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“Hey, baby lobster,” I said, and Em came over to take a look. Seeing one this small close to shore was rare.
“Someday I may eat you with butter,” Em said in a baby voice.
“Don’t listen to her,” I called to the lobster.
The lobster ignored both of us.
The two of us meandered to the sandy part of the beach in search of more shells. The tide was starting to come back in, so we had limited time to search for treasures.
“Wow,” Em said, and I looked up.
“What?”
“Her,” she said, jerking her chin at a woman walking toward the ocean ahead of us. “Hot.”
“Not my type, but I can see it.” The woman had a teeny tiny bikini on, and it was clear she spent some time and effort to look the way she did. Like, congratulations to you, but I’d feel like a gross blob in comparison. She looked like she stepped out of a social media campaign for sunglasses or abs or something.
“I would top her so hard,” Em said in a wistful voice.
“Been a while?” I asked, and she grimaced.
“You have no idea. I can’t even remember what I’m supposed to do. I swear, I’m going to eventually get with someone and be like ‘how do you sex?’”
We both laughed. “You’ll figure it out, I promise.”
“Maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll never have sex with another person again.” She said that in a louder voice than she probably intended, and we got angry glares from a mom who was making a sandcastle with her toddler.
“Don’t talk about sex that loudly in public, Em,” I said, and she rolled her eyes.
“See? I can’t even talk about it like a normal person.”
* * *
After Em left,I found three pieces of beach glass, which was rare. I shoved the little bits in my shorts pocket before stripping down to my suit and walking toward the ocean. There were two ways to get in the water: Either go in a little at a time, letting your body adjust, or diving in and shocking yourself completely.
I was a fan of the second method.
The bone-chilling water closed over my head and my body had a moment of panic, but I resurfaced and tried to remind my lungs how to work. After a few moments, I could breathe again and get my arms to work. I started doing my laps from one end of the beach to the other. My lungs and heart and legs and arms were all moving and it was such a relief to not think about anything but the exercise. I swam until the shivers in my body took over and I knew I needed a hot shower to get back to normal.
Before I left, I took a picture of the beach and posted it on my social media with a silly caption.
Three minutes later, Esme liked it.
* * *
Linley textedme after I got home that she was just leaving to go on her date with Gray. She gave me the location, and the go ahead that if I didn’t hear from her in a few hours, to call the cops because she might have been murdered.
FUNNY. But seriously, be safe. I sent.
She said she would, and she also relayed that her mom had asked if she could video her entire date so she could “meet” Gray.
I need to ease him in. She’s basically already decided we’re getting married. I swear I caught her looking for cake toppers the other day.
I felt bad for Linley, but I also was grateful my own mother didn’t pull shenanigans like that. No, mine just joined pyramid schemes and begged me to win back my ex-boyfriend. I couldn’t decide which was worse.
Bored in the house, I decided that I didn’t feel like cooking, so I finger-combed my damp hair, put on a tank and a comfy jumpsuit, and headed over to the Pine State Bar and Grill.
Dawn seated me on the opposite side of the restaurant from the bar, so I couldn’t see Esme at all. My plan was to eat dinner and go for a drink later and do some serious flirting.
