Page 18 of Life's a Beach
He had met her at the beach earlier that day, and they had built a sand castle and played in the waves all day.
By the end of it, his parents had brought them both ice cream and seeing the girl smiling and laughing in the picture made him go still.
She looked so familiar and her green eyes danced with happiness in the picture.
He flipped the picture over and in his mothers handwriting it said, “Gareth and his new friend Bria.”
Gareth knew it. He knew that there was a reason he came back here. Knew there was a reason she looked so familiar to him the first time he saw her picture. He couldn’t believe he would have ever forgotten her face.
He remembered the happiness of making his first friend and how sweet she was.
How patient she was when she explained how to make the perfect sand castle.
He had listened with rapt attention and in the end, their sand castle was a massive thing that was covered in small stones and had leaves as their flag.
It was one of his favorite memories and he had let it slowly fade as the years went on.
He had to show Bria this picture. To cement the truth of his love for her.
Because he had loved her. For all these years. Her face had faded in his memories, and so had her name, but he still remembered what it felt like to have a friend. His first and only friend when he was a kid.
He went back to his room and she was still sound asleep in his bed, her hand over her head and cupped next to her face.
Her blonde hair was spread out over his pillow and he got in next to her, putting the picture on the nightstand and pulling her back into his arms.
She murmured something and then settled into his arms.
He shut his eyes and fell fast asleep.
He was holding his entire world in his arms. He didn’t need anything else.
