AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, princess. Promise.”
“Ugh…I promise.”
He reached over me and undid my seatbelt while I clipped together the edges of his shirt behind my head to make a makeshift blindfold. I pressed my lips to his cheek as he leaned forward. He grabbed my arms and carefully helped me get out of the car. My head bumped into his hand on the edge of the doorframe, ensuring it didn’t hurt.
I didn’t need to see where we were. As soon as I stepped out of the car, I knew exactly where he brought me.
The light breeze carried a bite of salt in the warm and humid air, pushing my hair around. There were no other voices. The birds flying around talked to each other. It was a sound I had not heard in almost three years.
“You did not!” I hopped up and down, keeping my eyes closed.
“I did,” he whispered behind me, caressing my exposed arms. He unclipped the shirt and slowly removed it from my eyes.
The expansive coastline before me had foam-capped waves crashing onto the packed sand. They crashed rhythmically with the sounds of the birds. The sun shone off the water, giving the ocean a slight sparkle at the top. There were raised houses behind us, but no one was out on the sand other than an older couple walking their dog about a quarter of a mile down.
Parker had set everything up some yards in front of the car. There was a small tent set up over his waterproof blanket. Two beach chairs sat in the shade with a towel draped over each one. A cooler sat between the chairs, and a bag of beach toys was off to the side.
It had been almost three years since I had seen the beach, almost three years since I had felt sand beneath me. Growing up by the beach had been a large part of my life. My parents loved it, and it was only a short drive away, so we spent a lot of time there on the weekends. It was a six-hour round trip from New Windsor, and Gabby wasn’t a big fan of sand. So, driving to the beach alone was usually not a thought for me.
I threw my arms around his neck, pulling him down. I kissed him with surprising force. He picked me up and leaned me against the car door, not tearing his body from mine. My fingers ran through his soft hair and pulled him more into me.
“You are incredible,” I took a breath and ran my thumb along his laugh lines.
“Well, you deserve it,” he peppered my neck with soft kisses. “You’ve been working really hard and doing an incredible job with our project. I am so proud of you, you know.”
“Thank you, but let’s not talk about work, okay?”
He nodded and put me down, but not before stealing another kiss. As he watched, I took off my shoes and shirt, setting them down in the car. It was easier not to get sand in my shoes this way. His eyes roamed my body, and heat rushed through it as he took off his shirt.
I had on a sports bra and shorts, but I also had a second set of clothes in my bag. These could get wet.
“I’ll race you to the water!” I gave him a small push away from me and started running.
He stumbled back and watched me take off before reacting. “Wait, what?!”
My feet buckled slightly under the almost powdery sand. It wasn’t too hot yet since the sun hadn’t had time to make it burn. My toes reveled in the familiar feeling, but three years away had helped me lose my ability to run in it. The sand grew more stable and colder as I got closer to the water.
Parker quickly caught up to me with his long strides, even though I had a head start. As he passed me, he scooped me up, and we crashed into the cool water together. I held my breath as we went underwater. We giggled like children when we came back up for air. We swam around for half an hour before my stomach really started calling for food.
“I’m hungry and was promised food,” I splashed him.
“I came prepared,” he winked.
Parker unloaded the cooler to reveal a mountain of delicious food. Boiled eggs; rolled up turkey breast and roast beef; squares of Munster cheese and slices of Havarti; juicy watermelon and sweet cantaloupe. It was a whole spread along the blanket.
The beach started to fill up more as the sun heated the atmosphere and, to a lesser degree, the water. Kids were running around laughing, and parents watched them amongst the pages of their books. Watching all the families reminded me of the summers that my family and Erik’s family would spend at the beach. I tried to push the image out of my head and focus on reality.
Parker ripped open the mesh that held the plastic building supplies together. It had been over a decade since I built a sandcastle, but he insisted it was a must when at the beach. I couldn’t argue with that logic.
Together, we made the worst sandcastle I think I had ever seen. A career in construction would have been disastrous for either of us. When we tried to stack the cylinders of sand, one of them would inevitably crumble completely or on one side and take the others down somehow. The designs I tried to make all disappeared within seconds.
“Well, now we know why we’re not architects,” Parker laughed.
“We would kill so many people,” I said. “All the buildings would come tumbling down.”
We looked at our hideous creation. I started giggling. Parker looked at me and broke out in his own laughter.
“It looks like an earthquake hit it, or some catastrophic war broke out.”
