Memories in Sea Glass: Driftwood Key Beach Reads #2

11. Anthem

Anthem and Justine waved to Jess as she headed into Once Upon a Flower Shop, a big smile on her face.

They had hitched a ride into town with her today so that they could try to solve their growing transportation problem.

“She’s watching,” Justine hissed.

“Fine,” Anthem said, turning and heading for the café.

They had told Mom they wanted to hang out at the café and do some window shopping this afternoon. But their real goal was to buy used bikes at the Towel Shack, if they could find some they could afford.

Anthem glanced over her shoulder and saw that her mom had disappeared into the flower shop.

“All clear,” she said to Justine, grinning.

But Sam had already spotted them through the café window.

“Guys,” she said, poking her head out the door excitedly and releasing the delicious scent of fresh coffee and baking muffins. “Did you know you’re internet famous?”

Justine looked to Anthem, a smile spreading across her face.

“It’s so cool, right?” Anthem said.

“Those two videos are still buzzing on BeeBop,” Sam said, glancing over her shoulder, then leaning in to speak quietly. “Next time, tag the café in the original. Tiago would probably give you free coffee for life or something if you can make him famous too.”

“Right,” Anthem said, nodding. “Good thinking.”

They had thought to tag the café in the comments once they saw what was going on, and of course Sam was in the second video, saying the name of the café. But the place would definitely get better publicity if they were tagged from the start.

“You guys want to sit outside?” Sam asked, glancing at the outdoor tables, one of which was unoccupied.

“We actually have to run an errand first,” Anthem said quickly. “But if we have time, we’ll definitely stop by after.”

“Yeah, if you haven’t been signed by a record label and swept off to L.A. or something by then,” Sam laughed.

Anthem laughed too, and then she and Justine headed back to the corner, and crossed the street. The Towel Shack was on a side street just off the main square. Colorful beach towels were hung from the exterior.

“We have to be ready to negotiate,” Anthem reminded Justine.

Her cousin nodded, a serious look in her eyes.

Between them they had just over eight hundred dollars total. Justine had a little less than three hundred, most of which her dad had given her for emergencies. And Anthem had a little over five hundred, which was all that was left of what she had been paid to work at the music camp last summer.

It was an odd feeling to know she was willing to spend it all right now. But she wasn’t sure what else she could really do.

Their BeeBops had gone completely viral and were still being watched and shared now. She’d had to turn off notifications on her phone it was so intense.

She wasn’t sure if it was because it had been a quiet weeknight that they’d hit the algorithm just right, if it was the intergenerational jam session that everyone loved, or if it was actually the music—but Anthem was at least semi-internet-famous, for now.

She already had enough followers to monetize her channel if she wanted. But she had no other real content to post.

And she couldn’t help but notice how many commenters mentioned her singing with Zara as the best part. If she wanted to keep the momentum going, there was only one thing to do.

She had to get Zara onboard.

But she definitely didn’t want to scare her away. Since she hadn’t heard from Zara yet, she figured that somehow the other young woman must not have BeeBop on her phone.

Anthem had texted her last night asking if she wanted to jam.

And naturally, when Zara finally replied, just after midnight, she had named the one date and time when the entire family would be using the car to go to dinner at the resort.

She and Justine figured they could beg off dinner if Justine pretended not to be feeling well and Anthem offered to stay with her. But that left them with no way to get into town.

Zara and her aunt lived in one of the beautifully restored conch houses close to the village center. It was about an hour’s walk from the house on Seashell Lane, and would be perfectly safe in daylight. In a sleepy little place like Driftwood Key, it would probably be safe anytime, but something about walking alone after dark just gave her the heebie-jeebies.

And if they were going to be jamming regularly, a way to get back and forth quickly was a good investment anyway. Hiking an hour each way in the heat wasn’t conducive to having a life the rest of the time. Bikes would give them some freedom.

At least they would if the grumpy Towel Shack guy had two used bikes—and if he was willing to sell them at a reasonable price.

They stepped into the dim, cool interior of the shop. Folded towels filled the built-in shelves that surrounded the little store, but there were also towels hanging from the walls and overhead beams, all drifting a little with the movement of the ceiling fan at the center of the shop.

“Help you?” a man’s voice asked listlessly from the counter in back.

“Hey there,” Justine called out in a friendly voice as they headed back. “We heard you had used bikes here.”

“Yup,” he said.

As they got closer, Anthem noticed that Justine wasn’t wrong—the guy was actually pretty hot. He had long, dirty-blond hair and ocean-blue eyes that stood out against his killer tan.

But to Anthem, his gorgeous features were completely ruined by the scowl on his face. He looked at the two of them like they were here to wreck all of his plans for the day. Though as far as Anthem could tell, his plans were only to sit in the semi-darkness, reading a paperback that was so worn that he must have read it at least a hundred times before.

“Can we see them?” Anthem asked after an awkward moment.

He sighed in response, put his book down, and slid off his stool, heading for the back of the shop without so much as a backward glance.

“Do we follow him?” Justine whispered.

“I guess,” Anthem whispered back, shrugging.

They had to trot to catch up, and when they did, they came to what looked like a stock room with a couple of old bikes leaning against unopened boxes of towels.

“Oh, no, no, no,” he said suddenly, staring at Justine’s belly. “No way. I’m not selling a pregnant lady a bicycle. It’s not going to happen.”

“We need a way to get around,” Justine whined. “You don’t want to make a pregnant lady walk everywhere, do you?”

“I might have something for you,” he said, shaking his head. “But it’s going to be a little more expensive.”

“What is it?” Anthem asked, looking around.

He opened the back door to the alley and headed outside. Anthem and Justine followed, blinking against the sunshine that was almost blinding after the dim interior of the shop.

Strangely, the air smelled delicious, like fresh cookies baking. The man gestured to something that stood in the alley, and Anthem couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

A faded pink golf cart, painted to look like a flamingo, was parked behind the shop’s recycling bins. Though it was a little banged up, it looked roadworthy to Anthem’s untrained eyes.

“Yes,” Anthem said, turning to Justine.

“It’s twelve hundred,” the guy said in a bored voice, making Anthem’s heart sink.

“It looks pretty beat up to me,” Justine said doubtfully. “Probably needs a ton of work.”

Anthem blinked at her cousin, wondering how she could possibly be such a snob when they really needed some kind of transportation. But a quick look from Justine let her know she was just trying to do some negotiating. Anthem felt like kicking herself for not thinking of that. She’d haggled over plenty of musical instruments, but at least then she’d had some idea of what she was talking about.

“It might not win any beauty contests,” the guy said. “But it’s good to go for street use, and it even has a light kit, so you can drive it on the street at night.”

Anthem looked closer and sure enough, the lights seemed like they were in good shape, and the thing even had seatbelts and windshield wipers.

“We’d need registration and insurance on top of all that,” Justine sniffed. “I don’t know. For that price, we could get brand new bikes from a shop owner who doesn’t illegally discriminate against pregnant customers.”

“I’m not discriminating,” the guy protested, energy suddenly coming into his voice. “I just don’t want you getting hurt.”

“We can offer you six hundred fifty dollars,” Justine said coolly.

“What?” he demanded.

“It’s a fair price, and you’d have this beat-up piece of junk out of your way,” Justine said. “How do you even accept deliveries with this thing here?”

Anthem hadn’t noticed until just then that it was blocking the delivery door.

“That’s probably a fire hazard,” Justine continued. “Blocking the door like that.”

“I’ll just sell it to someone else,” the man said.

“Well, let’s think about that,” Justine said thoughtfully. “One look at this big pink thing and you know that no young guy is going to want to drive it, so half your potential buyers are off the table. And looking around, I don’t exactly think the vacation population of Driftwood Key is desperate for an ancient golf cart that used to do deliveries for Flamingo Pizza.”

He wasn’t going to be able to argue that. The vacation people seemed to have tons of money, if the beautiful newer homes and restored cottages were any indication.

“And based on how filthy it is,” Justine went on, “I’m thinking it’s been sitting a while, so everyone who lives here full-time already knows all about it. Now, I don’t know about you, but most people who sell things for a living know that items in a free market are worth exactly what the market will bear. And I believe the two of us represent your entire potential market.”

The man only gaped at her, astounded. Anthem was more than a little impressed herself.

“We’re willing to pay six fifty,” Justine said with a sweet smile. “Cash, right now. If you have to think about it, then we’ll have time to do our homework on insurance and registration, and I’m guessing our number will be lower at that point.”

“What did you say you wanted this for?” he asked, frowning.

“We didn’t,” Justine said with a smile.

There was a silence so long that it was all Anthem could do not to fill it with an explanation or another offer. But Justine clearly knew what she was doing.

“Seven fifty,” he said at last.

Anthem’s heart leapt.

“Six fifty,” Justine said, shaking her head.

“Anthem Steele?” a familiar voice called out from further down the alleyway.

“Hey, Anna,” Anthem said as her mom’s former foster sibling approached. “How’s it going?”

“Great,” Anna said. “I’m just on the way to the bakery.”

She pointed to the back door to another shop.

“No wonder it smells so good back here,” Anthem said.

“Hi, Anna,” the Towel Shack guy said, a little too loudly.

Anthem was stunned to see that he was almost smiling.

“Oh, hi, Derek,” Anna said shyly. “Are you buying a golf cart, girls?”

“Nah,” Justine said. “We were so close, but he’s holding out for more.”

“How much?” Anna asked curiously.

“Fine,” Derek said in a choked voice. “I’ll take seven hundred.”

“Sold,” Justine said quickly.

“Oh, wow,” Anna said with a smile. “That’s a great deal, girls. Did you see that it’s got a light kit so you can drive it at night?”

“Yes,” Anthem said, feeling like she could walk on air.

Derek scowled, but Anthem noticed his eyes kept sliding over to Anna.

Anthem dug their cash out of her pocket quickly, counting out seven hundred dollars and handing it over.

“Make sure to get that cart registered and buy insurance, girls,” Anna said. “It’s almost like having a car.”

“I’ll help them, Anna,” Derek growled without looking at her. “Don’t worry.”

“That’s so sweet of you, Derek,” Anna told him. “Stop by the bakery later, and I’ll have a little something set aside for you to say thank you for taking such good care of my nieces. Bye, girls.”

All three of them watched after her for a moment.

He really likes her,Anthem thought to herself, turning her attention back to Derek, who was watching after Anna like she was illuminating the path to heaven.

“Come on,” he huffed turning back to them. “Let’s get you guys taken care of.”

He headed back inside and they followed.

“You were incredible,” Anthem whispered to Justine, grabbing her by the elbow so they could stay out of Derek’s earshot for a second.

“My dad’s a lawyer,” Justine said, shrugging. “I’ve listened to him negotiating on the phone my whole life.”

“No. You have a gift,” Anthem told her firmly. “And it’s all your own, it has nothing to do with your dad.”

Justine smiled radiantly, and Anthem decided the whole universe might just be leaning their way.