AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Caroline
Two weeks goby in much the same way as today went.
At dawn, I go out on my cabin’s little porch to watch the small motorboats head out for their leisurely morning catch. Then, it’s a walk along the rocky shore of the bay until I spot at least one freighter rumble past on its voyage across Lake Superior. Sometimes, I snap a selfie on the dock, with the old lighthouse in the background.
Bonnie has coffee waiting for me at 6 a.m. at the bait shop, where we chat until it’s time for her to go home and help Bill prepare for the day. I then sit down to write and eye the cash register so that she won’t worry.
I do worry about her, though. Bonnie is running herself ragged, and she did once let it slip that she’s feeling run down. I mention to her that she might talk to her doctor about getting her thyroid checked.
I write for a few hours until I grow hungry, and I help myself to ice cream, leaving my cash on the counter.
Bonnie usually wanders in and out, tends to the till, and gossips with a few locals and vacationers who stop by.
It’s all very pleasant and routine until Cash wanders over from the boat repair side of the building. He makes comments about all the coffee I drink and all the ice cream I eat. I reply with something flirty or snarky, and he purses his lips.
It must be exhausting for him to resist my friendliness. The poor man is internally wriggling like a fish on a hook.
Why can’t we just be friends? Why can’t he just surrender to the fabulousness that is me?
I guess I’m not for everyone.
Today, finally, Cash bothers to ask what I’m writing.
What in the world? Is it a full moon? Is he bored?
But then I do the math: he arrived earlier than usual, before the entire pot of coffee had been consumed. Ergo, he’s less cranky. Still, I’m delighted he’s asking.
“A romance.”
“About what?”
I smile and close my laptop when the man slides a chair out and sits opposite me.
“Since you asked, it’s about a man. A wealthy businessman,” I say.
“And?”
I tap my chin and say, “He’s handsome, smart, and loves his parents. But he’s very, very unhappy and uptight.”
He squints at me. “Okay…?”
“And he doesn’t know what could make him feel better.”
Cash squirms in his seat. I think he’s catching on. “And what would make this rich, handsome, smart, unhappy mama’s boy feel better?” Cash mutters.
I lean forward and tell him, lowering my voice so no one else can hear, “He just needs to get laid. That’ll turn his scruffy frown upside down before he goes back…to Dallas.”
Cash rears back. “You cannot write that.”
“Why not?”
“That’s about me! And it’s absurd.”
I shrug. “You’re the perfect specimen for a book boyfriend. You’re grumpy, successful, your jaw does that sexy thing when you’re mad…”
“Caroline.”
“I mean, setting aside the unlikelihood of a romance hero maintaining a close relationship with perfectly average, loving, still-married, and still-alive parents. But I can add some dastardly details about childhood trauma so no one thinks it’s you.”
