Page 39 of Sunsets at the Beach House

She sat down at the table and took out her phone, Googling pictures of surfboards to find some design inspiration.

She already knew what the clock she was making for Alex was going to look like. She was going to paint it to match his existing board.

What she needed was inspiration for this first one. Too bad she hadn’t bought her own board yet. She smiled thinking about it. Her own surfboard. Was she crazy? She wasn’t a teenager anymore. She’d be twenty-nine this September. That wasn’t too late to take up a new sport, was it?

She didn’t think so. And it really didn’t matter if it was. She wasn’t going to quit now. She loved the idea of being able to surf with Alex. It seemed like such a fun, cool couples thing to do. And she’d seen people of all ages out in the water. It wasn’t like surfing ended at any particular age.

Maybe she and Alex would grow old together and retire to a life of catching waves and lazy beach days. That wouldn’t be so bad.

She found a couple of boards she liked. One was a solid aqua with a fat white stripe down the center. Another was white at the tip then gradually turned into a deep red. She liked the effect more than the color. Aqua was definitely becoming her color. Another board was pink with hibiscus flowers.

She decided to copy the first board with the stripe but add some white hibiscus flowers. If she could actually paint those. She practiced a few times on the newspaper. Her versions looked all right, but they weren’t anything special.

Maybe she could do some other kind of flower. She went onto YouTube and looked for a tutorial on how to paint hibiscus flowers. She found one and watched it through, then tried out the technique.

Definitely better than what she had been doing.

The instructions on the kit said to lay down a base coat of paint. Kat went with white, covering the whole front of the board. Maybe she should let that dry and then put a strip of tape down the center. That would make the white stripe neater than if she tried to do it freehand.

She went inside to see if they had any tape that would work.

Her mom was at the island, juicing oranges. Between that and the cakes in the oven, the kitchen smelled so good Kat’s mouth began to water.

“How’s it going, Mom? Smells incredible in here.”

“Thanks.” Her mom glanced at the oven. “It’s going well. I think. I’ll know more when those cakes come out and cool down. How’s the painting?”

“Sort of slow, but that’s okay. I’m figuring it out as I go along. Do we have any tape? Not the clear stuff. Masking, maybe.”

“Look in that drawer at the end of the breakfast bar.”

Kat went over and pulled it open. It was full of junk. “Hmm. There’s all kinds of stuff in here, but no tape.”

Her mom stopped juicing oranges. “Maybe the laundry room? There’s that bin of random stuff on the top shelf in there. Touch-up paint, a few tools…honestly, I have no idea what all is in there.”

“I’ll go look.” Kat went in and turned the light on. The bin was one of those wire-framed ones covered in fabric, and she couldn’t see into it. She pulled it down, surprised to find it was heavier than it looked. Probably because of the small paint cans it held.

There was a roll of wide, bright blue tape on top of them. She pulled a little off to test the sticky side. That would work. It was too wide, but she could cut it in half. She’d have to be precise, though. A wobbly line would show and the whole point of using the tape was to keep things straight and tidy.

She took it back out to the kitchen. “Do we have a ruler?”

“Junk drawer again.”

Kat went over and opened it. Sure enough, there was a ruler along one side. There was a box cutter, too. “This is perfect.” She looked at her mom and held up the blade. “You think it’s okay if I cut on the glass table with this?”

Her mom stopped whisking whatever she was whisking. “Maybe? I’m not sure. Just be careful.” Then she shrugged. “Although that’s an old table. It’s probably already got some scratches. Just don’t cut yourself.”

“I’ll be careful.” Kat returned to the porch with the tape, box cutter, and ruler. She set it all down on the side that had no newspaper covering it. Her mom was right. The table did already have scratches, but Kat didn’t intend to add to them if she could help it.

She was about to unpeel a length of tape when she realized her phone, next to the surfboard she’d been painting, had a notification alert on it. She’d missed a call.

She didn’t recognize the number. Then a new voicemail alert showed up. She dialed in to listen, thinking it might be the rental truck company calling to confirm or possibly someone from Future Florida.

“Kat, it’s Miles. I’m at the hospital with Alex. Gulf Coast General. He got hurt on a call today. He’s all right, just some minor burns, sprained shoulder, and a concussion. Thought you’d want to know.”

Kat’s heart was racing before the message was over. She knew Miles had said Alex was okay, but that didn’t stop the rising sense of worry. He’d still been hurt. And she couldn’t help but wonder if Miles was playing things down so she didn’t freak out.

She ran inside. “Mom, Alex is in the hospital. He got hurt on a call. Some burns, a sprained shoulder, and a concussion. I’m going there now.”

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