And I thought it was strange, you said everything changed
You felt as if you'd just woke up
And you said, "This is the first day of my life
I'm glad I didn't die before I met you”
First Day of My Life, Bright Eyes
Author’s Note: This is a Prologue to
’s Summertime Sins Series, Chapter 1. After reading, be sure to check out Mr. Has Thoughts’s contribution HERE.Summer sidled in at every opportunity, creeping beneath humidity-soaked door jambs and seeping through thinly-cracked windows. Its light made gentle rhythms across the rug, scampering up the side of the bed to drift playfully across her eyelids.
“Mmmm,” Kate murmured, responding to Morning’s gentle reminder. She started — suddenly, she was bolt-upright in bed, blinking dazedly at the scene awakening around her.
It wasn’t a dream.
Her refurbished Louis XVI armchair lounged adjacent to the daintily moulded mantle, right where she’d left it last summer. In fact, upon closer inspection, Kate was pretty sure the grate still held the charred remnants of an early-autumn fire. She looked away.
A door with translucent stained-glass transom on the far left led into the library. She could see shelves teeming with deliciously dusty tomes from her vantage point, still curled contentedly within the peaceful bounds of her wrought iron bed. It was the only place she ever longed to awaken, and she was really here — finally.
To Kate’s right was the closet — perfectly sized for summer vacation. Except this time, she planned to stay.
Ugh. Reality came crashing down with the same blunt heaviness she’d known for the last few years. Sleep had completely vanished, snatching with it the remnant of blissful dreaminess reserved for those precious few moments between slumber and wakefulness.
The walls of Kate’s room were Sherwin-Williams’ Wedding Cake Blue, she remembered with a sigh. She and Ethan had chosen the color together— but that was before.
Tossing her hair resolutely over a sun-kissed shoulder, Kate flung back her sheets, slipping silently out onto the heart pine floorboards. She found strength in their smooth, buttery warmth beneath her toes. Everything about this place nourished her most primal being.
If only she could strip him from its memory — and her own.
But today was the day.
Crossing to an ornate vanity, she slipped a small box from its tiny drawer. Kate longed to belong to this locket, to its story. As her finger traced its delicate flourishes, a sadness washed over her, like the Carolina tides that kept pushing her away — and drawing her back again.
Clasping it reassuringly around her neck, Kate ran a brush through her glossy blonde hair, chapsticked her lips and slid into a bikini. Bayport was a beach town — there was no sense in denying it. Beachwear was an acceptable form of dress, sunup to sundown.
A sleepy snort from the other room caused her to start. She was so uneasy these days. Best to sneak out of the house now, while Ethan was still — literally — snoring.
Deftly, Kate laced a wrap effortlessly about her waist, snatched her bag and slipped silently down the stairs. She was out the front door with barely a breath.
Whew.
It was time Jake knew. But first — there was something she had to do.
For Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Summertime Sins, be sure to follow
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