Waves

It was that fleeting hour of the day when the moon and sun were high and bright at the same time. Like many things in her life, these summer nights wouldn’t last much longer. Karmen York sat quietly on the porch swing, sipping her wine as she watched the waves of the Atlantic Ocean crash into the shore. The New York Times Newspaper was sitting next to her.

Jarrett chuckled as he noticed the newspaper. “Don’t tell me you do the Sunday Times crossword puzzle?” he inquired.

Karmen smiled at the sight of her best friend, “Actually, I do, but that’s not what I’m looking forward to.” She picked up the newspaper and motioned for him to sit next to her before she turned her gaze back to the ocean view. She looked through her camera lens for the thousandth time to ensure she had the perfect angle, even though up until two minutes ago, she was the only one out on the porch and hadn’t moved the camera from its ideal position on the porch railing.

“Why do you always do that?” Jarret huffed.

“Do what?” Karmen asked, genuinely curious.

Jarrett rolled his eyes, “you tell me the crossword isn’t what you’re looking forward to, but you don’t tell me what it is you are looking forward to. If I wanted a good cliffhanger, I’d stop binge-watching television shows and go back to watching them weekly.”

Karmen chuckled, “I’m mysterious.” She flashed him a big smile before taking a sip of her wine.

“There’s mysterious, and then there’s just being an annoying tease.” He returned her wide smile before stealing her wine glass and taking a sip of the velvety liquid.

They both laughed. Karmen turned her attention back towards her camera and started to take pictures as the pink clouds started to dip just below the ocean’s edge, partly because she didn’t want to miss any good shots and partly because she wanted to leave her best friend hanging just a bit longer.

“Okay,” she turned to look at Jarrett, “There’s an author I adore who writes a serial in the Times every Sunday.” She confessed as she retrieved her wine.

“Oh, do you mean Justin Bradshaw?”

“Yes!” Karmen squealed. “We are so much alike.”

“Soul mates,” he kissed her cheek. “So, you gotta crush on a writer?”

“Yes.” Karmen didn’t hesitate to answer. “He writes a blog post about side stories that happen to the detective that doesn’t really have anything to do with the serial. Although sometimes he cleverly adds tie-ins.”

“How very Sherlockian of him.” Jarrett snorted, laughing at his own joke.

Karmen rolled her eyes but released a little chuckle before taking another sip of her wine.

“He has talked to me,” she confessed before turning her head back towards the ocean, almost out of sight as the sun dipped lower in the sky on the opposite side of the house.

“SEE!” Jarrett shouted as he stood up off the swing, almost knocking Karmen out of it.

Startled, Karmen spilled some of her wine. “Oh, that’s such a shame.” She pouted.

Jarrett patted her head, “I’ll pour you more, but first, stop teasing me and give me the details!”

Justin wasn’t sure what it was about her that drew him exactly, but he couldn’t stop staring at her profile picture on his laptop screen. She had been commenting on his blog and social media posts for a little over a week. He found himself smiling at their exchanges but was afraid to come on too strongly,

He sent her a simple DM.

“Hi. I just wanted to thank you for all your kind comments on my posts lately. Your last comment really made my day!”

“We will settle this in the morning,” Jarrett informed her.

“You mean when Cee and Miranda arrive?”

“Yes, they will back me on this, I’m sure of it.”

“He’s not into me. He is just being friendly.”

“Karmen,” Jarrett pinched the bridge of his nose, “For such an intelligent woman, you can be so dense sometimes.”

Karmen chuckled, “You think every guy is into me.”

“Have you met you?” He asked her, “Even I’m in awe of your beauty.”

Karmen blushed, “If only I were a man.”

“You’d look dashing with a beard.”

Karmen wasn’t sure how to respond to his comment, so she turned the subject back on topic. “So, on the birthday post,” she gushed, “Justin said my poem was beautiful!”

Jarrett giggled, “He simply said ‘Beautiful.’ He could have been referring to your picture.”

Karmen rolled her eyes, “It was clearly the poem he was referring to.”

Jarrett rolled his eyes back at her before the best friends focused on the sound of the ocean waves as they sat in comfortable silence.

To be continued.

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