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glancing at her face on
several occasions, and then down at their entwined hands.  Was he feeling the
same shock of awareness?
     Or were they both simply overworked and tired
and caught up in a shared misadventure, and as such, feeling dependent on one
another? 
    As they reached the end of the pier, he released
her hand and strode to the side, in order to get a view of the sandy beach
below.  Amanda felt the warm imprint on her skin, long after he’d released her
hand.
    When he didn’t spot the elderly couple, Brady
crossed to the other side.  Amanda joined him this time and scanned the sand
below.  There was no sign of their grandparents.
    “Well, it’s like you said, they’re not here,”
Brady acknowledged.
    Suddenly, their phones buzzed in unison. 
“You’ve stopped and smelled the roses, eaten ice cream together, and now it’s
time for a stroll along the beach,” Amanda read aloud, and then shook her
head.  “This is getting ridiculous.”  She checked her watch.  “It’s almost
lunch time, and I really need to get back to work.”
    Brady nodded in agreement as he glanced around
them.  He turned back to her and caught her gaze.  “I’m thinking we’d better
take that walk.  Maybe if we follow their directives, they’ll end this
silliness so we can get back to work.”
    “Okay,” she said resignedly.  “I hope you’re
right.”
    They turned and began walking back along the
pier and to the sidewalk.  From there, they walked several hundred feet to a
wooden stairway leading to the sandy beach below.  Both shed their shoes when
they reached the base of the stairs, since neither was actually dressed for a
stroll along the sidewalk, let alone along the beach.
    Brady reached for her hand again and they strode
to the hard-packed sand near the breaking waves and began walking.  The wind
picked up, and there was a definite chill in the air.  Brady brought them to
pause and slipped out of his coat.  He passed it to her.
    “Oh, thanks, but I’m fine.”
    “No, you’re not,” he said firmly, and then
quirked a smile.  “You’ll catch a cold and then I’ll be stuck trying to find
our delinquent grandparents on my own.”
    She laughed.  “Well, I’d like to think this
misadventure will end today.”
    “I don’t know…” he muttered, glancing around. 
“Something tells me we’re in for a wild ride.”
    “Do you really think so?” Amanda said worriedly,
and felt a gust of wind blow into her right ear.  She raised her hand to cover
it.  “I mean, of course they’re going to go back to the home tonight, right?”
    “We can hope,” he said.  “We can only hope.”
     He reached for her hand and they resumed their
stroll along the beach.  They were both silent for several moments.  Amanda
broke the silence.  “It really is beautiful down here,” she said, glancing out
over the breaking waves.  “The water is especially blue today.”
    He nodded.  “I haven’t been here for so long.” 
He gave a laugh.  “It seems ridiculous, not having been here for awhile, when I
live so close.”
    “How long has it been?” she asked.
    “Several years, actually,” he admitted.  “When I
got out of the service…”
    “You were in the military?” she cut in, and then
smiled self-consciously.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
    “It’s okay, and yes, I was an army officer,
until a year and a half ago.  I did a ten-year stint, considered making a
career of it, but decided to get out in order to start my own security
company.”
    “Is that the kind of work you did in the
service?”
    He gave a non-committal smile.
    “You can’t talk about it?” she said, watching
him speculatively. 
    He nodded in response.  “I can only say that my
particular skill set, learned in the service, serves me well in my current line
of work.”
    “How’s the particular ‘skill-set’ working for
ya, as far as finding our grandparents?”  She chuckled at his