Page 10 of Unaware

She spotted me and waved, then got to her feet with a baby on her hip. “Hey, Aria!”

“Hi.” With a shy smile, I approached them. “Having a beach morning?”

“Yeah, we do this a lot. I live right there.” Natalie pointed to a house that backed right onto the beach.

“Wow. Aren’t you worried your house will wash away?”

“No,” Natalie said with a laugh. She craned her neck to look around me. “Are you down here by yourself?”

“Yeah. I felt like going for a morning walk.”

The little girl ran up to us. “We’re making a princess castle. You wanna help?”

I hesitated for a moment. I was a complete stranger. But when Natalie smiled encouragingly, I shrugged. “Sure, why not.”

We all knelt by a couple of stacks of sand.

The little girl looked up at me with bright, hopeful eyes. “Are you a princess?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Of course, she is. Every woman’s a princess, right, Ara?” Natalie insisted.

“Right!” She nodded decisively. “My name’s Arabelle. What’s yours?”

“I’m Aria.”

Arabelle gasped. “You have an ‘A’ name! Youarea princess!”

Natalie and I laughed.

“So, how are you liking Virginia Beach so far?” Natalie asked me.

“It’s beautiful. It’s so relaxed and peaceful.”

“Yeah. We love living on the bay. It’s a great place for the kids to grow up.”

I looked at the little baby trying to scoop the sand with his spade. “And who’s this little one?”

“This is Shane,” Natalie said as she stroked the baby’s fine hair.

“He’s so handsome.”

“Thank you. He’s so much like his daddy. I think he’s going to be a ladies’ man when he’s older. Do you have children?” Natalie smoothed back the baby’s hair.

“No, but I love them.”

“It’ll happen for you one day.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. She didn’t know about my lack of a love life, and you pretty much needed that in order to have children. I mean, was I going to be one of those women who went and got myself artificially inseminated like we did to pedigree show dog champions? Did I honestly want to be a single mother? I didn’t have the time or money for that. I was too busy establishing my career and enjoying the new lifestyle that came along with it, as well as my move. I was making good money, but not sufficient enough to be a single mum in New York City with its exorbitant prices.

“I think I’ll focus on maybe getting a dog and a cat first, as well as work on my career.”

“What do you do?” Natalie asked.

“I’m a veterinarian. I love animals. I grew up on a farm back home, and I hope I can have a hobby farm with all kinds of animals one day. At least then I wouldn’t have to pay vet bills.”

“That’s an awesome dream.”

---