A week later, on Friday morning the family was getting ready for a beach day, going to a place that was 25 minutes away by car. Both Nina and Nick were working in cloud IT companies remotely and had taken the day off. Nina was managing a team of 7 and Nick was a consultant that worked with executives a lot, so his hours sometimes were a bit strange due to Australian and Californian time zones that should be accommodated.
Nick, already in his swimsuit, prepared the kids' stuff with their beach toys, their change clothes, caps, sunscreen while Nina was in the walk-in wardrobe choosing her bikini. The trio was ready and Nick shouted that they were going to load the car. After a few minutes and when he had set everything up, Nina opened the front door, locked it behind her and sat in the car. While the girls were chirpy making chicken voices and laughing, Nick had a "visibly annoyed" look in his face.
"What is it, baby? You look like something's wrong. Was I late or something?", Nina offered.
"No, we were good in timing. It's that my director just called me and asked me to help a director in Australia complete a report, so I will need to call him when we get there. It will take me 30 minutes to an hour", Nick responded.
Nina assured him that it's not that bad, she will find something to get the girls busy with and when he is done, he will come and enjoy his day.
Their trip continued with some songs about the wheels of a bus and they quickly reached the beach bar which was part of a larger resort. They find an umbrella with 3 sunbeds and order cold coffee and an orange juice for the oldest young lady. Nick takes the coffee glass in his hands, gives Nina a peck on her glossy, cherry flavoured lips and disappears with his phone. Alone now, she takes out of the bag a few toys and lets the kids sit on the sand and play. It was still quite early and the sun was not hot, but she applied sunscreen on them and then she had maybe 1-2 minutes of "me time" before they called her for anything, so she got rid of the beach dress and rubbed some sunscreen on her arms, decolletage, belly, thighs and calves. She laid on the chaise-longue in her blue floral bikini and large sunglasses looking at the sea and some people playing beach volley in the distance. At some point, she hears a voice from her left calling her.
"Nina! Good morning to the family, so happy to see you here!"
It was Sonia walking to her in a red swimsuit with her sunglasses on her hair. The bikini was a triangle bra that covered Sonia's large boobs adequately and the bottoms were brazilian type which with her figure looked fantastic. The strings that formed the beachsuit structure were having some tough time managing her curves, but this is the way life works for them.
"Oh hello Sonia! Didn't certainly expect to find you here. You look smashin' by the way" said Nina with a large smile and a deeper, sultry voice, raising her glasses on her head too.
"Awww thank you, have to say right back at you! And here are the lovely girls, how are you doing? Do you enjoy your time on the beach?", Sonia turned to them and they shouted back all sorts of excited yeah-yeahs.
Nina offered her the empty sunbed to sit if she is alone. Sonia responded that she came there with her boyfriend who was playing beach volleyball 20 metres away and pointed to him for Nina to see. She saw 4 people jumping for the ball, two girls and two guys. One of them was Manos, Nina recognized him directly even behind his glasses and of course without the work clothes he wore in the bar restaurant.
"Wait, is Manos your boyfriend?" She sounded surprised.
"Yep he is! We are together for 3 years now" Sonia responded.
"Good job there, lady" Nina cheered loudly and winked her eye to her young friend. She voicelessly continued "he is HOT" so the kids don't hear this. Sonia got the lip reading right and laughed, nodding positively her head to Nina's comment, acting embarrassed.
"Where is Nick? I hope he isn't back at home working, leaving you here all alone" she said.
"No, he should be in the resort lobby cause he had a phone call from work, he will be down in no time. Sit, have the sunbed so we can talk", Nina asserted this time.
Sonia sat down and they started talking about work, Nina explained that she works remotely managing a team for a company whose HQ is in the country capital so she travels there every 1,5 month for 2 days and Nick is travelling internationally every 2 months for 3-4 days for meetings.
"How is the bar going?" She asked Sonia.
"The bar is going well, but I will stop working there most probably in a few days", Sonia came back looking a bit worried.
"Oh, sorry to hear this, what happened?" Nina said, truly concerned.
"Manos will serve the army for the next 12 months, so I don't want to be working late nights alone, I will need to find another job that works day shift. Money with rent and stuff is also an issue, so I really need to find a solution soon."
"Oh Sonia, I feel your pain", Nina touched her on her arm. "When is he leaving?"
"In 10 days from now, that is why we came here to enjoy our day, but I also had a talk 2 hours ago with the resort staff manager to see if there is any fit opening here. Manos knows him through a few friends of his at uni. There is one apparently for the beach bar which could work fine, but of course in 2,5 months I will need to move to the hotel bar where it might get me again to night shifts."
"Poor Sonia, all the best from my heart", Nina said and hugged her for a brief second. "It's a tough time for you guys, but you will prevail". Nina remembered her rough patch when Nick served at 23 years old, so it was really a pain that she could feel.
Suddenly, an angry girly shout came from Nina's oldest daughter which disrupted the sympathy moment.
"What is wrong, Annie?" mom asked.
"My orange juice straw is punctured and I cannot drink my orange juice!" The little girl faking furiousness said.
