“Thank you for all your help. I will stop back with my friends later when they figure out what they want to do tomorrow.”
“Alex,” he calls my name as I’m walking away with the papers and the Lovers Beach brochure. “Please don’t go over there alone.”
I glance down at my watch. “Lincoln, I’m running up to my room and heading to the beach to take a quick gander. I’ll be back before sunset. Nothing to worry about. I appreciate your warning.”
I’m not stupid. He just wants me to hire him to escort me to the tourist trap.
I use the bathroom in our room in case the girls come looking for me. I want them to see I moved a few things around on the sink so they know I was here. With the drinks pouring through them though, I’ll be an afterthought a half hour from now.
I study the map on the brochure as I cross the beach and head toward the rocks that connect this inlet to the Lovers Beach inlet. I used to hike with my parents up in New Hampshire when I was a kid, and these rocks don’t look too daunting from here. In fact, I reach the peak within five minutes, noticing it’s the same distance down to Lovers Beach as it was for me to reach this area.
With careful steps, I descend the rock gorges, making it down to the empty beach. The view is beautiful as it was in the photographs on the brochure. There’s nothing but silence and salty ocean air. Knowing I have a few minutes to take in the breathtaking scene, I take a seat on the bottom rock, kick off my shoes and curl my knees in my chest.
I’m single on Lovers Beach. The irony stings.
There’s more irony than that though. It’s called Lover’s beach, but there isn’t much sand here. The photo made it look like there was an entire beach sprawled out in front of the rock formation, but I could only walk a few feet forward before hitting the water. The waves look a little a crazy anyway, so I’m good right here.
I lean back into my hands, allowing the hot sun to warm me from the outside and down to my core. I need to let my jealousy go. I’ve never been a jealous person. I’ve also never been the type of person who needs a man to make me happy. Macy is the same way, but now that I’ve seemingly lost her to the sunny side, I have the feeling I’m missing something.
My free few minutes come and go, and I know it’s time to head back to the main beach so Macy and Grace don’t go looking for me. They’re probably still gushing about their men, anyway. God knows Grace can go on and on about Rex.
Just let it go, I tell myself again.
As I take my first step over the peak, I notice the tide has come in very quickly and search for the area of sand I came over on, but all I see are rocks.
Rocks, and seven-foot-high crashing waves.
Shit.
I watch and wait a few minutes, making my way down a few more rocks to get as close as I can to make a run for it when the tide goes back out, but I find myself moving backward as the tide continues to move in.
I’m stuck.
I close my eyes and pull in a deep breath, trying to avoid freaking out. If the tide came in quickly, I’m sure it will go out just as fast. It must.
Except the water keeps rising on the side of the beach I need to get back to; the tide is closing me into an inlet barricaded by boulders.
Without a clue of what to do, I climb back up to the top, settling myself on a rock, officially panicking. I pull my phone out of my back pocket and try to pull up Google.
I didn’t get the international plan on my phone like I was supposed to. I completely forgot. I don’t have any sort of signal, even if I were to pay a million dollars in charges.
I’m truly stuck. Grace and Macy are going to kill me, if I don’t get killed up here on my own.
“I was hoping you’d listen,” I hear from behind a rock just slightly above where I’m sitting. His hand reaches around the rock, but I don’t see his face until I offer him my hand in return. Lincoln from the concierge desk.
“You didn’t mention I would get stuck up here. You could have spit those words out at any point, don’t
you think?”
“You seemed hell-bent on coming,” he says.
“That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” I ask him, not worried about hiding my infuriation.
“Actually, no. I come up here every night. It’s the best time to unwind in solitude.”
“You told me I could make back within a half hour,” I remind him.
“You could have if you only took a half hour from when we were talking. It’s been forty minutes since then. The tide moves in fast here.”