Page 1 of Sunset Tides
Chapter One
There was no reason to be unhappy. It was a nice day, particularly for February, with clear blue skies and even a bit of sunshine. Lucy woke feeling a bit dull, but it wasn’t something to dwell on.
If she looked hard enough, there was plenty of joy to be found. The new jacket she’d ordered arrived early, and the medium, which reviews said ran small, fit perfectly.
Maybe she’d spent more on it than she should have, but it was cute, reasonably warm, and made her feel chic. What more could she ask from a jacket?
She got to work fifteen minutes late that morning, but as usual, no one seemed to notice. Her boss Fiona was laid back, and the customers had an innate understanding that the little farm shop on Orcas Island didn’t run on “city” time.
The farm itself looked like something off of a postcard – picturesque fields, rows of apple trees and little goats running amok. It was the perfect place to work. Lucy had full control over running the shop at Grindstone Farm. Her boss was happy with her, the customers were happy with her, even the goats were happy with her.
So why, with no reason to be unhappy, was shesounhappy? And why did she feel the irresistible urge to quit?
The feeling first appeared a few months ago. It started small and innocuous, a leaky sink in her mind, with her wondering if she could really keep working at the farm long-term. It was just a few thoughts, a dripping in the distance that was annoying, but nothing she couldn’t ignore.
Then three months in, she let her mind wander a bit too far and she stepped into a deep puddle of doubt, panicking that she was wasting her life and had no future at the farm.
That was just one time, though, and Lucy managed to hastily hurry along like nothing had happened.
It was easy enough to do because peoplelikedher at Grindstone. Heck, she even liked herself at this job. She couldn’t say that for any of the last half dozen jobs she’d had. On top of that, she was good at this job. Lucy had improved the farm’s online presence by doing everything from taking new pictures to promoting events to advertising what they had for sale. Their online profits were up seventy percent since she’d taken over.
The rest of the employees made her feel like part of the family. They were suchnicepeople, too, people who worked hard, had lovely families, and somehow balanced in hobbies. They were happy.
Lucy wanted to be happy.
Yet six months in, the incessant dripping in the back of her mind was getting to her. She had trouble focusing on books and even TV shows seemed drab. At the end of the day, she’d sit and stare mindlessly at her phone, exhausted but unable to sleep.
She was getting bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep. Wrinkles had sprouted up around the bags, too, like scaffolding around a crumbling building. Lucy couldn’t afford the concealer to handle it all.
That morning, staring at her tired face in the reflection of a cookie-scented candle, Lucy realized she had to face the truth: it was time to move on.
Once her mind was made up, she moved fast. She finished the inventory and packed up the newest online orders, then sat behind the register and scrolled through job postings on her phone. She considered applying to a handful, but Lucy wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she felt she’d know it whenshe saw it. Hesitation drifted in. Maybe she should take her time to find the right job?
“It’s nice to see a friendly face today,” said a man’s voice.
Lucy looked up from her phone and smiled reflexively. “Hi Mr. Green. How’s it going?”
“Oh pretty good, Lucy, pretty good. Just needed to grab some eggs.”
She nodded, bagging them for him. “No problem. Anything else we can do for you today?”
He set a brown paper bag on the counter. “I came from the bakery in Eastsound and they’d just pulled a tray of apple turnovers out of the oven. I got you one. I know they’re your favorite.”
“That is so sweet!” Lucy counted out his change before picking up the small bag. “Thank you.”
He nodded. “Take care.”
Sigh.
Such a sweet man. Sometimes he came in with his wife. They’d been married for forty-six years, which Lucy knew because Mrs. Green repeated it, over and over.
The bag in her hand smelled like cinnamon and happiness, and she could feel the warmth radiating into her palm. It was exceedingly kind of Mr. Green to get something for her, though it wasn’t all that unusual for one of their regulars to be thoughtful like that.
The regulars. Hah. Lucy had never stayed anywhere long enough to become a regular. It seemed like an odd thing to do.
Yet somehow, she’d become the other side of the “regular” coin. Mr. Green knew she liked – no, loved – apple turnovers. Why did she talk so much? For a customer to know enough about her to get the most delightful treat on a whim surely meant she needed to move on and –
She pulled it from the crinkling paper and took a bite.
