The Summers After

thirty-seven

CONRAD

Conrad sits in the cold sand, staring out at the water. The water is calm this morning, gently climbing up the sand and then retreating again. Summer is ending, and he has that same feeling he gets every year — that Sunday night feeling before work on Monday.

This place, and these summers are so special to him. Getting to share them with Belly and their kids and the rest of the family is everything to him. It's truly all that matters.

"Hey handsome," Belly says from behind him.

Conrad looks up at her, she's wearing her glasses. She looks beautiful. "Good morning."

Belly sits down next to him, "You're up early."

Conrad instinctively wraps his arm around her, "I wanted to enjoy the morning."

Belly presses her forehead against his cheek, "What's on your mind?"

"I hated that contractor we met with yesterday,"

Belly chuckles, running her hand through his hair, "Okay, we'll find a different one."

Conrad and Belly have finally decided what to do to the house, and this is the last weekend they'll be up here with it like this. Once they decide on a contractor, they'll start the work. Conrad wants to expand the house, make it a place for them to grow into instead of grow out of. But part of him is struggling with losing the touch of his mom. He didn't think it would affect him, he gave Belly the green light, but now that it's real he feels like his childhood home is being ripped away from him.

Belly drops her hand from his neck, "Con, come on."

"What?" He questions.

"Talk to me," She pleads quietly.

"It's really nothing, I promise."

Belly half chuckles, "Okay, sure, that's believable."

Conrad huffs, she knows him too well but now she's pressing and he's not in the mood, "Belly, I really don't want to talk about it right now. Okay?"

"Sorry," she grumbles.

Conrad feels bad immediately, she's just trying to help. "Hey." He nudges her with his shoulder.

"What?" Her voice is hard.

"Wanna go skinny dipping?" Conrad says with a smirk.

Belly's head snaps to look at him, "What?"

"You heard me," Conrad stands up and pulls off his shirt, "Come on Bells."

Belly watches him in awe. Her eyes are darting around, looking for other people on the beach. There's no one, just them.

Conrad strips naked, and then wades into the ocean. The water has a definite bite to it and goosebumps crawl up Conrad's skin. When he looks back to the shore, Belly hasn't moved. She's just watching in awe.

"Get in here!" He shouts from the water.

Belly laughs, hesitates for another moment and then stands up. Conrad watches intently as she strips down to nothing on the shore. He briefly wonders if this was a bad idea, but the sun hasn't even come up yet, no one is going to see them. Belly sprints into the water, shrieking when she hits the cold water.