Chapter 16

TAKE A WALK (OR ROLL) ON THE BOARDWALK

Later that night, I roll out of the garage and head down to the boardwalk.

The boardwalk is an excellent place to just sit and think. With the stars up above and the surf pounding against the shore, you can be all alone with your thoughts.

Unless, of course, someone is already sitting on your favorite bench.

Which tonight someone is. Not that I actually sit on the bench. I just like to park next to it. The streetlamp lighting is very moody. And the moths dive-bombing into the bright white bulb can be extremely entertaining.

As I roll closer, I realize that the shadowy bench sitter is one of my favorite people, Cool Girl.

Well, that’s what I call her, because she’s just always so supercool. Nothing fazes her. Also, she has no filter. She always tells the truth, even if you’d rather hear a nice fluffy lie.

Cool Girl’s real name is Suzie Orolvsky. In the country where her ancestors lived, they had a severe vowel shortage one winter and everybody fled to America.

By the way, remember how I told you I kissed Gilda once? Well, I’ve kissed Cool Girl, too. And once, she kissed me. Yes, I keep a scorecard.

The main reason I like her so much? Cool Girl is the one person who I never, ever have to make laugh. She likes it when I’m just me instead of Jamie the Joker.

“Hiya, Jamie,” she says when I roll up beside her.

“Uh, hi,” I sort of stammer. “Didn’t expect to bump into you out here.”

“Ditto” is all she says.

Then neither one of us says anything else for a while. We just sit and listen to the soothing sounds of the ocean.

“So,” Cool Girl finally says, “trying to make a tough decision?”

“How’d you know?”

She shrugs. “You have a certain grim look, Jamie.”

I smile. It’s a decent pun. “You must hang out here at night all the time.”

“Not really. Not in the winter.”

“Speaking of winter…”

“Jamie? No jokes. You can’t make the tough choices if you’re always hiding behind your next punch line.”

So I don’t tell her the number one problem with snowshoes. (They always melt.)

“Okay,” I say, “here’s what’s going on. My wildest dream is about to come true. I have a chance to star in my very own TV sitcom.”