Sarah returned a half an hour later, a soft sided case in her hand. Her mother simply raised an eyebrow at her in question, "What?" She protested the look, "I have to practice, the season opening is in just over a month."
The look on her mother's face said she wasn't buying what her daughter was trying to sell but wasn't going to say anything either. Emma couldn't help but smile at the defiant look on her daughter's face as the younger woman opened the case and pulled out her practice instrument, quietly checking the tuning, before pulling out her bow and quietly beginning to play a beautiful melody. If her daughter had been much younger, she could imagine her sticking her tongue out at her as she played. The image causing Emma to chuckle as she listened to her daughter play.
Chuck awoke, stretching slowly so as to not awaken Clara if she was still sleeping. Opening his eyes a slit, he realized that Clara was no longer curled up against his side. He sat up and looked out over the beach to see his sister, brother-in-law, and niece chasing each other through the surf as they laughed. He smiled at them and waved when they waved to him, before standing, picking up his guitar case and ambling over to a bench that sat along the jogging path.
He laid his case on the ground in front of and just to the right of where he sat and pulled out his guitar. He played for a while, alternating between current pop tunes, older favorites, and a melody he had come up with that he always had thought of as 'her song.' Every once in a while, a passerby would stop, listen for a moment, then drop a few coins or bills in his case before continuing on. He didn't know how long he'd played but just as he'd finished a tune and was about to start another, he sensed someone sit beside him.
He saw toes that had been painted a bright red in a pair of black thong sandals, a long leg sticking out from beneath a wrap, and a glimpse of skin between the wrap and a black top. That was all the further he'd gotten when he heard the first notes of 'Dueling Banjos,' but played on a violin. Without stopping to think, he immediately played the response, the violinist played the next set, and he followed, they went back and forth a couple more times before he got the courage to turn toward his new partner in musical crime.
The deep blue eyes that met his nearly took his breath away. The smile on his face grew as he saw the mischievous grin on the young woman's face.
"Jenny?" He gasped, recognizing the woman who had haunted his hazy memories and dreams for the past 10 years. He couldn't believe he'd found her again after losing her all those years ago.
"Hi Charlie," She smiled warmly at him, "It's good to see you again."
Chuck sat in awestruck wonder as he took all of her in. Her once short, frizzy, dirty blonde, hair was now longer, long enough that it fell in rich golden waves past her shoulders from the ponytail she had bound it back in. Her eyes were still the ever shifting, mesmerizing, blue that his memory was bringing into sharp relief. Her face was a little thinner, her lips were still the same shade of kissable dusky rose they had been when they were younger, her smile revealed the perfectly straight teeth thanks to the braces she'd once worn.
Her body had filled out a little since they'd last met, but in the most pleasant of ways. She had been slim back then, but her body had softened a bit as her curves filled in. Chuck tried not to stare at the swell of her breasts beneath her halter bikini top. The ripple of her abs could be seen just faintly beneath the skin of her torso where it dipped below the tie of her wrap. He'd noticed earlier that her hips had also gotten a little fuller. He assumed many of the changes he'd noticed had to do with the little girl he'd seen her playing with along the beach. It was the same types of changes anyone who had known his sister, before and after she'd had Clara, had seen occur nearly five years before.
"You look, wow," Chuck stammered, "You are more beautiful than I remembered."
"You don't look half bad, yourself, Charlie," She grinned at him, an appreciative glance taking him in from his sexily rumpled curls, to the bit of stubble he sported on his cheeks. His shoulders were broader and even with his shirt on, she could see the muscle definition along his arms, chest, and stomach. The combination of playing in the sun just an hour or so before combined with the humidity of the ocean air causing the fabric of his shirt to cling to him. His legs were likewise muscular, like that of a swimmer or a runner, and on his feet were his ever-present Chucks. "I'd say you grew up quite nicely."
"Thank you," Chuck blushed at the compliment, "But you should know, folks around here call me Chuck."
"I go by Sarah now," She gave a small shrug, "Long story, I'll tell you later."
"Okay," Chuck nodded, "So you wanna try again for old time's sake?"
"I'd love to," She smiled up at him, "Shall I start?"
"It's all you, Baby," Chuck gave her a flirty smile as she lifted the violin and bow up and began to play an upbeat tempo which caused Chuck to throw his head back and let out a laugh.
"Alright, this is how you want to play it?" He teased her, only to get a flirtatious wink back, "Fine, we'll play it your way. Devil went down to Cali, he was looking for a soul to steal…"
By the time their version of 'Devil Went Down to Georgia' had finished, a small crowd had gathered in front of them. So that they could be seen by everyone there, they stood, Chuck assisted Sarah as she stepped up on the bench before following her up. He could see his sister and brother-in-law along with Clara, who was sitting on her father's shoulders, staring in amazement over the heads of the others gathered there as Sarah played the first verse of 'Hallelujah,' as a prelude. Just as before, Chuck joined in and began singing from the top, which drew even more on lookers.
To his left, he saw an older woman, a blond toddler held in her arms approach and point towards Sarah. The toddler grinned and clapped, which caused Sarah to smile. Chuck knew this had to be Sarah's mother and daughter. As they had done all those years ago on the beach in San Diego, they both dropped out while Chuck sang the last verse and chorus acapella.
The crowd broke into cheers and applause as they took each other's hand and bowed to the audience who had accumulated. While he still held her hand, Chuck jumped down from the bench and assisted her down from her perch. He kissed her hand and waited until she was nearly all the way back to her mother and daughter before hopping back up on the bench and playing the opening lines to 'Your Song.'
He saw her eyes widen and a blush rise up from her chest to color her cheeks as she listened to him sing. His eyes never left hers as he continued to sing directly to her as if they were the only two people on the beach. When he got to the section regarding her eyes, he belted the line out, causing the crowd to cheer their applause. As he drew closer to the end, he noticed she had begun to migrate back toward him, her violin long since having been passed to her mother. He stepped down from the bench and walked toward her, singing the last verse, by the time he got to the ending lines, he'd pushed his guitar around on the strap so the body of his instrument lay against his back. He took both her hands in his as he sang, "I hope you don't mind; I hope you don't mind, that I put down in words. How wonderful life is, now you're in the world…" The crowd went wild as he dipped his head to capture her lips, unaware of the clicking of camera phones or the shocked look on their families' faces.
"You're insane, you know that, right?" Sarah laughed as she watched Chuck collect the money that had accumulated in his case and put his guitar away.
"I've heard rumors," He shrugged, sipping the case closed and looping the strap over his shoulder. When the crowd had started to dissipate, realizing the impromptu show was over, Sarah's mom had handed Molly to her and let her know she was going to put the violin away. Molly now sat propped on Sarah's hip as she walked alongside Chuck. "But it was worth it, I figured if we part ways again, this way you won't forget me."
"Chuck," Sarah paused, grabbing his hand to turn him back toward her, "I never forgot you. I'm sorry we lost touch, shortly after we parted ways, a series of unfortunate events occurred that resulted in me losing your contact information."
"Sarah," Chuck sighed, "It's okay, I can understand if you moved on, which you clearly did," He motioned toward the little girl in her arms. "I tried to, too, but it didn't exactly work out as well for me."
"Didn't work out so well for me either," Sarah gave him a sad smile, "I'd like to explain it all to you, if you want to hear it."
"I'd like that," Chuck gave her a small smile, "I'd actually like that a lot. Why don't we make a date of it?" He suggested, "Tomorrow night, maybe?"
"Tomorrow night won't work," Sarah shook her head, "I have to work early on Monday." When she saw the sad look on Chuck's face, she amended the statement, "But I'm available for lunch."
The smile on his face could have lit up the beach if the sun wasn't still shining down on them, "I can do lunch. If you give me your address, I can pick you up say around 12:30?"
"Do you have your cellphone with you?" She inquired.
"I think it's on my blanket," He cast his eyes about looking toward where he thought the blanket had been, but it was now just a blank space. He kept looking until he heard Sarah laughing. "What?"
"Um," She pointed to where her blanket was set up, another blanket and umbrella had been moved next to it. A group of three adults, an older woman and a young couple, accompanied by a five-year-old girl with sandy blond hair stood waving at them from their joint set up.
"Oh boy," Chuck groaned, "I see Ellie and Awesome found your mom."
"Or my mom found them and invited them over," Sarah chuckled, shaking her head, "She's been trying to set me up since I moved back to LA. My last relationship was kind of a disaster." When Chuck gave her a curious look, she continued, "It's kind of an extension of the long story."
Chuck nodded in understanding, "Alright, so the way I see it, we have two options, we can cut and run, or we can walk over there and endure whatever torture they've devised for us in the past 15 minutes."
"Well, we're kinda living with my mom right now," Sarah gave a small shrug, "So at some point I have to go back to change my clothes."
"I kinda like what you're wearing right now," Chuck grinned, letting his eyes sweep over her from head to toes and up again.
"Be that as it may," She rolled her eyes at his antics, "at some point it's gonna get a little chilly to be running around in nothing but a bathing suit, wrap, and sandals."
"Point taken," Chuck nodded, "So, suck it up and get on with it?"
"I think that's the only way through," Sarah agreed, squeezing his right hand in her left.
"Let's do this," Chuck nodded, a determined look on his face. Sarah couldn't help but laugh at him as they made their way toward their families to endure the next round of 20,000 questions and, more importantly, exchange contact info in preparation for their date the next day.
As it turned out, Emma already knew Ellie and Devon from the hospital where they all worked. Emma had met both of them as they had been called into the pediatric ward where she worked to consult on a few of her patients. As Chuck and Sarah later found out, before their beach trip, Emma and Ellie had already been scheming up a way to introduce them, much to Devon's protest. Thankfully, for them, their randomly mutual beach trips had removed any preconceived plans, allowing Chuck and Sarah to meet, or actually, reconnect naturally.
