The Bridges? Gossiping Freaks, the both of them.
Together, they form a two-person investigative tabloid.
And their reason for living is to figure out our story: What is going on at the Lenton estate and especially in the guest house.
Local History A Fact:
For decades, everyone in Sea Breeze has called the guest house of the Lenton estate “the cottage.”
“Oh, come on,” I thought when I first heard them all call it the cottage…it’s hardly a cottage.
The guest house at the Lenton’s is far more spacious than a typical cottage, and it is elegant and stately.
I should know… We have been living here, Cal and I, for OMG how long now?
The guest house is more of a miniature and cozier version of the main house.
**The Lentons have always known how to do elegant.**
Quote me on this:
“The Lenton Family estate has grounds that would make a ‘Versailles fan’ drool.”
-DEZ
All of these listed below are now Lenny’s legacy, (Lenny as in Harlen Lenton, aka Lenny)
which he must bear:
- the huge main house,
- the large ‘guest cottage’,
- and the grounds.
The cottage?
It’s what I have been officially calling my full-time home for just a bit over two months now.
For years, though, before I became ‘full time,’ the cottage was our weekend home—’our’ as in Calypso and me.
The Bridges, like every other bored resident of Sea Breeze, are dying to know why Cal and I were ever here and why I’m here full‑time now.
Aside: The townsfolk assume we rent the cottage.
But that theory has a BIG hole in it.
The Hole in the Theory: Everyone knows Len would be the last person in Sea Breeze to need rental income, requiring him to rent out a part of his estate.
Sea Breeze has always had an ear tuned to us three—dying to find out ‘the details’ about Len, Calypso, and me. But we never minded.
Welcome to Sea Breeze, where the wind carries gossip and the sea air is laced with salt and suspicion.
According to Sea Breeze Standards, Len, Cal, and I have a very unusual living arrangement. But they don’t have the facts:
The Facts:
Len, Cal, and I? We go way back, a good twenty years.
For years, before I moved permanently into the cottage, Cal and I used to live at Cal’s – near the city, in Queens, and Len used to commute like a weekly westerly wind across Long Island to Queens and stay at Cal’s with us on weekends.
This arrangement lasted for a few years.
That ⬆️ was Living Arrangement 1.0.
Then came Living Arrangement 2.0.⬇️
During our 2.0 phase, we switched weekend venues ↔️.
Cal and I would drive out east from Queens and stay at the guest cottage on Len’s family’s estate on weekends. Weekdays, Cal and I were in Queens, and Len was in Sea Breeze.
Now, we are in Living Arrangements 3.0 ⬇️️.
In 3.0 – I have permanently plopped myself in the guest house cottage.
Cal needs to be near the city on weekdays because of work, so she comes home here on weekends as she did in 2.0.
Note: Cal always knows how to make an entrance. Every Friday around seven, like clockwork, she arrives at the Lenton estate near the beach.
She arrives sleekly in her convertible, cruising out of urban hell and onto the expressway.
Then she streams across the parkways to the east end of Long Island, and then she meanders through the main streets of Sea Breeze every week. Like I said before—like clockwork.
Residents are always on the lookout for her arrival, waiting to see her. As if her arrival were a spectacle or an eclipse.
She has this celebrity aura about her.
Picture this: a strong presence behind the wheel: long neck, decisive mouth, a printed silk scarf covering her head, wrapped and knotted high, towering like a turban, large sunglasses, huge earrings… oblivious to all… coolly driving her canary‑yellow vintage Triumph with its glistening white top (always down in good weather) and pearly white‑walled tires.
She moves like a prowling panther.