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How Memories are Made

Moment by Moment

By Pageant AshfordPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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This was the life, she decided as she walked across the beach. The feel of the sand between her toes was warm and comfortable, maybe because it brought back memories of a time not too long ago when her family actually took vacations together. She smiled fondly at those memories, even as she looked out over the ocean, watching the waves sway and flow. Her mother and father used to bring her and her two sisters to the beach every summer.

It was time to make new memories. This was why, upon meeting and hitting it off with Josh, she had expressed an interest of returning to the peaceful aura and atmosphere of being near the ocean. His response was a small smile and the words, “Say no more.”

Of course, she hadn’t really taken it to heart. They had really, truly, just met for all intents and purposes. A moment in time where they could have a conversation between their busy work schedules was apparently time that meant more to him than she realized. It was something she realized later that also meant quite a bit to her.

Even after this understanding fell into her mind and heart, it was still beyond surprising to her when months later, he surprised her for her birthday with a card that held plane tickets to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Her bafflement must have shown through very strongly because he had let out a small chuckle. “I wanted to do something nice for you,” he’d said, “your birthday was just an excuse.”

She had blinked, still not fully comprehending what was happening, before shaking her head, “I can’t take this.” She’d said but added, “I really appreciate it though, Josh.” She attempted to hand the tickets back to him, but he gently closed her hands around them.

“Nonsense, Kelly,” he’d said, “this is a gift, and I remember last month you mentioned taking Paid time off the week after your birthday. Plus, the tickets are no refundable.”

“That was presumptuous of you,” she laughed slightly nervously. He shrugged though not in a dismissive way, “I will be blunt with you, Kelly.” Josh had then allowed a slightly shy expression to cross his face, “you have to know, at this point that I like you quite a bit. I wanted our first actual date to be special.”

She remembered staring at him wordlessly. She was both bemused and, quite frankly, flattered. Josh took another deep breath, now radiating calm confidence, “besides, my father always said to go big or go home. I figured, why not do both?” He had then pulled his cell out and opened his gallery to show her pictures. Drawing her attention to the phone, she saw that he had a pictures of a lovely house with ocean view.

“I planned this trip with you in mind, but also knew I had the perfect place because my family owns a beach front property,” he grinned, and then showed her his marching ticket. “I have a car meeting us at the airport to take us there for the weekend where I have a nice evening planned for the first night, and if you’re willing to stay the entire weekend then I have other things planned as well.”

She had been intrigued, and honestly, she really liked Josh. It was possible that this could be a great experience. Plus, she really wanted to go to the beach.

That had been that.

Coming back to the present, and reigning in her thoughts, she took one last look at the ocean before turning to look back at the beach house. Josh was making his way toward her, holding a glass of wine. Unsurprisingly, it would be the bottle of her favorite brand, Mojave Rain, held in his other hand.

“I have the table set for our dinner,” he said as he handed her the glass of Merlot. She nodded and motioned for him to lead the way. As they returned to the beach house, she took a deep breath and then followed him into the dining area where he had the table set for two. The sight of filet mignon and sautéed mushrooms over rice on their plates caused her to grin.

She smiled, gently swirling her glass of Merlot and inhaling before taking a sip, savoring the flavor. As he pulled the chair out for her, motioning for her to take a seat she took one more moment to smile and think, ‘Time to make new memories, indeed .’

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