Page 44 of Reel Love

Dad comes out from the study.

“Everything okay?” I ask him over Mom’s head while she still has a death grip on me like a barnacle to a barge.

“You’ll hear about it at dinner.” Dad pries Mom off me. “Come on, Judith. Let’s enjoy dinner with our three kids.”

I leave Dad to comfort or cajole Mom, whatever it is she needs, and walk through to the kitchen where Mitzi’s laying outan assortment of tacos from her restaurant onto a platter next to a massive tin pan of beans and another of Spanish rice.

“Hey,” she says to me. “Grab the salsa and guac out of that bag, would ya? And put a spoon in each.”

I get busy following my sister’s directions.

“I might be called out on the wildfires near Malibu this week,” Dustin says by way of greeting.

“Is that what has Mom so worked up?”

I wouldn’t think she’d get upset over Dustin going on fires. He’s a volunteer here on the island and often pitches in on the mainland when needed. His primary job is split between solo music gigs at local bars and nightclubs and other events, and being a bouncer. Where I’m tall and lean, Dustin is built like a house.

Dustin and Mitzi share a look. Then Mitzi says, “You’ll hear soon enough.”

“That’s what Mom said,” I tell her. “I’m ready to hear now, thank you.”

“I’m leaving,” Dustin says.

He and Mitzi glance at one another again.

“For the fires?”

“Yes, and no. I’m …” .

Mom walks into the kitchen with Dad right on her heels. “He’s enlisted.”

“In the military?” My confusion carries through in my voice.

My brother never even liked getting into the usual scrappy fights boys would pick with one another in elementary and junior high school. He’s a bouncer, but his gift in diplomacy is how he handles ninety-nine percent of the situations that other men might handle with force. Besides, this is Marbella. The usual night for a bouncer involves telling a teen who’s here on vacation that they can’t enter Club Descanso.

“Not military,” Dad supplies.

“Fire,” Dustin says. “I’ve been accepted to a station in a small town called Waterford.”

“I’ve never heard of it,” I tell him.

“You’ve never heard of it because it’s in Tennessee!” Mom throws her hands up as if Tennessee is also in Bora Bora. Maybe we can make a trip of it and I can meet SaturdayIslandGirl while we visit my brother.

“I think we had a little heads up that this was coming,” I say in my talk-you-down-off-the-ledge tone of voice. “Maybe when he got his bachelor’s in fire technology?”

“I’m right here,” Dustin says.

I nod at him, but I keep on. He’s diplomatic, but I’m the family balancer. I usually step in when things are off-kilter and help everyone see each others’ sides of a situation.

“And also when he spent summers volunteering on wildland crews. I’d say we had more than a fair amount of data to lead us to conclude that Dustin was going in this direction. Objectively speaking.”

Mom makes a “pfft” sound. “You’ve been doing all those regular gigs around the island, and even those few in Oxnard and Ventura. I thought you wanted to get into music. I’m fine with you choosing a career in firefighting, but why Tennessee?”

She looks up at my Dad who’s standing right behind her. “It’s so far. We’ve all been here on Marbella since before Ren was born.”

Mom’s face contorts with sadness. My brother looks equally distraught, like he’s five seconds from breaking into tears.

“Mom, it’s not that I want to leave you. It’s not always easy to get a position at a fire station. You have to wait for an opening, and they have to accept you. You know all this. I’d love to stay here. But I also want to explore other places. I’ve spent my whole life living in this bubble. I want to see what other parts of the world are like while I’m still young.”

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