Page 53 of The Beach Shack Artists 3
“We’re still disasters. We’ve just gotten more sophisticated about it.”
Anna laughed so hard she nearly spilled her beer. “Sophisticated disasters. I like that. Very adult.”
“I mean, think about it,” Tyler said. “I still disappear every time there’s conflict. I just call it ‘work commitments’ now.”
“And I still take over spaces without asking. I just call it ‘creating an inspiring environment.’”
“And Meg still tries to manage everyone’s emotions, but now she has spreadsheets.”
They both laughed.
“We’re basically the same people we were at fifteen,” Anna said. “Just with better vocabulary and more student debt.”
“You know what’s funny?” Anna said. “Stella’s been here two months and she’s already more responsible than either of us.”
“She organized my entire photo archive by date and subject. Without being asked. Who does that?”
“Someone who wasn’t raised by our family,” Anna said. “She probably thinks normal families have systems.”
“Systems,” Tyler repeated. “What a concept.”
“Maybe we should try it. You know, actually being helpful instead of just... enthusiastically chaotic.”
“I want to help at the Shack. Really help. Not just show up and rearrange things until they make artistic sense to me.”
“Revolutionary concept.”
“And you could actually be there during busy times instead of finding urgent photography emergencies whenever things get stressful.”
Tyler winced. “Okay, fair. Maybe I’ve been strategically unavailable.”
“Maybe we both need to stop making Meg responsible for fixing us,” Anna said. “Ask what she needs instead of waiting for her to tell us what went wrong.”
Tyler leaned back against the couch. “Look at us, being all mature and self-aware.”
“Terrifying, really.”
Tyler raised his beer. “To sophisticated disasters learning to be useful?”
Anna clinked hers against his. “To showing up instead of just showing off.”
“Think we can actually pull it off?”
Anna grinned. “I guess we’ll find out. Though maybe I should start with that apology to Joey tomorrow. Baby steps.”
“Revolutionary.”
“I know. Bea will be so proud.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Anna found Joey in the break room, surrounded by what appeared to be a small mountain of perfectly folded napkins.
“Okay,” she said from the doorway, “either you’re practicing origami or you’ve achieved napkin nirvana.”
Joey looked up with his trademark grin. “Oh, hey Anna. Just getting caught up. Turns out when you can actually find the napkins, folding goes much faster.”
“I came to apologize for that whole mess.”
