Page 65 of Sharkbait
I give her a wink and take a quick drink order from a woman in a purple dress.
“Truuuuue.” Louise stretches out the word, then makes fun of my wink with one of her own. “But I mostly meant, it’s not like I have a ton of experience with pinnipeds. I specialize in echinoderms. Though I did minor in psychology while getting my bio degree, so I’m sure that helps. I wasn’t sure at first what aspect of marine biology I’d specialize in, and advisors usually say if you think you might want to work with cetaceans or pinnipeds, you’d be wise to study some psychology.”
“Hold up. Echino-suh-tay-shuh-pinna-what? I don’t think I caught half of that.”
I hand a pinot grigio to the woman in purple.
“I’m sorry, I hate when people do that,” Louise says.
“Do what?”
“Say fancy words to make themselves feel smart. I swear that’s not what I was doing.” She takes a quick sip of her drink, then explains, “Pinnipeds are marine mammals with four flippered limbs. So... seals, sea lions, and walruses. Cetaceans are whales, dolphins, and porpoises. But I mostly work with echinoderms: starfish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers.... basically, the weirdos of the ocean.”
“Keep it weird, baby. That’s what I always say.” I hesitate. “Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever said that, but whatever. I believe it. Weird is good.”
She smiles. “Me too.”
Her phone pings with a text, and she immediately pops to her feet. “It’s Calliope. They’re five minutes away. Brace yourself.”
“Consider me braced.” I laugh. “But why?”
“You never know what’s going to happen when Calliope’s in charge.”
As it turns out, Louise is the one who should have been bracing.
Because when an older man walks in a moment later, her jaw drops.
And if looks could kill? This dude would be a dead man.
Chapter Fifteen
Louise
"Surprise!” the whole room shouts as Ralph and Calliope enter the bar.
I miss the big moment, though, because I’m cowering in the furthest corner of the room trying to calm my pounding heart.
Alright, cowering isn’t completely accurate. I’m not someone who cowers. Currently, I am standing with one of Ralph’s astronomy friends, trying my best to focus on his diatribe about black holes, when all I want is to be sucked into one myself.
What the hell is he doing here?
Who invited him?
The moment my dad walked in, I went into fight-or-flight mode. After quickly realizing that I didn’t want to cause a scene on my brother’s special night, I decided on flight.
I will stay the least amount of time necessary to be deemed a good sister, then I’m out of here.
Hopefully without having to talk to him.
“Oh man! You should see your face right now!” Ralph’s astronomy friend says. “Am I freaking you out with all this black hole talk?”
I’m barely listening to you, buddy.
All my awareness is trained on my father, who is working the room, making small talk with strangers as if he belongs here. Perhaps these people wouldn’t be strangers to him if he’d made any effort to be a consistent part of his son’s life.
Or mine.
I thought we made eye contact a moment ago, but it was hard to tell in the dim lighting and all the revelry. Either way, it seems he’s keeping his distance for now and waiting for me to approach him.
