Charleston is the city nearest the island setting of BB Easton and Ken Easton’s anniversary vacation. The trip links a family holiday with an attempted return to intimacy: the couple rent a house near the city, arrange help with their children, and pursue a private encounter on the beach that does not go as planned.

Setting and Visit

BB Easton notes that her birthday, Ken Easton’s birthday, and their anniversary fall in the same week, so the couple take that week off each year to travel. For the vacation described, they rent a small house on an island near Charleston. Because they have two young children, Ken’s parents join them to help with childcare and make an anniversary date possible. The city is also part of the trip’s itinerary: after an evening meal at an Italian restaurant in downtown Charleston, BB and Ken return to the rented house and wait until it is dark before slipping out for another walk.

The Beach and the Attempt

During the stay, the couple establish an afternoon routine of putting the children down for naps and walking along the beach together. When they consider having sex outdoors, they search for a suitable place and reject a ditch before agreeing on a smooth patch of sand beneath a wooden walkway that extends onto the beach. Ken proposes a later walk and suggests stashing towels there; BB plans to wear a dress for convenience. After dinner, they wait until the children are in bed and their conversation with Ken’s parents has ended before making excuses to leave.

They hurry to the agreed spot beneath the boardwalk stairs, conscious that Ken’s parents might come looking for them. The location offers the privacy and practical shelter they sought, but the hurried approach leaves little room for foreplay. Once there, Ken spreads out the towel and lies on his back, prompting BB to recognize a familiar pattern of passivity rather than the responsive intimacy she hoped the outing would bring.

Narrative Significance

Charleston anchors a contrast between the vacation’s promise and its awkward reality. The rented island house and downtown dinner create the conditions for a planned romantic interlude, while the carefully chosen beach spot shows the couple trying to make privacy within a family trip. Yet the preparations cannot ensure mutual ease: even after Ken participates in arranging the plan, the encounter begins with the same emotional and sexual disconnect that troubles BB elsewhere in their marriage.