Family Ties

You guys wanna check it out?”

The party was about fifty locals, mostly high school and college kids, as well as a group of middle-aged adults who looked like they were trying to be former hippies instead of the wealthy suburbanites they actually were. They mostly sat in beach chairs at the edge of the firelight. One of them had a big boom box playing a local radio station, and plenty of coolers were scattered through the crowd.

Danny fit in immediately. He asked around and found an older surfer guy

willing to sell a styrofoam cooler full of ice and about a dozen bottles of a Mexican beer, Pacífico. Danny pulled out cash and gave it to him before I could chip in.

“You want any smoke to go with it?” the guy asked. “It’s primo dope.”

“Nah, we’re cool,” Danny said. “Thanks for the brews.”

“No problem. Peace out, man.”

“Peace.” Danny opened the cooler and uncapped bottles as he handed them to us.

Someone called to Christy from a knot of people. Several of them came toward us. They were friends of hers from high school, and she introduced me as “my friend, Paul.”

I faded into the background as she chatted about people I didn’t know.

“I thought you were officially dating,” Danny said quietly.

“Long story,” I said.

“So are you or aren’t you?”

“Let’s say it’s unofficial.”

“Well, you did sleep with her last night.”

He laughed and waved away my denial. “Relax. Birdy isn’t a kid.

Besides, I’m not my dad. Yeah, I look out for her—we all do—but you’re good for her. So we’re cool, you and I.”

Sabrina nodded agreement and smiled.

Christy said goodbye to her friends and they returned to their group.

“You wanna spread the blankets?” I asked Danny.

“Let’s move away from the party a bit,” he said. “If you know what I mean.”

“Ah. Right. Got it.” I handed my beer to Christy. Then I picked up our blanket and the other one as well.

“Thanks,” Danny said. He picked up the cooler and headed into the darkness.

We walked a few hundred yards farther down the beach and stopped at a dark and quiet stretch. We could still hear strains of music from the direction of the bonfire, but the sound of the surf mostly drowned it out.

“This spot’s as good as any,” Danny said. He set the cooler on the sand and helped me spread one of the blankets. “Hey, honey,” he said to Sabrina,

“grab a couple of beers for us, would you?” He glanced at me. “You okay to guard the cooler?”

He chuckled and nodded toward the dunes. “I think we’re gonna find a quiet spot over there.”

They disappeared into the night.

Christy sat cross-legged on the blanket. I joined her and accepted my beer. The breeze from the ocean picked up and ruffled my hair. Hers blew in her face, and she tucked it behind an ear.

“Are you warm enough?” I asked. She scooted closer, so I put an arm around her.

“Better now,” she said.

We drank our beers in silence and simply enjoyed the sound of the surf.

“I’m sorry about this morning,” she said eventually. “I didn’t know what to do, so I went to find my dad.”

“Does your eye still hurt?”

“Yeah, but I’ll live. Gonna have a nice shiner, though.”

“Rich is just… very protective.”

“What?” she asked softly.

“Nothing.” I decided to change the subject. “Thanks for… um… you know… covering me up this morning.”

“When you tucked me back in my shorts.”

“Oh, that.” She laughed. “He wasn’t ready for his big debut.”

“It would’ve been kind of awkward. I mean, he’d’ve made a speech, talked to people, posed for pictures. You know, all that stuff.”

“He isn’t normally shy, though, is he?”

“No. Definitely not shy.”

“Still, I don’t think my dad and brothers would appreciate him like I do.”

“So… you appreciate him?”

“Oh, yes,” she said. “He’s very handsome.”

“How would you know?”

“I’ve seen him,” she said defensively.

“But never in all his glory.”

“No, but I’ve felt him.” She grinned. “He feels very handsome.”

I chuckled at a thought.

“Did you ever think, two months ago, that we’d be calmly having a conversation about my johnson?”

“Your penis, you mean? He likes to be called by his proper name.”

I laughed. “Oh he does, does he?”

“Mmm hmm. He told me so. Last night when we met.”

“Well, he’s very glad you were around this morning.” I kissed the top of her head. “His owner is too.”

“I was kinda scared you wouldn’t be,” she admitted seriously.

“Rich and I will figure out a way to deal with each other. We don’t have much choice.”

She looked up at me, her eyes searching.

“We should probably make it official, though. You and me.”

She grew very still with anticipation.

It seemed like an overreaction until I realized that she probably thought I was going to propose. I laughed softly. “No, not like that.