Shared On Vacation

Claire and Daniel booked the coast for the weather. A few days of sun, a balcony over the water, nothing that needed a decision. The beach on the list did not mention the sign at the end of the path. The one that made it very clear, CLOTHING OPTIONAL.

They stay. By afternoon they are no longer the only couple on that stretch of sand, and the pair who take the chairs beside them are not shy about the invitation that follows. A birthday. A rented house. A barbecue, if they are free.

They tell each other they can leave. They do not leave.

What happens in the hot tub is not a story they have told before, and not one they can untell. As Claire experienced things she'd never experienced before, Daniel was beside her the whole time. That is the part Claire cannot stop turning over on the flight home, long after the house, the gate, and the man at the head of the table are behind them.