Lauren and I put on our bathing suits and step out of the changing room.
‘What are we doing here?’ she asks, looking from the Barton Springs Pool to my pale MacDuff skin. ‘I’m guessing it’s not so you can work on your tan.’
‘Thanks for the reminder.’ I pull a bottle of sunscreen from my beach bag and spray it on before leading Lauren up the grassy slope that overlooks the water. ‘There’s something I want you to see.’
‘Can’t we see it from the deck?’ she asks. ‘The grass is where the nude bathers hang.’
‘Trust me,’ I say, spreading out my towel. ‘That’s all part of the master plan.’
The rest of the master plan is a bit sketchy. I downloaded some articles on the basic rules of negotiation and mediation, but you can’t become an instant expert. Since I couldn’t sleep last night, I spent some time on my fantasy set with Oliver James, working through the angles for my discussion with Trey and Lauren. He was full of good advice.
As Lauren predicted, it doesn’t take long for the grass to fill up and bikini tops to come off. I’m amazed how blasé some girls are about skin cancer.
Pulling Kali’s camouflage binoculars out of my beach bag, I scan the area. Lauren pushes my hand down. ‘Zahra, you shouldn’t switch teams just because of Eric. Not all guys are jerks.’
‘I know,’ I say, handing her the binoculars. ‘There’s a nice guy on the diving board now.’
Lauren lifts the binoculars and watches as Trey soars into the air, jackknifes, and straightens out to slice the surface of the water. ‘What’s Trey doing here?’ she says. ‘And when did he learn to dive like that?’
‘Apparently he’s been practicing. A lot.’
Lauren lowers the binoculars to look at me. ‘That’s why he’s never around?’
When I nod, she trains the binoculars on her boyfriend again and watches as he hoists himself out of the water. Girls’ heads swivel when he walks back to the diving board, but Trey doesn’t give a single bikini a second glance. I’m about to point this out to Lauren when he sneaks a peek in our direction.
‘He’s not here to dive,’ Lauren says. ‘He’s here for the skin.’
‘Lauren, if there are boobs on display, any guy’s going to look.’
‘It’s just so – Oops!’ she lowers the binoculars. ‘Busted.’
Trey climbs off the board and comes to greet us. With Lauren in view, he pretends the slope isn’t littered with half-naked women. I guess that’s the best you can expect from a guy. ‘Hey, baby,’ Trey says. ‘What are you doing here?’
Lauren introduces me and pats her beach towel. ‘It’s kind of a long story.’
Trey’s smile has vanished by the time Lauren finishes. ‘You hired someone to spy on me?’
This isn’t how it went in my dress rehearsal. I prepared for confusion, evasion, silence, and remorse. I even worked out a strategy in case Trey dumped Lauren. But I didn’t prepare for pissed off. Obviously, Oliver James is too nice. I should have brought in celebrity chef Gordon Ramshead, instead. Anger would have been his default choice.
Then again, I have to be true to my motto. Maybe all Trey needs is a sprinkle of sugar.
‘It wasn’t spying, exactly,’ I say. ‘And everyone we talked to had good things to say about you, Trey. Great things.’
‘We? There’s a team out there talking to people about me?’
I try again. ‘Not a team, per se, just a couple of Lauren’s friends trying to solve a mystery together.’
Trey looks from me to Lauren, and the anger dilutes with hurt. ‘We’ve been together over a year. If you don’t trust me now, you never will.’
Lauren’s eyes fill with tears as Trey gets to his feet.
Worried that this might end in tragedy, I listen hard for the inner voice. A good chef takes charge in the kitchen, Oliver says. When all else fails, go with your gut.
Counting on Trey’s good manners, I say, ‘Let me ask one simple question: Where was Lauren supposed to be right now?’
‘Ballet class,’ he answers.
‘And where will she be tomorrow afternoon?’
‘A yearbook committee meeting.’ He starts down the slope. ‘Look, ask Lauren about her schedule. I’m done here.’
‘One last question,’ I call. ‘Where will she be Thursday afternoon?’
‘She has’ – Trey’s eye’s flick to Lauren then back to me – ‘an important meeting that’s none of your business.’
Even when he’s this angry at Lauren he won’t betray her secrets. Now, that’s a guy worth fighting for. ‘I know she has group, because I do too. But I’m surprised she told you about it.’
His hands rest on his hips. ‘Why wouldn’t she tell me? I’m her boyfriend.’
‘Because it meant trusting you with her biggest secret.’ I breathe a little easier as the conversation starts to resemble what I’d rehearsed.
Trey sees where I’m going, but he’s not buying it. ‘And then she hired spies to trail me.’
‘Because you haven’t trusted her with your biggest secret, apparently.’
‘She knows my biggest secrets, and this isn’t one of them. It’s nothing.’
Ha. This I anticipated. ‘Isn’t that worse?’ I ask. ‘To shut her out of something as minor as diving?’
‘Nothing’s worse than spying.’
I don’t let him throw me off course. ‘Like you said, it all comes down to trust. And lately you’ve been unreliable. You barely call, you barely text. You’ve canceled plans without a good explanation. You’re the one who’s undermined the trust.’
Trey takes a few steps toward us and stops. I’ve sunk the hook, but it’ll take one more good point to reel him in the rest of the way. ‘Think about what Lauren’s gone through this past year. She needs to know she can count on you.’
Trey comes back and sits beside Lauren again. ‘Baby, I was just diving. Sometimes here, but mostly in the diving pool at UT. My swim coach has been pushing me to compete.’
‘So why all the secrecy?’ Lauren asks.
Trey shrugs. ‘I was afraid I wouldn’t make it to Regionals, and I didn’t want you to be ashamed of me if I failed.’
Lauren throws her arms around him. ‘Baby, I’m always proud of you.’
Trey kisses the top of her head. ‘Keeping it a secret seems kind of stupid now. I’m sorry.’
‘Me too,’ Lauren says. ‘I should have just talked to you.’
‘I’ll never cheat on you,’ Trey says. He gives me a last glare. ‘And you’ll never have me tailed again, right?’
‘I promise,’ she says.
‘So can we go for a swim?’ he asks, pulling her to her feet.
She looks back at me, and I smile.
‘Go ahead. My work is done.’
I trail after them to the deck, hearing Oliver’s voice in my head: Well done, mate. Absolutely brill.
After Eric made me believe that happy endings are impossible, it was nice to be part of one today. It’s still an adrenaline hit, but milder than the one I got from revenge. I just wish I could keep this feeling going on a regular basis.
My buzz fades instantly as my feet fly off the deck and I hit the water hard – beach bag and all. Someone blindsided me. My back stings from the impact as I kick toward the surface. Sputtering as I take my first gasp of air, I see a familiar strip of blue cloth floating a few feet in front of me. I look down in horror and discover I’ve lost the top of my bathing suit.
But as I reach out to grab it, a net dips into the water and fishes it out.
On the concrete deck a few feet away, water drips onto ten blue toenails adorned with daisies.
‘Oh, is this yours?’ Hollis asks, waggling the net just out of reach. She’s wearing a tiny bikini that accentuates her angles. Beside her, Fletcher turns away from his buddies to see what’s going on, and his eyes light up when he takes in the view. ‘Well, well. Look who’s getting naked all over town now.’ He pulls the towel from around his neck and dangles it in front of me. ‘Need some help drying off?’
Hollis whacks him in the arm with the pole, and the impact ejects my bathing suit top from the net. Fletcher tries to grab it, but another hand intercepts and tosses it directly back to me.
Fletcher turns, ready to take on the person who’s ruined his game. But when he catches sight of Trey’s broad swimmer’s shoulders, he lets it go.
I call out my thanks to Trey, and he gives me a guy-nod, to say it’s all good now.
Syd and Kali are laughing as we walk up the Congress Avenue Bridge to join the crowd that is already gathering.
‘It’s not funny,’ I say. ‘Fletcher is the last guy on earth I want seeing me topless.’
‘I know, I’m sorry,’ Kali says, still smiling from under the brim of her enormous hat. ‘But that was so nice of Trey.’
‘What’s with the hat?’ I ask.
‘UV rays aren’t sucking the youth out of my skin,’ she says.
Syd snickers. ‘Forget UV rays. Kali believes the old wives’ tale.’
‘My hair’s my best asset – after my legs,’ Kali says. ‘I don’t intend to lose a single curl because a rat with wings is stuck in it.’
We’ve come to watch the largest urban bat colony in North America leave its daytime roost under the bridge and fly off into the dusk. Syd wants to take photos as inspiration for her new graffiti series – or ‘street art,’ as she calls it. Her goal is to commemorate a creature that’s barely changed in fifty million years. Apparently she finds their consistency comforting while her own life is in turmoil.
Seeing over a million bats take off at the same time is one of the coolest sights nature has to offer. My family used to come often, until this year. Now my parents avoid anything we did as a family, even eating at our favorite restaurants. No one talks about it, of course. It’s the family way.
I finish my update on Lauren’s reunion with Trey, and Syd shakes her head. ‘That was the big secret? Competitive diving?’
‘Small secrets can become big problems, I guess,’ I say. ‘Anyway, Lauren was so thrilled to hear Trey’s still into her that she gave us a fifty dollar bonus.’
Kali tips her hat back and beams at me. ‘You really have a gift, Zahra.’
Syd takes off her vintage cat’s-eye sunglasses. As usual, she’s looking funky, in silver leggings paired with an old T-shirt and a guy’s suit vest. ‘Nice job.’
Kali notices a guy rolling past on his skateboard and smiles at him. ‘You probably bought Lauren and Trey another six months,’ she says.
‘Six months?’ I say. ‘I give them at least until college.’ Before Eric, I might have said they could go the distance, but that seems the stuff of fairy tales, even with a couple as well matched as Lauren and Trey.
‘Like I said before, no one feels the love forever,’ Kali says. The skater dude is so entranced by her that he wipes out. ‘But it sure is fun while it lasts.’
Syd watches as skater boy dusts himself off with two grazed and bloody hands. ‘The pain’s not worth the gain,’ she says.
Someone in the crowd shouts, ‘Here they come!’
Squealing, Kali holds down her hat with both hands and squeezes her eyes shut. Meanwhile, Syd passes me Banksy’s leash and raises her camera. The bats emerge in long black columns from beneath the bridge, dimming the rosy evening sky on their way out to hunt.
‘That was awesome!’ Kali says, opening her eyes in time to see the last line of bats snake over the tops of the buildings and disappear in the distance. She pulls off her hat and fluffs her curls. ‘Now for some ice cream.’
As we head over to Amy’s Ice Creams on 6th Street, I fish around in my bag for the envelope Lauren gave me, and divvy up the bonus.
‘Making money has never been so much fun,’ Kali says. ‘A few more assignments would really build my guitar fund.’
‘Most people couldn’t afford to pay so much,’ I say.
‘True,’ Kali says. ‘But I’d have done it for half the price. Maybe we could work out some sort of pay-what-you-can system, depending on the complexity of the job.’
‘You’re talking like this is an ongoing business,’ I say.
‘Maybe it should be,’ Kali says. ‘Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.’
‘I was thinking about it on the bus ride over,’ I admit. ‘I bet lots of people need help fixing their relationships.’
‘Not to mention retribution when they get screwed,’ Syd adds.
‘Imagine the job satisfaction,’ Kali says. ‘It felt so great to even the score with Eric, and we’d have been willing to pay for it. I’ve been thinking about all the people who never get that closure. If Zahra can’t help them get a rocky relationship on track, Syd could step in to give them back their pride. Then I could help them find love again. Match, patch, and dispatch,’ Kali starts singing. ‘Love, Inc. does it all.’
Syd ties Banksy up outside of Amy’s. ‘That has a nice ring to it. The name, I mean. Not the song.’
While we wait in line for our ice cream, Kali and I discuss how we’d find clients. Since we’d mostly have to fly under the radar, we couldn’t exactly advertise.
Syd is quiet until she has her cone in hand and has shaped it into a perfect dome. ‘I wasn’t sure if I should mention this, but there’s a photographer at the Maternity Ward who saw the article in the Chronicle and recognised my work on the car. Her name is Sinead, and she wants us to set up an Eric Special for her cheating boyfriend. Her mom owns a denim store, and she offered free jeans as payment.’
‘Sounds like we have our first official client,’ Kali says, beaming. ‘I’m in if you are. And the barter system is fine with me.’
‘Me too,’ I say. ‘But let’s say we all have to agree that someone deserves to be punished before we slam.’
‘Fine,’ Syd says. ‘But I know the guy, and trust me, he deserves it.’
‘If he does, Cupid’s deputies will bust him,’ Kali says.
‘So we’re really going to do this?’ I ask, half excited, half terrified. It’s one thing to fumble around in your own relationship, but if you’re accepting payment to help other people, you’ve got to get it right. I was lucky today, but if we go pro, I’ll have to improve my technique. We’ll have standards to maintain.
On the upside, maybe I’ll learn something through this work that will help me succeed in love the next time – if there is one.
‘Let’s do it,’ Syd says, holding out a fist.
‘I hereby declare Love, Inc. open for business,’ Kali announces as our knuckles collide. She opens her arms to embrace us, and Syd steps backward.
‘Keep the cones away from the vintage couture.’
‘Since when does a ripped Bangles T-shirt qualify as vintage couture?’ Kali asks. ‘You want to know my opinion?’
‘Not really,’ Syd replies.
‘I think you’re hug-phobic.’
‘And I think you have too many opinions.’
Glancing around the empty hallway, I answer my phone.
‘Hello, Love, Inc.’
‘Interesting,’ a guy says in a low, smooth voice. ‘This is Riaz Dar. Your grandmother said you’ve been expecting my call.’
My back goes up immediately. ‘She did not.’ In fact, I was expecting Sinead, the photographer from the Maternity Ward.
‘She did,’ Riaz continues. ‘She said you think I’m hot.’
I highly doubt Nani used that word, although she shouldn’t have been talking to him about me anyway. ‘Yeah, right,’ I say, heading toward my next class. ‘Actually, she thinks you’re hot, Riaz. Lucky you.’
There’s a pause as he imagines that scenario. ‘I got the photo you sent, too.’
Señora Mendoza rounds the corner and stops at the window overlooking the back of the campus, where students try to sneak in a smoke. To avoid her, I slide into a stairwell and close the door behind me.
‘I didn’t send you a photo.’ Nani must be getting more tech savvy, thanks to her twelve-year-old accomplice.
‘Well, since we’re chatting, what are you doing the first Saturday in October?’
‘Not going out with you,’ I say. If this arrogant jerk is the best my grandmother could do, it’s a good thing arranged marriages are a thing of the past in my family.
‘Who asked?’
‘Sounds like we’re on the same page, here, Riaz. I’m hanging up now.’
‘Wait,’ he says, laughing. ‘I’m just messing with you. I’m actually calling because I’m the head of volunteers for the Eid carnival, and your grandmother said you wanted to get involved.’
‘Like I said, my grandmother lies.’
‘OK, but now that you’re getting to know me, you might want to help out anyway,’ Riaz says.
‘Now that I’m getting to know you, I want to stay as far away from that carnival as possible. Goodbye, Riaz.’ I start heading down the stairs. ‘I hope you and Nani have a great day together.’
Riaz laughs. ‘Are you jealous?’
‘Yeah,’ I say, ‘I can only hope my love life will be as great as my grandmother’s someday.’
His laughter is still ringing in my ears as I near the bottom of the stairs, and it takes me a second to realise there’s someone else laughing. I back up a few paces to find Hollis leaning against the wall under the last set of stairs. The buttons of her top are mostly undone, and Fletcher has his arm around her waist.
‘You want a love life like your grandmother’s?’ Hollis says. ‘That’s sick.’
Fletcher grins, and sparkles of gloss on his lips catch the light. ‘There’s no need to settle,’ he says. ‘Not when you like to go topless.’
‘Looks like I’ve set a trend,’ I say, looking pointedly at Hollis’s shirt. ‘I hope the admin staff enjoyed the show.’
‘What do you mean?’ Hollis says, starting to button up.
‘Don’t you read the school paper?’ I ask, bluffing. ‘They installed CCTV at Austin.’ I look up to the light fixture as I head toward the exit. ‘They can hide those little cameras anywhere.’
‘I don’t see anything,’ Fletcher says, spinning slowly.
I smile as I open the door to the lower hall. ‘Enjoy your detention, superstars.’
‘Shopping for love at the big box store
Shopping for someone I can adore
I asked you for paint, you said satin or glossy …’
Kali muses, ‘What could come next?’
‘“That’s when I noticed your teeth were all mossy”?’ I suggest. ‘“Haven’t you heard of dental flossy”?’
‘Stick to writing recipes, Z.’
Glennis comes into the kitchen and looks around. ‘Did I sleep through a tornado?’
Dirty bowls, spoons, and spatulas cover every surface in the kitchen, and the island is smeared with batter and frosting. ‘I took you up on your offer,’ I say, clearing the way to the coffeemaker.
I made two types of cupcakes for my sister’s bake sale: dark chocolate with white chocolate chunks and strawberry icing, and white chocolate cupcakes with strawberries pieces and dark chocolate icing.
After putting the coffee on, Glennis sets her camera up on a tripod and arranges my cupcakes on platters beside the window.
‘Every meal’s a photo op,’ Kali says. She points to the three photos of peppers that I’ve admired since the first day I visited. The angle and the lighting transform a simple vegetable into a modern, sculptural object.
‘Maybe you could use these shots in a cookbook one day,’ Glennis says.
I’m thrilled. No one’s ever taken my baking this seriously before. ‘Thanks, Mrs Callaghan,’ I say, choosing her most recent married name.
‘Call me Glennis,’ she says, pouring coffee into a thermal cup and heading for the door with her camera gear. Just as I’m deciding she’s the coolest mom on the planet, she adds, ‘Leave the kitchen like you found it, OK?’
A few minutes later, Syd arrives with Banksy in tow. She was supposed to have breakfast with her mom, but her scowl suggests it didn’t work out. I know better than to ask, but Kali isn’t as cautious. ‘What happened with your mom?’
‘I’m here to work, Kali,’ Syd says. ‘Family problems can wait till group.’
Kali blunders on. ‘Did she make other plans?’
‘Did my words come out in Klingon?’ Syd asks.
I let them argue while I clean up the kitchen, and they start to lose steam as I put the last dish away. ‘How’s it going with your matchmaker program, Kali?’ I ask.
‘Almost done,’ she says. ‘I think I might road test it on my mom. She’s incredibly picky. If I can find a decent match for her, I’ll know my formula’s a winner.’
‘Good luck with that.’ The sentence is garbled because the speaker has his mouth full of cupcake. Brody is standing behind us in rumpled army shorts and an equally rumpled T-shirt. His feet are bare and his hair is sticking up all over. Still, he’s cute. Probably better than cute in the big scheme of things. ‘Morning.’
‘It’s nearly two,’ Kali says, as he strips the paper off another cupcake and devours it. ‘Those are Zahra’s. You could at least ask first.’
‘May I?’ he asks, reaching for a third cupcake. Banksy stands under him, licking up the crumbs. ‘These are amazing. Where’d you get them?’
‘I made them.’
‘Get out.’ He reaches for a fourth, and I notice he’s gone for three of the chocolate with strawberry icing. I have my winner.
‘Leave some for the bake sale,’ Kali says.
‘There’s plenty,’ I say. For me, there’s nothing better than seeing someone enjoy my baking.
‘I told you Red likes me,’ he says, winking at Kali. ‘Guess you girls heard about what happened to Rick’s car?’
I can’t help grinning. ‘We saw the article.’
‘Don’t look so happy about it,’ Brody says. ‘It wasn’t you he played.’
‘Actually, it was,’ I say. ‘And his name is Eric.’
‘The guy deserved what he got,’ Syd says.
Brody turns to his sister. ‘Deserved? This was random, wasn’t it?’
Kali shrugs. ‘Maybe Eric picked the wrong girls to cheat on.’
Brody looks at us, lined up with our arms crossed, and puts the pieces together. ‘You did all that? The paint job, the tires, the slimy crap inside?’
Three of us shrug in unison.
Brody starts backing away. He pitches the uneaten half of his cupcake into the sink, and I watch as my creation slides into a pool of soapy water. ‘Hey!’ I say.
‘I just remembered I’m allergic to nuts,’ he says. ‘And you guys are crazy.’