Beach House Views, Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Juniper Clovis knows this beach house will change her life. She knows it with absolute certainty. If she didn’t believe in premonitions, she’d be someone who ignored her gut feelings. That’s not her. But the promise has already settled in the center of her bones, and without a doubt, it will most definitely be epic. She watches the wind tease the tree branches and imagines how they’d tickle her hands if she placed her palm beneath the fronds. A change like this could be unnerving, but it is also exciting to contemplate.

She shivers as prickles travel her spine when she and her husband Bridge pull up snugly to the four-car garage doors of the large one-level beach house. Its whiteness shines brilliantly in the sun as if it’s a mirror to the cloudless sky. It’s the kind of house she had dreamed of living in her entire life, and here it looms in front of her like a real possibility, something legit. Plus, it’s on the beach. This kind of dream house she never expected she would be able to ever touch, let alone call her own.

But this carrot is in front of her, ripe for the taking.

She gives a little squeal as she slams the door of the SUV and shimmies her shoulders at her husband, Bridge, who grins like a thousand smiles at once. He’s excited, too, and she loves it when he’s excited. She drops her eyes to his crotch. She...