When Summer Ends

A Final Surf Before Goodbye

3.14.2022

Rylie and I sleep in until 11:00am Saturday morning. The reception had only lasted until 10:00pm, but we'd hung out with the others until nearly 2:00am. With nothing to do this morning, sleeping in made sense. And it felt so good.

"You ready for breakfast? Rylie asks from the bathroom.

"Yes, please. Is the hotel's breakfast still open?"

"Yep, they don't close it until 11:30. On Saturday's, which is really nice."

"Yeah it is." I laugh. "Most places close theirs at 9:30."

She comes back to the bed and kisses me softly before pulling me up. I quickly throw on some sweats before Rylie and I head downstairs. In the elevator, I throw my hair into a bun after seeing how wild it is in the surrounding mirrors.

"What did you do to my hair last night?" I ask Rylie with a laugh.

"I wouldn't say only I did it, maybe more the pillows every time I..."

"Okay, okay! Careful, someone is probably right outside the doors!" I laugh. The elevator comes to a stop and sure enough, as the doors slide open, I see two young girls waiting on the other side. A quick glance at Rylie tells me she's also trying to hold back her laughter as well.

Even after staying out late, we'd stayed up even later getting lost in each other, over and over. I couldn't get enough of her, and I'm pretty sure she felt the same. It was safe to say we got our money's worth of the hotel room, just based on the amount of time we'd spent in the shower.

The breakfast selection isn't huge, but it's got grits and those little Danish things, and that's more than enough for me. Two of my favorite foods. I fill a bowl with grits and grab a small plate for the Danishes before choosing a table. Rylie joins me a moment later with her food, somehow also balancing two cups of OJ in her other arm.

"Thank you." I laugh as I help her set her things down.

"Do you want to walk down the pier before meeting up with the others?" She asks me as we eat.

"Sure! I was going to grab some snacks from the store for the drive home, so how about we change for surfing, do that and then head to the pier?"

"The vet sent me Harvey's files that I want to look over, so I'll just hang back and look at those while you're gone. Is that okay?"

"That's totally fine." I say with a reassuring smile. That way, I could also pick up what I needed for a proposal.

The proposal.

The thought brings on a wave of butterflies. I was originally planning to propose tomorrow before we left, but tonight seemed better.

We head back up to our room and I change, planning to meet Rylie on the beach to walk the pier in 20 minutes. The store was only a block away from our hotel, so I didn't need much time. I take my keys with me, planning to drop the stuff off in the car until I needed it.

It's a nice day, and the sun shines down warmly on my back as I walk. The humidity made my skin slightly sticky, but I didn't mind. The heat made me look forward to getting in the water, though.

Once at the store, I quickly get what I need, but it's not much. I knew Rylie well enough to know that she didn't want anything over the top. I wouldn't either. I just wanted her.

Plus, I already had the other things I needed. A small copy of every single picture we'd taken together sits in a small box in the trunk of my car, along with a few other small things I knew she'd appreciate that I could set up on the beach where I would propose. The same spot I'd done her birthday picnic last year.