get paid time and a half.’
Just then, who should walk up to join Brie but Martucci-carting a box, which he set with a thud on the table. ‘ Hey, Parker,’ he said, looking me up and down. ‘ You here to work?’
‘ Do I look like I’ m here to work?’ I wore an oversize shirt as a swimsuit cover-up and was still holding the boogie board.
‘ How the hell would I know? But if you’ re here to work, I’ ve got more boxes that need hauling. Brie here’ s afraid she’ ll break a nail.’
‘ I just got ‘ em done,’ she explained, holding up her nails, which were each painted with tiny flowers.
‘ Sorry to disappoint you,’ I said without sincerity to Martucci. ‘ I’ m just stopping by.’
When I introduced them to Deedee, Brie exclaimed, ‘ So this is your Little Sister! We’ ve heard so much about you. Hold on-’ She reached into the box Martucci had brought to hand Deedee a logo pen with a tip like a lava lamp that changed colors as you clicked it. ‘ This is for you. I’ m only giving the good stuff to friends.’
‘ Cool,’ Deedee said, clicking. ‘ Thanks.’
Brie turned to Martucci. ‘ How about you go get that box with the T-shirts? I’ ll bet this girl would like one of those.’
‘ Jesus, you women think I’ m a plow horse,’ he groused. ‘ You know, Elaine pulls her own weight when she’ s working with me.’
‘ That’ s because she doesn’ t have my skills. My job is to attract customers,’ Brie said. ‘ I can’ t do that if my nails are all nasty.’
He looked wearily at Deedee. ‘ What size you want?’
‘ Large?’ she replied.
He left, muttering something under his breath. When he was out of earshot, I said, ‘ Forget time and a half. If you’ re forced to work with him, they ought to pay triple your hourly rate.’
‘ What-you don’ t like Martucci?’
‘ You do?’
‘ He’ s all right.’
‘ I just hate the way he sucks up to Lizbeth. And that rattail braid of his is so gross. He’ s always feeling it.’
‘ He’ s probably scared it might’ ve crawled away,’ Brie said. ‘ Anyway, I figure I can get him to pick up hoagie sandwiches when he gets back. All this standing here is making me starved. You want a hoagie?’
‘ I’ ll pass.’ Although it occurred to me that if I ate something big, I’ d have an excuse to wait thirty minutes before going in the water.
Brie turned her attention to Deedee. ‘ So, hon, you got yourself a boyfriend?’
I couldn’ t believe she’ d ask her such a prying question right off. I expected Deedee to do the clamshell imitation I knew so well, but she made a noise like pbbbbt and rolled her eyes as if to say, Boys.
‘ I know that face,’ Brie said, nodding wisely. ‘ Go on, tell Mama Brie all about it. Who’ s the bum, and what’ d he do?’
‘ Carlos,’ she answered, as if saying ‘ dog turd.’
‘ Mm-hmm& ‘
‘ And he all says he likes me, that I’ m hot and all that& ‘
‘ I know that one.’
‘ And then I find out he’ s going out with& ‘ She paused because it was clearly too awful to say. ‘ Theresa.’
I cut in. ‘ Theresa from the movies?’
‘ Yeah. He was there that day, which she conveniently forgot to mention.’
Brie shook her head in disgust. ‘ You don’ t want Carlos anyway. He’ s a fool, going for a skank like Theresa. You know what I think?’ She leaned over and pulled the oversize tank top Deedee wore snug against her. ‘ You got a cute little figure there. You oughta dress real sexy and show that Carlos what he’ s missing. I got some clothes that I don’ t wear anymore. They’ re small on me, but I’ ll bet they’ d fit you real nice. How about if I give them to June to pass on to you? You can keep anything you like and throw away what you don’ t.’
Deedee wearing Brie’ s castoffs? Her bright and tight Lycra and spandex? That was good for a laugh! That was about as likely as-
‘ Sure.’ Deedee beamed. ‘ You got stuff like what you’ re wearing now?’
‘ This old thing?’ Brie wore a fuchsia tank top over matching short-shorts. ‘ Oh, way better.’
Well, isn’ t that swell? In five minutes she’ d managed to do more bonding with Deedee than I had in over a month. Although it was nice to see Deedee open up, even if it wasn’ t to me. At least it was in my general vicinity.
‘ Hey, I almost forgot,’ Brie said to me. ‘ That traffic reporter guy stopped by to see if you were here. Trey& ?’
‘ Troy Jones?’
‘ Yeah, that’ s it. He said he’ s here with K-JAM helping with the beach cleanup. Oh, speaking of that, watch this.’ She crumpled a brochure and tossed it into the sand. Within seconds, two children holding trash bags ran up and began to fight over who got there first to pick it up. ‘ Works every time! I guess they got more people showing up to pick up trash than they got trash.’
