“Good thing I know a professional driver, huh?”
He gave me a soft smile. “Yeah, I suppose so.”
It was almost time for his daily Jay call, so I put a pause on the job hunt to give him some private space. Maybe I needed some too. To think.
I hiked down to the beach to stake out a place in the sand and watch the sunset over the ocean. It was warm and windy, and the Pacific was rougher and bigger than Condor Lake. No comparison. But I missed the lake’s serene surface and all its tall trees. I missed how quiet and wild it was there. There was room enough for me to breathe. Weird to think that all the Festival Freaks were gone now. I bet the town felt empty without them.
Someone shouted across the beach.
I jerked up my head to see what the commotion was and spotted a dark streak heading across the sand, accompanied by someone giving chase, waving a straw hat. I couldn’t tell if somethingwas wrong, so I started to push up from the sand, pulse rocketing, not sure if I should flee or help. My mind processed what was happening right as the dark streak came into focus—
As it leapt at my face.
“Frida!”
“Oh my God!” Velvet shouted from down the beach. “You damn dog!”
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was shocked to see Velvet, but I was too wrapped up in dog love. Frida was licking my face and wagging her tail so hard, she was falling on me. I scooped her into my arms and kissed her all over her face. “I missed you so much. Oh my goodness, you smell like lavender. You will be breaking out soon, won’t you? You are allergic to lavender! Who did that to you? Oh, sweetie!”
“What a tramp,” Velvet said, breathless as she trudged through the sand and collapsed next to me in white shorts and a shirt that spilled off one brown shoulder. She set the straw hat on her knee and pushed sunglasses up into her hair. “Catch your breath, dog. It’s just Jane, for the love of Pete. Am I going to have to take you to the vet again?”
“Again?” I said, alarmed, stroking Frida’s warm back as she wagged like a maniac and made desperate whining noises. She felt so good.
“Do dogs like your voice or something? Or maybe it’s because you’re so small, like her.”
I probably should’ve been insulted, but I was too happy. “What about the vet?”
“She stopped eating. There’s nothing wrong with her. She was probably just depressed that you left. Is she allergic to lavender? How come no one tells me these things? Hello, by the way. Leo said you were down here. Cool little place you’ve got. I love Santa Monica.”
I squinted up at her. “When did you get back into L.A.?”
“Yesterday. Daddy said he was done working, and the Festival Freaks had cleared out, so it was a good time to leave. Plus, I think he was suspicious about the partying.”
“Oh,”I said. “I never told—”
“It’s cool.”
“But I didn’t say anything. I swear.” Only I realized that wasn’t entirely true. “I may have said something about the Battle of the Bands to Exie.…” I hung my head.
“Ugh.”
“I’m sorry, but I was worried about you. That’s why I texted you, and then that whole incident at Betty’s…”
Her shoulders sagged. “That was a low point. But not the lowest. Let’s just say that I think I finally realized I don’t need to be around certain people right now. I’m at a weird point in my life. I’m kind of drifting, and I don’t know what to do.”
She had never said anything like that to me.
The gold bangles around her wrist chinked as she gestured. “You don’t understand what it’s like to live under my parents’ shadows. Between the two of them, it’s too much talent under one roof. Where does that leave me? Because I didnotinherit any of these talent genes—how unfair is that? I’m not good at anything.”
“That’s not true. You’re fun to be around and everyone likes you. You plan really good parties.”
“I’m good at being social?”
“It’s more than that, I think. It’s a skill. You’ve got an eye for planning and you’re good at talking to people. Everyone likes you.” This wasn’t coming out right.
“Noteveryonelikes me. My personal assistant just took off with no warning.…”
“I’m sorry. I feel really bad about that.” I rubbed Frida’s belly as she flipped over in my lap, all four feet in the air, panting. “It’s hard to explain, but I’m going through something similar to you, actually. And things got complicated with Fen and Eddie.”
