By Jeff Hampton
(Note: This is an excerpt from Aransas Morning, a novel about friendship, love and redemption on the Texas coast. Another excerpt, And There Was Light, is included in the Christmas collection, When the Light Returned to Main Street. Both books are available at the Books page on this website. An excerpt from Aransas Evening, a forthcoming sequel to Aransas Morning, is included among my Short Stories and titled The Shoes.)
Dave arrived back in Port Aransas at four o’clock, unloaded his car at Allie’s rented bungalow, and then went to the Dream Bean where he found Shelly sitting on the deck.
“What’s up?”
“That.” Shelly pointed to the horizon. Dave climbed up the steps and looked out past the rooftops where deep gray clouds were gathering over the Gulf.
“I’m not liking this,” Shelly said. “I hope they’re well on their way by now.”
“Bo’s a good sailor . . . or at least he says he is. Let’s give them time before we panic,” Dave said. “Besides, I’ve been looking forward to this time alone with you.”
“Oh really,” Shelly said, faking surprise. “Whatcha got in mind?”
“How about a walk? We can watch for the Cassie from the beach.”
“Sure.”
Shelly locked the door and they stepped down the plank steps and onto the pavement. A few moments later they were on the beach, where Dave followed Shelly’s lead and pulled off his shoes and socks, set them on a bench, and ran toward the throbbing water. The sand was warm, and when the chilly surf washed over Shelly’s toes, she shrieked. Dave stood back.
“Chicken,” she said, and taunted him with clucks.
“Oh stop it,” Dave said, but when he continued to hesitate, Shelly lurched at him and pulled him by the hand into the water. The surprise of it caught Dave off guard and he lost his balance and tumbled face down into the shallow foam, and when he tried to jump up he slipped again and ended up on his back. Completely soaked now, he didn’t try to get up but instead reached out for Shelly and grabbed her by the ankle.
“You’re coming in too.” She kicked at him and landed a glancing blow on his chest, which forced him to let go. “What was that for?”
“Oh no, I didn’t mean to,” she said and started to lean down and check the damage, but he took another swipe at her and she stepped backward onto the sand.
“You’re not going to help me?” he asked.
“I don’t trust you.”
“I’m the one who should be complaining about trust,” he said. “Please.” Dave held out a hand and this time she took it and with a groan pulled him up onto his feet. “I suggested a walk, not a swim,” he said.
“Then let’s walk.”
Dave squirmed like a wet dog, trying to shake the cold water out of his clothing and off his skin. With both hands he combed back his soggy hair and then shook down his arms and shivered in the cool evening breeze.
“Maybe we should get you home and into some dry clothes,” Shelly said.
“Naw, the wind is chilly but it’ll dry me out. Let’s go.”
With Shelly on the seaside to shield the wind, they walked southward at a slow pace. On the sand in front of them gulls picked at the seaweed and garbage that had washed up on the beach, while a few cars and pickups cruised the drive, kicking up soft plumes of brown sand. As they walked in silence, the warm rays from the slowly setting sun pulled the dampness out of Dave’s shirt and he shook back another shiver.
“You okay?” Shelly asked.
“Uh huh,” Dave said, but he really wasn’t. He was right where he wanted to be at that moment, alone on the beach with Shelly, but a piece of him was three hundred miles and twenty years away back in Dallas. Ever since making the decision to move to Port Aransas, he had managed to keep the past where it belonged, but the closer he got to Shelly, the more the past seemed to come creeping back into view. He knew it to be the birthing pains of letting go and moving on, complete now with a soaking in a sort of amniotic fluid. And at this moment, as he tried to take the first breaths of a new life, he was like a newborn that didn’t know how to speak. Shelly sensed Dave was troubled and she reached out for his hand and stopped him from walking.
“No pressure. No need to hurry. This doesn’t need to be anything more than friends walking on the beach.”
“I want . . . I want it to be more . . . but . . .”
“There’s no rush,” she said again, and gently placed her hand on the side of his face. He reached up and patted her fingers, and then brought her hand down to his side and started walking again, this time with their fingers interlocked. For Dave, this had always been the most intimate touch between a man and a woman. It was love, sex, friendship, desire, camaraderie, lust, and respect all rolled into one. In a new relationship it was a first move toward other forms of intimacy but without all the worries about performance and awkwardness and shyness. It was simple. It was pure.
Shelly’s feelings were much the same, but this time it felt very different. She had boyfriends in school and dates as an adult, but she had never felt this close to a man before. She had never wanted to be with someone so much and yet felt so safe and content to just hold hands.
They continued to walk for another half hour until the sun rested just on top of the dunes. They knew it was time to turn back toward the Dream Bean, and when they wheeled around they stood still, frozen by the wall of black clouds that had formed while their backs had been turned.