Reclaiming the Sand

His eyes met mine briefly before they skittered away again. “Yes. Let’s go to the beach. I know you want to see it. I want to make you happy.” I couldn’t stop my grin from spreading across my face. It stretched my cheeks so much it hurt.

“Let’s go get Murphy, we can walk him at the same time,” I said, sounding like a little kid.

We took the stairs instead of the elevator and hurried to our room to get the dog. I grabbed my coat and reminded Fly

I could barely contain my excitement as we crossed the street to the stairs that led down onto the beach. I sat down on the bench and quickly removed my shoes and socks.

“Are you going to take your shoes off?” I asked Fly

He hesitated and I reached out to take his hand. “It’ll be okay,” I coaxed and he bent down and untied his shoes and slipped them off his feet. His toes curled and he made a face as his bare feet made contact with the sand covered pavement.

But he didn’t say anything, and I figured so far so good.

“Are you ready?” I asked, holding my hand out for him. Murphy had already taken off down the steps and was ru

We walked down the steps and the second my feet hit the sand I giggled. Ellie McCallum actually freaking giggled!

I set my shoes down by the steps and walked forward a few feet, digging my toes in the still warm sand.

“Oh my god! This is unbelievable!” I gasped, bending down and burrowing my hands in the sand by my toes.

I realized quickly that Fly

“Fly

“Just, leave me alone. Please,” he said, shaking his head furiously. I opened my mouth to say something else but decided to give him his space. I didn’t move any closer but I didn’t move away either. I sank down and sat down on the beach, watching Murphy burrow his nose in the sand and kick it up behind him as he raced to the shoreline.

I don’t know how long I sat there, waiting for Fly

I felt Fly

“You want to walk down to the water?” I asked, praying that he’d say yes. I wanted to experience this with him so badly. I didn’t want to pressure him but god; I wanted to have this one perfect moment with him.

Fly

“Well, let’s go down to the ocean and wash them off,” I suggested. Maybe I was being selfish for pushing this, but I couldn’t help it. I needed him to do this with me.

“Okay,” he said, giving me exactly what I wanted.

I jumped to my feet and thought about taking his hand but figured that wouldn’t go over too well right now. We walked in slow, measured steps to the lapping water. The closer we got, the louder it became. Fly

“It’s too loud,” he yelled, though he didn’t need to. I could hear him just fine.

We kept walking until we reached where the water met the sand. Fly

A wave broke on the shore and water surged toward us, washing our feet. Fly

“It’s cold,” he said.

I nodded. He was right. The ocean was really cold. But it was awesome.

“I’m going to walk closer. You can stay here. You’ll still be able to see me,” I promised.

Fly

“I promise,” lifting his hand and kissing the back softly.

I jogged to the water. I rolled up my jeans and waded in up to my shins. Murphy was barking at me from beside Fly

I knew I should go back to him. But I couldn’t make myself. Not yet. A large wave crashed and I squealed as the water rushed forward, soaking the bottom of my pants.

I was laughing hysterically by the time I pulled myself away from the ocean and returned to Fly

“You’re laughing,” he observed, watching my face.

“I am. That was fun,” I said, unrolling my pants.

“You’re happy,” he replied, his own smile reaching up to touch his eyes.

“Yep. And so are you,” I said, pointing to his gri

He laughed, an awkward sound.

“I am. You make me happy,” he said. He reached out and cupped his hand behind my neck, shocking the hell out of me.

He yanked me forward with enough force to make me stumble. I laughed again.

“What are you doing, Fly

But he was taking control now.

And it was hot.

He didn’t give me a chance to say anything else. He smashed his mouth to mine with a bruising clash of teeth. I pulled back slightly. “A little softer, Fly

Not surprisingly, he didn’t pick up on my teasing, but he listened to my suggestion. His lips were gentle when they returned to mine and he kissed me with a passion that made my toes curl.

The wind picked up and swept my hair in our face and Fly

This was real. This was perfect.

This was absolutely right.

Fly

“Uh, sure,” I said, blinking in confusion.

Fly

After the unexpected display of affection, I wasn’t sure what to say. I ran my fingers along my lips. They still tingled from being pressed to his. I noticed that Fly

We were only able to physically co

We had been walking for twenty minutes when Fly

“What do you think those are for?” he asked, pointing to large boat with what looked like a crane on the end just off shore. It rumbled loudly as it scooped sand and deposited it closer to the break line.

I watched the machinery at work for a while and then realized what it was doing.

“I think it’s reclaiming the beach,” I told him.

“It’s loud, can we walk a bit longer?” Fly

Once it was quieter, Fly

“It was making the beach bigger,” he stated.

“Yeah, it seemed that way. You know how the beach erodes away after a while and those must put the sand back,”

Fly

“Yeah, I guess so,” I agreed. Fly