Sam spent his day off giving Charlie a hand at the Compass Rose. A couple of regulars asked about Kyle, who was staying with his parents in San Clemente during his recovery. If everything went well, he’d be back in town in three weeks.
When the sun went down, Sam walked home. He picked his way through Judith’s shuttered shop. As he put his hand on the doorknob of his apartment, he found himself excited about seeing Eve again. She might be on the deck, reading a newspaper, or in the kitchen, making him another amazing meal. Since the meal she cooked for him, he’d let her into his personal space. He found himself enjoying her company.
His heart sank when he opened the door and found everything dark and empty. “What are you doing?” he admonished himself quietly. “She’s not your girlfriend. She’s your goddamn tender.”
He put a small net bag in the sink. After his workout, he took a hot shower and went into the kitchen to prepare dinner.
As the sky darkened outside, he poured a bottle of beer into a big pot on the burner. When it was boiling, he untangled the three enormous rock crabs from the net bag and put them in the pot. These were some of the biggest crabs he’d ever seen. He was thinking of Eve when one of his fisherman friends asked if he’d wanted them. Sam said yes—he wanted to impress her.
When the crabs were done, he pulled them out, cleaned them, and cut them up into portions that he could crack at the table. A cut lemon and a loaf of bread completed his meal. He sat down and ate in silence, cracking legs and claws.
The door opened halfway through his meal. In walked Eve, pink-cheeked and windblown. She put her backpack down and took off her jacket.
“Hey,” he said, wiping his mouth on a napkin. “Come join me. Do you like crab?”
“Crab?” Her eyes lit up. She went to the kitchen and washed her hands at the sink.
She sat down at the newspaper-covered table, grabbed a pair of crackers, and went to work. As she put the first morsel of tender meat into her mouth, she closed her eyes and smiled. “These are so sweet,” she said, licking her fingers with sensual abandon.
He tried not to stare. “So, how did the apartment search go?”
She told him about all the places she’d gone. Rat traps, run-down party houses. A couple were nice studios, but they required a credit check.
“I’ve been here five months. I haven’t established my credit yet, and I don’t have anyone to co-sign with me,” she said.
Sam’s credit was dismal. Since Madrigal took ownership of his boat, Sam’s truck was all he owned free and clear. “You should ask Charlie. He’s usually good for things like that.”
“But there’s one more place,” she said hesitantly, “that looks kind of promising. And it’s cash under the table.”
“What is it?” Sam asked, intrigued.
Eve stifled a giggle. “Promise not to laugh.” “I never promise things like that.”
“It’s a guest house behind a mansion in Montecito. I’d be sharing it with one other girl. She lives in the guest house for free, so she’d be making money off my rent.”
“Why does she live in the guest house for free?” asked Sam.
“Okay, get this,” said Eve. She wiped her hands on a napkin. “The owner of the mansion is this old widower, right? And Tiffani is really young and pretty and…well, he lets her live there for free.”
“I don’t follow,” said Sam.
She nodded. “They have…an arrangement. And she says I can stay with her if she tells him I’m her sister.”
“Her sister?” Sam said, laughing. “Okay, half-sister.”
“Does Tiffani have a job? A regular job?” “She works at The Royal Flush.”
“The what?”
Eve raised her eyebrows. “Surely you’ve heard of The Royal Flush. The strip club?”
Sam gave her a blank look. “No. What is a ‘strip club’?” He made quotation marks in the air with his fingers.
“You’re impossible.” Eve laughed. “So what do you think? Should I take it?”
Sam took a drink of beer and sat back in his chair. “What are the advantages?”
“It’s nice and quiet and cheap. Cash only. Close to the bus stop.”
“Rich people take the bus?” “Their housekeepers do.”
Sam regarded her. She wanted his advice? “Why does she need extra money?”
“She wants to start her own business.” “Doing what?”
Eve shrugged. “I’m not sure. Some kind of retail shop.”
Sam cleared the newspaper off the table and tossed all the shells in his trashcan. He polished off his beer and dropped the bottle into the recycling bin. “If it feels right to you, try it for a month. There’s no contract to sign, so you can leave at the end, right?”
Eve nodded. “I’ll double check, but that sounds like the case.”
He popped open a beer and brought it to her. She took a long swallow.
“You might have yourself a winner.” A jolt of regret hit Sam. She wouldn’t be staying with him much longer.