The Jump

7 New Friends

The fog was so low that it skimmed the ocean waves as Lucinda jogged along the shoreline. Even the houses that bordered the beach were hazy as they stood there consumed by the mist. There was a faint cast of sunlight behind the clouds, hinting at the sign of it rising and giving the morning a grey hued sky. As Lucinda jogged along, she noticed that there weren't as many people out on the surf, or on the beach taking in exercise, but it didn't bother her. Rain or shine, she would be out there, inhaling the scent of sea salt, listening to the cawing of seagulls overhead and the crunch of her sneakers against the sand.

Just as she was thinking about how nice the chilly air was feeling across her skin, her ears twitched at the sound of her name being called. She slowed down her pace as she searched around for the voice, but there was no one in sight. As she sped up again, she heard her name being shouted yet again. Then, out of the fog a woman appeared and was waving to her from one of the properties lining the beach. Lucinda waved back, unsure who the middle aged woman was but she seemed nice enough with her huge bright white smile.

"Hey, you're Lucinda, right?" the woman shouted as she jogged out to the beach with a knitted emerald green scarf wrapped around her shoulders.

"Yeah, how'd you guess?" Lucinda asked as she stretched her legs by pulling her ankles up and behind her, one at a time.

"I'm Emma." The woman extended her hand and looked Lucinda up and down approvingly. "Hector's wife. Your landlord."

"Oh!" she exclaimed and immediately took Emma's hand. "It's great to meet you."

"Likewise," Emma replied, tucking loose strands of chocolate colored hair behind her ears. "So I hear you're working with Raif over at the cafe?" She bobbed her brows. "How's that going?"

Lucinda tried to hide her smile by looking off into the distance and cleared her throat. "It's going great and all of the customers are so friendly, so I couldn't be more grateful that he offered me the job."

"Plus it's not so bad having a hunky boss, huh?" Emma bobbed her brows again.

"He's... nice," Lucinda replied.

"Funny, cause he said the same thing about you." Emma grinned. "Anyway, enough about him." She batted her hand. "The reason I flagged you down is because I wanted to make sure you got the invitation for our party this weekend?"

"A party?"

"Oh gosh, don't tell me!" Emma covered her face with a groan. "I bet Hector forgot to mail yours out! What am I going to do with that man?" She shook her head and brought her hands back down. "Anyway, it's our twenty year anniversary so we're having a big party at the house Saturday night and it's going to be a blast. Food, drinks, music, dancing... you need to come!"

"Oh..." Lucinda furrowed her brows. "I'm scheduled to work Saturday night, otherwise I'd love to be there, but I'm closing the cafe."

Emma frowned. "But Raif told me he was closing the cafe early on Saturday? I hope he didn't forget... I swear that man works too hard! You know what, I'm calling him right now and giving him an earful! Come on Lucinda."

Suddenly Lucinda found herself being dragged by the hand toward Emma's home. She guided her through the white picket fence and up the stone walkway, tossing a smile over her shoulder at her. There were wooden anorak chairs surrounding a fire pit on one side of the yard and on the other was a vegetable garden. Emma reached down as they walked and picked up a small basket full of fresh veggies she must have been plucking before spotting Lucinda. The woman chatted the whole way about how she was going to wring Hector's neck for not sending out the invitation and how she was going to pulled Raif's ear for forgetting about the party.