Hand in Sand in Hand

Story Submitted by Mark:

Sarah and I drove to the beach in my car on our second date.  We took a walk on the boardwalk at dusk.  At one point, she turned to me and said, "I don't think you understand how much I love the beach."

I said, "I like it, too."

She said, "No, it's more than that for me.  It's almost, like religious."

I said, "I think a lot of people feel that way.  I love it, too."

"Want to jump in?" she asked.

"I don't have a bathing suit."

"So?  Come on."

We stepped down from the boardwalk and made our way down to the water.  There were a few people around, walking dogs, playing frisbee, or just walking.  As I was looking around, I turned to see her stripping off her jean shorts and her blouse.  I was somehow able to pull my gaze away from her long enough to strip down to my boxers.  I buried my wallet and car keys in the sand.

I asked her, "You okay with this?"

She said, "Sure," then tapped my shoulder and said, "Tag!  You're it!" and ran for the water.  I ran after her.

I didn't want her to think that grabbing her and kissing her was all I had in mind, which it was, but I resisted the urge, and instead splashed her and teased her and overall did whatever couples do when they fall for each other quickly.  She laughed and teased right back, and it was a really wonderful time.

It wasn't too long, though, before it was dark.  I asked her, "Do you want to go back in?"

She said, "Maybe we should," and we pulled ourselves out of the water.

We looked around in the moonlight for our clothes.  She asked, "They were here, weren't they?"

I replied, "I thought so."

We looked up and down the beach, but we couldn't find our clothes anywhere.  It wasn't breezy enough for them to have blown away, and she said what was on my mind, "I think someone must have taken them."

It could have been a terribly awkward situation – caught on the beach, both of us in our underwear, and not a stitch of clothes to be had.  Then, I remembered: "I buried my wallet and keys around here... somewhere."

We spent the next half-hour digging around in the sand.  She found them.  The boardwalk, which was on the way back to the parking lot, was lightly populated.  I sneaked back to my car, grabbed a couple of towels that I had in the trunk, wrapped one around myself, returned to her, gave her the other towel, and we returned to my car together.  Lucky for her, she left her purse in the car, so between us, we only lost clothes.

Once in the car, we laughed about the whole thing and shared our first kiss.

We married on a beach last September.