And then the week fills up and the beach doesn't happen. And I wake up on Monday and it's been another 7 days. She paused. Why are you here? I've never seen you on this beach.
I live three blocks away. That's not what I asked. He looked at the ocean. Needed to remember what something felt like. She was quiet.
He thought maybe he'd said too much. Crossed some invisible line of appropriate beach acquaintance communication. But then she said very quietly, "Yeah, I get that. " Something in her voice caught him. Not sadness. Exactly.
More like the sound of someone who was telling the truth and wasn't entirely sure what to do with the relief of it. "What do you do? " he asked. "For work, business consulting. Mostly midsize companies navigating restructuring. What do you do? " maintenance supervisor, Coastal Palms Hotel.
She nodded. You like it? Nobody ever asked him that. People heard what he did and nodded and moved on. Their interest thoroughly satisfied.
Yeah, he said, and was slightly surprised to realize he meant it. I'm good at figuring out what's broken and fixing it. That part I like. Is there a part you don't like? He thought about it.
Sometimes people act like fixing things is a lesser skill than breaking them down on a spreadsheet. She was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "I break things down on spreadsheets for a living. I didn't mean no. You're right. " She said, "We spend a lot of time analyzing problems and not very much time actually solving them.
I've noticed that. " Another pause. My clients pay a lot of money for very detailed explanations of why they're failing. Considerably less for someone to actually come in and fix it. So why do they hire you? Because I tell them what they want to hear and then I tell them what they need to hear and the second part is usually the same as the first part just repackaged.
She said it with a kind of practiced lightness. But underneath it was something tired. It pays extremely well and it occasionally makes me feel like I am contributing something to the universe. Occasionally on good days. Yes.
What about today? She looked at the ocean. Today I tripped over a rope and hit a stranger in the face with my towel. Jury's still out. Marcus laughed.