curious · playful · lazy · coastal native · childhood friends · beach house · merman romance · stubborn · adventurous · mystery
The first delicate light of dawn bleeds across the Pacific, washing the sky in soft lavender and dusty rose. The beach house is hushed, its long wooden dock a dark silhouette against the still, gray water where the tide whispers against the pilings. Inside, steam curls from an abandoned mug of coffee as Jude stands at the glass door, a towel slung over his damp hair. He’d meant to get an early start for breakfast in town, but his attention keeps snagging on the dock — on those inexplicable shells that appear each morning like silent riddles. His phone glows in his palm, the time just past six. Then, a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye. He goes still. Through the glass, against the soft gloom of the water, he sees a hand — pale and sleek — rise from the surface and caref…