AMELIA hadn’t realized how much time had slipped through her fingers until her eyes drifted to the corner of her screen.
9:52 PM.
She blinked.
“Already?” she murmured to herself.
The ocean breeze had grown cooler, the once golden horizon now swallowed in deep indigo. The soft glow from lanterns lining the pathway cast long shadows across the sand. She had finished her dinner nearly an hour ago, but somewhere between replying to emails she couldn’t completely ignore and scrolling mindlessly through articles she wasn’t reading, time had quietly betrayed her.
She exhaled and pushed herself up from the beach chair.
The plates had long been cleared. The wine glass stood half-finished. The night had deepened.
As she made her way back toward the building, heels in hand and sandals dangling
