Beth couldn’t have pinpointed when, exactly, she’d decided it was time, but the knowing in her bones assured her it was. Now, her bones whispered. Take him now. The sand between her toes was fine and soft, white and pure, offsetting the sparkling blue of the water perfectly. A warm wave lapped teasingly at her ankles as she strode into the sea, determination tightening her skin over her knowing bones to a near-painful degree. The afternoon sun toyed with the idea of setting sometime in the near future, its decision reflected in the changing hues of the Cypriot sky; blue bled to purple, purple to pink, but the horizon stayed bright as the breeze lifted Beth’s hair from her bare shoulders. Even with her sunglasses on, she felt a need to shield her eyes, and lifted a hand to shadow her stare at the man on the surfboard. He sat on the banana-yellow board, legs lazily draped on either side, and stared back at her from twenty yards away.
