The waves crashed onto the shore. Oddly, the collision of land and water made a sound that soothed Becca’s heart. She watched the crash and retreat. The ebb and flow of water meeting the land and returning from wherever it came from. Donovan walked alongside her in silence.

“When I was sixteen, I got sacked so hard I was unconscious for a couple minutes. And somehow. My ankle took the impact of the fall, and I couldn’t walk off the field. At first, everyone thought I had a concussion and a broken ankle.”

Becca remembered it well. It was all her father talked about for days. If Donovan were benched for any considerable amount of time, their chances of going to state were gone. The team had other players to fill in his position, but none of them had reached the level of maturity of their starting player.

“You brought me a get well soon card and wrote the sweetest note.” He took her hand in his, and they continued traversing the shoreline.

The train of thought eluded her. “It’s funny that you’d remember that.”

“It was the only one.”

“I doubt that. You had girls carrying your books. One went so far as to get your lunch and bring it to the table for you. It was almost ridiculous.”

“Don’t get me wrong. That was nice. What guy wouldn’t want girls fawning all over him? But they were public displays of affection. They were getting as much out of it as I was.” He looked off into the horizon. The sun had fallen low enough to look like it was melting in the water. Slivers of orange changed the color of the coastline. “But you dropped the card off with my grandmother and left. You do that all the time you know.”

She didn’t know.

“You do something to get someone’s attention, and then you shrink away.”

Pinpricks touched her cheeks, and the urge to be anyplace else struck her. “What does this have to do with anything?”

“Nothing. I just remembered wanting to thank you. But every time I got the chance you’d vanish. It was a game of cat and mouse, but there were a lot of other mice there to pull away my attention.”

She pulled her hand away from him to push a hair away from her eye. “This is a crappy way to make up with a person.”

“No, it isn’t. Because I won. You hid, and I still found you and made you mine. We can both pretend that what Monica said matters. But it doesn’t. What matters is those little gestures of kindness over the years stuck. What matters is you trusted me enough to say yes. What really matters is you are here with me. I want you to know this Rebecca Garrison. When I promised to love you, I meant for it to be forever. I will build a bridge over every divide. I will climb mountains to find you.” He placed his hands on her cheeks and kissed her. “And when you stop running, you’ll see that us being together was worth it.” He took her hand in his and resumed walking. 

They walked hand in hand in silence, giving Becca time to consider what he had said. She hoped that Donovan remained her best friend. His ability to stay playful in their adulthood was one of the facets of his personality that kept them together. She didn’t want him to think that because they were married that what they had up to this point in their relationship wasn’t special.

It was almost like he read her mind when he said, “Let’s have a race.”

Becca found herself wondering if she said what she was thinking aloud.

Donovan must have taken her silence as acceptance of the challenge. “We can jog. The first one to stop and walk loses.”

“I don’t know about you and your contests,” Becca answered. “The last time we had a contest I ended up engaged. Next thing you know you’ll be telling me you want to have a baby.”

“That’ll never happen,” Donovan replied.

She smiled softly. “Says the man who said we’d be married after the both of us were forty. I’m thirty-eight.”

“No, I’m serious,” Donovan said. “For my thirty-fifth birthday, I got a vasectomy. There will be no children, accidental or intentional in my future.”

It was going to take time to process that nugget of information. She thought they talked about everything as friends. Apparently, her bestie had all kinds of secrets. Rather than belabor the issue, Becca opted to focus on his intent to reconcile with her. “Okay, loser gets the shower last.” Becca took off jogging before he had time to agree or disagree.

Donovan pulled up alongside her. “That isn’t much of a prize. Shower first.”

Becca kept her pace steady. Jogging with a pair of shoes in her hand altered her balance and required more attention than usual. “It’s the best I had in the current setting.”

“You’re just saying that because you know you’re going to lose,” Donovan goaded her.

“Famous last words,” Becca wasn’t taking his bait. The sun had sunk below the horizon, and the lights from the boardwalk took over for them to see. Even in darkness, the beach had a way of being beautiful. If there wasn’t so much for Becca to see, she might have stopped. But there was more.

Scents of grilled meat came from one of the restaurants on the boardwalk. She wanted to run to the restaurant for a fish taco. But that would mean losing to Donovan.

She slowed down just enough for him to think she was tiring. He didn’t say anything. His smile illuminated by the moon light was enough for her to know he thought he was winning.

Becca put her hand on her waist to fake that she was massaging a cramp. She slowed to an almost walkable jog.

Donovan stopped to ask, “Are you okay?”

Becca returned to her normal pace and turned to jog backwards. She boasted, “I won. You stopped.”

Donovan’s mouth fell open, and he charged in her direction. He was running so fast, Becca squealed and ran toward the water. He curved to follow her. When the water got to knee level, she tried to run back to the shoreline. In a yet another unanticipated turn of events, he crouched and ran into her with his shoulder. The next thing she knew, he had picked up Becca and was striding into the waves. She kicked and squealed to get away, but his grip was firm.

When the water reached his waist, Donovan dropped to his knee and released Becca to fall into the water. The water broke her fall, and she was submerged in a matter of seconds.

Sputtering salty water and pushing her hair out of her face, Becca howled, “What was that for?”

“Now getting in the shower first is a prize,” Donovan teased.

“That is not funny.” Becca splashed water at him.

He flinched. But it was the change in his expression that caught her attention. The next thing she knew, a wave pushed her into Donovan’s arms and knocked them both into the water. They both recovered and ambled to the shoreline. Becca alternated between gasping to catch her breath and spitting out more salty water.

Donovan pointed while laughing at her reaction. “Haven’t you heard? Cheaters never prosper.”

She leaned back to give him a hard look. The salt had given her a bitter stomach. 

He approached her and lowered his face to be even with hers, “You can’t be mad. We’re married.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” she grumbled.

“It means we get to do this,” Donovan pulled her to him and quickly kissed her. Then he stepped closer to her, so their bodies were touching. His voice was ragged with desire when he furthered his explanation. “It means, wife of mine, we get to kiss and make up.”