A/N - Kalaloch (pronounced Clay-lock) is an incredible place. I've added a few pictures to my FB group, GemmaH Fanfiction, feel free to come and take a look :)
45
"Beach first?" I ask, unsure of exactly how much she's changed. She's standing beside the car, her hair blowing gently in the breeze and her face lit up.
"Absolutely! Man, I'd forgotten how much I love the sea." She's looking off toward the horizon but hasn't moved. I grab her hand impulsively and tug her along a few feet before I let her go again. She grins up at me infectiously and I can't help laughing at her enthusiasm.
"Come on!" she giggles, walking faster. "You're too slow!" Breaking into a run, she darts between the log cabins that dot the grass and heads straight for the steps at the end. She squeals as the breeze catches her dress and the skirt billows up, clapping her hands down onto it as she moves to try and bring it under control. Laughing, I run to catch up with her.
Izzy reaches the gazebo that stands above the beach before I do. She kneels on the seat, her hands on the railing as she faces the sea with her face angled up and her eyes closed. I stand beside her, mesmerized.
"I actually feel my age for once," she whispers, smiling serenely and breaking the spell.
"Most days I feel around forty-five," I confess.
Opening her eyes, she catches me watching her. When I look away, I feel an unexpected blush creeping across my face, knocking at least thirty years off the age I just quoted.
"Well you don't look it," she says, grinning happily at me as she stands up. "Come on." She's out of the gazebo again and running lightly down the wide steps that lead to the beach. Shaking my head at her giddiness, I follow her slowly, content to hang back and watch her for a while.
Eventually she pauses on the driftwood-strewn sand to wait for me to catch up.
"I'd forgotten how pre-historic this place looks," she says as we look around. Most of the tree branches and trunks lie here after falling in the forest and being washed down the rivers, out to sea and back in again. They're bleached and beaten by the surf until they look like they're made of bone, not wood.
"It's pretty incredible," I agree.
"Jimmy would love it here," she says as she climbs up onto a long length of discarded trunk and begins to walk along it. She wobbles and takes a moment to balance again.
"Here," I say, offering my hand. Her warm fingers wrap carefully around mine without hesitation, and I walk beside her on the sand, until at the end she peers down tentatively. The trunk is wider at this end, and she's higher than when she started.
"Let me help." Standing in front of her, I reach up and hold onto her waist with both hands, steadying her as she jumps down.
"Thanks." She looks up at me.
"You're welcome."
Izzy smiles shyly and ducks her head and I realize I'm still holding on to her.
"Sorry." I let my hands drop and take a step back.
"Baby-steps, Edward," she says as she turns away.
~S~