Page 77 of Forever Fascinating

“Are those seagulls?”

Jana almost laughed at how obvious the change in him was. That was fine, she could deal with his mercurial moods, because whatever secrets he held and hadn’t shared yet?

He would need to be the one who unraveled or figured them out. She couldn’t fight his past for him. She could only be there to help him build a future when he was ready.

“Sunglasses on,” she quipped, pretending to give him orders as she slid her cheap plastic sunglasses on and watched him don his own shades. “March forward, Lieutenant Barlow, and commence swimming.”

“Commencing shortly, sir,” he chuckled.

He extended his hand to her – and she laced her fingers with his. Her backpack was stuffed with towels, a hair clip, an extra T-shirt just in case, and a few other essentials since they were planning on spending a few hours out here playing around in the water.

Walking down the streets towards the ocean, she noticed that many of the shops held the same souvenirs again and wondered if they had the bottle of Ouzo that she wanted to bring home. Oh yes, the more she thought about them celebrating one year of dating, the more she liked the idea.

Matthew ‘Vapor’Barlow might have skeletons in his closet – but she was going to take those things and make a Halloween display of them, instead of letting them swallow his soul alive or keep them apart.

Stepping into the sand, she realized that the beach was a slight mix of pebbles and sand that smoothed out the closer you got to the water. Looking around, she was searching for any indicators of how high the tide got here… and realized that most of the pebbles, branches, and debris were still off in the distance near the shoreline.

She’d read somewhere that the tides were faintly perceptible and that the waters were safe. Sharks were unheard of in this area and the waters were so blue because of algae that grew in the waters. It was supposed to be incredible snorkeling and diving, but she wasn’t interested in going out very deep at all, just in case it was colder than they imagined.

Back home it was in the thirties and forties outside, so eighty-degree weather felt almost sweltering at times. Looking around, she saw a few people were in the water, but not many.

“Nervous?” he asked, smiling at her.

“More curious to see how cold it is,” she replied, smiling up at him. “Where do you want us to be at?”

“I was thinking down this way, a little ways from the boardwalk we crossed, so we can keep an eye on the backpack and our things.”

“Sounds good.”

They walked along the shoreline, nearing a part that was empty of other tourists and sunbathers, before setting down her bag. Boldly kicking off her sneakers, she yanked off her socks, and reached for her pants button only to hear a choking noise nearby.

Matthew was standing there unmoving.

“What?” she balked. “I wore my swimsuit underneath. Didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the big deal?”

“You’re… I’m…whoaaaaaa boy…” he uttered nervously, turning around immediately, yanking off his shirt and muttering something under his breath as he kicked off his shoes.

“We are at the beach, Matthew…” she began in disbelief. “I’ve got to get down to my swimsuit if I’m going in the water. What’s the problem, unless…”

Jana drew upright, looking at him curiously, only to hear him mutter something again as he jerked his shirt back over his head. She muffled a laugh as she watched him in disbelief as he finally removed his pants, exposing his plain, sedate, blue swimming trunks.

This gorgeous man was exceedingly shy and modest!

“I’m going in the water,” he uttered, not looking at her. “I’m hoping it’s freezing cold.”

“Why?” she laughed – only for him to give her a flat glare – causing her to laugh harder at his reaction.

“Wait… wait… here, let me,” she said, reaching for his hand. “Put your shirt on the towel so it’s not covered in salt water later.”

He shook his head… and then sighed, finally pulling his shirt off as he had his back to her. Dropping it on the towel, she couldn’t fight the smile as she watched him, disbelieving that he was shy about this.

No wonder he asked about her swimsuit that day… probably wanted to make sure he didn’t trip over his tongue.

Jana quickly yanked off her own T-shirt and discarded her jeans, folding them up as she stood there in her own swimsuit. She was nearly the only person on the beach wearing a one piece, and loved this suit.

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