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“Does it matter if they’re broken?” Natalie asked, holding up a shell that was snapped in half.
“Nope. I crush those ones up and use them for coasters.” She put the shell in her bag and we went back to looking.
“All of this searching is really making me crave clams. I had some in Arizona and they were so bad. I don’t know what they did to them, but gross,” Natalie said.
“We can have clams for your party if you want. Esme has a clam guy,” I said.
Natalie laughed. “That’s such a Maine thing to say. Does she also have a shrimp guy? And a lobster guy?”
“I think the clam guy and the lobster guy are the same,” I said. “You know Skip Foster.”
“Oh yeah, of course. He’s still working? Isn’t he like a thousand years old?”
I picked up a rock and brushed the sand off its surface. The pattern of the stone spoke to me, so I put it in my bag.
“Yeah, no one knows how old Skip is. And no one wants to ask, either,” I said.
Natalie and I collected shells until we were hungry again.
“I should probably get home for dinner. Mom is making stuffed shells,” Natalie said.
I loved her mom’s stuffed shells. I would love to invite myself over, but I kept my mouth shut, and Natalie didn’t invite me.
Fine, whatever. We’d just spent the whole damn day together.
“Say hi to your parents for me,” I told her when I dropped her off.
“Thanks, I will. And thank you for driving me and for spending the day with me. It’s so good to be back,” she said.
“Yeah, of course. I’ll see you this weekend?”
She smiled. “I have a feeling I’ll see you sooner than that. Bye, Em.”
She got out and waved to me before going in the house.
I pulled out of the driveway and drove home, wishing I’d asked to stay for dinner.
* * *
The next day at work was a fucking nightmare. Taking a week off was almost more hassle than it was worth. My emails had piled up, my projects were stacked in folders on my desk, and there were so many other things that had fallen apart while I was gone.
My official job title was Office Administrator, but that just meant that I was everyone’s bitch. I answered the phones, set up appointments, filed paperwork, made sure that the copy machine worked, and a hundred million other things. Some days were busy and some days were busier. Everyone always wanted or needed something and even though the office was small, I still managed to be always running around. The fact that my uncle Todd and my dad and my brother also worked here just added to the stress. At least my dad and Todd were mostly upstairs in their offices, so I didn’t get micromanaged. My brother was usually MIA.
By lunch I was ready to go cry in my car, but someone walked in that made me instantly smile.
“Hey you,” Natalie said. “I came here to see you in your work habitat.” She leaned against my desk. “Fancy outfit you got there.”
I kept my work clothes separate from my regular clothes. Like they were costumes, because they felt like it.
“Thanks,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
She held up a bag. “I thought you might want to have lunch with me? I got sandwiches from Sweet’s.”
Linley’s family owned Sweet’s Sweets bakery just up the street, and more often than not, I ended up ordering lunch from there, sometimes for the whole office. The Sweet family was responsible for getting me fed on more days than not.
“Wow, thanks, yeah.” Huge improvement on crying in my car.
I put the phone on voice mail, checked my email one last time, and then told everyone I was heading to lunch. I followed Natalie outside, across the street, and down to the water. Castleton sat right on a little ocean cove that looked like a perfect postcard.
