Page 93 of Part of Me (The Seaside Chronicles 2)

Sutton

Two weeks had passed since the fire. The police had checked the marina, and not only were there no signs of Jack, but they discovered that his parents had sold their boat. Their house was also up for sale, and Jack’s dad had closed his accounting firm in Seaside. No advance notice, nothing. Just shut the doors and that was it. It was clear that the Larsons were no longer making Seaside their home, which was fine by me.

The door to the store opened and the bell rang as Palmer came walking in. “Did you see the article today?”

I nodded. “I did!”

Palmer pulled the newspaper out of her jacket and flipped it open. “I have to read it out loud. I’ve never laughed so hard in my entire life!”

THE SEASIDE CHRONICLE

November 17, 2022

MASTER BAITER

Seasiders,

Our runner-up for Catch of the Season, and our now-default winner because the real winner went off and got married, ran into a bit of trouble this past week.

I was told from some reliable seagulls at the marina that Mr. Braxton Bradley was attempting to show off for some clients (female, I might add) and ran into a bit of bad luck. You see, he fell off his own boat. The boat he charters to take people out to fish. The man responsible for keeping people safe on the high seas…fell off his own boat. I don’t know about you, but I hope those ladies demanded a refund.

Word on the docks is that Braxton tripped and twisted his ankle, which caused him to fall in. This writer believes it was something simpler.

Karma.

After all, there’s a reason Mr. Bradley was the runner-up for Catch of the Season. One has to wonder what he’s doing with his free time at home these next few days.

I’m just saying…

Fair winds and following seas!

Once Palmer finished reading, we both started to laugh.

“I think my favorite part is the title of the article,” she said. “Master Baiter! This person really doesn’t like Brax!”

I wiped the tears away as I attempted to draw in a breath. Once I had the giggles under control, I let out a long sigh. “Oh, man. Brody and I laughed our asses off this morning when we read that. Has anyone heard from Brax since it came out?”

Palmer giggled again. “I texted him after I read it, but he didn’t text back.”

“What did you text him?”

She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing again. She pulled out her phone and hit a few things, then turned it for me to see.

It was a text that asked, “Are you busy?” And under it was a gif of what looked like a guy jacking off.

“Palmer! You did not!”

She started to laugh. “I did! Needless to say, he still hasn’t responded.”

“Poor Brax. Brody sent him a ‘how to masturbate without hurting yourself or anyone around you’ article after he saw that.”

Palmer started to laugh all over again. The bell above the door rang and Harlee walked in. She took one look at us—and cracked up too.

“I take it you read the article?” I managed to get out while I was laughing.

“It was the first thing I read this morning. I think the writer of this article and I should meet. We could be BFFs.”

We all started to laugh again until I couldn’t breathe.

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