Dark Beach Read Online Free PDF Page B

cares! It’s all ours, or it will be soon. Everything in here will come with the purchase.” Ron stood and flung open the French doors to let the freezing, salty air blow in. “Hurry, back in the tub.”
    “Christ!” Jenny stumbled back to the tub, dangling her legs back in. “You’re nuts.”
    “It’s great. I love the extremes.” Ron downed the rest of his wine. “Do you want yours?” He touched her glass.
    “No, I’m fine. Not in the mood for it. But I do want some of that chocolate.”
    At the push of a button, the jets fired up. “As I said before, I want one of these in our bedroom,” Jenny said.
    Ron nodded, feeling the wine and wondering why she didn’t get in. Then, with a yawn, he stretched out to fill up the space, the jets warm against his back. “As soon as we get back, I’ll build you one. It’ll be huge, massive. We can invite the neighbors over.”
    “Ha! No way. Just us. You and me.”
    From outside, Charlie let out a whimper.
    “Okay, you too, Charlie. Are you cold?” Jenny squinted at the small black dog, shivering away in the corner. “Oh, look at him.”
    Standing and wrapping herself in a towel, Jenny then searched the room. “Here’s a blanket.” She pulled a crocheted blue-and-white rug from a rocking chair that faced the ocean and tucked it around the dog. “There you are, you poor little sausage dog, you. Can we close the doors?”
    Ron swirled the wine in his glass and looked up at her, his eyes heavy-lidded . “Uh-huh.”
    Jenny returned to the hot tub and rested her hand on his strong shoulder. “Do you want to go to bed?”
    He didn’t answer.
    She nudged him.
    “Yes…”
    “Where? The bed is wet.”
    “The lookout has a fold-out bed.” Ron pointed up, towards the ceiling. That’s where I’d sleep as a kid. The hex room.”
    “Hex room?”
    “That’s its nickname—for the shape, not because it has a hex on it.”
    “Oh, thank goodness for that.” Jenny helped him out of the tub and, arm in arm, they made their way upstairs.
     
    * * *
     
    The sun came out, finally rearing its head at the most inconvenient time.
    “Ugh.” Ron pulled the scratchy woolen blanket over his head. “I have a headache.”
    “What?” Jenny rose from the rocking chair and snuck under the covers with him, enjoying the sudden heat.
    He grumbled something.
    “I can’t understand you from under there.”
    Ron pulled the blanket back down regretfully, peeping over the top. “My head hurts. I have a headache.” He retreated back into hiding.
    “I’ll go get you something. Don’t worry.”
    “Mamma.” A small voice drifted up from below.
    Jenny jumped to the call, padding downstairs, leaving her sorry husband behind to wallow.
    “Oh my girl, look at you and your rosy little cheeks.” Kip rolled around in her bed, looking as adorable as she always did, with the exception of occasional temper tantrums.
    “Do you want some cereal?”
    Kip sat up suddenly, clapped playfully. “Ya.”
    “Okay, let’s go. Daddy has a sore head; we have to get him water too. First, I need my robe, though.”
    After a long search through her stuffed suitcase, which was still propped against the couch in the living room, Jenny found the robe and returned to the kitchen.
    Kip was waiting patiently at the table for her bowl of Surprise. “Hungry, Mamma. Hungry .” Kip hit the table with a plastic spoon.
    “I know, I know. I’m a-hurrying. Here.” She poured some golden flakes into a plastic bowl she’d retrieved from a cupboard.
    “Sugar! Sugar!”
    “Just a little.”
    Kip ate almost as quickly as she poured it, immediately requesting more in that high-pitched, demanding toddler tone.
    “Here”—Jenny poured more—“enjoy it while I go give daddy his water.”
    The suitcase was way too heavy to haul up to the bedroom, so Jenny just snatched up her toiletry bag and a glass of water and made her way up the three flights of stairs to the hex room.
    “I’m outta breath.” She sat