Welcome to Dog Beach (24 page)

I want to start fresh and embrace what's coming.

“Remy!” I hear someone yelling from downstairs, so I throw the last of my dirty laundry into the hamper and run down. Micayla's on the porch, grinning.

“Let's get sandwiches at Pastrami on Rye and then have a picnic on the beach behind your house,” Micayla says. “We haven't been to the deli since June!”

“I can't believe it,” I say, grabbing my bag from the foyer table. “Mom, do you want anything from the deli?”

“Ooh,” Mom says, walking in, this time with some yellow paint above her eyebrow. When I say she gets into a painting, I really mean it. “I'd love turkey with coleslaw and Russian dressing.”

“You got it.” She hands me money and I give her a hug, and soon Micayla and I are off on our walk—like the old days, but even better.

“You're never going to believe who my teacher is,” Micayla says.

“Who?”

“Paul. Atticus's owner.”

“I thought he was a college professor?” I ask. “And that he's working on his dissertation, or whatever it's called.”

“He was. He is. But he's taking a year off and staying on Seagate, and he got a job teaching sixth-grade English.” She shakes her head. “But guess why he's staying.”

“Um?” I look at her and try to think of the craziest reason ever. “He needs Sundae Best all year long?”

“He's dating Andi! Rascal's owner's daughter. Remember?”

I think back to earlier in the summer. We don't see the owners as much anymore, since one of us just runs into each house to pick up the dog. We never really stay to chat.

“Oh yeah, the yoga one? And her mom had hip surgery?” It's all coming back to me now.

“Yeah, they started talking when they picked up their dogs from us on Dog Beach. The dogs brought them together!” Micayla says, all excited. “Or I guess
we
brought them together!”

“Andi's staying all year too? To teach yoga?” I ask.

“And to help her mom,” Micayla reminds me. “And because she's in loooove.”

We both start laughing and decide that we're starving and we need to race to Pastrami on Rye.

This is going to be the best sleepover ever.

It's amazing what a sleepover with Micayla
Walcott can do. It's basically a miracle panacea—it can cure anything. That's what Micayla is for me. We stayed up until two in the morning, had a beach bonfire, played truth or dare (mostly just truth, actually), and talked and talked and talked.

So what if she's a year-rounder now? So she'll be on Seagate when I'm not. She's still Micayla and I'm still Remy. And yeah, things change, but deeper things stay the same. That's a relief.

We're on our way to Breakfast by the Boardwalk to meet with Mrs. Paisley and Mr. Brookfield, and then we're going to pick up the dogs. I can't wait to observe Paul and Andi in action. Lovebirds in love because of their dogs. Can you get a better story than that? I don't think so.

When Micayla and I get there, Claire, Mr. Brookfield, and Mrs. Paisley are already there.

“Don't worry, Bennett and Calvin are with the dogs,” Claire says, running up to us. “Oscar's mom had to take the triplets for an early pediatrician appointment, so Bennett went to get him, and Calvin decided to pick up Marilyn Monroe on the way.”

“Awesome.” I smile. “Thanks, Claire.”

“Just didn't want you to panic.” She looks at Micayla and then back at me. “You two are okay again? Back to being BFFs?”

We nod.

“Thank goodness. That was getting so annoying,” Claire adds, rolling her eyes.

We all join Mr. Brookfield and Mrs. Paisley at the table, and Callie, one of the waitresses, brings over hot chocolates and the bakery basket.

“So tell me about this mysterious scream,” Mrs. Paisley says, leaning over, her hands folded on the table. “And how come I've never heard about it? Don, I've known you for thirty years.”

“I know.” Mr. Brookfield laughs, picking a croissant out of the basket. “I guess I always figured no one would care.”

“I care, Don.” Mrs. Paisley smiles, and it's funny that she keeps calling him Don. I never even knew his first name.

So Mr. Brookfield tells her the story, and she keeps saying “Wow” and “Incredible” and “You're famous.”

As he's telling the story, I get a new idea, and it's genius.

I wanted Mr. Brookfield to be the voice and mascot and announcer of Seagate Halloween, but I don't think that's enough. I think everyone needs to scream!

“So what's your idea, Remy?” Mrs. Paisley asks. I quickly whisper to Claire that I just had a major epiphany and am making a slight change to the original idea. I want her to be prepared, because she's a major inspiration for my idea.

I tell them my old idea and they seem intrigued, so I know they'll love my new idea. “And the best part will be a Seagate Scream Contest!”

Claire looks at me and smiles, but it's actually more than a smile. It's more like she's beaming in this super proud way. Her face looks different from how I've ever seen it before, and I almost want to take a picture so that I can show her how happy she looks.

You don't really know what pride looks like until you see it on someone else.

She tells them her idea about the Sunday night scary movies, and Mr. Brookfield's eyes light up. I bet he'll just sit quietly in the back while people watch, not making a big deal out of it at all.

“Well, I love all of this. We'll start showing the Sunday night movies next week,” Mrs. Paisley suggests.

“Great!” Micayla says. “We can make posters telling people about the Scream. And everyone will want to know more about it and get even more excited.”

We spend the rest of breakfast going over how Mr. Brookfield should dress and where he should sit and who should introduce him and all these other exciting logistics.

To be honest, even though I love Seagate Halloween so much, it always made me a little bit sad because it's over Labor Day weekend, the last weekend of the summer, and that means the end of Seagate for me until next summer.

But this summer, it feels different. I'm excited about it. It almost makes the end of summer tolerable.

It's funny how you can want something to stay the same so, so badly, but then little changes happen, and you realize how great the new thing can be.

When we walk up to Rascal's house later that morning, we notice that Atticus is on the front lawn. Paul and Andi are sitting on the front porch, next to each other on a wicker love seat, while the dogs chase each other.

“Look at them,” I say softly to Claire and Micayla.

“Totally in love,” Claire says.

“Rascal and Atticus could be stepbrothers very soon!” Micayla laughs. “Stepdogs!”

We all start laughing, and that's when Andi and Paul notice us.

“They're ready for you,” Paul says. “Can you watch them until about five today?”

“Sure,” I say, putting their leashes on and making a note of the time change.

“Great.” Andi smiles. “We're going on a day trip to the wineries in Ocean Edge.”

“Sounds fun,” Claire says, and when I look up, I notice that Andi and Paul are holding hands. Our little doggie day care is a matchmaker!

We spend the rest of the day with all our dogs—Marilyn Monroe, Oscar, Rascal, Atticus, Tabby, Potato Salad, and Palm.

Everyone's happy. Claire, Micayla, and I sit on the side and people-watch and dog-watch and take everything in. Bennett and Calvin engage in the longest game of Frisbee in Dog Beach history. Then we all go to Ping-Pong and watch a few games, the dogs happily sitting on the side and watching too. And then we get the biggest table at Daisy's and enjoy breakfast for dinner.

All of us together. It's hard to imagine things getting any better than this.

But every time I look at Bennett, I get a flickery feeling—like someone turning a light switch on and off really fast.

It's not exactly a bad feeling, just a new and strange one. But I've realized that sometimes great things come from new and different. Just look at Claire—she didn't want to be here, and I didn't want her here, and now we're friends. I never expected it, and I pretty much resisted it, but it happened, and now I can't imagine Seagate without her.

The next two weeks fly by. Either we're busy with the
dogs or we're busy getting ready for Seagate Halloween. Micayla and I have sleepovers pretty much every other night, to make up for all the nights we missed this summer. Claire sometimes comes too.

In addition to getting Mr. Brookfield ready for his new role, we're in charge of getting costumes for all the dogs, and we'll be the ones walking them in the doggie part of the parade.

Rascal and Atticus are going as Ping-Pong players—we're strapping Ping-Pong paddles to their backs. Marilyn Monroe and Tabby are going as Superwoman and Princess Leia. Oscar and Potato Salad are wearing matching doggie tuxedos. Palm is going as a Frisbee, since he's so little. We're basically strapping a Frisbee to him and hoping people get it.

We're trying to get them all into their costumes now so
that we can do a run-through before the parade tomorrow. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it. We don't want them to be totally caught off guard tomorrow.

The tuxedos are my favorite of all the costumes, and I kind of wanted Rascal and Atticus to wear them too. But Calvin and Bennett were set on some of the dogs being Ping-Pong players.

“Come on, Rem,” Bennett said. “They love to watch the games, and Ping-Pong is a Seagate tradition. It would be weird to leave it out.”

I agreed but am kind of regretting it. The tuxedos are just so cute.

Finally, after wrangling and twisting and bribing the dogs with treats, we have them all in their costumes. They're running around Dog Beach that way, and it's pretty much the most adorable thing I've ever seen.

We return the dogs home later with their costumes and tell their owners to make sure they're ready to go at eleven tomorrow. We want to get them prepared for the parade before everyone else gets there at noon.

That night, Micayla, Claire, and I have a sleepover at Micayla's house. Her mom makes us bouyon, an amazing St. Lucian dish that's a sort of stew, and homemade peanut butter cookies. We all sleep in sleeping bags on Micayla's screened-in back porch, even though her room is cozy and nice.

We want to make the most of one of our last nights here and sleep by the sea.

“So what's going on with you and Mason?” Claire asks Micayla.

“I dunno.” She laughs nervously. “He's leaving tonight.”

“What?”

“Yeah. His sister is starting college. So they had to go back to Philadelphia to get her all settled,” Micayla says. “I said good-bye. He said to say good-bye to you guys too.”

“He's missing Seagate Halloween!” I yell. “And all the dogs.”

“I know.” Micayla sighs. “But it's okay. There's always next summer.”

I look at Micayla and am amazed by her attitude. But she's right. One of the best things about summer on Seagate is that there's always a next summer to look forward to.

“And what about you?” Claire asks me. “Are you ever going to say anything to Bennett? Or no? And do you guys feel replaced by my brother?”

“A little,” I say. “But it's okay. Bennett needed a guy friend.”

“You're just going to let the summer end and not say anything?” Claire asks. She seems so serious and concerned, it's making me feel uneasy. I kind of like my friendship with Bennett the way it is. We're friends. And I have a little-more-than-friends feeling about him. But that's okay.

It makes me wonder about Claire, though. Maybe she has a secret, and she's worried about keeping it inside until next summer.

“I'm okay with waiting until next summer,” I admit. “I don't want to mess anything up.”

“You won't, Rem,” Micayla says and puts her arm around me. “Honestly. It's Bennett. He'll love you forever, no matter what.”