The pile of sofa cushions on the balcony brought back the night's memories to Bill when he walked out onto the balcony and into the early morning sun. The beach umbrellas were not yet up and there were more birds than people on the beach. He watched the gulls and the long-legged birds running along the water's edge clean up the beach from the nighttime parties.
Bill thought that Murphy was going to spend the night and after making love twice she fell asleep in his arms. Sometime during the night he awoke with a full bladder and she was gone. He didn't know what time she had returned to her condo but her place in the bed was already cold. She had told him that she was going back home to confront Robert and figure out what they were going to do. Robert had called her cell phone several times but she refused to answer and the one time that she called their home number the voice mail picked up and she left a message telling him that she was OK and then hung up with no further explanation.
Drying off after his shower, Bill could smell the brewed coffee he had started before shaving and showering. He wondered if there was any donuts left and then decided that he was going to go out and get some real breakfast after having a cup of coffee. He thought of calling Murphy but decided against it. She had enough on her mind if she was going to leave that morning and he was sure that she would call him before she left.
They both knew that it was a dim possibility that they would continue their relationship back in Virginia but if she did kick Robert out maybe they could get together. He wasn't sure that he wanted to interfere in their marriage if she did decide to try and make it work or at least learn to put up with her husband.
Murphy's Escalade was nowhere in sight as Bill maneuvered his truck down the ramps of the parking garage.
"Maybe she's gone and didn't want to see me before she left," he mused with a feeling of disappointment. "Well, it was good while it lasted!" he said aloud as he pulled out into the light, early morning traffic onto Ocean Boulevard.
The stack of pancakes quickly disappeared along with the poached eggs and corned beef hash at the Golden Griddle restaurant. The local paper had very little national news and he wasn't familiar with the place names of the local stuff about zoning and the building boom in the area. A final cup of coffee and he was back in his truck and ready for the day.
"Hi Mr. Hughes," the voice said from behind his beach chair.
Bill knew who it was before he saw her. He was slouched in his beach chair with his head towards one side. Opening his eyes underneath the peak of his ball cap, he almost went cross-eyed trying to focus on the crotch of her bathing suit almost touching the peak of his cap about three inches from his nose. His eyes moved from her crotch to the yellow Lifeguard badge and back to her crotch. It didn't look like there was a lining in the suit or else she had removed it. The red material of the suit was trapped between a pair of pussy lips that were slowly moving closer to his face until he could have stuck out his tongue and licked them.
"Where's your friend?"
"Uh, I don't know where she is," he lied.
She had her lifesaving board slung over her shoulder by its strap and she was carrying a water bottle. The modest suit that must have been standard for the Lifeguards covered her breasts but her nipples were stretching the fabric as if they were trying to poke through and into the sunlight.
"That's too bad," she commiserated in a tone that told Bill she was not at all sad at his report.
"She may be shopping or playing golf with her husband," he continued. "She really wasn't my friend, she was just an acquaintance."