Fish out of Water Page 13

  Shreya seems a little shy, but also happy Rachelle seems to not have hard feelings about what happened. “I know my parents reacted … well, I’m sorry, and I want to get to know you.”

  “Please, don’t apologize. Pavan warned me it might not go well.” Rachelle looks like she’s about to break down at the words, and I wonder if she blames herself for everything that happened. She recovers with a beaming grin. “I can’t wait to get to know you, too. I’m an only child—I always wanted a sister.”

  It takes about thirty minutes to get into Bubba Gump’s, but the time flies as we chat with Rachelle and Pavan. Shreya seems more comfortable by the time we’re led to a table. But for some reason I’m the opposite, like my skin is covered in ants. It’s not until I sit down that I realize someone is staring at me from a nearby booth. My eyes go wide as their faces register.

  London and her mom. Plus two little boys jumping around like wild animals. They remind me of the kids who come into AnimalZone and bang on my fish tanks, which almost makes me feel bad for her.

  “Crap, crap, crap,” I mutter as a wide smile breaks out on Mrs. St. James’ face. She waves me over, and I wish I could pretend I didn’t see her.

  Olivia raises an eyebrow. “What?”

  “London is here with her family,” is all I can get out before Mrs. St. James goes as far as to call my name. I hoped I’d never see her or her daughter again, but it seems the universe has other ideas. Stupid universe. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Mika! I was sure that was you,” she says as I come to their table. “What a coincidence! What are you doing here?”

  “Just having lunch with friends,” I say. “And you?”

  “Oh, the boys love the Aquarium.” She smiles at them as they tear the kids’ menus to bits. London is on her phone, trying her best to not look bothered. “We go every Sunday in the summer.”

  “I see.” Dylan did say they stayed in Carmel all season, but I didn’t think that would mean I’d have to be on guard at every tourist attraction in the area. Of course I do, the Monterey peninsula isn’t that big. There are only so many places to go while on vacation.

  “Where’s Dylan?” She looks past me to where my friends sit.

  “They had a big fight yesterday at the course,” London says matter-of-factly. “They probably broke up. You know Dylan.”

  Her mom nods like she’s not surprised. “I’m sorry, Mika. This must be uncomfortable. I didn’t know.”

  That thing inside me flares again. I’m not sure if it’s jealousy or protectiveness, maybe both. “We didn’t fight or break up. I’m just out with my friends. Dylan and I still do our own stuff. My boyfriend isn’t my whole life.”

  “I’d watch him closer if I were you,” London says.

  “I trust him.” The words feel funny on my lips because they’re truer than I thought they’d be. I’m sure he meant every word he said yesterday. It’s just the relationship part that’s still a lie … a lie I’m maintaining without Dylan asking. I kind of want to punch myself.

  She lets out a short, sad laugh. “Good luck with that.”

  “I don’t think I’ll need it, but thanks anyway,” I snap back.

  London purses her lips, seeming to crumble right in front of me. I was not expecting that reaction. Her mom places a hand over her daughter’s, frowning, and I get the sense that London’s been through a lot more than I’ll ever know. “You can go now, Mika. You might not care or understand, but this issue is difficult for my daughter.”

  I can only muster a nod, because I do feel bad, but then she also called me an “issue.” Like my presence in Dylan’s life is a problem. That hurts. I sit down at the table with my friends, dazed.

  “What was that about?” Shreya asks.

  I shake my head. “Let’s focus on—”

  “No,” Olivia says, seeming angry that I interrupted her carefully-planned lunch with my drama. Because I can control where London shows up. “Tell us what your boyfriend’s ex had to say.”

  “He’s not my—”

  “You have another boyfriend?” Pavan asks out of nowhere. “I swear Shreya mentioned you just broke up with one.”

  “A few months ago, yeah.” I gulp, knowing Shrey and Olivia will tear me to pieces later. There’s officially no getting around telling them what happened. “Dylan is … I don’t know. It’s complicated.”

  Pavan smiles at Rachelle. “Complicated I can understand.”

  She blushes, and I can tell they’re crazy in love. “Sometimes complicated is worth it, though.”

  “And sometimes it isn’t,” I say, still completely unsure which category Dylan fits into.

  Chapter 24

  “Hello, Arlingtons!” Joel struts into our house like he owns the place, and we smile. After the weekend by ourselves with Betty, he is a more than welcome sight. Excessive happiness included. “Did you miss me?”

  “Yes,” we say in unison.

  “It’s so good to be appreciated.” He comes to Betty, who’s currently scowling at her oatmeal. “Hi, Betty! Do you remember me?”

  She appraises him, and then recognition hits. “You’re the one who took my clothes off!”

  Joel looks at us, the smallest hint of wariness under the smile. “So it’s gonna be that kind of day, huh?”

  “Good luck,” Dad says as we head out for work.

  My parents wave to me as I unlock my bike from the porch, and then they are off to their research in the bay while I get to go to work and see Dylan for the first time since Cypress Point. Lucky me.

  No matter how hard I try to stay calm, my stomach knots the moment AnimalZone is in sight. This is why dating co-workers is a horrible idea. I want to call in sick, but going home would only make me feel bad for wasting Joel’s time. And it’s not like I can avoid this forever, so I take a deep breath and open the back door. It’s quiet as I clock in. My eyes run over the break room, looking for signs of Dylan. There’s a black hoodie draped over one chair, and I gulp.

  Heading for Aquatics, I tell myself this isn’t a big deal. We weren’t dating to begin with, and I still don’t know if I like him enough to be serious. When I round the corner, there he is scrubbing one of the tanks. Without my asking.

  He doesn’t notice me, his entire focus on the glass. His brow pinches, and he bites his lip as he tries to get rid of the scummy water line at the top of the tank. It’s adorable, and it reminds me how easy it was to be with him at the golf course, how much I liked him. The thought makes me feel like I’m giving in, so I force it down. He won’t get off easy just because he’s doing what he’s supposed to do.

  “Make sure the corners are spotless,” I say.

  He looks up, surprised. Then the smallest smile flits across his face. “Yes, ma’am.”

  I want to say I’m not a “ma’am,” but that would mean starting a conversation. I head for the island to check the supplies we keep there. Clean nets, food, bags for purchased fish, live crickets for the reptiles in the next section over. Everything seems to be in perfect order, which means I have nothing to do but wait for customers.

  Easy enough, except the silence is weird. It used to be normal, but a month of bickering with Dylan and now the quiet feels heavy. I’m keenly aware of him nearby, though I try my best not to look at him.

  “Dylan,” Clark calls as he rounds the corner. “Order of food just came in. Help me unload.”

  “Yes, sir.” He walks off without so much as a glance my way, and I’m surprised by how much I don’t like it.

  I locate items for people, clean up gravel a kid spilled, and help Old Lady Miriam with a price check—except the whole time I keep waiting for Dylan to reappear. Then I hate myself for being so stupid. I asked for space, so it shouldn’t bother me that he isn’t around.

  There’s a lull in customers, so I fill my time by scribbling goldfish drawings on a notepad. Fish are fun to draw, so flowy and open to interpretation. Too bad Shreya would never approve of a goldfish sand sculpture. She thinks I al
ready do enough fish-related stuff.

  “That doesn’t look like work,” Dylan says.

  I jump and spin around, not having heard him coming. “Don’t do that!”

  He smiles. “But you’re so cute when you’re surprised.”

  Turning back around, I hope to hide the blushing. “You still have two tanks left to do. Don’t think I forgot.”

  “I know.” He leans next to me, and I can’t decide if it’s too close or not close enough. “Speaking of tanks, when should I come clean yours?”

  I pause mid-drawing, the thought of Dylan in my house too much. “You don’t have to do that.”

  “That was the deal. And you made good on your end, so it’s the least I can do for putting you through that.” He sighs, and with it I can feel the words he bites back. “I promise I won’t bother you, so when?”

  I retrace the outline of one goldfish over and over, unable to figure out what I want. But a deal is a deal. “Thursday. After my shift.”

  “Works for me. Uncle Clark should be fine with it, since I’ll still be working.” He grabs the notepad and stuffs it in his pocket. “You’re setting a horrible example wasting time like this. I’ll have to keep it.”

  I glare at him as he goes back to cleaning tanks, but force myself to say nothing. He’s trying to get a reaction, like he’ll take fighting with me if he can’t get affection. It’ll annoy him more if I remain silent. I should still be mad at him, though it doesn’t feel like I am.

  After my shift is over, I practically run to clock out, happy to get away from my conflicting feelings. I need saag and Shrey and some Princess Bride like hardcore. But when I go to unlock my bike, I notice something in the basket. Something with a bow tied around it. I grab the note tucked under the ribbon and read it.

  I know it’s not as nice as the sweater, but it made me think of you. —Dylan

  Picking up the box, I open the lid to find a teal blue shirt with a little cartoon goldfish on the front. Under the fish it says: Stupid? I’m not the pet who pees on your bed. At which point my heart threatens to melt.

  The t-shirt might not cost three hundred dollars, but I love it more because it fits me. How can he already know exactly what I like? Punk.

  It’s weird to see the Shades of Bombay kitchen minus Pavan. Shreya’s other two brothers seem more frantic as they try to fill orders. Their father is livid with them, yelling stuff I’m glad I don’t understand. I never noticed before, but I think Pavan was the chill one who evened out the tempers around him.

  Shrey cringes as she comes over with my saag when their other waiter clocks in. “Sorry for the crazy. Dad won’t hire a new cook, but keeping up is impossible without … ”

  Knowing she can’t say his name, I nod. “Thanks for this. Work was rough.”

  “Am I allowed to ask why?” She glares at me, and I feel guilty that I still haven’t told them what happened on Saturday.

  I sigh. Time to give in. “Because I don’t know what to do with Dylan.”

  As I launch into the story, it reminds me just how wonderful and horrible that day was. Shrey lights up when I tell her Dylan wants us to be more, but by the time I get to the five million dollars she looks as confused as I feel.

  She puts her hand to her mouth, thinking. I continue to stuff my face. She takes a piece of naan and nibbles on it. “How do you spend that much money in one night?”

  “I know!” I let out a frustrated grunt. “But more importantly, what kind of person thinks that’s okay? His parents are freaking loaded, but he had to have understood how much money that was, right?”

  She nods. “How could you not?”

  I lean back in my chair, wishing I could stay here instead of having to watch Betty. “It’s not the money that bothers me anymore—it’s the fact that he knew what he was doing. He wasted that money on purpose. It wasn’t like he got carried away. How could I be with someone who’d do that?”

  “Did that,” Shreya corrects. “You think he’d still make the same choice if he could do it over?”

  “I don’t know … ” I want to point out he’s already spent his whole paycheck like it was nothing. Except he spent it on me, so I don’t know how to feel about it. “I’m in way over my head here, Shrey.”

  She puts her hand on mine. “You should probably let him explain.”

  “Yeah.” I get up, my stomach twisting from all the food. “But I still need to think about it.”

  “Do you?” Her look is skeptical. “Or are you afraid of what this could be?”

  I narrow my eyes. “Don’t get all deep on me.”

  She laughs. “We’re on for Saturday, right?”

  “As you wish.”

  I pedal home, trying my best to focus on anything but Dylan. The ocean breeze, the gulls squawking, the warm summer sun. By the time I get home, I’m ready to put my energy into taking care of Betty—I need to make up for what I said to her—instead of worrying about my own problems. At least until I open the door and hear her screaming like a crazed animal.

  Chapter 25

  “You’re going to hell and you’ll burn forever!” Betty screams over and over. I almost want to go back to Shades of Bombay, but I can’t leave Joel hanging. He probably has another person to care for in the afternoons, and he shouldn’t have to deal with more of this than he has to.

  “Now, Betty. That’s not a very nice thing to say to someone.” I have to hand it to Joel, he sounds completely unfazed by the outburst.

  “I don’t care! You’re going to hell!”

  I reluctantly round the corner. Joel smiles like this is totally normal and gives me a hug. “She’s been an angry one today. I tried to calm her down, but she finally caught on to my orientation.”

  I wince. “I’m so sorry.”

  He waves it off. “Patients lose social rules quickly. Women who used to be prim and proper start swearing like sailors. Those who had few reservations to begin with let it all hang out, you know?”

  “Oh, yes, I know. How do you keep it from bothering you?”

  He shrugs. “Mostly I feel sorry for them.”

  Finally, Betty notices I’m in the room. Her eyes go wide and she pulls at my arm. “Get away from him, Mika!”

  I pull back. “Why?”

  “Because!” She points accusingly. “He’s … he’s a homo-sapien!”

  Joel and I bust up laughing, to the point that I have to lean on the wall to keep from falling over. Joel wipes at tears as he continues to giggle. Betty’s indignant glare only makes it more priceless.

  “I hate to break it to you,” I say. “But we’re all homo-sapiens, Betty.”

  Her jaw drops. “I am not!”

  “You are. Homo-sapien means human.”

  She frowns, thinking about it for a second. “That’s really what it means?”

  I nod.

  “Oh.” She glances at Joel, seeming apologetic, but then goes to the couch to watch her usual afternoon blitz of talk shows. I stare at her in wonder—she can go from a moment of complete crazy to totally normal in seconds. Every day with her is like sticking a quarter in a slot machine. Sometimes you hit the jackpot, others you lose money.

  Joel is still laughing. “Can’t wait to tell that one at the dinner table.”

  I snort. “Me, too.”

  He sighs, for once showing some of his fatigue. “She’ll probably be a beast for the rest of the day, maybe longer than that. From nostalgia last week to cranky this week, it seems.”

  “I think I prefer nostalgia.” At least that way I could learn about her past. Now that I’ve decided to be better to her, I’d like to understand why she is the way she is before she forgets everything.

  “Yes, me too. At least when they’re happy memories.”

  “Can I ask you something?”

  He raises his eyebrows. “Of course.”

  I hesitate because it will show how my attitude has changed, but I’m curious. “It just seems like this job would be hard to do all the time, watching peopl
e go through this over and over again. Why do you do it?”

  “So you’re starting to get it.” He smiles at Betty, a surprising amount of love in his gaze. “For people who don’t see Alzheimer’s up close, it’s easy to forget about. The patients forget, so people forget them, right?”

  “That’s … sad.”

  “It is.” Joel’s face changes then, and it’s the first time I’ve seen a hint of sorrow there. “But when you watch someone you love go through it—you never forget. I watched my grandmother suffer from it for eight years, and now my mother has been diagnosed with early onset. It could be me one day, too. I guess it’s my own little crusade to bring some joy to all the sadness.”

  I smile, feeling bad for giving him a hard time. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. Thanks for answering my question.”

  “Anytime, sweetie.” Joel gathers his things, briefs me on what Betty ate, and then he’s off.

  Betty wastes no time living up to Joel’s warnings—she doesn’t like anything today. She doesn’t like the TV shows or the sound of the aquariums or the entire contents of both our fridge and pantry. As patient as I try to be, she doesn’t seem to notice or care. When she throws the remote at me, I just about lose it.

  “Okay, no more TV,” I say.

  She folds her arms. “Everyone is mean to me. You shouldn’t be mean to sick people.”

  I clench my jaw, trying to remain calm. I promised I would be better at this, and the over-achiever in me will not fail. “If you don’t like anything on the TV, let’s watch a movie, okay?”

  Betty doesn’t speak, but her posture relaxes the littlest bit.

  I take the opening and head for our movie drawer. “I have the best movie—you’ll love it.”

  “What’s it about?” Her voice has softened, and I pray this will turn the day around because cranky Betty is way more exhausting than nostalgic Betty.

  “You’ll see.” I put in The Princess Bride, figuring it’s better not to give her a summary. She’d probably complain that she doesn’t like those kinds of movies and it’d be over before it even began.

  Betty looks as unconvinced as the boy in the opening scene, but says nothing. I hope this is a good sign. She seems excited when Westley and Buttercup fall in love. That’s when I realize I made a critical error in choosing this movie. And sure enough, her face turns sour when Westley leaves.