"Name," Kyle says.
"You know my name, my team, and where I am on your stupid clipboard, Kyle. Just keep that little monster away from me and we'll be fine."
I make a very wide arc around both Kyle and Shark; the whole time Shark and I stare each other down while Kyle continues to look at the clipboard. I stop walking and give him another minute before interjecting. "Oh, for heaven's sake, it's Angie Houtz with a z on the end."
"No E?"
"No. With a Z like I told you."
He marks off the spot on his clipboard and I make my way toward the ocean to check in on Kaylee and Fi.
I get there just as Fi dumps a fresh shovel of damp sand near Kaylee and Kaylee looks up, her hands are dirty and her ass is wet from sitting in the damp sand.
"I'm mad at you," Kaylee says, but her face is a smirk.
"What did I do now?"
"I thought I was the resident drama queen," she answers.
Fi giggles.
"Alright," I say, "who told you about the ball."
"Nobody, there were plenty of pics on the internet." Fi answers. "My favorite is the bald guy trying to catch you running up the stairs after the monkey."
I smile. "Yeah, I beat his ass in four-inch heels."
Kaylee brushes some sand off of the pile. "That's my girl."
Fi sets the shovel down next to me. "Rumor is, you and Jake had a moment?"
"Damn this small town. I guess there aren't any secrets. Anyway, I wouldn't call it a moment."
"They called it a kiss," Fi adds.
I grab the bucket and head for the waves. "A moment of weakness is what it was." Honestly, I have no idea what it was. All I know is I was grateful for the swim move he taught me and for Tristan understanding.
On my way back to Kaylee with the full water bucket, I scan the other teams, looking for Jake. I don't see him.
"He's not here tonight," Kaylee says as I put the full bucket down and grab an empty one. "He has a doctor appointment or something."
"Let's talk about something other than Jake. What about wedding plans?"
I watch her work. “Is it a seal?”
Kaylee is a magician with the sand. Her nimble fingers glide across the mass of lines and curves. She never tells us what she's creating, instead forcing us to guess what she's making as she goes along until we finally get it right. It's kind of fun.
"The plans are going fine. We picked the city and the venue and booked the hotel. Those are the big question marks. Now it's down to the details."
"I love the details." I offer.
"Great," Kaylee says, "then you're in charge of helping me with the details."
"What about me?" Fi asks, returning with a shovel full of sand.
Kaylee wipes a small wisp of hair from her face. "Who am I kidding? You two will be doing the bulk of the work on my wedding anyway. What do you guys say? Dress shopping next week?"
"I'm in," I say before heading back to the water.
A few minutes later we pack up the sandcastle equipment and make our way to the Beaky Tiki. In our defense, building sandcastles makes people thirsty.
Once we get settled in, Fi stares at me for a minute.
“What now?”
"I saw your billboard, are you sure you two weren't getting along that day? Because both of you are smiling. You look great. He looks like shit, of course." Fi grins at me.
"I told you, she kicked both of us out and photographed us separately. And thank goodness she's a genius. Because business is way, way up," I lean forward. "Yesterday we had an actual line when we opened."
"No," Kaylee gasps.
"Seriously. I finally figured out a purpose for Jake. I'll give him this, he can still draw a crowd."
Kaylee picks up a chip. "What's next, then? Another billboard? Meet and greet? You two on a Pirate Fest Parade Float together waving at the masses?"
Oh no. I hadn't thought of that. Nothing is scheduled that I know of. As Cara explained it, it was sort of a temporary thing. "Um, nothing."
Fi chimes in. "Yay, then you're done with Jake, right? Except for our little pirate fest volunteer feud. Which we fully intend to win by the way. Angie?"
I only realize I'm far down the rabbit hole thinking about what no-more-Jake is going to do to my just now resuscitated from the dead vet practice. And that no-more-Jake may not really be what I want after all.
Damn you, sex life. Just listen to reasonable Angie for once. I know that I won’t heed my own words of wisdom.
Fi is waving a hand in front of my face, her own face scrunched up into a look of adorable concern. "Earth to Angie. What's up, Angie?"
"I'm just afraid that being done with Jake kinda means I'm done for good. What am I going to do if Animal Universe wins? Then what?"
"Hey," Kaylee says. "We'll figure it out, okay? You are Angie Fucking Houtz. You can do literally anything."
Kaylee is convincing, and my friends are the best. I take a minute to consider the way my life is right this minute, because I'm fairly sure it won't be long before it all goes down in flames to my soul-less competitor.
All the new patients are really great. A good start, but not nearly enough. Oh well. My friends will still be here for me, that I know. But everything else?
The look on both Kaylee and Fi's faces tell me that I spaced out again.
"Sorry, guys. I'm just really worried about all of it."
"Hey," Fi says, "at least you got your Aunt Patty's bracelet back."
That's true. And Jake was right there in case I needed him. Stop thinking about Jake, Angie. Stop thinking about that smile, and those biceps, and the way his shoulders fill out that suit, and the way his hair has grown out just enough to grab a hold of.
That's when
