“Child’s play,” he replied, taking a sip of his beer. He glanced at Lana, who was now modeling theDEAL WITH IThat as its owner looked on. “Wish it was that easy with everyone.”
He looked so glum. Time for a subject change. “Your name is really interesting,” I told him. “I’ve never met a Cardoon before.”
“Pretty sure I’m the only one.” He looked down at his name tag, then back at me. “My parents met in college at this yoga-center-slash-farm. Cardoons were one thing they grew there. Mom liked how it sounded.”
“I’ve never heard of a cardoon, either,” I admitted.
“It’s akin to an artichoke.” He sipped his beer. “I guess I’m lucky they didn’t name me that.”
“Was that Scott Crawley I saw lurking around here?” Clark asked as he reappeared, dropping to a squat beside me. “Ten bucks says he had a sunburn and tried to talk to you about tubing.”
Cardoon rolled his eyes. “It’s like he’s never evenheardof SPF.”
“Right on both counts,” I said.
“Knew it.” Clark took a look around. “Is it just me, or does the Pavilion vibe feel especially weak this year?”
“No, it does,” Cardoon told him. Although, again, he was looking at Lana as he said this.
“Which is too bad for you, Finley,” Clark said. “Any other year you’d have your pick of options.”
“Oh,” I said, instinctively glancing up at the platform, where the girl on banjo was continuing to solo, “that’s fine. Not really what I’m looking for at the moment.”
“Lucky you,” Cardoon grumbled.
“I mean,” Clark continued, “evenBen’snot into the scene this year. Normally he’d at least be entertaining the idea of one of those girls following him around. Instead, all he does is sit out on the dock at night, keeping me up with his moping.”
“Moping’s loud?” I asked.
“In his case, yes.”
“Guess it’s a good thing you’re not into relationships,” I observed.
“Seriously.” He drained his beer. “Although it’s much easier when there are no viable prospects.”
“Can we go?” Lana said, appearing on my other side. As Cardoon visibly brightened, seeing her, I looked over at where she’d come from.DEAL WITH ITand the girl in the maxi dress were now walking toward the water, their hands loosely intertwined. “Everybody here sucks.”
“Everybody?” Clark said.
She sighed. “You know what I mean.”
He lifted his hand, signaling to Ben, who nodded. At the same time, I took note of the two girls gathered at the base of the platform. One wore baggy overalls and was swaying slightlyto the beat. The other, in glasses, was just flat-out staring.
Would I have noticed this if Clark had not referred to his groupies moments earlier? Probably. Did it seem a more important detail now? I decided not to dwell on it, and instead to stop asking myself questions.
“So you met Scott Crawley.”
I’d just come around the dock to find Ben waiting. “You saw that?”
“Can see just about everything from the platform,” he replied. “Although that guy making his move is especially hard to miss.”
He was sitting against the Egg’s back door, legs out in front of him. I eased myself down so we were side by side, moving my left foot to touch his. Normally he would have turned at that moment, facing me. He didn’t.
“I’m wondering if we should think about making another list,” he said instead.
“Of?”
Now he did shift, his eyes meeting mine. “Reasons not to sneak around.”
