Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
James: They were impressed with the offer. Looks good so far. Should only be a couple more days.
I held my breath, waiting for an irritated response that he wanted it done sooner. But a few minutes ticked by without my phone buzzing which meant he was fine with the timeline or he’d gotten distracted by something else. Either one was fine with me.
I saw the server headed toward me with a plate of food, and I set my phone aside. “Here you go, doll,” she said with a wink. I couldn’t decide if she was being intentionally folksy or if that was her normal way. I shot her an appreciative smile and dug in. The food was good enough to explain how the place had stayed in business so long. By the time I’d cleaned my plate, I felt the onset of a food coma and decided to indulge in a little time at the beach while I tried to figure out where I was going to stay tonight.
I paid the bill, then popped over to the pharmacy side of the store to pick up a few supplies. Armed with a bottle of water, sunscreen, a shockingly pink towel, and an even more shockingly pink pair of swim trunks, I made my way to the car and back to the Sea Sprite.
I parked in the farthest spot away from the lobby entrance and shimmied out of my pants and into the swim trunks before making my way down to the beach. As I settled onto my towel and peeled off my shirt, the sun warmed my skin in a way I hadn’t felt in at least a year. Richard and I had spent a long weekend at Fire Island last summer, but he’d guilted me into staying up late drinking with friends which meant we’d spent most of the sunshine hours sleeping it off. It felt so good to lie back and spread my toes out in the warm sand, I idly wondered why I let so much time pass between vacations. Somehow it was too easy to bury my head in work and forget there were other pleasures in life worth taking time to indulge.
After about twenty minutes, I couldn’t ignore the buzzing of my phone any longer and rolled over to check it in case there was an important message from Dick.
The most recent text was from Oscar.
Oscar: I have a date to a rooftop pool party. Blue sequins or red with gold accents?
The text was followed by two photos of Oscar in different teeny-tiny bikini swimsuits. He had a gorgeous body. Even though he was small, he was fit and healthy. The suits showed off his shapely legs and tight ass.
James: Shameless hussy. You just wanted to show off your booty.
Oscar: I don’t do hundreds of squats every day for nothing. Tell me I’m pretty. Tell me you want to bounce a quarter off this bitch.
I laughed out loud.
James: That ass is so perfect, I could probably bounce all kinds of things off it. Who’s the date?
Oscar: Oh, honey. I don’t bother to get their names anymore. They don’t last long enough for me to need it.
He was joking, but I knew there was a bite of truth to it. Oscar was notorious for always being the bridesmaid and never the bride. After everything I’d been through with Richard lately, I wished I could express to Oscar how lucky he was to be alone. But I knew better. The grass was always greener in someone else’s garden, and no one wanted to be rejected time after time.
James: Wish you were here.
I took a photo looking down my ghostly pale legs toward the edge of the water and beyond.
Oscar: My eyes. MY EYES! Have you never heard of St. Tropez Self Tan?! You can get it at Nordstrom for god’s sake. JFC, James. Have some dignity. Oiy. I’m sending you to a spa when you get back. This is humiliating. Is there anyone around? Christ. Tell them not to look at you. They’ll need medical attention.
He always made me laugh more than anyone else could, but today laughing while lying on the beach in Cape Cod made me feel like almost an entirely different person from the workaholic I usually was in the city.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes again, concentrating on the warm sun and slight breeze. The sounds of seagulls squawking mixed with the soft, rhythmic crash of the waves. Farther down the beach I could hear a family with children squealing periodically as they ran in and out of the water.
I glanced toward them, tenting a hand over my eyes to block the sun. It was a family of four, the mother under an umbrella with a book open on her lap, but her attention on her partner as he chased two little boys around the water’s edge, his hands held up and fingers twitching as he declared himself the Tickle Monster. The boys dissolved into squirming laughter whenever they were caught, their boundless joy infectious.