Undertow by K.R. Conway (1st book in trilogy)

Chapter 6

The next morning revealed itself as a spectacular day to be a Cape Codder. It was sunny and unusually warm, all in all the perfect beach day.  I was determined to put the vial, the dreams, and the man that I may have hallucinated to the back of my frayed brain.

I was also thrilled with my awesome new ride, so I called Ana and MJ at the irrationally early hour of 8 a.m. to make plans to head to the off-road portion of Sandy Neck. 

MJ was groggy but thrilled at the idea when he answered the phone, mumbling something about a new skim board. Ana however, wasn't such a ray of sunshine in the wee morning hours. After explaining the finer points of never calling her so early and the repercussions of doing so in the future, she agreed to come along.  I even debated calling Raef, but lost my nerve when I went to dial his number.

An hour later, both Ana and MJ arrived at my home.  While Ana and I packed up beach necessities, MJ proceeded to remove the doors from the Wrangler - a task I had attempted and failed miserably at earlier. 

With top down and the doors off, we all jumped in and headed down King's Highway towards the off-road section of Sandy Neck.  The north-facing beach stretches miles from one end of the Cape to the other and is a spectacular site to behold.

I paid the gatekeeper at the entrance and MJ signaled me to pull over. I assumed he wanted to drive. Typical male.

"I think I can drive this section.  I am not a complete female fruit," I protested.

"Well, you can drive . . . and be dug in within a half mile if I don't let some air out of the tires," said MJ with a wry grin as he climbed out.

"Ahh . . . gotcha," I replied, feeling off-road ignorant.  I glanced back at Ana in the backseat. She was absorbed in some book she was reading, though her barely disguised smile told me she thought my poor sense of 4-wheeling was amusing.

It took us about 15 minutes to get out to a more remote area of the beach.  The scenery was gorgeous, with softly rolling mounds of powdery sand and tall dune grass.  Here and there a weather beaten fence would show up. Ana explained that the fences helped stave off destruction during storms.

"Someday that home of yours will be waterfront property due to the erosion."

"Be serious," I laughed, "I am like a quarter mile from Craigville. There is no way I will be sitting on my own private beach anytime soon."

"Note I didn't say you would still be alive when it happens," she said with a smile.

I gave her a knowing wink, but the reality was, I rarely knew exactly what Ana was thinking. In fact, I wasn't sure she actually liked me much.  She seemed often distant, as if she wore armor all the time.

            I watched as she leaned forward from her seat behind MJ and said something in his ear as she pointed towards the ocean. He nodded, and she sat back to watch the view.

I found it interesting that Ana and MJ seemed so well connected yet were not boyfriend and girlfriend. Every moment they spent together, the subtle ways they knew each other, spoke to the way they adored one another. I was fairly certain, however, that neither was bold enough to pursue anything other than the friendship they had known for so long.  But no one could ignore the fact that these two people, so different, were ideal for each other.

"Ana said that there is a nice sandbar down and off to the left." MJ pointed to where Ana had also directed. "Drive a bit more toward the water and we'll park and set up our stuff."

Fifteen minutes later, we had set up a great sunbathing area, complete with picnic lunch, cooler of drinks, fluffy towels, and my ratty old blanket.