Forces of Nature

Progress At Last

"When was the last time you went on vacation?"

Tyson regarded me thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugged.

We were about half a mile from the house, deep in the throngs of people crowding the public area of the beach. The salty tang in the air was mixed with the scent of sun tan lotion, which reminded me I'd forgotten to get some off Ash before we left. My arms and shoulders were already beginning to feel the heat, my wet hair drying at record speed.

A couple of kids flew past us, screaming in glee, the little boy carrying a bright yellow snorkel. Their frazzled mother was not far behind.

"Sunhat, Ginny!" she chided, waving the brightly coloured hat at her daughter who was galloping full speed toward the ocean, blonde pigtails bouncing merrily.

"A bit hard to take a holiday when you work six days a week," Tyson said, squinting in the bright light. Even mid afternoon the sun was unrelenting.

He was wearing a pair of black shorts and a white V neck t-shirt that clung to his chest and flat stomach, something I was having a hard time taking in. For some absurd reason I'd expected him to walk around on the beach in his usual jeans and boots. I decided he looked just as good in a pair of shorts, which then prompted naughty thoughts of how good he'd look wearing even less. Christ, I needed to get my mind out of the gutter!

I cleared my throat, shook my head to clear it. "Yeah but I'm talking about when you take time off work," I said, sidestepping a mother and toddler who were playing in the sand.

Tyson gave me an amused stare. "I've never taken time off before."

I blinked at him. "What? Why not?"

He shrugged, looking out at the water. The rhythmic sound of the waves lapping against the shore was calming, a sound I could easily fall asleep to at night.

"It's just not worth the effort. My boss, he's a bit of a tight ass, and he likes to make things as difficult as possible. Truthfully, I didn't think he'd approve my leave. I had to submit the damn form three times because he kept misplacing it, and even then I got an earful about short notice and some other bullshit," he said, eyes narrowing.

"Okay," I said, slowly. "So if you knew your boss was going to make it hard, why did you bother?"

"Because you asked me to," he said simply, and I stopped dead in my tracks, a feeling of guilt washing over me. And, if I was being totally honest, right on the heels of that guilty feeling was a giddiness, a small bubble of happiness and excitement that he'd done it just because I asked him to. Well, grovelled was more like it, I recalled, but still, he could have easily said no. It's not like he owed me anything.

He snorted at my guilty expression. "Relax, it all worked out in the end."

I frowned, following him around a bunch of giggling preteen girls.

"You know, you could have avoided all that trouble. Just taken the days off and gone back on Wednesday saying you were sick. I would -"

"I swear," he said, cutting me off with an exasperated sigh. "If you bring up offering to pay me again, I'm going to drown you in the ocean. Hell, I might throw you in anyway, just for kicks."

I scoffed, my walk turning into a confident swagger. "Yeah, right. First off, the thought never crossed my mind." Lies, my mind chastised. I ignored it. "Second, you'd have to catch me to dunk me in the ocean, 'cause I'm sure as hell not going to stand still and let you."

Tyson didn't reply, just smiled wickedly at me before turning his attention back to the water. Oh, but that smile would be the death of me, I thought as my heart tried to skip its way out of my chest.