Beth Nield had no choice but to admit that Hunter was a still handsome seventy Despite the fact that Beth\u2019s divorce had Not anything she was going to think about While the Los Angeles metro area was known Although Malibu was known the world over, Beth made the familiar drive with her When she pulled into her reserved spot She\u2019d kept the surfboard rack and outdoor She unlocked the back door and walked to It was barely eight in the morning, three Yolanda, a pretty, petite brunette with \u201cMorning,\u201d Beth called as she stepped into \u201cGood.\u201d Yolanda smiled at her. \u201cKai\u2019s a Kai, a twenty-two-year-old who\u2019d walked Yolanda winked at Beth, as if silently \u201cWe need lettuce. When I went to get it out Beth groaned. \u201cNot the lettuce. What Yolanda pointed to the small kitchen where An unexpected but not unheard-of disaster, While she ordered most of her supplies from She and Yolanda quickly discussed what she \u201cLet me get in touch with my produce guy. \u201cWe\u2019ll be fine,\u201d Yolanda told her. \u201cWe know Beth went into her office, where she She sent a quick email to her produce guy, She helped with the prep work until it was When she\u2019d shut down for the three-week She missed having friends to hang out with. Beth turned in to the industrial area where It took a couple of seconds for her to The billboard was huge and showed a happy Patti, you mean the world to me. I\u2019m so She pressed a hand to her chest, as if to Ignoring a sudden wave of sadness, she If the picture of the two of them holding She flipped through more pictures and saw Beth dropped the phone on the passenger She knew she didn\u2019t want him back\u2014their And here she <\/i>was, in her car, alone A sharp pain cut through her\u2014two parts She needed more than just work, she told Excerpted from Beach
\nher sixty-seven-year-old aunt had a much more interesting love life than she
\ndid. Actual living proof of that sad fact sat at their shared breakfast table,
\neating a high-fiber cereal while watching the morning news.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nsomething who\u2019d worked for the USPS his whole life, retiring with a very nice
\nfederal pension. But his \u201creal\u201d money had come from playing the stock market.
\nShe had no idea where the two had met, but this was the third morning this
\nmonth she\u2019d found Hunter eating a hearty breakfast after a night of, well,
\nnothing she wanted to think about.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nbeen final just over a year ago, she hadn\u2019t been on a date. As for spending the
\nnight with a man, well, she couldn\u2019t begin to imagine that ever hap\u00adpening.
\nShe\u2019d been telling herself she didn\u2019t need that sort of distraction and that
\nrelationships were more trouble than they were worth, but thinking about how
\nhappy her aunt was these days, she was starting to wonder if maybe she was
\nwrong. Per\u00adhaps there was <\/i>something to falling in love. Not that she\u2019d
\never had much luck in the romance department\u2014her divorce was proof of that. Her
\nbrother hadn\u2019t been successful in love, either. Maybe there was a genetic flaw.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthis morning, she told herself firmly as she put her breakfast dishes in the
\ndish\u00adwasher and called out a goodbye to Hunter.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nto be a night\u00admare traffic-wise, Beth had what could only be described as a
\nglorious commute. She lived a mere twenty minutes from where she worked, and
\nthe majority of that drive was along Pa\u00adcific Coast Highway through Malibu.
\nYes, there were plenty of annoying stoplights, and on the weekends, visitors
\nclogged the roads, but it was difficult to mind when just to the west was the
\nPacific Ocean.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe LA-adja\u00adcent community was in fact much smaller than most everyone
\nimagined. The actual population was less than twelve thousand people, with the
\nmajority of the businesses and houses clinging to the coast. There were canyons
\nand hills that stretched east, but the area everyone thought of when they heard
\nthe name was within a couple of miles of the water.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nwindows open and the scent of the salt air brightening her day. The ocean was
\nmore lively today with whitecaps visible out to the horizon and seagulls
\ncircling overhead. A light breeze danced with the palm trees. This early, the
\nbeaches would be relatively empty, but by noon, they would fill with locals and
\ntourists, all eager to enjoy nature\u2019s beautiful offering.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nbehind Surf Sand\u00adwiches, the sight of the cheerfully painted one-story build\u00ading
\nfilled her with fierce, happy pride. She might have bought the business out of
\na sense of obligation and a need to help her brother, but over the years, she\u2019d
\ngrown to love the place. When she and Ian had divorced, he\u2019d asked to buy her
\nout of their house. She\u2019d used the money to purchase the vacant storefront next
\ndoor and had expanded her business, giving her a much larger eating area for
\ncustomers and a remodeled kitchen and prep area, not to mention additional
\nparking. The latter was a precious commodity in always congested Malibu.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nshower for her customers who came directly from the beach across the street,
\nand had painted the outside the same bright, cheerful yellow she used on the
\nlogo. To make the remodel go more quickly, she\u2019d closed for three weeks, giving
\nher just enough time to second-guess herself and wonder if all her regulars
\nwould forget about their favorite sandwiches. But at the grand reopening,
\nthere\u2019d been a line nearly around the block, and since the remodel, sales were
\nup thirty-eight percent. Information that would make any small business owner\u2019s
\nheart flutter with joy.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe newly en\u00adlarged employee space. Big lockers filled one wall, with comfy
\nsofas opposite. During the refresh, she\u2019d added a couple of sets of tables and
\nchairs and had upgraded the Wi-Fi. By giving up space in her office, she\u2019d
\nsqueezed in a third bathroom\u2014this one for employees only.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nhours before the store opened, but Yolanda and Kai were already hard at work
\nprepping for the upcoming day. Surf Sandwiches was open from eleven until
\nseven. The biggest rush was from about eleven-thirty until one, with a second,
\nsurprisingly intense post-school surge, followed by a gentle wind-down until
\nclosing.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nmore energy than the battery bunny and three kids under the age of ten, was her
\ngo-to morning person. Despite her tiny stature, she had a killer mom glare that
\ncould reduce anyone with attitude to submission in less than three seconds.
\nEven more significant, she wielded the Hobart meat slicer with surgeon-like
\nprecision. Even Rick, Beth\u2019s actual surgeon brother, agreed Yolanda had mad
\nskills.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe kitchen. \u201cHow\u2019s it going?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nworker. I don\u2019t mind when he comes in early.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\naway from family money to surf rather than go to college, beamed at the compli\u00adment.
\n\u201cYo, that\u2019s high praise. Makes me want to work harder.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nsaying that was the whole point of the words. Then her humor faded.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthis morning, I saw it\u2019s all rotten.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nhappened?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe industrial refrigerator and restaurant-size stove sat. \u201cYou can go look for
\nyourself. I salvaged a few bunches, but we\u2019re going to need a lot more for the
\nday.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nBeth thought as she went into the kitchen and saw containers of sad-looking let\u00adtuce
\nsitting on the counter, the good bunches already off to the side. She
\ncalculated the damage, took a couple of pictures with her phone and then pulled
\nthe ongoing Costco list from a drawer.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nvarious distribu\u00adtors, like most small restaurant businesses, she relied on a
\nbig box store for backup. She added tomatoes to the list, then returned to the
\nfront to confirm they had everything else they needed.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nwould be buying.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ll head to Costco as soon as they open.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nwhat to do.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nquickly booted her computer and the pay system she used. She found two large of\u00adfice
\nlunch orders waiting and immediately forwarded them to the kitchen, where they
\nwould be flagged and reviewed. Once Yolanda determined what had to be made, the
\norders would auto\u00admatically go in queue thirty minutes before they were
\nsupposed to be ready. The improved software had been expensive, but worth it.
\nThese days a lot of customers wanted to order and pay online, then just drop by
\nto grab their food and get on with their lives.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\ncomplete with pic\u00adtures. She\u2019d been working with him for years and knew a
\ncredit would be sitting in her account by the end of day.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\ntime to head out with her shopping list. Getting to the closest Costco required
\na longer and less interesting drive than her commute to work. She listened to
\nthe radio and thought about all she had to get done when she returned to the
\nstore. Kai would make the ci\u00adlantro, pumpkin seed and jalape\u00f1o pesto, which was
\nusually her job. He was her newest employee, but he was a good hire. She was
\nvery fortunate with everyone who worked for her. Most had been with the store
\nover a decade, and turnover was low. She paid well, offered great health care
\nand did her best to be a fair and reasonable boss.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nremodel, every\u00adone had been paid their usual amount. She\u2019d even arranged for a
\nspecial evening at a local movie multiplex where she\u2019d rented the smallest
\ntheater and had hosted dinner and a movie for staff and their families.
\nEveryone had had a good time, and a few had mentioned making it an annual
\nevent\u2014a reaction that made her happy. Tragically for her, that was the wildest
\nher social life had been since the divorce. Except for work and her recent com\u00admitment
\nto volunteering at a local food bank, she was kind of turning into a grumpy
\nhermit, which wasn\u2019t her nature at all. But she couldn\u2019t seem to get motivated
\nto, you know, get out and be in the world.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nShe missed being in a relationship, yet given how she was spending her days,
\nshe was very much stuck in a rut of doing nothing. Her aunt was warm and
\ncaring, but Agatha had her own life, what with her man friend and a new and
\noddly successful home business of crocheting custom bikinis.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe Costco was lo\u00adcated and drove toward the sprawling building at the end of
\nthe street. As she headed through an intersection, her gaze drifted to a large
\nbillboard on her right. Immediately her entire body went on alert as her brain
\nstruggled to comprehend what she was seeing. She instinctively turned toward
\nthe billboard\u2014and accidently steered in that direction as well. Before she
\ncould slam on the brakes, she\u2019d driven off the road, up onto the side\u00adwalk
\n(mercifully empty of pedestrians), stopping less than a foot from a fire
\nhydrant.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nstart breathing again. Adrenaline poured through her from both the near
\naccident and the billboard itself. She managed to put the car in Park before
\nturning off the engine and getting out to stand on the sidewalk and stare in
\ndisbelief.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\ncouple staring into each other\u2019s eyes. Not really noteworthy if she ignored
\nboth the fact that the man in question was her ex-husband Ian and the heartfelt
\nmessage next to the photo.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\ngrateful to have found you. I love you. Will you marry me?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nkeep her heart from jumping out and flopping around on the road. Her brain was
\nstill having trouble processing what she was seeing, and she hon\u00adestly didn\u2019t
\nknow what was more confusing to her. The billboard itself, the fact that it was
\ntwo blocks from Costco, or that her very ordinary, believer-in-a-routine
\nex-husband had proposed in such an un-Ian-like way. Oh, and maybe the fact that
\nhe had obviously moved on and fallen in love with someone else while she hadn\u2019t
\nbeen out with friends, let alone a man.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nsagged back onto the driver\u2019s seat and pulled her phone from her handbag.
\nWithin seconds she was on Instagram and scrolling through to find Ian\u2019s
\naccount. As their divorce had been as low-key as their marriage, she\u2019d never
\nblocked him, and apparently he\u2019d never blocked her, either. Which meant she
\ncould see everything he\u2019d posted for the past couple of weeks in color
\nphotographs and videos.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nchampagne glasses and smiling at the camera was any indication, Patti had said
\nyes. But instead of staring at the happy couple, Beth found herself searching
\nthe crowd of friends that was gathered around them. Friends she\u2019d thought had
\nbeen her friends as well, back when she and Ian had been married. The three
\ncouples had been tight, hanging out together, even taking the odd vacation as a
\ngroup. But when the marriage had fallen apart, she\u2019d discovered she was actually
\nonly the friend-in-law. The other two women hadn\u2019t wanted to get together and
\nhad finally explained they were picking Ian. At the time, that had hurt about
\nas much as the end of her marriage.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\none of Ian and Patti with Ian\u2019s large, extended family. The family she\u2019d
\nthought of as her own, appreciating the sheer size and volume of get-togethers.
\nGrowing up it had just been her, her brother and her mom. She\u2019d always dreamed
\nof being part of a big family, and with Ian, that had happened. Only once she
\nand Ian split up, her relationship with them had ended as well.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nseat and stared at the billboard. Ian was getting married again, to
\nPatti\u2014whoever she was. They would have a life, possibly kids. All the things
\nshe\u2019d thought would happen when she and Ian had been to\u00adgether. Only they
\nhadn\u2019t.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nrelationship was long over. But she did envy his future, or at least all the
\npossibili\u00adties. Ian had kept living his life and looking for ways to be happy.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nand semi-friendless. Ex\u00adcept for Jana, a relatively new friend she really
\nliked, there was no one. Yes, she\u2019d done great things with her business, but
\nwhat about her personal life? Why was she half-parked on a sidewalk, staring at
\na billboard while on her way to Costco? Didn\u2019t she want more?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nregret but one part intense longing for more than the nothing she\u2019d apparently
\ncho\u00adsen. She needed friends in her life and possibly a man. While the latter
\nseemed like more than she could comfortably take on right now, the former was
\ndoable. She was a good person. She was likeable. The friend thing shouldn\u2019t be
\nso hard.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nherself. She needed to get out of the house and start doing things. Anything.
\nBegin\u00adning right this second. Or possibly after she made her Costco run. But
\ntoday for sure.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nVibes by Susan Mallery, Copyright <\/span><\/b>\u00a9<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span> 2025 by Susan Mallery Inc. Published by Canary Street Press.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEjv-gza1bsVD3YzqZN7tUD3jDmB2KttxZ_wQ4uUyAmw1Jjbwe_p2pFYEhtGOT0ojBaD5n7101yoniXwFrxHgaN66A336z-NzxPTztkzOMH3uxIcpBD_H0COTNzmMBSwWY4igP7UVtgAsECe2bRzxZeQW4X7XLygzIYvliwt21w7OhkTGWFm4bdc3PlIxg4Q\/s200\/JEANZ%20OWL%20BLOG%20LOGO.png\")
<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n