He clenched one hand into a fist and smacked the wall in frustration. Life was infinitely unfair.
He rinsed himself one more time, then turned the water off and got out. He had work to do. Wallowing wasn’t progress.
Maybe life being unfair should be the theme of the new book. Maybe he should kill all the characters off and let the bad guys win. That was real, wasn’t it?
He hooked a towel around his hips, and leaned on the counter, the fog on the mirror thankfully preventing him from looking himself in the eyes. Readers didn’t want real. They wanted an escape.
So did he. He just didn’t know how anymore.
ChapterEighteen
Harper was glad to be headed to the beach. Today felt like a good day to do nothing in a beautiful place with a beautiful view. Much better than doing nothing inside. She and Frankie could lounge and talk and enjoy themselves while getting a little sun.
It was perfect.
In one of the storage closets in the first-floor rec room they’d found all sorts of useful outdoor things: beach chairs, beach umbrellas, a couple of canvas beach bags, each embroidered with a large M, a canvas and metal wagon with knobby tires, blow-up rafts, pool noodles, coolers in various sizes, a badminton set as well as lawn darts and bocce balls, life jackets, small buckets and shovels in bright neon colors, and a whole host of random other things.
They picked out two chairs, one umbrella with a screw-in holder, and a small cooler to take some drinks and snacks in. They each grabbed a big beach bag for the rest of their stuff as well.
Frankie was in charge of packing the cooler. Harper found beach towels and a couple of bottles of sunscreen that were probably past their most useful date, but better than nothing. She wore her green and blue floral bikini with the hipster bottoms and a cropped top that covered her to the middle of her ribcage. Modest by L.A. standards, but at fifty-three, she wasn’t trying to compete with the starlets.
All the same, she worked hard at staying fit and trim and wasn’t going to hide her body. Especially not on a beach that would be nearly deserted. She tugged on her denim cutoffs and a vee-neck T-shirt over the bikini, then put on her flipflops, sunglasses, and hat.
She made sure her phone and her tablet were charged, then went to see how Frankie was doing. Her sister was in the kitchen getting things together, but she’d changed into a swimsuit, and had a pretty navy and white coverup on over it.
“How’s it going?” Harper asked.
Frankie looked up from the grapes she was washing. “Good. I’ve got some fruit, some cheese and crackers, a couple of protein bars, four bottles of water, and a bowl for Archie so he can have some, too. You think we’ll need more than that? There’s still a little room in the cooler.”
“That should be plenty. We’ll be back for dinner.”
“Which will be what?”
“I bought a London broil. I was thinking we could grill that? Or there’s shrimp and chicken in the freezer, but we’d need to get it out now.”
“London broil sounds great. We can have it with salad. You’ve got tons of salad ingredients in there.”
“Works for me.” Harper held up the towels and sunscreen. “I’m bringing my tablet, so I can maybe finish that book.”
Frankie chewed her lip. “I was thinking about bringing my laptop so I could get some work done, but I don’t know if taking my laptop to the beach is such a great idea. I’d hate to get sand in it.”
Harper made a face. “Yeah, that wouldn’t be good. Just leave it. You can work when we get back. I’ll make dinner, so you can work until that’s done, if you want.”
“I might do that,” Frankie said, nodding. “But I’m taking my notebook and pencils with me so I can at least sketch out a few ideas.”
“Awesome.” Harper was so ready for today. “Are we set then?”
Frankie zipped the cooler closed. “Just need to grab my stuff.”
They hit the beach fifteen minutes later. It was glorious. The ocean stretched out in a vast ribbon of blue-green with a wide band of intense, cloudless blue overhead. The waves crashed in white, foamy surges that tumbled a few shells here and there.
Toward the distant end of Hideaway Bay where the development met the rest of the barrier island, a couple were out walking a dog, but there wasn’t another soul in sight.
“This is crazy,” Frankie said. “Why is no one out here?”
Harper shook her head. “Beats me. If I lived here and didn’t have to work, like I think is the case with most of these women, I would be here all the time.”
“Same.” She glanced at her sister. “How do you get that life?”
