“So what’s been goin’ on besides that whole mess?” he asked, pulling a beer from the cooler for himself.
“Not much,” Eli said. “We just came from Maris’s, then decided to come down and say howdy to you since we hadn’t seen you.”
“Been a while,” he said with a nod, then his eyes lit up. “Speakin’ of Maris, I got a secret, but you can’t tell her. I figured I’d better let you two in on it, since you know she’s turnin’ sixty in a couple months, and you both tend to take things overboard.”
“What?” I said, leaning forward and resting my elbows on my knees. I loved a good surprise and hoped it was something good.
“Do you need my help planning it?” Eli asked. Planning parties was his forte, but Larry was right that he tended to take it over the top. As far as Eli was concerned, there was no other way to throw a shindig.
He shook his head. “Nope. Ezra’s managed to pull this one off all by himself. He’s takin’ her on one of them all-expenses-paid cruises to Mexico for her birthday.” His face split into a delighted grin, and his blue eyes lit up. “He’s been savin’ for it for months, pinchin’ a little off the top every day so’s she don’t get suspicious. She ain’t got a clue.”
Eli looked at me and we both rolled our eyes heavenward.
“Oh, she has a clue,” Eli said, shaking his head. “Sage went in yesterday, and she’s beside herself thinkin’ one of the girls is stealing from her.”
Alarm crossed his weathered face. “Oh, no, that won’t do at all.” He shook his head as he pulled out his phone. “I told him it wasn’t gonna be easy pullin’ one over on her, and now here we are!”
Though I hated that her birthday surprise was going to be ruined, I was happy to find out that Ezra had something wonderful planned for her birthday and that none of the people we knew and loved there were thieves. Maris had talked about a cruise forever, and I was glad she was finally going to get it.
We sat with Larry for a while longer just shooting the breeze, then we made plans to go diving the next day. Eli was right—we had no idea when the diadem or any of the other artifacts were going to turn up, and we couldn’t put our lives on hold waiting for them.
On our way back up the boardwalk, we grabbed a flier for the festival from one of the many plastic boxes nailed to the fronts of shops. By the time we made it back to the Clam, we had our entire weekend worked out, and I felt a little more centered. Life was going on as it should.
Chapter 19
Jake texted me when we were almost back to the Clam wanting to know where we were. I tapped out a response, and ten seconds later, my phone dinged again.
“He wants to know if we want to meet him at the carnival,” I told Eli. “Do you have anything else going?”
“Sounds good to me,” he replied with a shrug.
Even though we’d planned a carnival night for Sunday, both of us loved it and wouldn’t turn down a chance to go twice, or even three times.
“Good,” I said. “Though I wish Connell wasn’t busy. I want somebody to go on the rides with unless you’ve changed your mind and decided to stop being a baby this year.” Sometimes baiting him worked, but not usually if heights were involved.
“Nope,” he replied, “and I’m not being a baby. I have a healthy respect for gravity and what it could do if I suddenly found myself fighting it from three or four stories up. I’m not scared of the heights—I’m scared of the landing.”
Neither Eli nor Jake would get on the high rides with me, so I either had to go alone or skip them. I didn’t like either option. Even back when I’d been dating James, he’d joined the other chickens in the coop.
“You suck.” I said it and I meant it with every fiber of my being. I stared longingly at the top of the drop tower visible even from where we were—the ride that takes you up several stories on a platform with your feet dangling over the edge, then drops you back to the ground at an eye-watering speed.
“No, you’re insane,” he replied, tilting his head to look at me over the tops of his Ray=Bans. “Normally, I love that about you, but in this case, I’m truly concerned. I think we should have your head examined, but your mom insists she’s already done that.”
“Yeah, and I came back normal,” I said. “Those results indicate it’s you, not me.”
“Then I’m okay with being abnormal. You wanna walk, or should we drive?”
“Let’s drive. I’m hot,” I said. “Plus, we’re going to have stuff to carry back, and that’ll be a pain.”
We always had a competition to see who could win the most—and biggest—stuffed animals. Goldfish were out, though. We’d killed enough of them over the years that we’d started to feel guilty about it. When we’d left one in Dad’s Jeep and the water had spilled, we’d both gotten a lifetime ban from playing that game. Or from buying any pets that could get out of the car by themselves.
It only took us a couple minutes to drive from the Clam to the fairgrounds, and I was as excited as a five-year-old while we looked for parking. Jake was waiting for us at the ticket booth, smiling and looking fresh as a daisy. I felt like I was covered in a fine layer of crusty salt, but that was one of the things you got used to living in Florida. Besides, I wasn’t out to impress anybody, anyway.
We got our tickets and made our way to the haunted house. Despite being cheesy, it was one of our favorites and
