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“Race you to the water,” I say.

She looks over at me and smirks.

“Count of three?”

“One, two–” I run, kicking up as much sand behind me as possible.

I hear the beautiful ring of her laughter as she follows behind me, and then the sound of her spitting out the sand that’s flying into the air.

“You monster!”

My heavy steps slow as they splash into the shore, soaking through my shoes. The shocking cold water is a welcome sensation.

Kara sloshes up next to me, and sucks air through her teeth as the water reaches her ankles.

“Gah, that’s cold!”

“It’s perfect.”

“You’re perfect,” she replies quickly.

I lean over to kiss her, grateful that the beach is crowded with onlookers. I want to kiss her, and hold her hand, and look into her eyes, without worrying about any ugly looks from anyone who might not want to see it.

We do all of the above. We hold hands as we kick water back and forth at each other. When my feet finally go so numb that they feel like they’re being stabbed with hundreds of tiny needles, I move back onto dry sand and rip off my shoes and socks. There are shells and rocks everywhere, and I take to looking through them for the prettiest ones. Something I’ve done since I was a kid. I think my parents still have jars and jars full of them in a storage closet somewhere.

I pick up every single one that’s colorful or shiny enough to stand out, and stick them in the pocket of my sweatshirt. Kara walks alongside me silently, only picking up the occasional rock to skip across the water when the tide pulls back. I clap and cheer as she goes. Her high score of the day is nine total skips, and I won’t be getting over that anytime soon.

Boulders eventually block our path and force us to turn back around. I suppose we could keep going if we felt like a big swim around them to the beach on the other side, but it’s a little too windy to have to continue on our way in drenched clothes.

Neither of us complain about our overworked legs. I can’t remember the last time I took this many steps. I zig zag from the water and back to the sand, over and over. She keeps following, either watching me or watching the waves that are now gorgeously illuminated by an almost setting sun. The foaming waves go from white to a shimmering gold.

It’s so mesmerizing, I feel like I’m meditating. I can’t remember the last time I felt so present somewhere, and not like my mind was miles away.

“You look like you don’t have a worry in the world,” Kara murmurs as she watches my steps. “I like it.”

“Me too.” I look over at her, taking in the way the wind whips her hair around. It would drive me nuts, the way it swats at her face and hinders her view.

She does nothing, acts as if it’s not happening.

“The worries still exist, but they are blissfully quiet right now.”

“It’s about time they piped down. I’ll have to bring you to the beach every time they take over.”

I smile.

“Good plan. Where should I take you when yours get too loud?”

She hums in thought, and starts walking out towards the water. Further into the water. Her leggings become more and more soaked, and Iwishthat wasn’t destined to also happen to me. She puts her hand out, asking me to meet her where she is, and of course I go. Wet pants or not, I’ll follow her anywhere.

I pull my pant legs up as far as they’ll go before making my way to her. She intertwines her fingers with mine before dropping her head to my shoulder.

“You could take me anywhere. It’s not any specific place, it’s you.”

Before I can appreciate the sweetness of her words, she’s flicking water at my face and then covering her own.

Little does she know, she just started a war. I use both hands and arms to shove as much water as I can her way. She shouts as the wave of it drenches the front of her.

“I take back every cute thing I said!”