13. Maggie
THIRTEEN
MAGGIE
I didn’t sleep last night because all I could see when I closed my eyes was Duke’s smug face after he said he’d take the vacation. I don’t know why I care about it so much now, but my competitive side has emerged after a very long slumber. Maybe it’s because I don’t want him to win it and then gloat.
On the other hand, I thought about pulling out of the race, not sure I can handle hanging out with Duke for that much time. Even ten minutes with him will be more than my patience can handle.
The rational side of me decided against it though. I need to do this for my own sanity. If I can benefit from a getaway and not be humiliated at my cousin’s wedding, I’ll be that much better for it.
I wasn’t ready for the strange ping of my phone as I brushed my teeth this morning. Picking it up, I swipe to see a small palm tree icon at the top of the screen.
I click to get into the Beach Town app and see a screen that says, “Your first challenge awaits.”
The screen doesn’t change even after several taps. How do I get in to see what the first task is? I shut down the app and try again, but nothing has changed.
There’s a message through the app that pops up and I’m able to navigate to that area. It’s a message from Duke.
Are you ready for this? ??
No.
I can’t see what our assignment is.
Me either. Do you want to meet at the shop? Say in thirty minutes?
I want to tell him to go to the place spelled with hockey sticks but decide better of it. If I want to make things work and get everything I could hope for out of this contest, I’ll have to work with him instead of trying to do it all myself. Unless I can figure out a way to open up the assignment and do it on my own. Maybe Marlin would’ve been a better partner for this.
Fine. See you then.
What does one wear to a scavenger hunt? Should I track down a pirate hat and some striped red and white stockings to go traipsing through Willow Cove?
That would be even worse than doing whatever this app can conjure up.
Instead, I pull on some yoga pants and a comfortable t-shirt. I don’t need to impress my partner by any means, so I might as well look homeless to reduce the chance of attraction. Not that there will be any from either party.
I grab the stuff I’ll need for the day, hoping I’ll be able to balance the accounts at the shop by lunch after we’ve finished our first task.
Instead of going straight to the shop, I stop at the Coffee Bean and grab myself a small hot chocolate. It’s going to be hot today, but I need the chocolate to flow through my system. It’s like a way to get Zen for me.
“You made it,” Duke says, glancing down at his watch. Is he being judgy? I have two minutes to spare for our thirty minute agreement.
“Yes, I’m here. Did you figure out how to unlock our assignment?” I ask. I take a sip of the warm chocolate and smile. They make the best kind there and I’m instantly more relaxed.
Duke shakes his head. “No. I don’t know what to do or how?—”
He pauses and I hear the same ping as I did this morning.
“It looks like it’s open now. Maybe it’s the time difference?”
“No,” a voice calls out and I see a guy who I think works at the surf shop. “You have to be within twenty feet of your partner to get it to open. At least that’s what I heard from Barnabee when he came in to set up a surf lesson this morning.”
“That would’ve been nice to know last night,” I say.
My stomach sinks. I have to be that close to Duke to know what the next challenge is? So much for thinking I could get an early start and spend less time with the guy.
“Thanks, Brody,” Duke says, waving to the guy as he jogs by. “Leave it to Barnabee to think he gave out all the information but leave all of us confused.”
Something about his words makes the ice I have formed around my heart crack a little. He always seems like he’s Mr. Positivity, but at least he can get annoyed with normal things.
I open the app and see the small palm tree logo again. I hate having notifications at the top of the screen, staring at me like I’m the ultimate procrastinator, so I clear it out and head to the app, curious about our mission.
“We’re so happy to have you joining us today. Your first stop on the scavenger hunt is to visit Town Square. Pick a well-known duet and use the speakers there to serenade the crowd. Good luck and happy tunes!”
Is it too late to pull out of this? Because this girl does not have pipes of any kind.
Duke looks a little nervous as well. He waves for me to follow as he steps away from the shop toward the town square.
“Any ideas on what we could sing?”
I shake my head. I’ve never been good at knowing popular songs, and my musical talents were maxed out in the fifth grade when we had to learn to play the recorder. My parents agreed that I didn’t need to try any other musical instruments after attempting the violin for three months.
“Can we choose to skip these? Maybe get another task?” I ask, dreading singing anything in front of a crowd. “Kind of a swipe right type of thing?”
“I don’t think so if we want to win,” Duke says with a low chuckle. Why does that do things to my insides? It’s like everything is melting from the timbre of his voice.
“Can you sing?” I ask. I realize after the fact that I made it sound kind of snooty. “Sorry, I meant that as a normal question. Do you like to sing?”
“Not really. I avoided choir like the plague growing up.”
Blowing out a breath, I say, “I guess we’ll just have to endure three minutes of torture and call it good.”
“You don’t like singing either?” Duke asks, and I fall into step with him.
“I usually just mouth ‘Happy Birthday’ when we have to sing to people for birthdays. It’s better for all if they don’t have to hear me sing off key.”
Duke smiles and I have to say I’m not mad at the cute little dimple in his right cheek. “Well, maybe there aren’t that many people awake at nine o’clock in the morning.”
I’m hoping he’s right, until I step around the corner of one of the buildings and see that the town square has at least four rows of chairs set up in front of what looks like a mini stage near the giant waterfall. There are two microphone stands as well as a few speakers on each side of the platform.
I guess they’re going all out for this activity.
A few people are already sitting in the seats and it looks like several are close enough to hear.
Just as we’re about to walk up on stage, a couple in their mid-fifties steps up. The man grins and says into the mic, “Good morning, Willow Cove. We’re going to sing ‘Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing.’”
Duke taps my arm and waves for us to walk around to the other side of the platform, where there’s a book of musical suggestions. At least we don’t have to come up with our own.
The only problem is that when Duke flips through the pages, I don’t recognize any of the songs. He reads one off here and there, while trying to hum a few bars to help me know what it is, but I don’t recognize any of them over the sound of the couple singing.
“What about ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart?’” Duke asks.
“That one actually sounds familiar.”
“It’s an older song, but I know it better than most of the newer ones.” He shuts the book right as the couple in front of us finish. They did a fantastic job and their voices blended together so well. I’m nervous about what’s going to happen between Duke and me. There will be no meshing or harmonizing or whatever it’s called in music.
The couple bows and walks off the stage. Duke waves for me to go first. At least the heathen has some chivalrous qualities within him.
I take the microphone to the right and Duke stands next to me. He glances at me, but I’m pretty sure I’ve just got the deer in the headlights look. How do people perform in front of thousands when I’m struggling to function in front of twenty?
“I think we should apologize for what you’re about to hear,” Duke says into the microphone, snapping me out of my trance. “We don’t have the talents that the Judsons just displayed, but you’ve now been warned.”
The small group chuckles and I glance out at them, seeing Hope’s grinning face from the back row, her phone poised to record. The traitor. I’m never going to live this down. How did she know I’d be here?
The song starts and I do my best to read the screen, but it’s coming out as more talking rather than singing. I try to add a songbird-like quality to my words, but it turns out I sound more like a bullfrog.
There’s a lot of cringing, and I’m ready to stop singing when I hear Duke take over for his part.
He’s equally as bad, his voice cracking when he has to go up another octave.
I don’t know why that should make me feel better, because we’re here, trying to work on a contest together. Hopefully we don't lose points for lack of talent in certain areas.
Duke smiles over at me as he continues to sing, or what we’re trying to pass off as singing, and I can’t help but think this will be something I’ll never forget. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the crowd is armed with squishy tomatoes to throw at us afterward.
It gets so unbelievably bad that we might be run out of town with a pitchfork. Okay, not to that extreme, but people are shifting in their seats and avoiding eye contact with us. That’s called second-hand embarrassment.
There’s a section where we have to sing together, and I’m pretty sure Duke’s voice just cracked again. I lose it, unable to keep the laughter from my so-called singing.
Once we finally come to the end of the song, there’s some half-hearted clapping along with several people saying they’re glad we’re done.
Me too, guys. Me too.
I can’t stop laughing, though. My brain is giving me mixed signals on what I’m supposed to do. One part of me knows that laughing this loudly is not socially acceptable, which is what I’d been trained to do since birth. Look and act the part and things will be okay.
The other part of me feels a sort of exhilaration at doing something even though it wasn’t done well. My organized and perfectionist tendencies couldn’t save me from what just happened, and it turns out, I haven’t keeled over from humiliation.
Duke took it in stride and we actually had a good time. In a strange way, I can’t imagine another partner for this task. What if I’d gotten paired up with Barnabee? The guy has been directing the town choir for years, at least that’s what he told me several times when I was getting a business permit a few months ago.
A war is beginning inside me, one where I must decide whether to trust Duke or hold onto the grudge I’ve been carrying since I found out he sells timeshares.
I’m almost off the stage when I hear Duke’s voice. “We have to take a picture and post it to our timeline.”
I take a few steps back up and wait next to him. I’m usually so thorough about learning and reading rules, but apparently, I haven’t done that yet. Duke hands the phone to someone on the front row to take the picture.
“Get a little closer, you two,” the woman says with a mischievous grin.
I shift an inch, hoping she’ll just take the picture and let us get on with our day. Nope, there she goes waving her fingers at me to move closer. We’re practically cuddling at this point, lady.
There’s something about Duke. It’s like every nerve in my body is reacting to how close he is. And what is that delicious smell? Like fresh linens and sea salt air. But maybe that’s just because we live in a coastal beach town? Then again, I’ve never smelled like that.
Once we’re off the stage, Duke is staring at the picture and then tapping at the screen.
“What are you doing?” I ask, curiosity creeping in.
“Posting the picture and then adding what song we sang underneath. Someone already posted a pic of us from further out and we’re already getting comments on it.”
I frown, unsure what he means. “You mean you had to send that into the app or something?” I know I’ve been busy, but I’ve missed the to-do list. I open my app and see the instructions on the opening screen.
“We post things on our timeline of the scavenger hunt and then other people can see it. The good thing is that we can also see what we’ll have to do in the future because several people have put in their current missions.”
“Wait, not everyone is doing karaoke this morning?” Why do I feel like my brain is full of cobwebs?
Duke shakes his head. “I guess not. I could imagine the line for the stage would get crazy if everyone was part of it.”
For some reason, I like the idea of knowing what’s about to come. That’ll help ease my worries about how much time I’ll have to spend with Duke. Because as much as I want to dislike him for what his career means to my family, he keeps worming his way into my brain, making me think he might actually be a decent guy.
There’s another ding on the phones and I look to see that we’re supposed to go take a selfie with a stranger.
“Okay, most of the people here are strangers to me. So this one should be easy.”
Duke shakes his head. “It can’t just be any stranger. We should find someone with a unique story to tell.”
“What do you mean? Why can’t we just take the picture and be done with it?”
“The key is to separate ourselves from the pack if we want to win. We’ve got to find something sensational to share.”
I breathe out a sigh and say, “Why can’t we just be happy with how things are going and cut our losses today?”
How did I get stuck with the weirdo? All those bubbly feelings I had toward Duke have now popped. I'm wishing I had decided to just suck it up and survive my extended family rather than put up with this guy and his antics. Then again, I’ve never been good at walking up to people and introducing myself. I tend to wait until someone helps me out with that. A little social anxiety, probably.
"Who do you suggest?" Again, I'm at a disadvantage here because of my newness to the area. "Is there an Elvis impersonator or someone we can take a pic with?"
"Prince Harry would be a fun choice, but I have a feeling other people are going to use him for the spotlight."
"An animal? You want to take a selfie with an animal who’s probably the picture in the dictionary under ‘menace?’" I'm not sure I'm seeing the logic here.
"Well, we can try a few different options. Maybe someone with a crazy animal?" Duke looks hopeful and I'm not coming up with any for-sure ideas about who to take a selfie with. Leave it to him to make things more difficult.
"Where do you suggest we start?" I ask, trying to be chill, trying to make sure I don't lose my mind on day one of this shindig. I hope we only have a total of three days or something because we are going to drive each other crazy.
We shared a small moment up there on the karaoke stage. But I shouldn’t dwell on that because a small moment destroyed my wedding. And a small moment can’t make up for a lifetime of disappointment.
"Maybe let's walk down on the sand, by the beach. I'm sure there's someone we don't know there."
I chuckle and say, "I don't know. It seems like you know just about everyone here."
"One of the few upsides to growing up here," Duke says, and there's something in his voice that causes me to stop and analyze it.
"You didn't like growing up here?" I ask, knowing I should probably just hurry us along to get the picture but feeling a bit like I’ve misjudged him.
"It wasn't bad. My parents aren't big fans of traveling. They worked hard and a lot, which usually meant we were there with them. I think we had one big trip planned once, but it got canceled because a hurricane hit the coast."
I blink several times. "You've never traveled anywhere?"
He smiles, making that adorable dimple appear. "Oh, I've traveled, just not as far as I would like, ya know?" He waits for me to get to the stairs that lead off the boardwalk and down into the sand. "I went to college in Charleston and did every trip possible. If there was a service trip somewhere, I found the money to go. Study abroad? It took me an entire summer of working two jobs, but it was worth it."
And just like that, I can see the sparkle in his eye as he talks about this. "Where did you study abroad?"
"Ireland. Such a beautiful country. I always wanted to backpack through Europe, but my dad had a health scare around the time I was there and I came home mid-semester."
"That's really cool. Did you do all of it by yourself?"
He nods, looking a bit sad. "Yeah. My Willow Cove friends had different obligations and my college friends headed out to start working right after graduation."
"Do you regret not having someone to go with you?" I ask. I don't think I've ever been brave enough to plan a trip on my own.
Duke shakes his head, pausing to take off his shoes once we make it to the sand. "No. I think it gave me a chance to become more independent. My mother is an amazing woman, but she tends to smother me and my siblings."
"I can understand that. I have a younger brother, so that tends to happen often for me. My parents would send me down here in the summers for a couple of weeks every year and it was nice to stay at Hope's house. The focus wasn't constantly on what I was doing or comparing me to my brother, which was a welcome relief."
“I remember. Hope would always be talking about you coming down for at least a week before. Then the two of you would run off and play dolls or something.”
Surprise that he remembers all of that doesn’t even cover it for me. “Excuse me, we did not play with dolls. We were entrepreneurs from a young age. Where do you think the idea of owning a candy store started?”
Duke grins and darn that dimple. It’s like a blow torch melting my resolve to not like him. “At least one of us had dreams that early on.”
“You’ve never had anything that you were dying to do?” I ask. Something in my chest squeezes at the thought of not having the opportunity to try things out. Sure, it was a struggle to get my parents to understand that I needed a life change after my break up, but there wasn’t a whole lot they could do with me being an adult. I had to forge my own path.
“I don’t have one thing that I’m really good at. Mediocrity is my middle name, except for my singing abilities. Those are less than zero.”
I try not to laugh at his self-deprecation, but the way he says it just hits differently. Maybe it’s an after effect from our karaoke session.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh. I’m right there with you on the singing level.” We walk for a few moments in silence and I say, “What about something to do with travel? You could be a travel agent and help people plan their trips. There’s got to be a dopamine rush from doing that.”
He raises an eyebrow and says, “Are you trying to get me to change careers?”
I shrug, smiling at him. “I don’t think it would hurt.”
“Would you still despise me if timeshares weren’t my career?” Duke asks, his face surprisingly serious.
Frowning, I say, “I don’t despise you.”
He stops, folding his arms across his chest as he stares at me. “Really? I saw your face when you found out I was your partner. And every time I wave to you while you’re at work you look like you’d rather eat dirt.”
My stomach twists. Is that what he thinks? I know I’ve been curt with him, annoyed at his antics, especially the rubbing in that he knows my ice cream theory. But I never want anyone to feel invisible or unwanted, especially because of something I did.
“I’m sorry about that. I’ll do better.”
Duke shakes his head. “I didn’t mean to call you out for anything. I just want to know what I did to get off on the wrong foot.”
I use my hands to smooth back a few wisps of hair that keep blowing into my eyes from the soft ocean breeze.
“To be honest, I’ve just had a rough year. You always manage to ask the hard questions, the ones I don’t want to ask myself. Maybe that’s why I’ve been distant.” The fear that Hope will abandon ship the moment she gets married is real. I don’t think Duke planted that in me, just uncovered it so I knew it was there.
He nods. “Okay, no more hard questions.”
I laugh and then settle into a smile. “I think you would explode before you could accomplish that. It’s good for me. I need to stretch, ya know. Get out of my comfort zone occasionally.”
To be honest, since I moved to Willow Cove, I’ve been clinging to anything that resembles comfort. This scavenger hunt is one step to get out of that, but it might take more than this to move me along in my life journey.
We walk along the beach and Duke leans down to pick up a white shell.
He grins and holds it up. "I don't think I've found a whole sand dollar in years."
"I don't think I've ever seen one."
Duke holds it out to me. "Here, you can have it."
I push it back to him. "No, you sound like you’ve been tracking them for a while. I don't want to take it away from you."
He shakes his head. "Don't worry. I've got at least twenty at my house. It was something I used to collect as a kid."
"Then you should add it to your collection."
Duke sighs. "Do you always have to be so stubborn?"
Nodding, I say, "I just don't want to take things from people. I've been on the opposite side enough in my life."
Duke looks like he wants to ask about that, but instead, he scans the horizon. I follow his gaze and see a dog running toward us. When it looks like it won’t stop, I grab Duke’s arm and hide behind him.
“Using me for a human shield?” Duke says with a laugh. “That’s questionable, Dean.”
Okay, so I’ve never been one for sports, so being called by my last name only is a new thing. And the way he says it makes my heart do a little pitter patter.
Duke kneels down and gives the dog a scratch behind the ears. “Hi boy, how are you?”
“Do you know him?” I ask, pointing to the dog. I’ve taken a giant step back, just in case the creature can jump over Duke.
“No, it doesn’t look like he’s got a tag on either. Maybe his owners are down the beach somewhere.” Duke stands and reaches into his pants pocket, pulling out a wrapper from the beef jerky store I love. He tears off a piece and throws it to the dog, who jumps in the air to catch it.
“Good boy,” Duke says in a deeper, more comical voice. He gives the dog a rub on the back and then throws another piece of jerky.
As endearing as this task is, I feel the pull to get back to the shop to help my cousin.
“Should we take a pic with the dog?” I ask, secretly hoping Duke will say no. My dad is allergic to dogs and cats so my brother and I never got the chance to have a furry pet.
Duke turns to look at me and hesitates, as if he’s considering something. “What if we take a picture of this guy and post it to the timeline looking for his owners?”
I nod, edging forward a bit more. Duke frames it so the three of us are in frame and snaps the picture.
“Look! There’s an inflatable T-Rex riding a bike. Should we get a selfie with him?” He points closer to the beach and I see the ridiculous sight.
I'd almost forgotten why we were out here. "I don’t think you can get much more adventurous than that."
"Or is there someone you'd rather take a selfie with?"
Taking into consideration my opinions? This guy must be a unicorn.
Blowing out a breath, I say, "T-Rex it is."
The guy in the costume is ecstatic to take a picture with us. Duke frames it up again and takes the picture.
“Do you want me to send you the pictures as well?” Duke asks as he focuses on uploading the photo to the app.
Is that a roundabout way of asking for my number?
While I should probably say no, the pictures he’s taken so far have been fun.
“Sure. You can send them through the message section in the app, right?” I ask. It’s probably safer that way.
He nods and a few seconds later I’ve got another notification from the app. I look at the pictures while he works on the post, curious about him as I stare at the picture of us with the dog.
I think about his question. If he wasn’t selling timeshares, would I still try to avoid him?
Each time I’m with him, I tend to lean closer to the no, that he would be someone fun to have around for things.
But after talking to Duke, I wonder if his motivation for selling the timeshares might be because he wants to travel, not because he wants to hurt anyone.
"It looks like we're done for the day," he says, giving me a half smile.
I nod and turn to walk back to the boardwalk. "I guess I should get back to Hope."
"Yeah, I need to make sure Corbin is working on things. It's different managing employees."
Nodding, I say, “How true that is.”
The dog reappears at my side, wagging his tail back and forth. I breathe in and out, trying to keep calm. I’d read somewhere that they can sense emotions. That has to be true since there are service dogs who sense when a seizure is about to happen or when a diabetic’s sugar is low.
Maybe if I don’t panic, I’ll be okay.
We walk in a comfortable silence until we get to The Candy Jar and DreamTime Vacations. Duke throws the dog another piece of jerky.
“Well, I’ve got to get to work. I’ll see you later.” I nod and hurry into the shop, unsure how things have turned so quickly. I should not be wanting to spend more time with the man who thinks it’s okay to send people to a very expensive appointment in order to fund his travels.
I need to protect my heart from so many things, because I don't want to backslide into what was my life before.