One Summer

45

The next morning at the breakfast table Jack said, “I didn’t hear you come in last night, Mik.”

“I actually got in early,” Mikki lied as she poured out a glass of OJ.

“So how was the date?”

“It was okay. But we’re just not that compatible.”

“It happens.”

“Yeah, it does. Hey, Dad, I’m going into town today.”

“Why?”

“Just an errand to run. Liam’s going with me. I won’t be long. Sammy said he’d watch Jackie for me.”

“When do you start working at the restaurant?”

“Tomorrow. That’s when Cory and Jackie start camp.”

“You know, you could have come to me with all that.”

She put a hand on her hip and said, “Could I have, Dad? Really?”

He looked away. “So how are you getting to town? Want a lift?”

“Liam’s picking me up.”

“Look, Mikki, I want you to be able to talk to me about stuff. If we can’t do that, then we’ve got no shot at this father-daughter thing.”

“You really mean that?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Well, it would be a nice start if you didn’t work all day and then go to the lighthouse all night.”

“But I’ve almost got it finished.”

“Okay, Dad, whatever. We can talk when you’re done with it.”

Mikki walked out to the street, where Liam was waiting for her in his car.

Liam grinned. “When you called this morning with your plan, I have to admit I was really intrigued. Now I’m downright fired up.”

“Good, because so am I.”

They arrived in downtown Channing and parked in front of the Play House. There were a number of cars sitting at the curb, including Tiffany’s red convertible. The marquee read, CHANNING TALENT COMPETITION APPLICATIONS TODAY.

Mikki grinned. “When I saw that sign last night, I really didn’t think anything of it. You know, who cares? But now — now the timing couldn’t be more perfect.”

“Let’s do it,” said Liam.

They walked inside the lobby and joined a line of people standing in front of a long table behind which sat a number of ladies with hair styled to the max and wearing clothes that probably cost more than some automobiles. One of them, an attractive blond woman in a formfitting dress, seemed to be in charge.

“Let me guess,” Mikki whispered to Liam as she pointed at the woman. “Tiffany’s mom?”

Liam nodded. “How’d you know?”

“I just flash-forwarded Tiffany twenty-five years.”

“Chelsea Murdoch. I heard my mom once say she was even worse than her daughter.”

“Wow, now, that’s a lady I have got to tangle with.”

When Liam and Mikki reached the table, Chelsea Murdoch looked up at them with such a haughty expression that Mikki just wanted to slap her. “Yes?”

“We’d like to enter the competition,” said Mikki politely.

Murdoch glanced at Liam and looked confused. “Both of you?”

“That’s right. Together.”

“Liam Fontaine, right?” she said.

“The one and only.”

The woman smirked, and then her gaze swiveled to Mikki. “And you are?”

“Michelle Armstrong. We’re down here from Cleveland for the summer.”

The woman looked amused. “Cleveland?”

“Yes, it’s the largest city in Ohio. Did you know that?” Mikki said innocently.

“No, I never saw a good reason to find out,” she replied dryly and then bumped elbows with the woman sitting next to her, who chuckled. Mrs. Murdoch pushed a paper toward them. “Fill this out. And there’s a ten-dollar processing fee. What are you going to do for your act?”

“Music,” said Mikki. “Drums, keyboard, and guitar.”

Murdoch looked at her coolly. “Pretty ambitious.”

“I’d like to think so,” Mikki replied sweetly. “I’m sure the competition is pretty tough.”

“It is. In fact, one young lady has won it three years in a row and is looking to make it four.”

“Would that be Tiffany?”

“Yes. She’s my daughter.”

“Of course. But I already knew she’d won it three times in a row.”

“How?”

Mikki pointed to the mammoth banner on the wall behind them, which had a large picture of Tiffany holding up three trophies with the words TRIPLE CROWN stenciled over her head. “That was, like, sort of the first clue.”

Mikki returned Murdoch’s scowl with a smile.

“Just put the form in the box over there and give your money to the lady in the blue dress,” she snapped.

“Great. Thanks for all your help, Mrs. Murdoch,” Mikki said in her most polite schoolgirl voice.

Mikki could feel the woman firing laser eye darts at her as they walked off. She filled out the form and gave it and their entry fee to the woman in the blue dress.

“Okay, step one is done,” Liam said.

“And here comes step two.”

Tiffany and some of her friends had just walked into the lobby of the theater.

When Mikki marched up to them, Tiffany stiffened.

“Hey, Tiff.”

Tiffany looked puzzled, and then glanced at her friends and back at Mikki. “Hi,” Tiffany said coolly.

“I wanted to thank you for the great time on the beach. It was really memorable.”

Tiffany snorted, and the other girls laughed. “Uh, okay,” said a grinning Tiffany.

Mikki leaned closer. “And just so we’re straight, we’re, like, so going to kick your ass in the talent competition.”

The smile vanished from Tiffany’s face, and her friends stopped laughing.

Mikki drew even closer. “Oh, one more thing. You ever lay another finger on me, they won’t be able to find all the pieces to put you back together again, sweetie.” She’d unconsciously used the same threat she’d overheard her dad invoke back in Cleveland.

Tiffany blinked and took a step back. “You think you’re so tough?”

Mikki put her face an inch from the other girl’s. “I’m from Cleveland. It’s sort of a requirement.”

Outside, as they passed Tiffany’s red convertible, Liam glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then reached in his pocket and pulled out a white tube. Pretending to be picking up something, he squirted the clear liquid from the tube onto the convertible’s driver’s seat. It was invisible against the leather.

“What’s that?” Mikki asked.

“After what they did to you, I think Super Glue is in order.”

“Liam, I’m so liking your style, dude.”