She wore mittens, a wool cap, and a vest because these spring mornings and evenings were still cold. During the day, especially working like a maniac in her shop, she was warm enough in jeans and a long-sleeved tee. Her assistant, Marlene, wasn’t coming in until nine, when they would open the shop together, but there was still so much work waiting to be done, Clare had hardly slept for thinking about it. She assured herself that with older, plumper, cheerful Marlene bustling around, they’d get it all done. Her bike bounced when she hit the Belgian blocks of Commercial Street. She braked to a halt, crossed the narrow lane to Sweet Hart’s, wheeled her bike around to the back, and locked it up. Just a few feet away, the water of the harbor sparkled as the sun and wind stirred it. Boats bobbed along the town pier, small motorboats, fishing boats, pleasure boats. Mallards paddled near the curve of beach and herring gulls dropped sand crabs on the wooden boards of the pier, then dove down to tease out their breakfast from the cracked shells.
What do You think about Moon Shell Beach: A Novel?
