Trying to see what was wrong, I bent over. “Stay still, stop jumping around!” I yelled out.
Then I saw what was wrong. In that moment I felt something hit my foot and I screamed bloody murder. “Crab. Holy shit you have a crab on your toe.”
I began jumping as I tried to look around. The sun was rising and I was able to see around my feet.
“Why are you jumping? It’s on my foot!”
Tristan began trying to shake the crab off of his foot as I busted out laughing.
“Ryn! It’s not funny. Get it off.”
Tristan started hitting the crab with our bottle. “Stop! Our bottle. Are you insane? You’ll bust our bottle!”
“It hurts. Ryn, grab it. Get it off!”
Taking a step back, I looked at the giant crab gripping onto Tristan’s toe. There was no way I was touching that thing. “Hit it with the bottle. Just hit it with the bottle!”
Tristan held up the bottle and was about to swing when the crab let go and scurried off.
Jumping up and down, I began yelling out. “Yay! He let go!”
Tristan dropped to the ground as I continued to celebrate. Looking at me, he wore a frustrated expression. “Um . . . I’m in pain here, Ryn.”
Flopping down in front of him, I grabbed his face and planted a kiss on his lips. Pulling back, I spoke against his lips. “You saved our bottle. My hero.”
Smiling, he pushed me back and put most of his weight on me as he kissed me. The waves came in and barely washed up around us as our tongues found the perfect rhythm.
“Get a room!” someone said as I saw three sets of running shoes pass us by. Looking up Tristan yelled, “Hey! We are newly engaged! Give us a break.”
The jogger must have turned and faced back to us as he shouted, “All the more reason to get a room!”
Laughing, Tristan shook his head as I chuckled. “Are you ready, baby?”
Smiling, I said, “I’ve never been more ready.”
Tristan stood and then helped me up. Looking out over the water, he asked, “Do you want to throw it or me?”
“No, you throw it. I won’t be able to throw it that far and I don’t want it washing back up.”
Tristan raised his arm and was about to throw it when I yelled, “Wait!”
“What?”
“Maybe you should go out a little further and then throw it.”
Tristan furrowed his brow and then looked out over the water. He probed the water as the expression on his face turned serious. “You want me . . . to go out into the water . . . where the crab is?”
Attempting to hold back my laughter, I nodded my head. “Uh huh. Yeah, just walk waist deep in . . . and toss it.”
Lifting his chin and perking up his shoulders, Tristan nodded his head. “I’ve got this.”
Slapping his back a few times I said, “Of course you do, baby.”
“Yeah.” Taking a step into the water, Tristan paused. Glancing over his shoulder at me, he gave me a weary smile. Using my hands, I prompted him on in a shooing manner.
“Go on. You’ve got this.”
Slowly making his way into the water, he walked until he was waist deep. “Perfect! Baby, throw it as hard as you can.”
Tristan screamed and jumped. And when I say screamed, he girly screamed. Reaching back with his arm he threw that bottle as hard and as far as he could. I smiled as I watched it soar through the air.
Jumping, I let out a victory call.
The next thing I knew Tristan was running out of the water as fast as he could. “Fucking crab! I’m never gonna be able to swim in the ocean again.”
Stomping off toward the house, I turned and watched as the sun’s rays danced across the ocean waves. I’d never felt so happy and so at peace. This was it. The start of our new life together. Looking down at my beautiful ring, I let the one lone tear fall.
There was no doubting it. Our love was undeniable.
It had been three weeks since Tristan had asked me to marry him. I had called my mother and told her the news that I was getting married. The call lasted ten minutes and eight of those were her telling me how I was making another mistake in my life. Why I even bothered, I’ll never know.
Pulling up to the house, my stomach did all kinds of crazy flip-flops. Tristan had busted his ass when we came back from the beach and our house was now finished. We had done the walk-through a few days ago, closed on it yesterday afternoon, then came back and made love in almost every room of the house. There was one room Tristan kept locked the entire time. I knew what the room was, but it was kind of funny watching Tristan squirm around it when his mother or father would ask why that door was locked and why they couldn’t see it.