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Standing on the balcony of our eighteenth floor gulf front condo, I drink in the blue green water extending in a hypnotic dance all the way to the horizon. Emerald close to shore, just as advertised, fading into a gorgeous royal blue.
A school of dolphins swims by right then as though someone has choreographed a welcome to delight and entertain me on arrival. Who could ask for more? I feel some of the tension of the day drain from my shoulders.
Officer Crowe had brought gasoline with him. Enough to get us on our way, and then, followed us through the national forest to the next town where Dixie had filled the gas tank to the point it ran down the side of her car a bit.
She’d wiped it away with a sheepish look at Officer Crowe. He’d pretended not to understand she’d been overcompensating for running out of gas. Nice man. I’d have to remember to tell Ben when we got home.
We’d managed to get to our condo building with no further drama. I’d’ve died if we got here only to discover there was a mistake with our reservation on top of everything else. Things like that do happen and we’d already had some bad juju.
But the young woman at the desk had smiled, checked us in and handed over our key cards along with a packet of information. I’d breathed a sigh of relief.
Dixie and I had piled our luggage on a dolly and taken the elevator to the top of the building. When we’d opened the door, it had looked like we were on a cruise ship. This high up, there was no land visible from inside the condo. Only that vast, rolling, beautiful water stretching to the horizon.
Leaning on the rail, I tilt my face up into the sun’s rays, letting them wash over my face, further relaxing the tension of the day from my body. Memories of other years at another beach with Dixie wash through me like a kaleidoscope. From preschool to teenagers to now. So many memories.
As the sun continues to beat on my face, visions of sun damage and wrinkles flash through my head, but I shake them away. Not today, I think. Not today.
"Wow! This view is fantastic!" Dixie exclaims as she comes out onto the balcony, interrupting my conflicting thoughts. "We're in some pretty tall cotton for a couple of country girls from Mercy, Mississippi."
I keep my face to the sun, eyes closed as I hear the sliding door close behind me followed by the sound of a chair being pulled across concrete.
When no other conversation is forthcoming, curiosity gets the best of me so I open my eyes and turn to see what Dixie is up to.
I frown as I see what she’s doing. "I don't know why you brought that laptop all the way down here. And, I sure as shootin' hope you're not planning on being on social media the whole time we're here."
Dixie shakes her head. "Well, of course not! I brought it to find great places to visit and to eat and to play while we're here."
I laugh. "That's what the concierge downstairs is for. And all those brochures in the check-in package she handed to us."
Dixie gets her stubborn look on her face. "Those people are paid to recommend certain places whether they're actually good or not."
She mouses around on the screen in front of her. "I want to find the places that people have recommended because they had some real fun and good food."
I ease onto a bar height stool that lets me sit and still kept me high enough above the railing to see everything clearly. This might take a while. Dixie believes in being thorough in her research. But I am fine with that. We’ve arrived. We are in our top of the building condo with a magnificent view. I can continue enjoy the scenery and sunshine while she quiets her suspicions of the local concierge recommendations.
Glancing down to the beach, I note all the rental chairs are full and quite a few non-rental chairs dotted the beach around them.
We'd best get down there early in the morning if we want a front row seat for the day while we were here. And I definitely do. I want nothing between me and the water.
I pick up a glass of ice water I’d put on the table when I came out onto the balcony. The sides are covered in moisture even after just a few minutes out here. I take a sip, relishing the feel of the cold water on my tongue.
"Put that old thing up for now and let's just enjoy this view."
Dixie snaps the computer shut and joins me at the tall table, gazing out into the distance. "I sure am glad you insisted on getting a condo way up toward the top. As long as you don't look down, it's like we're sittin' on the edge of the world and we own it all."
"Why, Dixie! You're gettin' all poetic in your old age, girl."
Dixie laughs. "Don't get used to it. I'm sure it'll pass as soon as our vacation is over."
"I'm glad we stopped at that place Ben told us about and picked up the ruby reds shrimp boil dinner.” I say to Dixie. “Now we can just relax up here our first night and get geared up for the rest of the weekend."
I raise my arms over my head, stretching. "I don't know about you, but I'm stiff from so much sitting on that drive down here. I’m not remotely in the mood to cook anything."
Dixie gives me a look, frowning. “You cook?”
I pick a cube of ice out of my glass and throw it at her. “Very funny. You know I do.”
“Hmm.” She scrunches up her forehead, like she is concentrating really hard. I throw another piece of ice. It bounces off her chin, making her yelp.
“Okay. Okay.” She says, rubbing her chin. “I reckon you can cook a few things.”
“A few things, my foot.” I say, tossing my head. “You know good and well I can cook up a storm when I want to.”
She still looks skeptical. I can’t really blame her. I haven’t had much call to do a lot of cooking in years since it was just me these days. I’ve been widowed a while now and haven’t found anyone I want to settle down with.
"There is one thing we need to do. And do it right quick, too, if you're set on relaxing up here the rest of the evening." Dixie comments.
I raise my eyebrows.
"We need to go and talk to whoever's in that little hut down there about renting chairs." She points down to the boardwalk extending from the condo building to a small building where steps led down to the gorgeous white sands of the beach.
I jump up. "You’re right. I was thinking first thing tomorrow morning just because I’m feeling lazy. I was 'bout near set for the evening already. Let's go on down right now and then we'll have that handled."
###
The young eye-candy boy in the hut looks bored from the tips of his sun bleached blonde hair, past his golden brown shoulders all the way to the tips of his sandy toes.
Guess two old ladies like Dixie and I don’t hold much interest for him.
In response to our inquiry about booking chairs for the long weekend, he tells us that there are no front row seats available the next day, but that he can put us in seats in the middle tomorrow and then move us to the front row the next day after a rental expires.
I sigh. I'd so looked forward to baking on the beach with the ocean right at my feet. However, I can wait another day. I pay the fee for four days, and then Dixie and I wander back into the lobby area of the condo building where, much to my surprise, I spot the man who stopped to help us earlier waiting for an elevator.
I nudge Dixie and point. "Look. There's that guy from Boston who stopped to help us."
Dixie swivels her head to look, then stops in her tracks. "I don't like this." She says.
"What in the world do you mean?"
Turning her back to the elevator bank and pulling me into the small lobby bar, she says. "I don't like it that he's in this condo building. It gives me a bad feeling."
As though he can feel our eyes on him, Alex turns from the elevator and sees us standing in the doorway to the bar. He smiles and starts over toward us.
Dixie squeaks and clutches my arm. "He's coming over here."
I pull my arm away and move to a small table near the door, motioning Dixie to follow. "Get a grip on yourself." I whisper once Dixie sits down. "I'm sure he's harmless."
"Of all the gin joints...." Alex says as he comes up to our table, smiling.
Dixie and I look at each other and laugh.
"Casablanca." I say.
Alex pulls out a chair and sits down. "I must buy a round of drinks for two fellow aficionados of the classics. Name your poison, ladies."
Rolling his eyes at our choice of cosmopolitans, he heads off to the bar across the room. I raise my eyebrows at Dixie. She sighs.
“I’m still very suspicious about him just happening to be in the same condo building as us.”
She makes air quotes and I grab her hands before Alex can see her.
“You aren’t so suspicious that you turned down a free drink.” I point out.
“My mama didn’t raise a fool. When a man wants to buy me a drink – and is where I can see his every move – I’m all for it.”
I restrain myself from rolling my eyes. “Do you actually think he’s going to spike our drinks and abduct us or something?”
Dixie fiddles with one of the bar napkins lying on the table. “When you put it like that it does seem like I might be over reacting.” She holds up her hand to stop me from speaking. “Hush. He’s coming back.”
Alex arrives at the table with our drinks along with a bourbon on the rocks for himself.
He distributes our drinks and sits down at the table. "What a lucky coincidence that we're in the same condo building.”
I have to restrain myself from making eye contact with Dixie.
Alex goes on. “I wondered if the two of you made it here all right." Of course, you had the help of the state trooper, so it should be a given that you didn't have any more difficulties." He takes a sip of his bourbon and then tosses back the hair that has fallen into his eyes.
I smile, liking his demeanor. And the brown eyes the color of old whiskey in firelight. Mentally I shake my head. Where had that thought come from? Down girl!
"Yes. We were fine.” I answer, taking a sip of my own drink. Yum! Just the right amount of vodka. “We just needed some help with gasoline. We didn't realize we'd be traveling through a national forest and didn't fill up with gas in time."
Dixie kicks me under the table. I turns a puzzled gaze to her, silently asking What?
"Did I hear you tell the trooper you're from Boston?" Dixie asks. "This seems like a strange destination for someone from there. Don't y'all have beaches a lot closer than this?"
I shoot her a startled look. What in tarnation was Dixie up to with the rude questions?
Alex looks a bit disconcerted, but answers. "My sister and I have been coming to Destin since we were children. An aunt and uncle lived here and hosted us for a week every summer. So it's tradition for us to be here."
I shift in my seat and clear my throat, drawing his attention back to me. "I don't know why Dixie is giving you the third degree with all these questions." I say with a hard look at her. "She's usually so friendly to everyone she meets. She must be tired from the drive down. You'll have to forgive her."
Dixie takes a sip from her drink, but I know her far too well. She hasn’t changed her mind one little bit.
"I'm so sorry, Alex.” Dixie goes on. “Lily Gayle is right. I don't usually act so rude to people."
Butter wouldn’t melt in that girl’s mouth. And, since Alex isn’t from the south, he has no idea that Dixie is putting on her ‘company manners”. Civility and no more.
Alex grins at her. "No offense taken. I'm sure you're just being cautious. As you said back there on the road, the two of you don't know me from Adam."
Finishing off his drink, he stands. "And on that note, I'll leave the two of you for now."
Neither of us speaks as we watch him board an elevator, disappearing from sight.
"Well." I say. "You're sure in a state this evening. I've never known you to act like this with anyone."
Dixie sighs, runs a hand over her eyes. "I’m wore slap out and that drink just took the last of my get up and go. Let's call it a night."
As we make our way to the elevators, she goes on. "Maybe you're right and I'm just being overly suspicious. But it seems like there's something off about him."
The door dings opens and we board. I mash the button for the eighteenth floor and lean against the wall looking at her.
“I think you’re being a bit over the top. I mean, people do come here from places further north than Mississippi.” I point out.
She sighs and leans against the wall next to me crossing her arms. “Maybe I’ll be in a better frame of mind after a good night of sleep.”
The doors open for our floor and we exit, enter our condo and proceeded to fall into bed.
Unfortunately, my thoughts wouldn’t settle and I stare at the ceiling for half the night. It did seem odd that the random stranger we’d met on the road was in the same condo as us. But things like that happen. Right? For heaven sake. I wished I could turn my brain off for the next several hours. Some of Dixie’s suspicions seemed to have transferred themselves to me in the quiet of the late night.
Things always seem less suspicious in the bright light of day.