Page 27 of Laying it Bare Backstage

“Don’t worry. I’ll wait until you’ve fully recuperated.” Ivy’s grin widened. “Now on a serious note. I can be that sometimes. How about we meet for lunch later this week or plan to double date again on the weekend?”

“Either or both sound good to me.”

Ivy and Ascher hung out with us for about an hour, just chilling on the deck. Then they left after Serenity promised to let Ivy know about another date.

While Serenity napped on the couch again, I answered emails and then made us dinner. During that time, my other band mates responded to the text that they weren’t available for the benefit concert. I didn’t really expect them to be. I gave them an update on my song progress and told them I’d be in touch. Then I sent a text to Quinn telling her to go ahead and email me the benefit information and that I’d be doing it acoustic. After I got the salmon off of the grill and dinner onto the bar, I walked into the living room to wake up Serenity.

Kneeling on the floor beside her, I ran the back of my fingers along her soft cheeks before pressing a gentle kiss to them. “Dinner is ready. Do you want to eat or for me to leave you alone to sleep?”

Sleepy eyes fluttered open and she grinned at me. “Both.”

I chuckled. “We can eat in the living room if you want. But you have to be awake in order to eat.”

“Since it’s a requirement for me to be awake, I might as well eat at the bar where it will be easier.” Her grin shifted into a pout.

Leaving me powerless to resist, so I kissed it. “After dinner we can take a long drive before going to the beach. And we can stop for ice cream on the way. Ice cream always makes everything better.”

“You spoil me.” Her eyes lit with amusement.

“Nope. I have a sweet tooth and happen to love ice cream.”

“Then you’re not doing it for me.” Expression scrunched, she feigned annoyance.

“Nope. I’m using you as an excuse.”

“Well, I guess as long as I’m getting something out of it.” She pulled herself to a seated position before sliding the blanket off of her and standing. “Something smells delicious. You know I could’ve helped you make dinner.”

Taking her hand, I led her to the kitchen to take a seat at the bar. “Next time you can help. I don’t mind cooking and having you here makes it worth it. When it was just me, I ate entirely too much takeout. But I want you to rest so that you’re back to your usual soon. What do you want to drink? I think wine is out for the next couple of days.”

She put a hand to her head. “I don’t even want to think about that. Not that I drink in excess, but I’d be afraid even a glass with dinner would aggravate my head. I’ll take some iced tea. Thank you.”

I poured us each a glass and set them down on the bar before taking my seat beside her. Then we filled our plates and dug in.

“Earlier you had said your parents live here in California. Do you have any siblings? I didn’t get a chance to ask you that before Ivy came barging in.” I grinned around my bite of salmon.

“I have an older sister who is married with two girls and lives in Michigan. I don’t get to see them often. Every other year we try to get together at Christmas when we can take an extended time off from work to either head out there or the four of them come to my parents’. We FaceTime once a month so I can see them and watch the girls grow up at least remotely. They are two and five.” She took a sip of her iced tea. “Where does your dad live?”

“He’s still in the house I grew up in in Monterey, only about an hour from me. I do see him every couple of months and depending on my tour schedule we spend every major holiday together. And since we’re guys, we don’t do the phone call thing, but we will text each other every week or so to check in.”

When we were done with dinner, I cleaned up while Serenity fussed that I wouldn’t let her help. Then we grabbed our water shoes and slipped them on at the door. Serenity donned her sunglasses and the two of us walked outside to hop in my car. Even though the two of us lived in California and had traveled the Pacific Coast Highway before, I decided a cruise along a small section of it would be enjoyable tonight, so I headed in that direction. It didn’t matter how long I’d lived here; I never grew tired of gazing at the ocean. Windows down, the salty breeze wafting inside, we soaked up the exhilaration that accompanied living by the Pacific; the rocky outcroppings, the grassy golden cliffs, and the beautiful slow undulating white froths drifting in the blue water. As promised, we stopped for ice cream in one of the little towns, before making our way toward Panther Beach.

About a half an hour later, I pulled into what was considered the parking lot, but was really a poorly maintained dirt road. I turned to Serenity. “Are you ready for a little bit of an adventure? I won’t let you fall.” And if we did tumble, I would be sure to do everything in my power to cushion her fall.

“We’ll just be extra careful. It’s not like we’re in any hurry. And I trust you to protect me.”

After we hopped out of my car, I took her hand in mine to start the moderately difficult climb down to the beach. We followed the railroad tracks to a narrow overgrown path. It wasn’t much to see at this point, but the beach and the Hole in the Wall were well worth it. We slowly trekked our way down and the entire time I made sure our footsteps were careful and measured.

When we got to our destination, we took in the beauty of the windswept sands and unruly waves crashing into dark layer cake rocks.

“That wasn’t too terrifying, and this is really pretty.” Serenity stared out at the ocean.

“Wait until you see the main attraction.” I led her further down. “But you can see why it’s not really a place for swimming. Those riptides would get ya.”

Walking along, hand in hand, we strolled behind a rugged stone wall and through a sea cave to a tall, wide opening in one section of the golden cliff which created a picturesque arch. On the other side was more of the beautiful sounds and scenery associated with the beach.

“Wow. This is incredible. I know it’s still beach area, but it’s so cool that you have to step into it. Like it’s another world or something. Thank you for suggesting this for tonight.” Serenity beamed up at me. And I would do anything to put that gorgeous look on her face every single day. Especially now with everything else that was going on.

Shelves of gray rock jutted out into the surf, creating homes to numerous marine invertebrates that could be found there swimming, hiding, clinging, and crawling in the tide pools.The eroding cliff also provided countless private rocky coves, sheltered from the wind, with a view of the Pacific and was supposedly popular with nude sunbathers. We didn’t see any right now. I chuckled and pointed to the coves. “So anytime you want to try out the nude beach thing; they have natural spots that are perfect to give you that little bit of privacy.”

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