"Is this a good spot?" David asked, tired from lugging the canvas bag full of towels, snacks and water bottles through the hot sand.
"This is perfect," said Lynn as she pulled her long blonde hair back into a ponytail. David set the bag down and Lynn grabbed the green and blue striped blanket off the top. Shaking it out, she laid it down on the sand setting her flip flops in one corner to keep it from blowing away.
"It's so nice out here, I can't believe I've never been to this beach before," she commented to David as she pulled off her swimsuit cover-up.
"It's not easy to see from the main road. I found it by mistake one night when I got lost driving home from a friend's house."
"Well I'm glad you did," Lynn said, snuggling up to David as he sat down next to her. "It's the perfect spot for our second date."
"And I brought the perfect second date snack," David told her, reaching his hand into the beach bag. Lynn looked at him in anticipation.
"What's wrong?" she asked, as the look on his face went from pleased to concerned.
"I think I left the snack at home. It was going to be so good too," David said with a sigh.
"Well it's ok," Lynn said, leaning over David's lap to reach the bag. "I brought some gummy worms."
"That is quite the healthy snack isn't it?" David said with a laugh. Lynn tore the bag open and shoved a red worm into her date's mouth.
"Maybe not but at least I remembered to bring my snack," she teased. David grabbed a green worm and twirled it between his fingers.
"Fair enough," he conceded.
Twenty minutes and a bag of gummy worms later, Lynn and David laid on their green and blue striped beach towel soaking up the sun.
"I love your freckles," David said, turning his head to notice the little brown dots sprinkled over Lynn's face.
"Thanks," she said blushing slightly. "I've always been a little self conscious about them." '
"Well I think they're beautiful. All of you is beautiful," David told her, reaching down to clasp her hand in his.
"I would be honored to have dinner tonight with such a pretty girl."
Lynn laughed and turned her head to face his.
"Does that line work for you?" she asked.
"You tell me."
"Well I am pretty full from those gummy worms, but I think I might have enough room for dinner," Lynn answered. She rolled over onto her stomach and stuck her feet in the air.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Where would you like to go?" David asked, looking up at Lynn's excited face.
"There's a great pasta place on Turner Street called Al Dente. I've only been there once and the food was delicious."
"I went there one time with some friends and the food was really good. I'd love to take you there. But we should probably make a reservation. It's always busy at dinner time."
"Sure thing, you can use my phone," Lynn offered, grabbing it out of the beach bag. She looked at the screen and frowned.
"No service here. But I remember I sent a text when we were in the parking lot and it went through."
"Well I'll go call them from the parking lot then," David offered, taking Lynn's phone and hopping to his feet.
"And when I get back we will build the best sand castle this beach has ever seen."
"That sounds great," Lynn said, slipping on her sunglasses and sitting up to watch the waves as David made his way to the parking lot.
A moment later, Lynn noticed something moving next to her blanket. Looking closer she saw it was a light brown crab that had popped up out of the sand.
"Ick," she said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "Crabs are gross, go away." She scooped up some sand and tossed it at the crab.
"Well that's quite rude," the crab retorted, taking a step closer to the blanket.
"It's not rude, it's true. Your eyes look like they're just floating above your head and you run all crooked and sideways."
"And I'm sure you look just like a graceful gazelle when you run," the crab shot back, rolling his floating eyes.
"Just go away," Lynn said, tossing more sand at the crab. "I just wanna lay here and tan and not have to look at you."
"To be fair, I was here first. You and your boyfriend kind of just crashed my front yard."
"He's not my boyfriend," Lynn corrected the crab. "And maybe you were here first but I am bigger so you have to do what I say."
"Begging your pardon miss, but I don't."
"Well I'm just going to keep tossing sand at you till you leave," Lynn threatened, scooping up more sand and throwing it at the crab.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the crab warned. "You're really testing my patience."
"Ha, and what are you going to do about it?" Lynn wanted to know, still flinging sand.
"Well I can't do very much by myself. But with a little help from my friends..."
The crab let his sentence trail off and watched the look on Lynn's face change from gleeful to frightened as the sand around her began to move and dozens of seemingly floating eyes peeked out.
"What is happening?" Lynn asked nervously, as the crabs emerged from the sand and began to scuttle toward her. The crab let out a malicious cackle.
"You threw sand at the wrong crustacean, that's what. And now you will pay."
David hung up the phone, pleased with himself for getting a reservation at a table by the window. This would be the first time he'd taken Lynn to dinner and he wanted everything to be perfect. He would wear the new shirt he had bought over the weekend and spray on the cologne of his that she seemed to like.
Making his way back across the sand, he scanned the beach for Lynn but could not find her. The blanket and the basket were where he had left them but she had disappeared.
"Lynn?" he called, turning around in a circle.
"Lynn? Where are you? Are we playing a game?"
He walked toward the water, a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach. Had she tried to go for a swim and got caught in a tide? But he saw no sign of her in the waves.
With a sigh he walked back to the blanket and flopped down. Maybe she really did not like him after all and had changed her mind about dinner.
"She must hate me a lot to run away and leave her phone," David said out loud, setting Lynn's phone on the blanket.
Suddenly he heard a tiny voice talking to him from the sand.
"Perhaps I can be of some assistance," it said. David looked down and saw a little crab.
"Did you see where she went?" he asked, hopeful.
The crab smiled evilly. "I did indeed, sir."
"Well where is she? Is she alright?"
The crab shrugged.
"That mostly depends on you at this point," he replied. "Tell me, how fast are you at digging?"
