Page 44 of Gulfside Girls
“We get a lot of Toledo and Detroit folks around here in about a month or so,” Erica told Ali. “Spring break. Every once in a while, a baseball fanatic recognizes him.”
“They have to be a really committed fanatic,” Henry said modestly.
“Stop, you’re locally famous, anyway.”
“For my crab cakes!”
“Theyweredelicious,” Ali chimed in and then turned her focus back to the horizon. The sun appeared to bob on the top of the water now. “It’s fast, this sunset thing.”
“You know it,” Erica agreed. “Just yesterday, I was in a wet t-shirt contest hosted by Ken Ober, and now I’m wondering if I should increase the dose of my estrogen patch.”
Henry and Erica laughed, and Ali felt included immediately. Like these old friends were opening their circle to her with no hesitation. What sweet people she’d met in the last two days. It was as if some of the normal stressors of life were in better proportion here than back home.
Ali created a stack of cheese and crackers from the selection on the little tray Didi had offered. They were hitting the spot.
“Where are you two from?” she asked Erica and Henry.
“I’m from Chicago, originally, and Henry’s from South Carolina,” Erica said.
“Everyone’s a transplant here, by the way, except Didi and Jorge, they’re lifers,” Henry added.
“Oh, look!” Erica pointed to the horizon where a fin and then another fin slid up and down on the surface.
“What?” Ali was thinkingJaws, but Henry set her right.
“Dolphin family.”
“Ah.”
The sun sank further now, and almost as if there was an unspoken mutual agreement, every one of the dozen or so people gathered for the Grand Finale stopped chatting. Even Didi stopped flitting from person to person. And they all watched, in quiet, as the sun melted into the water.
The orange orb lit the line of water, seemingly on fire.
Down. Down.
And then there was just a little bump of a flame.
And then gone!
The group erupted in cheers.
“Bravo!”
“Good one!”
“Well done!”
“What do you think, Ali. Worth staying over?” Didi asked, appearing by Ali’s side.
“Worth it? Yes, more than worth it. Stunning.”
“Yep, another show tomorrow evening. But just so you know, it’s never the same show twice,” Henry said and lifted a glass to the horizon as if to toast it.
“Okay, see you all tomorrow,” Erica called, already making her way back across the sand. “Come over to the coffee shop, Ali. I’ll let them know your first cup’s on me.”
“Oh, thank you, no need to.”
“Pshaw. That’s how I hook you,” Erica grinned.
