Enemies To Lobsters – Elise Haynes

I run a hand down my face, muttering under my breath, “How did I forget about Boone’s play?” “You forgot?” “I’m sorry, Louise.” I check my watch. It hasn’t started yet. “That’s okay. You can still make it. It doesn’t start for ten minutes.” CEO Louise isn’t letting me off the hook, and she shouldn’t. Boone needs my face in the audience.

I promised him I’d be there to watch him play the lamppost in Cape Georgeana Community Youth Theater’s production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I encouraged Louise to let him be part of the play even though she had reservations. I talked the director into inventing a safe role for Boone. I drove him to a few summer rehearsals when Louise couldn’t. But then I got preoccupied—as in, I got married and moved onto a tidal island.

Things have been busy. But I can’t miss this play. I also can’t mess up this date. “Louise, actually I have—” “We’re saving a seat for you, okay? See you in a few.” The line goes dead. I curse under my breath. “Boone is the kid you take out for sandwiches?” Diana asks quietly. “Yeah. But he’ll be fine.” That’s a lie. The kid needs predictability, and he’s expecting me to be there. He might be fine if I no-show.

Or, from what Louise and I have seen, he might shut down, walk off the stage, or slap someone. “We should go.” Diana nods, her crystal blue eyes sincere. “It’s a play? I’d love that. I’m a New Yorker, remember?” She’s going way too easy on me. I shake my head. “Boone will be okay. And this isn’t Broadway. It’s a community kids’ theater in the high school auditorium.

Tonight was supposed to be just us. I wanted this to be—” I cut off when she pulls my hand away from the knot I’m kneading on my shoulder. I hold my breath as her delicate fingers work at the tense spot. I bet she’s watched me work at this muscle every day that we’ve been married. Her voice is quiet. “You can’t be everything for everyone at all times, Ike. You don’t need to make everything perfect, and I don’t want it to be, okay?”

She squeezes my shoulder again. She has no idea how dangerous that little move is. Then she turns to teasing. “Who knows what you had planned, anyway? The play will probably be better. Let’s go.” I search her eyes, looking for any sign of hesitation or regret.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, events or locales, is coincidental and not intended by the author. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-68541-202-9 Cover design by Bella Haynes elisehaynesbooks.com OceanofPDF.com Dedicated to Tom Selleck. Iconic mustache. Call me? OceanofPDF.com L Chapter 1 Diana ast night I dreamed that I kissed Tom Selleck at the top of the lighthouse. I climbed up into the lantern room and he was standing there, grinning under his iconic mustache. His eyes twinkled as he threaded his fingers through the hair at the nape of my neck, then he planted a big one on me.

We made out for quite a while, in fact. I woke up with the strangest sense of not knowing myself. Do I have a thing for Tom Selleck? Do I like mustaches? I Googled him as I brushed my teeth. The jury is still out. I thought about the dream all day as I drove from my crappy apartment on East 7th Street and out of the city.

I pondered Tom Selleck’s dimples as I passed through Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, all the way to my tiny hometown of Cape Georgeana, Maine. The dream reminded me of the person I used to be—young, carefree, with a future like a blank canvas waiting to be painted. I was an early iteration of Diana York who laughed and watched old Gene Kelly movies without considering whether she might die alone.

Now, after six hours on the road and a stop at the Taco Bell drive- through, I’m sitting in front of my lighthouse with a steaming bag of tacos, tapping my thumbs on my steering wheel. I want the happy version of myself back. Maybe if I climb up to the lantern room and stare out at the dark sea I’ll find her. It’s why I drove up here, after all. The tide is coming in, though, and I’m being a chicken. “Just do it, Diana,” I mutter to myself.

“No one will see you.” On one hand, the rocky strip of beach that connects the lighthouse’s tiny island to the mainland will be covered by water soon. And being spotted by the residents of Cape Georgeana after so many years will spark a fresh round of stories about me. On the other hand, Tom Selleck could be up there—as well as my hope- filled, girlish heart. I’ve missed it so much. “I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go,” I murmur like I’m psyching myself up to jump in the cold ocean.

“Okay.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: b9b4c93648142299
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 2,551,677 bytes (2.433 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781685412029
• Pages: 242
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 412.51 minutes
• Total Words: 82,503
• Total Characters: 446,087
• Average Words per Page: 340.92
• Average Characters per Page: 1843.33

Most Frequent Words

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