The Affair

Chapter 16.1 - Beach House

Saturday, July 2, 2022, 8:25am

The next morning, William and Fallon are driving eastbound along Bluewater Highway, a coastal road which connects Surfside to Galveston and parallel to the Gulf of Mexico's shore. Fallon joyfully looks out the window towards the beach, she was eager to arrive at the beach house and spend their day out by the water. William picks up his phone and checks his route; their destination was approaching, and he attentively looks ahead and sees a collection of four beach houses lined along the grassy dunes that separate the houses from the sandy shoreline.

William turns right and onto a long, paved driveway that led towards the beach house approximately 15 yards away from the main coastal highway. As is traditional of most beach-front properties along the coast, the house was perched upon tall wood pillars approximately 15 feet in height. He pulls his car into the designated space underneath the house and shuts the engine off.

"We're here.", he says to Fallon.

"Yay!", she blissfully replies.

Fallon quickly hops out from her seat and grabs her backpack with two smaller bags filled with her clothes and the other various necessities she needed for the stay and runs up the tall wooden staircase that existed along the left side of the house. Once at the top, she sees a small lockbox with a keypad mounted just outside of the door's frame. She hops in place as she calls down to William for the code that would unlock the lockbox and thus allow her to retrieve the key that would then unlock the door. Gathering all of their other bags from the car, he closes the trunk and begins making his way up the stairs.

"Sir, what's the code!?", she calls out.

"2-7-0-4!", he fires back.

An excited Fallon then attempts to push in the code, but she clumsily presses two buttons at the same time, thus messing up the sequence of the entered digits. After her second failed attempt, she begins to twirl her hair as she becomes even more confused and frustrated by her inability to unlock the mechanism.

"Oh, no... Um... Sir... I think I broke it...", she mutters, looking to William with puppy-dog eyes.

Charmed by her ditzy nature, William smiles as he steps in to help her. "Sweetheart, let me do it...", he says, adjusting the bags he was carrying onto one shoulder.

William waits 10 seconds to allow the program to reset itself before entering in the correct code sequence. The lockbox then displays a glowing green light, indicating that it could now be opened to retrieve the contents that were inside. William opens the box and retrieves a key ring with two keys and a silly red crab ornament, he dangles the keys above Fallon's face and gives her a coy smirk. With a sour, yet adorable, face, she swipes the keys from him and unlocks the door.

"I did it right!", she exclaims.

"Whatever you say, bunny.", he replies with a quick chuckle, "Now, get inside.".

With a bit of force, William grabs and squeezes her butt through her skimpy soccer shorts as they both step inside. His touch triggers a playful squeal from Fallon, and she happily skips ahead of him.

The beach house had a cozy feel to it as they entered; the walls held a two-tone color scheme with white wood paneling that bordered the room from the floor to about half-way up the wall and was then completed with a pale blue coat of paint for the remainder. The bits of decor that existed around the house either had a beach or nautical theme to it and was arguably rather random. Along the southern wall was a set of sliding glass doors behind long plastic blinds, which provide access to a patio deck area outside. William sets their bags onto the couch in the living room area and stretches out his arms. It was a spacious little rental and William was happy with the tidy presentation.