I didn’t surf anymore.
“That’s a shame. You have the arms and legs for it.”
Heat rose to my cheeks.
“Shoot, not that I’m defiling you with my eyes. I just know how to spot a surfer body.” His face was starting to turn a deep shade of red, and he shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “I’m sorry, that didn’t sound much better.”
I laughed. “It’s fine. Please, stop apologizing. I get what you’re trying to say.”
He let out a huge sigh of relief. “Thank God, because I had a feeling the next thing I said was going to sound worse than the last.”
I laughed. Drew was kind and nice and very easy to be around. “You’re sweet.”
He peered up from his moment of shame and his eyes locked with mine and brightened from the compliment. “Thank you, Charlee. I do believe that’s the first compliment I’ve had from a woman in a very long time.”
“Aww, I don’t believe that.” I wanted to take it back as soon as I said it because I didn’t want him to get the wrong impression.
“No, really.”
The ease of the moment had shifted to several long beats of awkward silence.
“I hear congratulations are in order.” I changed the topic.
“So, Levi told you. Was he pissed?”
“More like disappointed, but I think that was more about him than you.” I continued to make art with my toe in the sand.
“Yeah, probably. You’re very insightful.”
I mulled over that. Was I insightful? I guess loss after loss would do that to a person. “Nah, just observant.”
“We were supposed to move on to another beach tomorrow,” a weird feeling pulled in my stomach, “but I think we are going to stick around here for a little bit longer until I have to go back into the real world.”
It was strange that I was relieved to hear they were staying.
He picked up a shell and tossed it into the ocean, a little stretch in his body telling me he was hoping it would skip. It didn’t, and his shoulders dropped.
“This seems pretty real to me.” Was the real world defined by a job and friends?A sense of purpose?
“Man, I can’t believe this used to be my life, worry-free. Now I have all these goals and responsibilities. Feels good, though. I can’t keep going back to my past looking for comfort. I tried once. It didn’t go well.” A guttural laugh escaped him.
“Dare I ask?” I raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
“Probably best you don’t, but it’s basically what landed me a divorce. Can’t run away forever, no matter how crappy life gets.”
That applied to me in so many ways as well.
