“Only if you like strong, lean men with perfect hair and boyish smiles that make their pretty eyes twinkle.”
She sighs. “There’s no justice in this world.”
“Definitely not on this island. The man clearly sees his job as a joke. He’s part-time, Mia. I didn’t even know part-time cops were a thing.”
“They’re probably not—unless you’re in cahoots with the mayor.”
“Right? And get this.” I stand up and pull an empty box over to start filling. “He has this dog. Calls it a K-5.”
Mia’s face screws up like it’s the dumbest thing she’s ever heard.
“He says it’s more evolved than a K-9. Which was just beforeit started choking on grass.” I grab the phone and walk over to the window to look out over the canal. It’s a gorgeous view, with deep green water winding between docks and the Florida mainland in the distance. “This whole place is such a thirst trap,” I mutter.
“Lemme see.”
I flip the camera and wait for the exposure to adjust.
She sighs. “It’s so perfect visually that ithadto have major defects, right? It’s the balance the universe requires.”
“Are you saying everyone will be delightful if I move to the projects?”
“It’s a working theory, Gem. Don’t stretch it.”
My gaze catches on a wakeless boat meandering through the canal. I squinch my eyes to see who’s driving. “Oh my gosh. It’s him. It’s Beau.”
“Oh, lemme see! Lemme see!”
I make an annoyed sound, then pinch to zoom.
Mia gets closer to her screen, her nose warping to ghastly proportions as she squints. “Zoom in more. I can’t see him yet.”
“It’ll just get more pixelated.” I try anyway. I need her to appreciate how unfair everything still is on this island: Palmer parents retired and probably sipping martinis on a Mediterranean beach. Tristan, the handsome figurehead of the family’s Center for World Domination. Baywatch Beau hoarding all the island power with not even half of the work of a normal cop. I’m not even convinced Sunset Harborneedspolice. We could probably get by with a rent-a-cop.
Whoa.
Not we.They.
Anyway, I’d place a hefty bet Beau doesn’t even need the job. Thanks to their empire of retirement centers across Florida, he has a fortune coming to him whenever his parents kick the bucket, so the cop gig is probably for the power and glory.
“Ugh, it’s so blurry,” Mia complains.
“Well, jeez, Mia. Forgive me for forgetting to attach my telezoom safari lens to my phone.”
“He’s basically a blob, but he’s got hot blob energy for sure.”
I tap the ultra-zoomed in screen in an attempt to focus the image more now that Beau’s pulling up to the dock and not moving as fast. It helps, but only a little, so I get the phone as close to the window as I can.
That’s when he looks up and straight at me.
Beau’s mouthpulls into an acknowledging, dimpled smile as I roll onto the floor like a ninja. A ninja with no chill, skin full of splinters, and dust in the nooks and crannies of her lungs.
“What happened?” Mia asks, her tone urgent as I hack up a lung.
“He caught me!” I hiss, like he can hear me through the closed window and thirty feet away.
“Caught you?”
I army crawl away from the window, adding more splinters to the collection in my forearms. “Caught me going all Peeping Tom on him.”
