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“And in twenty-three years,” Leo said, “have you ever actually wanted to ruin someone’s vacation?”
She was frantically jogging down the beach, holding a parking ticket above her head like a scarlet letter. “They’re towing! The golf-cart man! He’s towing everyone on Ocean Boulevard!”
Leo’s heart leaped. A tiny white hatchback was backing out of a space no wider than a coffin. He flicked his turn signal—a pointless courtesy in this asphalt Thunderdome—and eased forward.
The Village was Siesta Key’s tiny, quaint downtown—a strip of ice cream parlors, t-shirt shops, and overpriced bistros. The parking there was a different circle of hell: metered, two-hour limits, and patrolled by a golf-cart-riding parking enforcement officer named Gerald, who had the cold, reptilian soul of a Venetian doge.
They finally hit the sand at 12:15 PM. The famous Siesta Key powder—pure quartz, cool to the touch even in July—squished between their toes. The water was a shade of turquoise that made Leo’s chest ache. Maya immediately began building a sandcastle moat.
“There,” Maya whispered. “A spot. By the sand dune.”
The Oakley man got out, shrugged without looking back, and sauntered toward the beach with a Yeti cooler the size of a small moon.