Strangers on the Beach

"I've been thinking about having an affair," Cindy said, glancing quickly at Mark for his reaction. "Would you be interested?"

         They were standing alone at the shoreline, looking out at the lake. Blazing stars and a luminous full moon cast a silver glow over the water.

         Behind them laughter and Hawaiian music drifted from the brightly lighted Starlight Ballroom, where bank employees were enjoying their annual luau.

         He smiled. "An affair?" he said. "What would your husband say?"

         She turned away from him and began ambling along the beach, her pink blouse pale in the moonlight, her grass skirt rustling. Mark fell in step with her.

         She'd started the game of "Strangers" they used to play when they were first married and romance was a major part of their life. Mark's remembering the game pleased her.

         "I'm looking for someone who isn't thinking business every minute. Someone who doesn't answer his cell phone every half hour."

         Mark turned and pointed. "Back there is where all the romance is. Music. Dancing."

         "Too many people back there," Cindy said. "I've decided I want to be alone with you."

         Abruptly, she reached for him and kissed him on the lips. Before he could respond, she backed out of the embrace. "Are you married?" she asked, a gentle breeze tossing her dark hair.

         He smiled. "I'm happily married. Got a dynamite wife."

         "Is she pretty?"

         "Outstanding. And very smart."

         She clamped her hands on her waist. "If you're married and your wife is so beautiful and brainy, why did you let me kiss you like that?"

         He stared at her. "Look, Cindy, let's not play this game."

         "Leilani... Call me Leilani. " She took a step closer.  "Do you like the orchid in my hair?"

         "Very beautiful." He grinned. "Especially in the moonlight. All that black hair, very exotic."

         "Does your wife know you're happily married?"

         He cocked his head. "What kind of question is that?"

         "To be happily married both people have to be happy," she said. "Is she happy? Have you had time lately to think about that?"

         "I think she's happy," he said. "She's busy. She has a job she loves. A nice house. Car."

         "A job, a house, a car—you think that's happiness?" Cindy turned away from him, arms folded. "When we were first married, I thought my husband and I had invented love.  Nearly every night—"

         "Look, Cindy..."

         "Leilani..."

         Falling into an awkward silence, they began strolling again along the moonlit beach, her grass skirt swishing across her bare legs.

         "My husband and I have a nice house, too," she said. "Three bedrooms. No children. He doesn't have time. I'll be a librarian all my life. Never a stay-at-home mom." She sighed deeply.

         "Maybe your husband wants everything in place before starting a family. "

         "Maybe he's lost sight of what's important," Cindy said. "Before we left tonight, he'd said he had to be home by eleven. He had a few papers to take care of before going to bed. Can you believe that?"

         She stopped walking. "Let's leave our sandals here and walk in the water," she said.

         He glanced back at the ballroom. "We're missing the party."

         "Off with your sandals," she insisted.

         "All right." They kicked off their sandals, leaving them in the sand. As they splashed along the beach, the sand squished between her toes, and the cool water swirled around her ankles. His hand touched hers briefly, and her heart skipped.

         "Want to race?" she asked, and looked at him mischievously.

         "Don't be silly!"

         Taking off, she sprinted fifty yards down the beach, grass skirt flying.

         He pounded along behind her on the wet sand, breathless in twenty steps.

         Suddenly after a fifty yards, she was running out of sandy beach. Tall brush loomed ahead, then pine trees. No path in sight. She stopped and turned to wait for him.

         Laughing and breathing hard, he thundered up to her, ready to collapse, dropping his hands on her shoulders for support, gasping for air. His weight forced her to her knees in the sand, and he knelt in front of her, trying to catch his breath. "What are we? A couple of kids?" He laughed. "Are we crazy?"

         "Maybe not." She kissed him again.

         "Careful," he said. "We're close to the water. That grass skirt will get wet and sandy. You'll ruin it." He staggered to his feet, trying to help her up. He stumbled. She shoved him, sending him sprawling backward into knee-deep water with a splash. "Hey!" he cried.

         She pounced on him with a laugh and wrestled him into deeper water. When they surfaced, they were laughing in water up to their waist, arms around one another. He gulped and wiped the water from his face. "What are you trying to do"—he was still laughing—"drown me? Look at us! Drenched!"

         "My husband and I swam naked in the moonlight nearly every night of our honeymoon," she said softly, her heart thumping.

         "Is that a fact?" His arms slipped around her, his lips moved closer to hers. Her blood danced—and then the cell phone attached to his waist sounded off.

She jumped back, startled. "Not that thing again—it's waterproof? Who's working tonight at the bank? Isn't everyone here?"

         "A few programmers are installing new software. They're probably in a jam and need help."

         Quick as a cat, she flicked her hand out and snatched the phone. "My husband has one of these..."

         "Cindy—"

         "Leilani...!" She whirled. "I should've done this long ago." She flung the wretched cell phone far into the lake, a mighty heave—she'd been softball player in high school. She couldn't see the phone flying through the darkness, but she heard it splash into the water like a stone.

         He stared at her. "Do you know what you've just done? What you've just cost me?"

         "Yes. Of course. And I'm glad."

As she trudged across the sand on her way back to the ballroom, Mark followed silently behind her, picking up their sandals on the way. She heard his dogged, scuffing step. Regret twisted in her heart. She'd ruined their evening. Big time. They couldn't even go back to dance: she'd drenched them. They'd be home before 11:00. He'd shower and retreat to his study to finish his paperwork. First thing tomorrow morning, he'd be out looking for a new phone.

         "Will you get my purse?" she asked quietly, brushing sand from her legs when they reached the ballroom.

         "Certainly."

         She stood outside alone, shivering in the marquee lights. Inside, the place rocked with music and laughter. She hoped her purse was still at the table where they'd eaten with friends.

         A couple came strolling out holding hands, music spilling into the night when they opened the door. The woman looked at Cindy, then the man looked. "Are you all right?" he asked.

         "Yes..." Cindy tried to smile, thankful she didn't know them. "It's a long story." She tucked her wet hair behind her ears. "I...I fell in the lake."     

         "Oh, my," the woman said.

         "Hope you were having fun," the man said. They smiled, then strolled off into the moonlight.

         Cindy bit her bottom lip.  Her orchid was missing. The water and sand had demolished her lei. Sand clogged her grass skirt. She must look like a shipwrecked sailor, recently washed ashore.

         What was taking Mark so long?

         Maybe he couldn't find her purse.

         Maybe he was making a telephone call to the office, finding out why he'd been called.

         When he marched out of the ballroom, her small white purse in hand, his face was expressionless. Wordlessly, he handed it to her. Inside the car, as he stuck the key into the ignition, she said, "Did you call the office?"

         "I asked someone else to do it," he said. "Trying to explain to everyone why I look like a shipwrecked sailor is what took so long."

         She stifled a smile. "What did you tell them?"

         "A beautiful dark-haired Hawaiian princess threw me overboard." The parking lot lights bathed his features in a soft, silvery glow, and she felt his eyes travel her face like tender fingers. Was he amused? It seemed so.

         Cindy said, "I just explained to a couple that I'd fallen in the lake."

         "What a pair we are," he said, smiling. "We better go home."

         "Paperwork?"

         He turned to look at her. "That's not exactly what I had in mind, Leilani."

         She blinked. Drew a breath. Faced him.

         "We need to be alone," he said. "At home."

         He moved closer to her, close enough to kiss her forehead. His hand stroked her cheek, and her heart melted. "You remind me a lot of my wife. Stubborn. Impetuous."

         "I thought you'd forgotten her," Cindy whispered.

         "I nearly did, Leilani."

         "Cindy..." she breathed as his lips touched hers. "Call me Cindy."

The End