Suddenly, my churro isn’t sitting so well inside my stomach. “You and Porter sure are buddy-buddy.” I don’t mean to sound so grumbly about this, but I can’t help it.
She shrugs. “We’ve been mates for years. He’s not so bad. He’ll tease you relentlessly until you push back. He’s just testing your limits. Besides, he’s been through a lot, so I guess I give him some slack.”
“Like what? His world-famous grandfather won too many sur ng trophies? It sure must be a drag, seeing statues of your family members around town.”
Grace stares at me for a moment. “You don’t know about what happened?”
I stare back. Obviously, I don’t. “What?”
“You don’t know about their family?” She’s incredulous.
Now I’m feeling pretty stupid for not bothering to look up Porter’s family on the Internet when I got home last night. Truth is, I was so mad at him, I didn’t care. Still don’t, really. “Kinda not into sports,” I say apologetically, but honestly, I’m not even sure if sur ng is considered a sport or a hobby or an art. People get on boards and ride waves, but is it an Olympic thing, or what? I’m clueless.
“His father was a pro surfer too,” she tells me, sounding like she truly cannot believe I don’t know this already. “?e grandfather died, and then his father … It was all pretty horrible. You haven’t noticed Porter’s scars?”
I start to tell her that I did but was too busy being humiliated in front of my coworkers, but Grace is now distracted. Someone’s calling her from a store down the promenade.
“Gotta go,” she interrupts in her tiny voice. “Just please be there tomorrow.”
“I will,” I promise. Don’t really have any other choice.
“By the way,” she says, turning around and pointing at the orange tabby with a sly smile on her face. “?at cat isn’t answering you because he is a she.”
My heart sinks. Wrong cat.
Well, it’s only the beginning of summer, and I’m a patient girl. If I have to eat my way through every churro cart on the boardwalk, come hell or sunstroke, I will nd Alex before North by Northwest.
LUMIÈRE FILM FANATICS COMMUNITY
PRIVATE MESSAGES>ALEX>NEW!
@mink: Guess what I got in the mail today? A brand-new copy of The Philadelphia Story.
@alex: Nice! Love that movie. We should watch that together sometime if I can find a copy.
@mink: Definitely. It’s one of my favorite Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn films!
@alex: Well, in other good news, since I know you LOVE gangster movies so much [insert sarcasm here], I just sent you a ton of Godfather screens with Alex-ified captions, changing things up for you.
@mink: I’m looking at them right now. You think you’re pretty funny, don’t you?
@alex: Only if you do.
@mink: You made orange juice go up my nose. @alex: That’s all I ever wanted, Mink. @mink: Your dreams may be closer to reality than you can possibly imagine… .
“You won’t nd anything cheap around here!”
—Lana Turner, ?e Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
5
My rst real shift at the Cave begins the next day at noon, and when I see the jammed parking lot, I nearly turn the Vespa around and head back to Dad’s house. But Grace spots me before I can. She’s waiting at the employee door, waving her arms, and now there’s nothing I can do but march off to my doom. We clock in, stow our stuff in our assigned lockers, and don our orange vests.
Shit just got real.
Mr. Cavadini and his pointy blond vampire hairline greet us in the break room, clipboard in hand. “You are … ?”
“Bailey Rydell,” I supply. It’s been one day; he’s already forgotten.
