Pre-Onward One-Shots

The Beach

Chapter 5: The Beach

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Barley dashed to the kitchen, all suit up in his red swim trunks, with a shining grin on his round face.

"I'm all ready for the beach!" he announced, throwing his hands up in the air.

His parents, who were making lunch for the picnic at the beach, whipped their heads to the little boy.

Laurel giggled. "That was quick. You're ready to hop in the car, huh?"

"Yeah! I wanna go hit the waves!"

His father chuckled. "Hold on there, kiddo. Your mother and I aren't quite set yet."

"We'll go in a little bit," his mother said. "We need to finish making lunch, and we need to pack the picnic basket."

"How long will that take?" Barley asked impatiently.

"It won't take too long, son," Wilden answered. "Now, run along outside and play. We'll tell you when we are done." He poked his son's belly.

Barley laughed. "Okay, Daddy!" He took himself to the backyard.

Wilden packed the sealed plate of chocolate chip cookies in the basket. "I'm so glad we had enough ingredients to make these."

"Yeah. Otherwise, we'd have no dessert, and our son would not be happy with that," his wife said.

"A fit won't be exactly pleasant on this trip," Wilden chuckled, containing the basket with some napkins.

Wilden examined Laurel from her head to her feet, admiring her gorgeous outfit, which was a yellow beach dress. "Have I mentioned that you look beautiful today?"

His wife smiled. "Oh, Willy, you're too kind. You don't look bad yourself with your Willowdale College sweatshirt." She pointed her finger at it.

Wilden's eyes twinkled as she mentioned his sweatshirt. "I haven't worn this in a while. Today's the perfect day to wear it."

Laurel's face softened and delicately touched the valued sweatshirt. "Do you miss college?"

The man laughed quietly, remembering all the amazing times he had witnessed there. "College was such a blast; I had a lot of fun memories at that place, and I made great friends, especially Gaxton." He paused for a second to chuckle at the thought of his best friend. "I'm so glad I got to experience college life. I will always look back on those days. I'm hoping Barley and Ian will too when they grow up." He rested his right hand on Laurel's globular stomach.

Laurel looked down to where her unborn child lay and smiled lovingly. "Hopefully, they'll choose to go to the same one you went to."

"Yeah," Wilden said, putting the final contents in the picnic basket. "Alright! Looks like we're done here!"

"Are you ready for the beach, honey?" Laurel inquired.

"You bet I am!" Wilden exclaimed.

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The Lightfoot family arrived at the beach. The drive wasn't long; it only took about twenty minutes to get there. It was full of people but not entirely packed. Many were swimming in the water and relaxing on the shore. Some were playing volleyball, and others (mostly children) were building sandcastles. The lively area boosted Barley's excitement level to maximum. He could hardly stay still.