A Day at the Beach

I shifted again on the lounge chair, trying to get comfortable, but it was nearly impossible. I was hot and sweating and there was sand everywhere. I kept an eye on Chris and Rebecca as they built a sandcastle, while pretending to read my book. I’d read the same paragraph at least a dozen times but I had no idea what it said. I finally set it down and looked out over the water, shading my eyes against the sun bouncing off the waves.

“Is that a fin?” I asked, sitting up quickly. I cupped my hands around my eyes like binoculars, as though that would help me see better. “Did I just see a shark? You told me there were no sharks close to here.”

“No,” Chris said, without even looking up from the tower he was patiently building up for our daughter to knock down. “Not a shark. Possibly a dolphin.”

I squinted against the bright sunlight. “I think it’s a shark fin. They’re shaped differently.”

“Emma, relax. There’s no way it’s a shark. Why would a shark swim up high enough for their fin to be visible, let alone this close to shore? This is not the movie Jaws.”

I sat back, not really believing him. I couldn’t really see whatever it was anymore. Maybe my eyes had been playing tricks on me. The sun was so bright it made the water far out look white and shades of gray, the waves lines and triangles and close in, the browns and blues and whites hurt my eyes. I had a headache from the sun.

I grabbed my bottle of sunscreen to reapply. “Come on, sunscreen time,” I called to Rebecca. She dutifully toddled over, her round belly stretching the bright pink of her swimsuit taut. She grinned up at me under the wide brim of her sun hat, big blue eyes just like her fathers, as I slathered the cream on her pudgy arms and legs. Chris dropped onto the bottom of my chair and leaned back, tilting his tanned face up to the sun and closing his eyes.

“You should be watching to see if that shark comes back,” I scolded him. “She’s going to want to get in the water eventually.

He opened one eye skeptically. “There was no shark, Emma. I’ve never heard of a shark around here.”

“I know what I saw,” I huffed, patting Rebecca on the bottom as a signal she could go back to making misshapen towers in the sand. I started putting more sunscreen on myself. Chris watched with amusement as I pulled the caftan I was wearing up to get at my legs.

“Why do you need sunscreen on your body when you’re swathed under seventeen layers of fabric and hiding under the world’s largest umbrella?” he teased.

“Pregnancy skin is different,” I muttered, rubbing the cream into my thighs and starting on my arms. “I feel like I’m roasting just sitting here.”

“You feel like you’re roasting because you’re wearing seventeen layers of fabric and sitting under a giant umbrella,” he pointed out.

I paused, my hands under the caftan as I started to smear cream across my breasts. “Possibly.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Want me to get your back?”

“Definitely.”

“You’ll have to shed some layers for that. I’m not going in blind.”

I huffed, but stood up and pulled off the caftan, then sat back down with my back to him. His hands were warm and sure as they spread the cream across my bare back. I had to admit, I did feel a lot cooler sitting under the umbrella without the caftan. I draped it across my belly as I settled back once he was done.

“Thank you,” I said, taking the bottle back. “Do you want any?” I started to put some on his shoulders without waiting for a reply.

He laughed softly. “I don’t get to say yes or no?”

“You need it anyway. We’ve been out here a while. I know you don’t burn like I do, but you need the protection. I don’t want you to get skin cancer in the next couple of years.”

“You’re right.”

I handed him the bottle when I’d finished his back and he dutifully spread it across the rest of his exposed skin, then squeezed in beside me on my lounge chair. I looked up at him, annoyed. “There are two chairs.”

“Yours is under the giant umbrella.” He flashed me a grin as he slid one leg under mine.

“So is the other one,” I protested with a laugh. His arm was now around my back. He was slowly pulling me into his lap. Admittedly, this was much more comfortable that being squashed side by side in the chair.

“Yeah, but your chair is always the one I like to be in.” He nuzzled my neck. He rested his chin on my shoulder and wrapped his arms around my waist and I rested my hands on his wrists. We watched Rebecca working diligently on the sandcastle. She was chattering away to us, her little voice lost to the sound of the waves crashing twenty yards past her.

“Why do you have this thing over you belly?” he asked, bunching up the caftan in his fist and tugging on it.

“Because no one needs to see my bare stomach,” I replied, tugging it back and rearranging the fabric across my middle.

“No one who?” he asked, bewildered. “It’s a private beach. It’s just us.”

“I know, but I’m so big already, and I still have nearly half of the pregnancy to go. Maybe I don’t want to you to see how big I am.”

“You’re beautiful. I love every bit of you, no matter what. You know that.” He kissed my shoulder. “If you feel more comfortable covered up, that’s fine, but don’t feel the need to do it for us. And don’t do it at the cost of your actual, physical comfort. It’s so hot out here. You should come get in the water with us when we go. You’ll like it.”

I twisted my mouth to the side. “What about the sharks?” I was scanning the waves again, my hands tighter on his wrists now. “I swear, I saw a fin earlier.”

He sighed. “My family has been coming to this beach for generations, Emma. We’ve never seen a shark. We’ve never even heard of a shark. You think your eagle eyes, with your hand binoculars is going to see one today?”

“Maybe.” I’d raised my hands up to form binoculars again without my realizing it. I felt my face warm, and this time it wasn’t the heat of the day. He gave me a look and I dropped them. “I saw something,” I said defensively.

“What if I promise we’ll stay close to the shore?”

“I read somewhere they can go in water as shallow as three feet?”

“Was it the movie Jaws?” he challenged.

I jutted my jaw out. “Maybe.”

“How accurate do you think that movie is?”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m sure Peter Benchley did plenty of research for his novel.”

“I’m sure he did.”

Rebecca came over to us then, her cheeks flushed red. She pointed at the water insistently. “Well?” Chris asked, as he started to shift me off his lap so that he could stand. “Are you coming?”

I moved so he could get up, swinging my feet around to the warm sand. Rebecca reached for both our hands, her own gritty with the fine, white sand. She tugged, anxious for both of us to walk with her.

“Apparently I don’t get to say yes or no,” I chuckled, dropping the caftan on the chair as I stood up, holding my hat on with one hand and walking over the sand carefully beside her.

“Gee, I wonder where she gets that from,” Chris teased.

We walked into the waves side by side, the water delightfully cool on our feet and ankles. Chris scooped up Rebecca before it lapped up our shins and knees. I closed my eyes and knelt down, letting it wash over me, cooling my body down and floated on my back, easing the weight of my pregnant belly. I listened to the sound of Rebecca’s delighted squeals close by as the waves washed over them, Chris holding tightly to her, turning his back and teaching her to close her eyes so she didn’t get salt water in them, showing her how to hold her breath and breathe out so she didn’t get it in her nose. She would likely be swimming like a fish by the end of our vacation, if he had any say in it.

I turned myself upright and looked further out towards the horizon. I could swear I saw the fin again. My feet could still touch bottom, but the water was up nearly to my shoulders. I wasn’t quite comfortable this deep, especially pregnant. I stared at it, telling myself it was nothing, a trick of the eyes. Maybe a dolphin, maybe even a kid with a fake shark fin, like in the movie. I chewed on my lip for a moment. I finally turned to Chris.

“Look. I know you think I’m overreacting, and that’s fine. But I really don’t feel comfortable. I’m sure that I’m seeing something out there. Can we please just go?” I said it as calmly as I could, but I couldn’t hide the tremor in my voice.

Chris looked at me, surprised. He scanned the horizon beyond me, looking for what I’d seen. I could tell he didn’t see anything.

“You’re absolutely sure?” he clarified.

I nodded, wading closer to him. “I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something out there. Maybe I’ll feel better about it tomorrow, but…” I took a deep breath. “I’d hate to be wrong. And at least we have another week here, right?”

“Of course. We’ve been here a while. I’m getting hungry anyway, and she should take a nap. Let’s go.” He hefted Rebecca up, pulling a face at her and making her scream excitedly. She squealed with laughter as he waded towards the shore.

I breathed a sigh of relief as we started gathering our things together and head back up the steps to the house.

That evening, as I was cooking dinner and listening to the radio, a bulletin broke in reporting unusual shark activity along the coast where we were. My eyes shot up, meeting Chris’s over the top of Rebecca’s head. He was sitting on the couch reading to her while I cooked pasta at the stove.

“I told you,” I said triumphantly, pointing the pasta fork at him. “Didn’t I tell you I saw something?”

He stared back at me, his eyes round. “But they’re never that close.”

“But I saw them. I saw fins.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “I’m glad you had your hand binoculars with you. We never would have seen them otherwise.”

I nodded sagely as I pulled a noodle out to test it. “I never go anywhere without them. Maybe now you’ll stop doubting me when I tell you things.”

“I probably won’t when you seem halfhearted, but I did believe you when you were completely serious.”

I chewed on the noodle thoughtfully. “I guess that’s fair. I wasn’t totally sure until we were in the water. I kept thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me.”

“Probably need to get the hand binoculars calibrated.”

I nodded. “Probably do.” I turned off the heat and lifted the pot from the stove. “Come on, dinner’s ready. We can discuss how wonderful and wise I am some more while we eat.”

He laughed and set the book down. “Isn’t that what we always talk about? When do we get to talk about how wonderful and wise I am?”

“When you save us from a shark attack with your hand binoculars.”