Breakfast in a sun-drenched marina anyone? #Teaser from #WIP #romanticsuspense

From An Unusual Vacation #WIP #romanticsuspense

The summer day dawned in a blaze of glorious sunshine. Dominic checked his packing and his email before he downed a glass of orange juice and took off on his vacation. He grinned as he drove over the bridge in minimal traffic and was on his way down the river road to the marina.

Dominic drove into the marina parking lot just before ten. He had an hour to kill before his dad’s caretaker showed up with the keys to the yacht. Dominic briefly thought of taking the short drive to the cottage where the caretaker lived in the grounds of his dad’s lodge, to pick up the key, but the delicious aroma of cooking bacon drifted to him on the breeze as the marina café doors were propped open by a server. Hungry now, Dominic walked over to one of the tables placed in the morning sun outside the café. He checked the little menu in its plastic stand, and a server arrived at his table. Dominic ordered bacon and fried tomato toasted sandwiches, and coffee.

The breeze had picked up a little since he’d arrived and the pennants strung from each lamppost along the quay flapped making a strange high-pitched hum. Dominic gazed around at the boats moored in the berths. The riot of color and white against the backdrop of bright blue sky and marine blue water brought a smile to his face. He relaxed into the canvas of the café chair and stretched his legs out under the table. This is a good start. I feel better already.

His order arrived and Dominic tucked into his food happily. The café interior filled up and two small groups of people took tables outside close to Dominic’s table. They nodded a greeting, a smile between strangers in the lovely morning. Dominic had paid his bill and was about to wander along to his dad’s yacht, when an SUV screeched into the parking lot kicking up the fine gravel into a cloud, and drawing everyone’s stare as the occupants piled out, and charged down one of the walkways to the boats moored there. Dominic watched as the three men and one young woman clutched at each other when one of them stumbled. There was just enough time for Dominic to register the slender figure, and long, light brown, hair of the young woman, before one of the men stepped behind her and the group disappeared. Must have got in a boat. Wonder what that’s about?

© Elodie Parkes 2015