When I return from my run, I’m hot and sweaty, in dire need of a shower. I grab a water bottle I’d stashed on the deck and drain it in a few swallows. I watch Megan as she starts to stir in her chair. The wind has picked up slightly and has moved some of her hair into her face. She wipes it away, her eyes slowly opening as she finds her bearings.
“Have a good nap?” I ask, leaning against the railing as I stretch out my calf muscles.
“Yes. I didn’t realize I was so tired. It just kind of snuck up on me,” she admits.
“Well, I’m glad you got in a nap then. Wouldn’t want you too tired for tonight,” I say, winking at her, and I can see the blush staining her cheeks from where I’m standing ten-plus feet away.
“Where did you go?” she asks, shifting around on the chair as she reaches for the lemonade that was left from this morning on the table next to her.
“I went for a run along the beach. Needed to get out some energy and the beach was calling.”
“Can we still go down to the water?” she asks, a spark of hopefulness evident in her voice.
“Of course. Let me go change so I’m not drenched in sweat and I can take you down there. Do you need to go inside first?”
“I do.”
I close the distance between us and help her into her chair. “All good?”
“Yes, thank you,” she confirms as she settles into her chair. “I’m going to stop in the bathroom and then I’ll be ready.”
“Take all the time you need. There’s no rush,” I assure her.
I step aside so she can maneuver her chair around the deck furniture and head inside. She heads for the bathroom attached to our room, so I stop in the one off the kitchen before I head into the bedroom myself to change. I strip from my sweaty clothes, making sure they don’t land on anything important. I pull out a clean pair of athletic shorts and a tank top to pull on, until I can get a shower once we’re done going down to the water.
I’ve just pulled up my shorts when I hear the door open, pulling my attention to Megan. I smirk at her when I catch her checking me out as I get dressed. “See something you like?”
She just continues to stare at my six pack, so I do what any guy would in my position, and flex for her as I close the distance to where she’s still sitting in the doorway. “Careful there, you might start drooling.”
“Those,” she stammers as she points towards my abs, “can make a girl stupid in a matter of seconds. You should really keep them covered up if you want any coherent conversations to take place.”
“Is that so?” I ask, laughing at her comment.
“Yes,” she says on a half moan.
“Is that what’s going on right now, with you?”
“Maybe?” she says, almost questioning it.
I take pity on her and pull the tank top I’ve been holding in my hand this entire time over my head, letting it fall into place and covering up my washboard stomach.
“It should be illegal to look that good,” she muses as she makes her way further into the bedroom.
“Hey, it’s taken me a long time to get my abs like this,” I quip.
“I’m sure it has, and it shows how dedicated you can be, but it still isn’t fair sometimes. Ridges like that make girls stupid, just fair warning,” she dishes back.
“Duly noted, but what if I only care how one girl reacts to them?” I ask, raising my left eyebrow in question.
“Only one?” she squeaks.
“I’m only interested in what you think about my abs,” I say as I follow her out of the room. “Ready to hit the beach?” I ask once we’re out on the deck again.
“Yes!” Megan exclaims. I scoop her up out of her chair, her arm goes around my neck and I can’t help myself from leaning in and kissing her before I take off down the couple steps that lead to the beach. I walk out until we’re a few inches higher than the water comes up to with each wave that rolls in.
“Did you want to put your feet in the water?” I ask.
“Is it cold?” she asks.
“I mean, it isn’t summer water in the Caribbean, but it isn’t freezing, either.”
“I don’t know,” she squeals, excited. “Set me in the sand and I can scoot forward if I decide I want to get wet.”
“All right,” I agree and do as she asked. I carefully lower her until her butt hits the sand. She lets go of my neck and makes herself comfortable. This area of the beach is soft and comfortable to sit on, which isn’t normal around the area. Most places have rocky coast lines, but we’re lucky to have such an amazing beach area.
“This feels amazing,” she beams at me. I’ve taken a seat next to her on the sand. Watching her here, experiencing this, is what it must feel like when parents experience something for the first time through their child. That deep, heartfelt joy that comes from another person experiencing something for the first time. I watch as she picks up handfuls of sand and allows it to pass through her fingers until its gone, then repeats the motion ten-plus times in a row before moving on to digging a hole with her hands next to her and attempting to shape the sand so she can build something with it.
“Is this your first time on a beach?”
“On a beach, yes. At one, no. The one time we visited a beach, I didn’t want to attempt to get close to the water with my chair. Now, I just want to throw caution to the wind and experience everything I can, so thank you for this,” she says, bumping her shoulder against mine, then resting her head there. I move until I’m behind her, my legs bracketing hers. I pull her back against my front, acting as her support. She relaxes back against me as she continues to play with the sand in her hands.
I get lost in watching the birds that swoop down as we both just soak in this time. The sun is still shining down on us as it slowly lowers as the afternoon passes by. “Can I ask you something?” I question after twenty or so minutes.
“Of course,” she says, turning her head slighting so she can look up at me. I look down into her eyes, the blue a vibrant color I can’t say I’ve ever seen before. They sparkle in the sun as she looks up at me.
“Would you want to go with me on that trip that I won at the gala?”
“I’d love to say yes, but I can’t, Drew. I don’t have any PTO I can use yet, and I just can’t afford to go right now. I don’t even know if the hospital would allow me to take the time off unpaid.”
“I understand that, just figured I’d ask. I’ve got time blocked out in my calendar for next month and figured I should see if I can book it for that timeframe.”
“You should, go and enjoy the time away. Enjoy what I’m sure is a vacation of a lifetime.”
“Maybe. I might just gift it to someone.”
“You need the time away, especially after all the stress you’ve been under these last few weeks with Mack’s case, you deserve to get away.”
“You’d be okay with me leaving for a week?”
“I’ll probably miss you and have some serious jealousy issues going on, but you can’t not do something you’ve been thinking of for months and months just because I can’t right now.”