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“Well,” o said when I came into the office, sweat-soaked and depleted, two hours later “How did it go?”

“I have sand in ht to the water cooler, where I filled up a cup, downed it, and then did the same with two more

“You’re at the beach, Emaline,” she pointed out

“No, I’ my mouth with the back of et to the sand soon enough I don’t see e have to have it here, too”

“Because,” she replied, in the cool voice of so, “we are one of the first iet of Colby We want the lot, they are officially on vacation”

“What does that have to do within a sandbox?”

“It’s not a sandbox,” she said, and I rolled my eyes, because that’s exactly what it was, and we both knew it “It’s a sandbar, and it’s meant to evoke the majesty of the coast”

I didn’t even knohat to say to this Ever since Margo had graduated froree in hospitality and business, she’d been insufferable Or more insufferable, actually My farandparents started it right after they got o and her sandbox or sandbar, or whatever But she was the first one in our faot to do whatever she wanted

Which hy, a feeeks earlier, she had this sandbox/Tiki Hut/whatever it waslot About four feet by four feet, aist-high walls, it was like a wooden tollbooth, with a truckload of playground sand duood measure Nobody questioned the need for this except ain, no one else had to work in it

I heard a snicker, rand a phone call She winked at me and I couldn’t help but smile

“Don’t forget about the VIP rounds,” Margo called out, as I headed in that direction, chucking my cup in the trash on the way “You need to start promptly at five thirty And double-check the fruit and cheese platters before you deliver them Amber did them and you kno she is”

Amber was my other sister She was in hair school, worked for the realty co everything in as slipshod a way as possible

“Ten-four,” I replied, and Margo exhaled, annoyed She’d told me ten times that it sounded so unprofessional, like trucker talk Which was exactly why I kept saying it

My grand, with a biglooking out onto the main road, now packed with beach traffic She was still on the phone but waved me in when she saw me in her doorway