Sam did everything he could not to look at Destiny’s short-short pink skirt as he awkwardly folded his lanky body onto the couch.
Destiny Verbeck was petite and very, very, very pretty. But she was too tiny to be called beautiful, because even wearing heels she still looked like a kid.
“I know I look young, but I’m twenty. Just turned.”
Destiny took a stool that was behind the cash register and pulled it around to the front of the counter so that she could be closer to Sam.
She hopped up onto the seat (and then crossed her legs, which caused her skirt to rise up another inch), sighing as if she’d just climbed ten flights of stairs.
“Have you ever worked in a gift shop? You wouldn’t believe how boring it is. I mean, it’s watching-paint-dry time in here. Just having someone else around makes it easier.”
Sam wondered what he needed to do to make her stop talking, and then a bell sounded on the door and a woman in her thirties entered the store. Destiny eyed her with obvious hostility.
The woman picked up a blue-and-white polka-dot hair accessory and held it in the air as she called out, “How much is the headband?”
Destiny made a face. “Two things to know before we talk price. The first is that those headbands give you a headache about five minutes after you put one on. I know. I tried to wear one yesterday. And the second thing is that they’re made of some piece-of-crap plastic underneath the fabric, because they snap in two like pretzels.”
The woman instantly put the ribbon-covered plastic headband down on the counter, murmuring, “Thank you.”
Destiny gave her a sweet smile. “No problem.” The woman headed straight for the door.
Destiny’s smile was now genuine as she called after the fleeing customer, “Come back again. We get new stuff all the time.”
Sam tried hard not to look amused.
He watched as Destiny crossed and uncrossed her legs a few times, swinging her perfectly shaped calves up into the air and then down again. She finally stopped swishing her limbs and pulled a package of Dutch coffee candy from a display and tore into the sparkling gold bag.
She held out the treats to Sam, who murmured, “No, thank you.”
Destiny frowned. “They’re good. Little coffee candies. Bitzie—she’s the owner—buys them at Costco and then puts ’em in these fancy little bags so people think they got flown over special from somewhere. Go on, try one.”
Sam was certain that Riddle would love to get his hands on a coffee candy. But he still shook his head no, adding, “I just ate.”
Destiny gave him a penetrating look. “Liar. I can tell, you know.”
Sam knew his face was turning red.
She continued. “I hate liars.”
Sam felt the need to defend himself. But before he could figure out what to say, Destiny cooed, “But I’ll get over it. You see, Sam, I’m looking for a new friend. And you’re going to do just fine.”
8
Emily watched as the ketchup from the top bottle moved very, very slowly into the bottle she’d positioned below. Maybe, she decided, it wasn’t moving at all.
But it had to be. She’d done well in physics. Things shifted, and you couldn’t even tell.
At the restaurant, refilling the condiments was part of the job at the end of every shift. The tedious process gave time for her mind to wander back to Sam.
Sam loved ketchup.
It was one of the few things he could get for free at fast-food places. And so he and Riddle would stuff their pockets with the packets. As little kids, if they got hungry late at night, they’d eat ketchup. Just plain. It was probably torture, but somehow that now sounded romantic.
Being in love, she was fully starting to realize, was some kind of all-consuming, full-body reaction. She wanted to do only two things:
Keep it all private and locked inside.
And tell everyone in the world.
The conflicting emotions, she thought, were driving her crazy.
When she wasn’t with Sam, she was almost always thinking about being with him. And when she was with Sam, she found herself getting anxious about when they would have to part.
Emily looked at the slow-moving red sludge and decided that she now loved ketchup in some profound kind of way.
What she didn’t love was the fact that Bobby Ellis now worked at Ferdinand’s. And that he was calling himself Robb.
Her eyes moved across the restaurant, where she could see Leo Saar, the restaurant owner, talking to him.
She and Bobby had the exact same schedule. It was really awkward. They were together from ten thirty in the morning until nine at night or later, with only a one-hour break in between.
Leo had taken Robb aside on the first day and explained things, like how the wine cellar was organized and what was in the artichoke sauce. Robb Ellis fit in right away, which was a complete surprise.
Maybe that was the problem. But the really irritating part was that he seemed to speak the same language as the diners, which wasn’t French, but rather the intricacies of “fancy food.”
She had to admit, Bobby turned out to be just one of those people who was better after a defeat than a victory.
She wished that she could be more like that. Because she wasn’t dealing with the aftermath of the freezer incident very well.
She knew that the dishwashers were joking when they called her the Ice Queen. It was supposed to be funny when the chef put a plastic tub on his head whenever he saw her.
She was certain this was all “workplace humor.” That’s what her friend Nora had said, and she had more paid job experience. But instead of laughing, Emily found that the whole restaurant now made her tense.
She had imagined that this summer was going to be the most carefree time of her life.
She had it all, she thought.
Didn’t she?
Moments after her last ketchup bottle was topped off, Emily and Robb Ellis walked out onto the sidewalk to find Sam talking to a very short girl in a pink skirt inside the Orange Tree gift shop.
Robb noticed them first. “Looks like your boyfriend met somebody.”
Emily turned her head to see Sam and the girl.
Sam was standing by the door. He had his hands in his pockets and was listening.
The girl, as animated as if she were performing onstage, was in the middle of some kind of story. Her arms were moving through the air, and she was laughing.
And while Emily could only see Sam’s back, she could tell that he was laughing, too.
Emily headed down the sidewalk to the shop, forcing herself to move at regular speed. Robb Ellis followed. She didn’t say anything until she was right behind Sam, and then Destiny Verbeck beat her to the punch.
“Sam—your girlfriend’s off work!”
Sam spun around and saw Emily and Robb, both standing in their Ferdinand’s Fine French Restaurant attire. Emily thought Sam looked very uncomfortable as he said, “Hey.”
He leaned over to kiss her, which was something he wouldn’t normally do with Robb Ellis and a stranger standing right there. Emily looked at him. His face was red. Just slightly. Was he blushing? And then Sam started to speak, but before he could, Destiny chirped: “I’m Destiny. Destiny Verbeck. I’ve heard so much about you, Emily.”
But Destiny’s eyes floated right past Emily to Robb.
“And you’re…?”
Robb Ellis managed to say, “I’m Robb. I—”
Destiny’s head tilted back, and she laughed like she’d just heard a joke. A good one. “You work at Ferdinand’s, too. I know who you are. Believe me, there’s nothing to do in this shop but spy on the world. You drive a new black BMW SUV, and you get your hair done at the Hair Asylum.”
Robb couldn’t stop himself. “I don’t get it done. They wash it. I had a broken arm and—”
Destiny didn’t let him finish. “Well, I need to get my hair fixed. Look at my roots. It’s so much work being a blond. But the world is nicer to you—
so that’s a trade-off.” Destiny leaned closer to Robb. “I bet by the end of the summer you have all kinds of natural streaks in your hair—right?”
Robb didn’t answer. Everyone was silent except for Destiny, who took only a moment before she happily continued.
“I’ve been too busy to do anything since I got here. The second day I was in town, this job opened up. And the woman who runs the store is sort of a slave driver.”
It felt to Emily as if Robb Ellis was falling under some kind of spell as Destiny spoke. He suddenly couldn’t take his eyes off her. She heard him say, “Are you going to college here?”
Destiny smiled. Not big but sweet. Like she was flattered at the idea. “Nope. I quit school. Or maybe school quit me. Something happened between us, because it’s over. Do you go there?”
Robb volunteered. “We’re in high school. At least she and I are.” He motioned toward Emily.
Destiny looked at Sam. “What about you, Samuel?”
Emily felt herself bristle. No one called him that. It was too formal. And too intimate for someone who just met him. “He’s going to summer school at the college,” Emily found herself answering for him. “He already started.”
Right away she felt bad. She was being possessive. Or something worse. She was jealous. But of what?
Destiny nodded. “I know it’s a great school. That’s what I’ve heard. I’m impressed.”
Sam’s voice was low. “Don’t be.”
Destiny smiled at all three of them. “You guys are my first friends here. I feel so lucky. I really don’t know anyone, and now I do. Just like that. Should we go get dinner tonight? A group thing.”
Emily was suddenly some kind of spokesperson. “Robb and I have to work the dinner shift tonight. We’re only on break.”
“Sunday, then.” Destiny nodded. “I like that better anyway.”
The others exchanged looks. Emily was about to say something, but Destiny started talking again.
“Robb, what’s your favorite kind of food? Don’t think about it. Just answer.”
Robb managed: “I like steak, I guess. And cheese.”
Destiny’s hands swept excitedly up into the air. It was appealingly graceful. “My favorite food right now is Thai. It’s spicy and can be sweet and sour and crunchy all at once. That’s what’s important—that there’s something unexpected behind it—right? I mean, bland is bland is boring—right?” She looked right at Sam.
“I really haven’t eaten that much Thai food,” he replied.
Destiny’s face squeezed up. “C’mon. That’s crazy. This is a college town. They have to have great Thai.”
Emily couldn’t stop herself from volunteering: “There’s a Thai restaurant on West Eleventh. It’s good.”
“Of course you would be the one who would know.” Destiny took Emily’s arm.
And suddenly Emily was certain that in the future she was going to be eating Thai food with a girl she already wished she’d never met.
9
Clarence had lived his whole life by the simple concept that everything he needed was right in front of him.
It was just a fact.
The tools were present for success.
They might not belong to him, but they were always within his reach.
And now, in a space the size of a storage closet, he was putting his theory to the ultimate test.
Pressure from two civil-rights groups (badgered by the legal interns) resulted in an appointment for Clarence Border to leave incarceration and their overburdened medical clinic and seek expert advice for the problems arising from his amputation.
The appointment meant that he’d be escorted outside the prison compound to the city of Merced, California, to a doctor.
And so Clarence prepared.
Step one.
He traded breakfast to an inmate named Bandit for two plastic sandwich bags.
Clarence hated the guy if for no other reason than this: what kind of person in prison for theft calls himself Bandit?
The failure of imagination disgusted Clarence.
But Bandit was hooked up. He had drugs, shanks, cigarettes, cell phones, alcohol, candy—pretty much you name it, Bandit could get his hands on it.
All Clarence wanted was two clear plastic sandwich bags with zip-lock tops.
They cost him the three cold pancakes that were served six days a week at 5:30 AM. Big deal.
The second thing Clarence needed was right in front of him.
The jail was crawling with vermin.
It didn’t matter that the floors were scrubbed with straight ammonia or that the number one health priority was trying to keep communicable diseases in check by sterilizing everything.
Rodents, lice, fleas, maggots, bedbugs, ants, pigeons, bats, beetles, silverfish, wasps, centipedes, lizards, moths, and earwigs were all living behind bars.
And doing very well, thank you very much.
While rats might make a daytime appearance on occasion in the exercise yard, they made the kitchen and the trash area the center of their thriving community.
But the mice were different. Their infestation was an equal-opportunity affair.
Everyone saw mice at night, scurrying along the dark walls, squeezing their way in and out of spaces.
And so on the second night after he’d put his plan in motion, Clarence caught a mouse, snapping its dark gray neck as if he were twisting the cap off a bottle of beer.
As he dropped the dead rodent into the first little bag and sealed it shut, he imagined the family who had twisted his sons’ minds.
He then used the second bag as another layer of protection.
Was it in his mind, or did his missing foot now hurt less?
Things were suddenly going his way.
No doubt about that.
10
Emily had no idea why they’d all been talked into going out for Thai food with the firecracker in the miniskirt.
But two days later, it was Sunday and everyone had the night off. Destiny said that she would meet them at the restaurant. Emily and Sam were picking up Bobby Ellis.
Now, as Emily looked at herself in the mirror, she found that her white jeans and her blue T-shirt looked boring. She felt certain that Destiny would show up wearing an exotic costume of some sort.
So Emily went back into her closet and found a fitted yellow sundress and a pair of strappy sandals that she had ignored for so long, there was a spiderweb over the left toe area.
She then put on the necklace that she’d worn the day she met Sam. The little coral beads felt as if they had played a part in the magic of that. Satisfied that she was now making a real effort, she headed out of her room.
In the hallway Emily stopped to stare at the yellow reading cards that her mother had placed for Riddle.
Mirror. Rug. Wall. Painting. Air Vent. Window. Staircase. Banister. Plant.
What she saw was alarming. The mirror said Rug. The wall was marked Window. The plant said Staircase. All the cards had been switched.
Emily found Jared watching television. She picked up the remote and turned off the TV, causing her little brother’s head to spin around. “Why did you do that?”
She stared right at him. “You moved Mom’s reading cards.”
Jared didn’t flinch.
“It was a joke.”
“Well, it’s not funny.”
Jared wasn’t backing down.
“Maybe not to you, but I was laughing.”
Emily found herself suddenly getting angry. Too angry.
“You don’t know how hard it is for them! You never put yourself in their position!” Jared’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t see this side of his sister often.
“Why are you yelling at me? It’s not your job to yell at me. That’s Mom and Dad’s job!”
Jared jumped to his feet and ran into the hallway. But he made a point of trying to get in the last word: “You’re too excited about finally having a boyfriend to think about anything but that!”
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“What does having Sam as my boyfriend have to do with you moving the reading cards? Nothing! Okay?”
She was yelling again. And suddenly it was so obvious that he was a little kid. He had tears in his eyes as he took off. Seconds later she heard the back door slam shut.
Emily started after him and ran right into Riddle, who was waiting at the end of the hall. She could see that he looked pained as he spoke: “It was a joke. He was just being silly.”
Emily searched his face. Not many boys his age used the word silly. But Riddle never tried to position something. He just told it the way he saw it.
“Really? He wasn’t trying to confuse you?”
“No, he was trying to do that. That’s what’s silly. But I still don’t understand the words. So that’s the joke.”
Emily nodded, but she was confused. She had overreacted, that much she understood. And then Riddle added, “Sam’s late. He’s not a late person. He’s an early person. Maybe that made you mad, not the moved words.”
The two cats appeared from the kitchen and went straight to Riddle. He leaned down and scooped up both of them. Not many people could carry two cats and make it look easy.
But he did.
Emily watched Riddle go back into the kitchen and take a seat by the window. She wanted to protect him, but right now he didn’t look like someone who needed it.
Outside she heard Jared bouncing his basketball. She knew she should go say that she was sorry for yelling, but then she heard Sam’s car (which was really her car, but he now drove it) pull into the driveway. She was glad her parents weren’t home to have witnessed the outburst.
Maybe Jared was right.
Maybe she was too excited about having a boyfriend to think about anything else.
Sam was late because he’d taken a shower at his apartment. His hair was still wet. Emily noticed right away that he was on edge.
“Are you okay?”
He only nodded, keeping his eyes behind him as he reversed down the driveway.
“I don’t know how we ended up doing this,” Emily added. “The last person I want to have dinner with is Robb Ellis.”