AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We could do them for Low Tide as well,” Natalie said to Em.
“With shells on them,” Em said.
Yet another project to work on. I was always thinking about new ways to get the bakery out there, other than by, you know, baking things and selling them. Still, I should probably wait until we had our second location. We could barely keep up with everything as it was.
The drive to the beach was short, like the drive to most things in Castleton. Everything was concentrated close so people could walk from the beach to the lighthouse to the downtown area with ease, and a lot of people did.
We waited until Paige and Esme showed up to get out and all head down to the sand. We flashed our Castleton beach passes and dragged ourselves and our shit to a good spot and set up camp.
“Coffee, coffee, tea, coffee,” Paige said, handing out the drinks. “What would you like, Alivia?”
“Coffee, please,” she said, taking it and rejecting any offers of cream or sugar. I added both in copious amounts to my cup and swirled it until it was mixed to perfection.
Esme rented two umbrellas from the little rental shop, and we had enough beach chairs between all of us, so everyone was in the shade and had a place to sit.
“You didn’t have to do this for me,” Alivia said, but everyone ignored her. I mean, we’d invited her. What did she think we were going to do, make her sit on the sand by herself?
“Breakfast,” I sang, holding the box open and going around so everyone could pick what they wanted. When I stopped in front of Alivia, I waited to see what she’d pick.
The cherry tart and one of the breakfast sandwiches. Just what I’d thought.
“Thank you,” she said.
“You’re welcome,” I said, going back to my seat.
“I can’t believe this is my life right now,” Paige said, breaking her donut into little pieces to eat.
“We are pretty lucky,” Em said. We all stared out at the expanse of ocean in front of us.
Sure, Boston had ocean, but it didn’t have this beach and these people. I was happy here, almost as if I should have ended up here all along.
“It really is beautiful,” Alivia said, and everyone looked at her.
“Looks like you’re settling in, you’ll be a Castletonian before you know it,” Paige said.
“Won’t I always be from away?” Alivia asked.
“I mean, technically, but that’s okay. We still like you,” Paige said with a grin, brushing her light brown hair out of her face. She’d gotten bangs last year but was in the process of growing them out and they were at the awkward stage where she couldn’t put them back with the rest of her hair.
She looked adorable no matter what she did with her hair.
“It’s okay, I’m not from here either,” I said.
“But you’re from Maine. I’m not,” Alivia said.
“Live here long enough, and you can fool people,” I said.
“Yeah, just talk about the weather, and then every now and then say ‘ayuh’,” Esme suggested.
“Ayuh?” Alivia said, mimicking the sound that Esme had made. “What does that mean?”
“It’s the Maine way of saying ‘uh huh’ or ‘yup.’”
“Ayuh, got it,” she said.
“And when you give directions, you have to make sure you don’t use street names. Use landmarks like a red barn or a weird tree,” Natalie said.
“Oh, that’s a good one,” I said.
