Just Visiting

The sand was more wet today than it normally is, the storm was making it’s way down the coast. Dill walked a few feet behind me.
“Ariana, we’ve wandered far enough. Can we please go back now?” he pleaded.
Dill was my cousin, a bit overweight, large cheeks, your typical blonde hair and blue eyed American boy.
“Come on, Dillard.” I said “Annalise, told me this beach has some of the best sea glass.”
Dill stopped and looked at me, from my auburn-cinnamon head to my dark green rain boots on my feet.
“Ar, you barely know the area,” he said just as a few clouds broke and sun shone down on the beach.
“So? I used to come here all the time!” I said leaning down examining green sea glass.
“When you were six!” he said. “It’s almost time for your father’s dinner too!”
I stopped dead in my tracks, my eyes widened, and I threw all the sea glass in my satchel.
“That’s today!” I said turning around. Dill laughed at me. I grabbed his hand and ran in the direction of our house on the sea.

~*~

My father is a General in the U.S. Army that loves to entertain every chance he can. He was married three times and out of those three marriages he had four daughters. Annalise is 20, she’s at Princeton; the twins are Avery and Abby they are 18, they just graduated private school and are both going to Stanford in the fall; then there is me, Ariana, I’m 16.
Each of my father’s wives gave him his children. His last wife, my mother, passed shortly after she had me. Since then, he hasn’t even thought of marrying. His focus shifted to his daughters. We tended to be his pride and joy. He tried not to move us around too much and only keeping up in private education.
The beach house is much more than a house. It has been in our family since the twenties. It has rooms beyond rooms in it and enough windows to take up the wall space.
My father didn’t come here much because it was my mother’s favorite place.
So in the spirits of returning, my father decided it was the perfect time to host a party to announce that we would be hunkering down for the summer.
I was late though.
Dill went off to his room to get changed and I ran to mine. My hair is too long to do anything but yank a brush through. Annalise had my dress hanging in my closet. I picked it up and let the fabric rest between my fingers. The top was lavender and the bottom was almost as blue as a robins egg.
By the time I was finished, I ran downstairs and everyone was moving around with their champagne flutes in hand. You could breathe in all the couture in the room doused in Chanel No. 5.
Annalise came over to me, her blonde piled in an intricate updo.
“Arianna, you couldn’t have done anything to your hair?” she said in a harsh whisper.
“I was on that beach. The one you told me about with the sea glass,” I shrugged grabbing a glass of champagne from a waiter.
She pursed her perfect lips at me, her cheek bones prominent. Annalise had to be the most gorgeous one of us all.
“Daddy has been looking for you,” she told me. “He is in the dining room.” she said.
“Okay, where is Dill?” I asked.
“He’s over by the food,” she said to me before her lips concocted into a smile and she went over to some girls who looked between my age and her age.
I walked through the crowds of people and saw Dill with a plate of h’orderves. His mother came up before him and looked down at the plate and back up at him displeased. My father’s sister can be a bit of a tough cookie to crack but Dill handled her well. She’s been bitter since her husband left her for his secretary, tragically cliche, but true.
I turned down the long hall and smiled at people. I found my father in a group of men in his uniform, cheerful and glass in hand of scotch. He caught sight of me and smiled.
“Arianna, what a pleasure!” he said as I walked over. “Gentleman this is my youngest, Arianna,” he said to them. He introduced me to CEO’s and army officials and old money.
“Arianna is my little adventurer, always getting her nose into something.” he told people.
They all smiled. Nobody was my age within the room, Dill disappeared.
After some people walked away and it was just him and I he spoke, “Why were you late Arianna?”
“I was on the beach, the one north of here,” I told him.
“I told you not to wander,” he whispered.
“I know, I know. But Dill was with me,” I pleaded.
His face turned into a laughter, “With Dill as your only protection,” he said cynically.
“Daddy,” I pleaded again.
He put his arm around me and kissed my head. “Go have fun, dinner will be served soon,” He smiled and I walked toward the terrace. The sun was setting, gold and orange mingled in the sky.
I looked down at the beach below under the marble terrace and saw him. He had long brown hair, tanned skin, and he wore a v-neck, jeans, and a hoodie. He was playing with a fluffy dog.
“Come here, boy,” he said and then squatted down to pet the dog.
I found myself watching him play with the dog for a few moments. Then he turned and looked up at me, his blue eyes pierced into me and I turned and looked away. He smiled and I blushed.
He opened his mouth and said “hi” but Dill came beside me.
“Dinner is served,” he said to me in a corny french accent. I laughed and looked over at him. He reminded me of my dad in a teenage form. I looked back down at the beach, but the boy was gone. So we headed to the table, the long table of snooty old people who talked and laughed like they found everything funny. It was probably the wine.