Page 3 of Wham Line
Our table was definitely premium—it might have been, as Nalini had said, the best in the house.It was centered on one of the plate-glass windows, below which ran a thin strip of sand and the crashing surf.
“You’re going to love the rolls,” Nalini said.“Let me get you some.”And then she squeezed Keme’s hand before darting off.
I must have been groaning again because Bobby nudged me harder this time.Millie was staring daggers at Nalini’s retreating form, and Keme had the faintly pleased-but-puzzled look of a sixth-grader at his first dance.
Bobby nudged me again.
I nudged him back—or I tried to.But by then, he was politely pulling out my chair for me, so I missed.
“So,” I said.“How was everybody’s day?Millie, how was—”
“Fine,” she snapped.And then she unrolled her silverware and got a good grip on the knife.
That was the end of that.
For a boy who had kept himself alive all these years basically on his own, Keme seemed to have zero sense of self-preservation, because he chose that moment to take out his phone and start scrolling.
I decided now would be a good time to look somewhere else—mostly so that I wouldn’t have the inconvenient responsibility of being a witness when this inevitably escalated to murder.I took another look around the dining room.
The restaurant was already filling up—opening night, even a soft open, was an exciting event at a time of year in Hastings Rock when not much excitement usually happened.Many of the patrons were locals, and I waved to Bliss and Althea Wilson—Bliss was helping Althea out of her coat, but Althea gave me a hearty wave back before digging her cellphone out of her bra.Cyd Wofford was there with a woman I didn’t recognize, and Jemitha Green stood near the door, dictating into her phone—probably her first impressions, which she’d write up for the town paper.
With the instinctive sense for trouble most humans have, I found my gaze drawn to a couple at the bar.They were White, and I pegged them as being in their fifties.He had sallow skin and an almost aggressively full head of hair.It made me think of a dog’s fur that had been rubbed the wrong way.She had short hair she had dyed too dark, and she wore a lot of earth-toned makeup.Like, alot.They were leaning in toward each other, talking over each other—but quietly.And they werenothappy.
A burst of familiar giggles brought my gaze around in an automatic search for Nalini (mostly to make sure she hadn’t somehow climbed into Keme’s lap).But she wasn’t anywhere near us; she was standing near the doors to the kitchen, talking to a man.
He was middle-aged, but you could only tell by the lines around his mouth and eyes.His hair was glossy black and hung in expensively cut curtains.And he was still trim in his tailored suit.At least one of his parents had been East Asian, but one had probably been White—you could see that, too, in his eyes.And he was handsome, which might have explained why Nalini was leaning in, laughing again, while he smiled indulgently.
The kitchen door swung open, and a young man rushed out, headed straight for Nalini.He was carrying a drink, and his head was down as he stared at his phone.At the last moment, he seemed to spot Nalini.He stumbled left, crashed into a chair, and fell to the floor.The sound of breaking glass ran through the restaurant.
Nalini was the first to react with a little scream.The older man she’d been talking to took her by the arm and moved her aside, then crouched next to the guy who’d fallen.Bobby rose up in his seat for a better look—probably deciding if he needed to help—and as my gaze moved automatically in his direction, I caught a glimpse of the couple I’d noticed at the bar.The middle-aged man with the bristly hair was absorbed in his phone, but the woman with the earth-toned makeup was glaring in the direction of the recent disturbance.Not just annoyance at having her conversation—or whatever it was—interrupted.The look on her face was closer to rage.
By the time I turned my attention back toward the kitchen, the middle-aged man was standing, dusting off the younger man, and Nalini was headed toward us with a breadbasket.I wasn’t trying to stare, but something about the interaction between the two men held my attention a moment longer—the way the older man curled his fingers around the younger man’s arms seemed too…much, for lack of a better word.And then, as I was watching, the older man touched a stain on the younger man’s white shirt, where his drink had spilled.Without missing a beat, the older man took off his suit jacket and held it out, ignoring the younger man’s protests.
Too muchwas an understatement.
The younger man was alright looking; nothing remarkable.He had olive-toned skin and wore his dark hair long, and he couldn’t have been more than twenty, with the mild acne to prove it.But some people didn’t care about pretty.Some people cared about young—and frequently, the younger, the better.
“—love what they’ve done with eco-friendly materials,” Indira said, her voice growing stronger as she and Fox moved toward us.“The reclaimed wood—”
She cut off as she reached our table, staring toward the kitchen doors, where the two men still stood.Her face went slack, and for several long seconds, it was like she was gone.She had one hand on the table, and slowly, automatically, she gathered a wad of the tablecloth.Then something flickered deep, deep down, and her expression tightened again.She released the tablecloth and smoothed out the almost-invisible wrinkles she’d left.Her hand moved automatically again, adjusting the rolled silverware, straightening it in a line with the wineglass.Then her hand drifted to her side.
“Excuse me.”She turned toward the front of the restaurant.
“Are you all right?”I asked.
“Indira?”Fox took a step after her.“What’s wrong?”
Indira waved her hand at us.“I need some fresh air.No, stay.I’ll—” But whatever she meant to say, she left the sentence unfinished and strode toward the exit.
Phone forgotten now, Keme followed her with his eyes and then turned a worried look on me.
“I don’t know,” I said.
Fox was staring at the front door.“Should I…”
“I could check on her,” Millie said.
Bobby shook his head.“She wanted to be alone.”His gaze moved to the man in the suit, now jacketless.“Any idea who that is?”
