A Big Kind of Little Love

Chapter 16: Beach Day

The peaceful morning in bed had quickly morphed into a chaotic flurry of excitement. Before long, the Levarion trio were in the car on their way to the beach. Evie bounced joyfully in her carseat, having been zooming around in a hyperactive state ever since the topic of a beach day had come up. 

The seat beside the girl was stuffed full of towels, beach blankets, umbrellas, and toys, with even more packed into the trunk of the car. It was about an hour drive to the beach that Camilla and Lucia liked to visit from time to time during summer, and they were happy to get another trip in before summer turned to autumn.

"Did you go to the beach a lot back in the human world?" Lucia asked the ecstatic little from the driver's seat. 

"No, I never been to a beach," the girl answered, clearly very little. 

"You've never been to a beach?!" Camilla responded surprised. 

Evie shook her head.

"Do you know how to swim?" Lucia followed up.

She shook her head again.

The two women shared a look of both shock that their little had never experienced swimming in the ocean, but were more than happy to provide that to Evie for the first time. 

"Well then I think today is going to be a magical day," Camilla stated, turned backwards toward the girl in the backseat. 

The rest of the drive was filled with excited conversation and Evie's joyful babbles about building a sand castle and being it's queen. Before they knew it, the salty sea air wafted through the car and Evie caught her first sight of the vast Pacific Ocean. She sat bewildered in her carseat, completely entranced by the deep blue that painted the scenery right up until the horizon. 

Since it was a weekday, the beach's parking lot wasn't too crowded and the family found a spot easily. The were parked on the outside of a cute boardwalk that lined the perimeter of the beach, and on it were little shops and restaurants. But Evie didn't care about those. Those were boring. She wanted the beach. 

The moment she was unbuckled from the carseat and placed on the ground, the girl took off running to the other side of the boardwalk, clinging excitedly onto the wooden rail that separated her from the soft yellow sand. 

"Evie Mae Levarion!" She heard her Mommy shout assertively from the car, "You get back here right now."

A wave of panic washed over the girl as she turned sheepishly back towards her caregivers, tears pulling at her eyes. Just as soon as she looked up, Evie saw her Mommy approaching as she was picked up and placed on the woman's hip. 

"Little one, you do not run off like that, do you understand me?" Lucia asked the girl, careful not to sound too aggressive. 

Evie nodded in affirmation but nonetheless started to cry, prompting both of her mommies to comfort her with back rubs and reassurance. 

"I wasn't running far, I jus' wanted to see da' beach," the girl replied through tearful sniffles. 

"I know sweetheart, and we will," Camilla assured, "but running off like that is dangerous and it's our job to keep you safe, right?"

Evie nodded, her head planted onto Lucia's chest as she tried to hide her embarrassed face from her scolding mommies. 

"I sorry," the girl finally pleaded as a tear dropped from her quivering bottom lip. 

"You're forgiven, love," her Mama answered as she planted a loving kiss on the girl's cheek, "Now let's get our beach day going, shall we?" 

Evie finally cracked a smile through the shameful tears as her Mommy put her back down. Together, the family gathered the belongings that were packed in the car and made their way onto the beach. It was Evie's job to carry the bag of beach toys, mostly because she couldn't manage to pick up any of the other Colossi-sized stuff.