Page 18 of The Hampton Beach Café 2
The conversation went back and forth for over an hour, Frances only realizing this when she caught sight of her watch glinting in the sun that was now almost entirely overhead.
“Time for a swim?” Lucinda asked, standing.
“No way! Too cold!” Frances replied.
She noted how Lucinda and Alex changed looks, and she didn't like the comradeship she saw there.
“NO!” She shrieked as Lucinda took the empty can from her, and Alex somehow managed to scoop her up into his arms and stride towards the water.
Letting himself fall backward into the sea, he took Frances with him. She shrieked again as the cold water doused her. She clung to Alex's neck for dear life as they resurfaced.
“Oh, I hate you both,” she said, finding her feet in the water.
Lucinda was cackling on the shore, finishing off her own can.
“You go and get her,” Frances said to Alex, who obediently released his hold on her waist and loped towards Lucinda.
ELEVEN
Relaxing on the sand, shade provided by a remarkably light frame that stretched a thin piece of material into a triangle, Frances breathed deeply. She hadn't relaxed like this in...well, years, probably. She didn't want to think about that too much, so she opened her eyes. Her sun protection long sleeve was drying in the sun because she really didn't want to be cold on the way home.
“Hey guys,” she said as she sat up. “Alex, wake up.”
She prodded the lightly snoring man next to her.
“Huh?”
“Look over there,” she said, pointing to the second island in the chain.
It was a little bigger than the one they were on but rockier and harder to get to on a jet ski.
“Is that a person?” Alex asked, awake and fully attentive now.
The figure she was pointing to was probably a quarter of a mile away, and she could swear it was waving at them.
“Let's go see,” Alex said, suddenly serious.
They woke Lucinda, who sprung into action as soon as she heard what they were doing, and their makeshift beach camp was packed into the backpack in a matter of minutes.
Pulling up at the rocky headland, Alex stood on the floorboards of his jet ski and grabbed at some old hope that hung limply from a large metal ring hammered into one of the rocks. Looping it around a tie point on his machine, he pulled himself up onto the outcropping.
“Are you alright?” he called.
There was no response, and Frances leaned around Lucinda to try and see the shore. Sure enough, there was a girl sitting on the beach staring at them.
“All fine,” a shaky response came. “Really, it's all ok!”
Frances heard the fear in her voice and knew she wasn't ok and that Alex probably would not be the person to make this kid feel better. She scouted the rocks for another piece of rope, seizing it when she found it.
“What are you doing?” Lucinda asked.
“Helping,” she replied.
As she pulled herself up onto the rocks, she called out, “Are you sure? Were you waving at us before?”
She could see the girl properly now. She was most likely only fifteen. She stood and walked towards them.
“Um, yeah, I, um...I don't know what to do...”
