Writing Prompt Tuesday! - Behind her sunglasses. . .
Today is Tuesday, which mean it is time for a writing prompt.
I looked around my desk for inspiration and my eyes landed on my sunglasses.
Prompt: Behind her sunglasses. . .
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
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Behind her sunglasses, Sarah could barely make out the screen. With an annoyed flick, she slid them down her nose. The glare of the
sun on the monitor of the laptop made it hard to tell if the blue she had chosen for the carpet complimented the color of the walls. She had thanked the powers that be, in this case, Dell, for her laptop, but sometimes it couldn't replace being on the spot in person with swatch samples.
She peeked over the top of the monitor at the beach in the distance. Mikayla was going to skin her alive when she finally made it back to shore.
She was supposed to be at the party to have a good time, oogle
all the single men Erik would throw her way, according to Mikayla. But her best friend would never understand the importance of her interior design business, the baby she had built out of nothing but blood, sweat and tears. And now, when she had just landed the
account of a lifetime, refurbishing an entire seaside bed and breakfast with the promise of four more if she did a good job, all Mikayla wanted her to do was to oogle men.
"I'll catch up on oogling when my business is big enough for me
to hire someone to run it," Sarah had told her friend when Mikayla
first insisted she come to the Fourth of July party.
"Honey, I know you. No matter how big Willow Design gets, no matter how many employees you have you'll never take a break. So stop fighting me. I'm kidnapping you over the Fourth, whether you
like it or not."
Sarah let Mikayla kidnap her, but she snuck her laptop, cell phone and files with her anyway. Twice over the past few days she had been caught red handed working instead of playing. Next time,
no doubt, her laptop would be confiscated.
She only felt a little guilty about her avoidance of the social
activities taking place on the beach. She had never been good at
volleyball, and the intense game of horseshoes on the beach held no
interest. She could have joined Mikayla in some good old fashioned
oogling, but with few exceptions, none of the men caught her interest. She knew Mikayla's number one choice, Charlie Murphy,
went over like a lead balloon. The man was a good ten years older,
and if it was possible, was even more into his work as an antique
appraisor, than Sarah was into her work. She wondered what Erik had
to do to manipulate Charlie into coming out for the weekend.
Sarah pushed her sunglasses back up her nose and gently turned
her attention back to her computer. She had to have two more rooms laid out before the end of the holiday weekend, to present to Mr. Burrows, the owner of the five bed and breakfasts. Her concentration was just kicking in when she heard a splash behind
her. The noise just about scared her out of her skin. Quickly she
sat up and spun around in time to see a man pull himself effortlessly out of the water and onto the float. For a moment she
was mesmerized by the way the sun glistened off the beads of water
across his broad chest, the way he was smiling down at her, vivid
blue eyes and tousled dark hair.
~~to be continued
(I have a tendency to make these too long....)
Let the oogling begin, she thought to herself. But instead said, "if one drop of water touches this laptop you're going to find
yourself attached to a pair of concrete shoes floating to the bottom of this lake."
Curtis laughed. "Well, I would think a drop of water or two
would be the least of your problems. How do you plan on getting back to shore?"
"The same way I got he....." Sarah looked at the empty water next to the ladder. A string of curses that would make a sailor proud crossed her lips.
Curtis looked at the woman, impressed with her colorful
language. He never would have thought this mild mannered,
attractive woman would have such a mouth. He was also surprised that her concentration on her work had been so deep that he had been
able to swim out to the float unnoticed, untie the dingy and swim
away with it.
God, I'm good, he thought as Sarah stared off into the distance at the dingy floating gently on the lakes small waves.
"This is just terrific," she muttered under her breath then
turned back to Curtis. The man was sprawled out on the float, and
Sarah found herself admiring his legs, and bronzed body. He was a
landscaper, Mikayla had told her, just starting out, and quite
successful too.
But thats not going to get you back to shore, she thought darkly.
"I'll tell you what," Curtis said. "If you promise to turn that computer off and sit and talk to me for awhile, I'll go fetch
your dingy."
They stared at each other for a long moment. "And if I don't.
I have a deadline, and....."
Curtis got to his feet in a swift graceful moment. He shrugged. "Well, fine, I guess you can wait out here until someone else rescues you. Maybe when Charlie gets back from fishing he can
come over this way. If you can get his attention."
The man had the audacity to wink at her. But Sarah grinned anyway, feeling herself being sucked into his boyish charm. Slowly she powered the computer down, feeling bereft when the screen went
blank. But when she looked back up at Curtis and realized that
maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if she took a little time to
get to know him.
"I'll be right back," he said and dove smoothly into the water like a seal.
Sarah glanced back toward shore and saw Mikayla and Erik on the
shore looking out at her. Mikayla was cheering. Slow realization
came over her as she realized she had just been had. Sneaky little
Mikayla had just set her up.
"Revenge will be mine, my dear Mik," she whispered, but her
eyes caught the fluid form of Curtis as he swam with ease toward
the wayward dingy. But, it'll have to wait, I have something more
important to do, she thought, looking forward to talking to Curtis more than turing her laptop back on.
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