“Hmm. People who can cook without a recipe, for sure. The chef at Pearl’s comes up with a new special every day and just pulls it from his brain. Can you imagine being able to decide, ‘I’ll mix together some fish and cilantro and beets’ and it’s so delicious, it blows people’s minds?”
“That… doesn’t sound like it would taste good.”
“Clearly you haven’t tasted Chef Ray’s food.”
“Obviously now I have to,” he says. “What else?”
“Loyalty. People who stick with you no matter what.”
“That’s a good one,” he says quietly.
And because he said three and that makes me feel like I need three too, I add, “Good taste in music.”
He stops, and I turn around to face him. The moonlight bouncing off the waves illuminates the side of his face, and he looks so betrayed, I want to laugh.
“I thought you weren’t a music person,” he accuses.
“I never said that.”
He narrows his eyes, just watching me for a minute. Then his teeth flash white as he smiles. “Who’s your favorite author?”
I blink at him, thrown. Author? “We’re talking about music. Don’t you want to know my favorite musician?”
“Eventually,” he says. It feels like my brain takes a still of him in this moment, and I wish I had my camera with me. Just standing there by the ocean, hat still backward on his head, one hand tucked into his hoodie and the other by his side, loosely holding the can of soda I gave him. “We’ll get there.”
“Get where?”
“To a point where we know all that stuff about each other.”
“Wow, you really plan to put in some time, don’t you?”
He looks at me like,Duh. “That’s what it means to be friends, doesn’t it?” He starts walking again. “So. Favorite author?”
“Jandy Nelson. You?”
“It changes every week.” That seems like a cop-out answer, but before I can call him out, he’s moved on. “What’s your dream job?”
I hesitate before responding. “Shark biologist.”
“Sorry?”
I don’t always tell people what I want to do with my life, because being the shark girl isn’t likely to win me any popularity contests. It’s a little like the kid who still wants to study dinosaurs. I’m not sure why I’m telling Gregory, but for some reason I feel like I can. “A shark biologist. Like, a marine biologist, with a focus on sharks.”
He side-eyes me, like he can’t decide if I’m serious. “That sounds… terrifying.”
“Why?”
“Why?” he echoes, incredulous, and flings his arm to gesture toward the dark ocean beyond. “Because sharks!”
I shake my head. “Sharks arethemost important part of the ocean ecosystem. They’re incredibly misunderstood.”
“Wow.” Gregory looks me up and down as we walk, not in a creepy way but more like he’s asking himself who he just decided to befriend. “I didn’t have you pegged as aJawsapologist, Amelia Madden.”
“Don’t get me started onJaws. The harm Hollywood has caused to the species may never fully be undone.”
“Oh, but I want to,” he says. “Please, give me all your thoughts on the cult classic.”
“It’s way too soon for that,” I say. If I get on my soapbox now, I’ll scare him off for sure. “What about you? What’s Gregory McLoughlin’s dream job?”
