The Stranger on the Train

Chapter 87: Beach Day

Pov y/n

Two days later it's unexpectedly warm, even warmer than usual around this time of year in LA, so Rose asks me to go to the beach. I agree happily.
Scarlett will join us later when she's done with working.

I carry a basket with water, snacks, beach toys and towels as Rose skips towards the beach next to me.
It's around noon and the sun is really quite warm.
But luckily, the beach isn't very full, only a few people lay in the sand and sun bath, one or two children playing in the sand.

I assume it's because the houses around here are all pretty big and probably expensive, so not a lot of people can afford to live here and the ones that do are all more or less famous, so I'm guessing that there is security at certain parts of the beach, so there won't be a bunch of fans lingering in front of celebrities' houses.
Rose decides on a fitting spot and I put down the basket and get the towels out for us to sit on.

"Look, Mama, a big wave." Rose says and points towards the sea. I look and smile.

"That really is a big wave." I agree and we watch as it breaks and sloshes onto the sand.

"Can we go into the water today?" Rose asks as I sit down on my towel. I look from her to the sea and towards the sky.

"I don't know, Rosie. It's not really that warm and the water is also still kinda cool. We can put our feet in the water and if it's not too cold, we can see if we can do a quick swim, okay?" I offer and Rose thinks about it before agreeing.

I pull my t-shirt over my head and remove the pants since it's pretty warm in the sun, leaving me in a bathing suit. Rose also gets out of her dress. She wears a swimsuit today, that is a little longer and has sleeves that cover her shoulders and a bit of her arms as well as the half of her thighs. Scarlett said it'll keep her warmer in case we decide to take a swim.

We already put sunscreen on, so we don't have to take care of that anymore.
Rose looks inside the basket to see what I brought and with a smile pulls out a bucket and a little shovel.

"Will you build a sandcastle with me?" She asks and I nod, grabbing a bucket and a shovel as well. I was actually hoping to lay around in the sun a little bit but I guess we are building a sandcastle now.

Rose looks for the perfect spot near our towels and starts to shovel sand into her bucket.
Since it doesn't stick, she runs to the ocean and adds a little water to it before turning the bucket around and making the first little tower in the sand.

We spend the next half hour or so with running between the water and the castle, building up higher.
Rose pads down the sides to shape the castle a little while coming up with a story who lives in the castle.

She decides there live two princes together and two princesses. They love each other (the princes each other and the princesses each other) and go on big adventures together.

It makes me smile a lot to hear Rose talking about two boys and two girls loving each other as if it's the most common thing in the world. Which it is but a lot of people have trouble accepting that and here I am with my seven-year-old who makes up a story about two gay couples and I couldn't be prouder.

Once the castle is to Rose's liking, she wants to build them a swimming pool. I have the job to bring water to her while she digs a hole. When it's enough for the royalty to swim in, I pour the water into it and watch as it seeps away.
Rose frowns a little.

"I thought it would stay in the hole." She says and looks unsatisfied to me.

"Well, there's nothing holding it there. Like, in a pool there are walls that keep the water inside." I try to explain.