The Shore (12 page)

She started to giggle. Maybe it was nerves, but she just couldn’t help herself.

“You think it’s so funny? You do it,” he grumbled, and sat up.

She pulled her T-shirt down and stared at him. He might have been handsome and sexy, but he was seriously lacking a sense of humor. “Come on,” she said.

Now he got it, and sort of smirked. “Believe me, I’ve never
had that problem before. At least, not in a long time.”

“I believe you,” she said, feeling both disappointment and relief. I’m not sure what it is, but there is definitely something between us, she thought. But whatever it was had passed . . . for now.

“So if I agree to come tonight, do you promise to play some covers? And absolutely, under no circumstances, play the song you just sang?” she asked, propping herself up on her elbow.

“I swear that if you come hear the band tonight, I won’t play that song. On the other hand,” he said, a mischievous twinkle returning to his eye, “if you don’t come, I’ll play it two doors down from you every night for the rest of the summer.”

“I cave!” she shrieked. “Anything but that!”

“So, it’s a deal?” he asked.

“Deal,” she said, “now get out of here.”

He left, and she closed and locked the door behind him. Her heart was beating hard from the excitement she’d felt. She’d liked kissing him. Was that what she wanted? What about Avery? After a minute she sat down on her bed and pulled out her cell phone. She hadn’t spoken to her mom in several days, and wanted to do it before she went out. “Hi, Mom?”

“April, honey, how are you?” her mom asked on the other end.

“Good, how are you?”

“Oh, fine. Just fine.”

April frowned. Mom sounds really tired. I guess that’s what
happens when you’re working two jobs and caring for an elderly mother, she thought. She felt a twinge of guilt. I should be there, helping.

She swallowed hard. “Did Grandma give you the money I dropped by yesterday?”

“Yes, thank you so much.”

“So guess what?” April decided to cheer her up. “I’m going out tonight, to a concert. And I was looking for some advice on clothes.”

It seemed cheesy to be asking her mom for clothing advice, but if there was one thing her mom knew, it was guys. Her mom had never had a problem attracting men. Unfortunately, she did have problems keeping them from dying. After her father and a stepfather died, April had given up on thinking that any kind of relationship was permanent.

“Do you have a date?” her mom asked, excitement filling her voice.

“Well, maybe, I don’t really know.” She thought about what had just happened with Curt, and his insistence that she go to the concert. “It’s complicated.”

“It’s always complicated, dear. But don’t let that stop you from trying.”

“Thanks,” April said.

“So, how can I help?”

“You know that red coral necklace?”

“You want to wear it tonight? That’s fine. Just come by and I’ll give it to you.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“And hon, one other thing? I know you love it, and it’s you, but ditch the nose stud. Trust me on this one.”

April smiled. Some things never change. “Sure, Mom.”

Lucas turned the page of the thick old, dog-eared paperback. He had almost lost himself completely in the story when the bell on the surf shop door jingled. He stuck a flyer for the Stranger Than Fiction concert into the book to mark its place and then put it down on the counter.

He glanced up and watched in surprise as Sabrina entered the surf shop with two young boys. Sabrina was wearing the skimpiest bikini top—the sort of revealing scrap of clothing you could get away with at the beach, but was surprising to see around town. The boys couldn’t have been much older than four and six, and immediately started running wild, touching everything they could get their hands on.

Sabrina did nothing to stop them. Instead, she gave Lucas a coy smile. “Hey, surfer boy.”

“Hey, Sabrina,” Lucas answered while keeping a wary eye on the two boys. “What’s up?”

“Gotta buy the brats some body boards.”

The boys had already discovered the body boards and were falling all over themselves trying to pull them out of the racks. Crash! They knocked over a display stand nearby. Sabrina continued to ignore them and tried on a pair of sunglasses.

Lucas left the counter and moved toward the boys. By now they’d both taken hold of a bright green body board and were having a tug-of-war.

“I want this one!”

“No, I saw it first!”

“Okay, guys, let go,” Lucas said calmly. “Before you get boards you have to help clean up the mess you made.”

“I don’t have to do nothing.” The older boy crossed his arms.

“Me neither.” His younger brother imitated him.

Lucas glanced at Sabrina, hoping she might lend a hand, but she was too busy looking at herself in the mirror.

Lucas sighed and took the bright green body board away. “I just remembered. This one isn’t for sale.”

It only took a minute to find other body boards the right size for each of them. Lucas glanced carefully, though, at the four-year-old. “You sure you swim?” he asked.

“Like a fish,” Sabrina answered from the counter where she’d picked up the book Lucas had been reading. “War and Peace? Are you kidding me?” she asked. “Why are you reading that?”

Lucas’s mind jumped into overdrive. “Uh, I lost a bet.”

“That’s some bet,” she said, eyeing him curiously. “I’m surprised you could even get a copy of something like this around here.” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Where’d you find it, anyway?”

“The used-book store,” Lucas answered, and busied himself
carrying the boys’ boards to the register. He placed them on the counter and turned around to see that they had followed him every step of the way.

“Did you know there’s buried treasure at the beach?” the four-year-old asked him, wide-eyed.

“Jamie, shh, don’t tell him,” the older one warned.

“Why not, Tim?”

“He’ll dig it up himself,” said Tim.

Jamie turned to Lucas, and his little forehead furrowed with worry. “You won’t, will you?”

“No way, little dude. It’s against the pirate’s code.”

“See?” Jamie turned to his big brother. “He won’t tell.”

“Is it true?” Tim asked, staring at him intently.

Lucas dropped his voice to a whisper. “I’ve heard some things.”

Tim eyed him suspiciously for a moment and then seemed to make a decision. “We heard it’s under the pier.”

“Really?” Lucas pretended to be surprised, “Just where did you get your information?”

“The old guy who sells cotton candy on the boardwalk,” Sabrina explained, rolling her eyes.

“He used to be a pirate!” Jamie exclaimed, wide-eyed.

“He did not, and you’re not going under that pier. It’s dangerous. Now, just stop talking about it!” Sabrina ordered.

“Sorry guys, looks like you’ll have to play Treasure Island some other time,” Lucas told them sympathetically.

Sabrina leaned over the counter, giving him an even better look at what was threatening to spill out of her bikini top. Lucas averted his gaze.

“Funny thing about treasure,” she said. “Sometimes it’s right in front of your eyes and you don’t even see it.”

“I tend to prefer a more nuanced approach,” he replied.

Sabrina quickly straightened up. “Sounds like you have classic literature on the brain,” she said. Lucas shrugged. She tried to hold his gaze, but he wouldn’t let her. Obviously she could be pretty observant when she wanted to be, but that didn’t mean he had to answer questions about things he preferred to keep private. Finally she gave up.

“So, we’ll take the body boards and these,” she said, laying a pair of $200 Gucci sunglasses on the counter. Lucas had always considered the glasses a joke. He never thought anyone would ever buy them. Two hundred dollars was the price of a good wet suit. Of course, Sabrina had already let everyone in the house know she was rich, so he wasn’t that surprised that she could afford them.

“Put it on this,” she said, handing him a gold card.

He read the name on the card. “Victoria Summers.”

“Their mom,” Sabrina said, nodding at Tim and Jamie.

Lucas stared from Sabrina to the sunglasses to the card. He could understand charging the boards to their mother, but he was a little uncertain about the $200 glasses. “You want to give her a call and make sure it’s okay?” he asked.

“No, she’s working and she doesn’t like to be disturbed.
Don’t worry, it’s fine. It’s the card she’s been having me use all summer,” Sabrina reassured him.

Lucas decided to keep his misgivings to himself. He had no reason not to trust Sabrina. He swiped the card.

“Curt got you pimping for his band?” she teased, indicating the stack of flyers for STF on the counter.

“Least I can do for a roommate,” Lucas replied with a smile.

Sabrina signed Victoria Summers on the credit card slip. “Then you’re going to the concert tonight?”

“Probably. You?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. If there’s nothing better to do.”

Lucas almost had the feeling she was trolling for something, but decided to ignore it. There was a crash as the kids knocked over a surfboard in the back of the store.

Tim came running. “Jamie did it! I saw him!”

“No, I didn’t!” Jamie cried, chasing his older brother.

Sabrina rolled her eyes at Lucas, who went around the counter to check on the damage. Luckily, the board was one of those cheap, factory-made things that were almost impossible to ding. When he returned to the front of the store, Sabrina was once again studying herself in the mirror. The boys had grabbed their new body boards.

“Dudes, you got to promise me you’ll be extra careful when you’re using those things,” Lucas said. “There’s always got to be a grown-up watching.”

He was speaking more to Sabrina than the kids, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“We’ll be careful,” Tim said earnestly.

They headed for the door. Sabrina turned and waved. “See you later, maybe.”

Lucas watched them go. Sabrina was definitely not nanny material. He felt sorry for the mother who’d been blind enough to hire her. The boys were okay; they just needed someone to pay attention to them.

Avery popped into his mind. She would’ve been a good nanny. A good girlfriend, too. He shook his head and once again warned himself not to go there.

Curt chewed nervously on a thumbnail. The band would be performing in forty minutes, and he was worried. Darek, the drummer, was the only one ready and healthy. Austin, their singer, was still complaining about a sore throat, and Bobby the bass player’s finger was still wrapped in a bandage. While Bobby insisted he was fine, Curt suspected otherwise.

They’d just finished the sound check when Avery climbed up on the stage and came over to him. She looked great in a lavender tank top, white peasant skirt, and wedge sandals.

“How’re you doing? You okay?” she asked him, taking his hands, clearly concerned and hopeful that this would be the break Stranger Than Fiction had been waiting for.

“I’m okay,” Curt lied. “We’re going to really shake things up tonight.”

“I know you are,” she said, giving him a kiss.

“Can I get some of that?” Austin asked as he walked by.

“Knock it off, Austin,” Curt said with a smile.

“How come Austin can make comments like that and you smile, but if anyone else does, you get mad?” Avery asked teasingly.

“Because I know he doesn’t mean it,” Curt said. He gestured out at the empty space in front of the band shell that would soon be filled, he hoped, with an audience. “Where are you going to stand?”

“Where do I always stand?” she asked.

“Front and center,” he said with a smile.

“Then that’s where I’ll be, as soon as I get something to eat.”

“Okay, then I’ll see you in a little while.”

“Okay,” she said, giving him one last kiss before heading off.

“Curt!” Bobby called.

“Yeah?”

“We opening with ‘Love in a Strange World?”

Curt winced inwardly. That was the song he’d sung to April, the one she’d made him promise he wouldn’t sing tonight. And yet it was one of Bobby’s favorites. “Uh, lemme think about it,” he said.

“Hey, rock star!” he heard someone call. April was in front of the stage, wearing a low-cut sheer black top with a red necklace that hung provocatively down her chest. Standing above her on the stage, Curt had an unusually good view. Her tight black
skirt hugged her hips. She was wearing only a touch of makeup and a simple pair of earrings.

Wow! he thought. “Hey, you look great.”

“Thanks,” April said, blushing slightly. “So, you amped?”

Curt nodded despite his worries. “Can’t wait.”

Darek joined Curt at the edge of the stage, his eyes wide. “Hey, introduce me to your friend,” he said, his voice sounding husky.

“April, this is our drummer, Darek. Darek, this is April.”

Darek reached down and shook April’s hand, lingering over it for a second.

“Who are you?”

“One of my roommates,” Curt said. “The one who writes songs. I told you about her.”

“Oh yeah, the girl who writes like Dylan,” Darek said.

Curt felt his face grow red. That had been a private comment he’d made for Darek’s ears only. “Shut up, dude.”

But it was too late. April realized where the compliment must have come from. “I’ve never been compared to Dylan before.”

“Where are you going to be during the concert?” Darek asked.

“Front and center, with Avery,” Curt answered for her.

“Okay, I guess that’s where I’ll be,” April said. “I should go. See you guys after the concert?”

“Definitely,” Darek said.

As soon as she was out of sight, Darek turned to Curt.
“What a hottie. Tell me she doesn’t have a boyfriend, dude.”

“Forget it, Darek, she’s not your type,” Curt told him. “Besides, she’s got a boyfriend back home.”

“Too bad,” Darek said.

“Yeah,” Curt agreed.

Five

The outdoor concert had started, and Sabrina was bored. Curt’s band wasn’t very good. Not that she was totally surprised. The strangest part was that when they played covers, they sounded bearable. People danced and seemed to have a good time. But each time STF started to play and original song, people stopped dancing and just stood around with their brains dribbling out of their ears.