Jennifer and I go to a Caribbean resort nestled in a small community with secluded beaches. This resort is an all-inclusive kind that tries to encourage vacationers to meet each other, and therefore, has a small dining room where all vacationers have a reserved seat...with others they don't know at the same table. In effect, the resort forces us to eat with other couples in the hopes that we will make new friends and maybe even hang out with other couples (pool...hot tub...social event hosted by the hotel, etc)
We go to a social event the second night we are there and we strike up a conversation with another couple. We hit it off a bit (she's a short gal, like Jennifer and has a real mid-western, down to earth charm), and we mention that we went to the beach that day and it was really crowded. They mention that they know of a beach that is not crowded at all, and the beach itself is quite small, so not a lot of people want to go there anyway. Great for hanging out and a bit of swimming, but horrible for surfing or people watching. You have to walk down a road a bit and take a trail that looks like it goes through someone's backyard to get there, so not that many people know about it. The couple suggests we go check it out tomorrow and they draw directions for us on how to get there.
Jennifer and I sleep in late that next morning. We get some breakfast and decide to head for the beach about 10am. We load some gear into the rental car (folding chair, book, lunch, towels, sunscreen, etc) and head out to try to find this secluded beach we were told about the night before. We drive for about 10 minutes until we find the 'road' (it looks more like an alley or a dirt trail) so we park at the side of the road and decide to leave the gear in the car to see if this really is the place. We walk down the trail and through the wooden gate as instructed. We follow the brick wall for about 100 yards and then the wall opens up onto a small beach with rock outcroppings on both sides. The beach itself is about 100 feet wide and there is nobody there at the moment.
Just what we were looking for. The rocks to the left of the beach jet into the ocean too far to make that side passable any further than the entrance we just came through, but the rocks on the right allow people to walk over them for a few hundred feet. I take a quick walk over the rocks to the right and find another beach a few hundred yards across the rocks. We decide to grab the gear from the car and try to traverse the rocks to get to the even smaller beach on the other side of the rocks. With yesterday's hustle and bustle of people on the public beach, a few hundred feel of traversing rocks to be alone on a beach seems to be well worth the investment.
We almost reach our rental car when we see Jan pulling up in her rental car as well. Although we were looking forward to having the beach to ourselves (if we were by ourselves I may have been able to convince Jennifer to go topless...so that dream was dashed...for today at least...), It was good to see someone that Jennifer hit it off with so well. We also really couldn't complain about Jan and Dave coming to the beach as well. After all, they were the ones that told us where it was, so of course they would be coming...
We grab our gear and wait for Jan and Dave and notice that Dave is not in the car with Jan. Jan starts pulling her bag and beach mat out of the back as I inquire about Dave.
"Working again," Jan concedes. "He comes on these vacations and then never really unplugs. He gets away when he can, but he's hole up in the room today having to finish something for work that of course is due tomorrow."
The way Jan said "of course" made me think that this is not the first time, or even the tenth time, that this has happened...and wouldn't be the last either.
We wander down to the beach, lugging our gear like the tourists we were, and finally get to the end of the wall and the beginning of the beach. It is a gloriously bright day. It was now around 11am and it was already in the 80's. Carrying the heavy stuff, I was already sweating a little bit and the ocean water, although calm due to the rock outcropping cutting into the wave action, looked inviting. I dropped the gear and as I dreamed of swimming right then, Jennifer reminded me that we were planning to go to the other side of the rocks. I dutifully pick up the folding chair and the towels and the bag with lunches and my camera in it and trudge towards the rocks.
"So you two have already found the hidden cove then?" Jan inquires, surprised at how quickly we found the spot on the other side of the rocks
"Yep," Jennifer replies proudly. "We wanted a place out of the main traffic of people and you sure lead us to the right spot."
"You are welcome. I only wish Dave could be here to. He really enjoyed meeting you last night"
"Well, he's missing out," Jennifer cajoles. "It's a beautiful day and he has to miss it."
"He said he might be able to make it later, but I kinda doubt it. Usually if he has to stay and work, he thinks the whole day is ruined and he just decides to work until after dinner at the earliest. We'll see."
We walk over the rocks and arrive at 'the secret cove' as Jan called it. We put our gear down and I unfold the chairs and lay out the beach mats so we have a place to sit and then I go for a quick swim to cool off and enjoy the emerald, calm ocean. Jennifer and Jan decide to stay on shore and get settled in for a day of sunning, reading, relaxing and generally doing absolutely nothing.
I take my t-Shirt off in preparation for a quick swim, Jennifer takes off her outer clothes to get as much sun on her red-bikini clad body as possible, sits in the freshly unfolded chair and begins to rifle through the bag for her book. Jan takes off her shorts to reveal a modest floral-patterned bikini bottom that matches her bikini top that she met us in. She pulls out her phone to check her e-mail, put some music on and to send a text to Dave to let him know that she made it to the beach safe and sound.
When I return from my 5-minute swim in the ocean, Jan is still texting. She would send one and then 30 seconds later she would receive one back which she promptly responds to and then another 30 seconds goes by before her phone vibrates again.
"Dave?" I say in a way that suggest that I text a lot as well. "sounds like he wants to be here instead of working."
"Yup. Dave," Jan says as her thumbs fly in a blur in response to Dave's latest text. She hits send and lays the phone in her lap. It seems almost instantaneously after she lays her phone down that it vibrates again. "If he doesn't stop texting me, he's not going to get any work done," she says to me before she picks up her phone and reads the latest text. "If you don't stop texting me, you will never finish your work," she reads out loud as she types into her phone and clicks the send button with a bit more flair knowing that she now has an audience.
In another few seconds, her phone buzzes again with Dave's response. "Sorry about this, guys," She says, referencing that we are on a beautiful beach and technology is encroaching on the relaxation.
"Not a problem," Jennifer says. "At least you don't have one of those really annoying ringtones. Vibrate is good"
Jan goes back to speedily texting Dave as I towel of and get ready to eat some lunch. It seems that Jan is frustrated or angry about something as she texts Dave. Not that she is fuming or 'harshing the buzz' of the beach or anything, but it seems that she is trying to make a point and Dave is not listening. Yeah...that kind of frustrated. Every time she hits the send button, it seems a bit more emphatic. I can't tell if it's because she doesn't want to be texting all day while she is at the beach, she thinks Dave won't ever finish if he doesn't stop texting her or whether it's the actual subject matter of the text that she is upset about. Whatever the reason is, Dave is annoying her somehow, it seems. She hits send in a way that, if Dave saw it, he would not send a text back, and then she places the phone on her lap like a lady at tea time. She make a 'take that' kind of gesture toward the phone and then places it on the beach mat beside her as a way of putting it out of her mind as she starts to root through her bag for something to eat as well.
No sooner than she had pulled out a 'clamshell' type of Styrofoam container from her bag that screamed leftovers from last night's dinner out than the phone vibrates again. She lets out a sigh of resignation, it seems, she puts her Styrofoam lunch to the other side of her and picks up the phone once more. "Sorry about this, you two," she says as she reads the text on her phone.
"Really, it's not a problem. Is everything OK with Dave?" Jennifer says, reassuring Jan that the texting is not annoying her in the least. "We text each other all the time, so I really don't mind," gesturing to me as she explains.
"Thanks for not being annoyed with our texting, but that's not really what I'm apologizing for," she says as she takes a deep breath and puts the phone down.
"Do you have to go back? Is Dave ok?" Jennifer asks, concerned by the worried look on Jan's face.
"No, Dave's fine. In fact, he's more than fine," she says in a somewhat sarcastic tone. "See, I lost a bet a few months ago and I though he forgot about it, but he says I get to pay up now."
"Ok...," Jennifer asks. "So what is he making you do as a payoff?"
Jan, with a resigned look on her face sighs, and then quickly removes her bikini top and sits before us topless and a little bit resigned to her fate.
"Yep...that's a big payoff," Jennifer says right away.
I look at Jennifer with what must be a stunned look on my face because she looks at me with a face that I have come to realize over the years means a mix of "I don't know so don't ask me" and "That's not my problem so don't bother me with it." I decide not to try to discuss the situation with Jennifer through non-verbal either, and we all fall silent. After a very awkward pause, Jennifer finally breaks the silence with "Ok, so you are going to have to tell us what the bet was."
"Well," Jan begins as I sit down between her and Jennifer so I can look at my wife as she speaks, as the gentleman that I am (or at least try to be) wants to allow Jan's naked breasts to not be ogled by the ONLY guy at the beach. "Dave and I are both kinda competitive, and about a year ago, Dave and I were looking at getting back in shape and we wanted to work together on it, but we couldn't find something we could do together. I like to run and Dave likes to do weights, so we never really did anything together.
"I know," Jennifer interjects. "We are the same way. I like to run and he likes to bike"