Hit the Beach (17 page)

Madison looked down at Dad’s hand. She thought back to the night before she had left Far Hills, when Hart had taken her hand into his and squeezed hard. It was such a big step. She couldn’t believe that he’d taken it.

“What are you grinning about?” Dad asked.

Madison quickly wiped the grin off her face. “Nothing,” she lied. “I was just thinking about how happy I am to be here with you and Stephanie. That’s all. Really.”

“Okay,” Dad said. “I believe you.”

They pulled into the driveway of the apartment complex, and Dad rolled up the car windows.

“Still looks like it might rain some more,” he said. “They claim this hurricane is just offshore. It’s stalled. Most of the weathermen say it’s headed north, but I don’t know what to think. This is a stormy time of year down here. You can never be too sure of anything—especially the weather.”

When they went upstairs to the apartment, Madison clicked on the Weather Channel. She wanted to hear all the hurricane talk for herself.

The woman standing in front of the meteorological map had to have been eight months pregnant. She pointed north and then south. The camera zoomed in on the map for a closer look at Florida. Then the screen changed. They put up a color map of the storm systems out in the Atlantic. Madison saw a blur of red, yellow, and green in the water. It was moving, shaping itself into a spinning circle.

“Wow,” Dad said, walking into the room. “Stephanie, come look at this!”

Stephanie came in, too. The three of them sat together in front of the television, transfixed. Apparently, the stalled storm was on the move again—and it was headed directly for the central coast of Florida.

“There’s still a big chance this storm will shift to the north,” the weather woman said, speaking directly to the camera, “but folks along the coast from Vero Beach to Cape Canaveral should expect to see some heavy wind and rain—or worse. Tune in for another update at twenty minutes past the hour.”

Madison sighed. “A hurricane is really going to hit?” she cried. “But it can’t.”

“I know it seems unbelievable.” Dad shook his head. “The coast is really getting battered these days. At least everyone’s serious about the danger now.”

“Yeah,” Madison exclaimed. “But I’m serious about some other stuff, too. Like, what happens to camp and hatchling night if there’s a hurricane? What happens to the turtles? What happens to—”

Madison wanted to say, “Will,” but she stopped herself.

“I never thought about the hatchlings,” Stephanie said. “If there are heavy tides, those poor turtles lose their eggs and nests, don’t they?”

Madison was overwhelmed by the thought. “Yes,” she said. Her voice sank to barely a whisper. “What happens then?”

Dad clicked off the TV and suggested the three of them have dinner and change the subject. Stephanie had made macaroni and cheese, one of her specialties, and a huge tossed salad. Everyone pulled up to the dinner table.

At the start of the meal, the three of them sat in silence, their forks clanking against the plates. Dad sipped his glass of wine and chewed his food loudly.

Stephanie didn’t say much. She picked at her salad. “Jeff,” she said.

Madison looked up when she heard Stephanie’s voice.

“What?” Dad asked. His voice sounded distant, not the way it had in the car.

“So I went to the doctor today,” Stephanie said.

Dad shot Stephanie a look.

“I know that,” he said. His mood seemed to shift suddenly from neutral to angry.

“So …” Stephanie said.

Dad dropped his utensils onto his plate. “Steph—I thought we agreed we would not say anything—”

“Jeff, I just think we should tell Madison.”

Madison’s ears pricked up for sure.

Tell me what?

“No!” Dad’s voice boomed. He stood up from the table. “Absolutely not. I can’t believe you would shanghai me like this—in front of her—”

“You mean
me
?” Madison said.

“You keep out of this!” Dad cried.

Madison sank down in her seat, a forkful of macaroni and cheese still in her hand. Dad had never raised his voice like that at her.

“I’m sorry,” Stephanie started to say.

“I’m—I’m—” Dad didn’t know what else to say. He grabbed his wineglass and disappeared into his office. He didn’t even look back.

The table fell silent. Stephanie’s breathing was deep, very deep.

Then, all at once, she began to cry again.

Madison was freaking out. She’d never heard Dad and Stephanie fight, and now they seemed to end each day with some kind of explosion—and this was the worst
ever
. How could Dad have gone from kind to crazy-mad in just a few minutes? What was on his mind? What was going on? What didn’t he want Madison to know?

Stephanie wasn’t saying. She got up from the table, barely having touched her food, and walked toward her bedroom. On the way, however, she caressed the top of Madison’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry, Maddie,” Stephanie said. “We have lousy timing, your dad and I—well, we’re just in the middle of something—and I can’t really explain. It really has nothing to do with you. Well, I just wanted to … You should ask him about it. Okay?”

“But—” Madison blurted out. Many questions were flying into her head.

But no answers.

Stephanie walked away, shutting the door behind her. Madison looked around the room. She was shaking. Was it because of what had happened between Dad and Stephanie—or was it just the sunburn?

Madison couldn’t be sure. In the silence of the dining room, she didn’t know what else to do, so she continued to eat her macaroni. At least she was hungry. The day on the beach had worked up her appetite in spite of the sunburn—and the bad vibes.

As she sat at the table by herself, Madison noticed a square package sitting across the room. She recognized the shape. Jumping down off her chair, Madison raced over to unwrap the brown paper that covered the object.

My laptop! Dad had it fixed!

Madison tore away the paper and gave her precious laptop the once-over. Then, as both Dad and Stephanie had done, she retreated into her room and shut the door.

With both of them having taken to their separate corners of the apartment, and Madison still unsure about which one to talk to, there remained only one thing for her to do: write in her files.

Madison logged on to TweenBlurt.com to post a new blog entry. But then she changed her mind. She was having private thoughts—not public ones. Even though a blog would probably be seen only by her BFFs, Madison wasn’t sure she could share these thoughts even with them.

Instead of blogging, Madison opened a file.

Getting Burned


Rude Awakening:
Just when I think my life is in the pink (literally—I am covered in sunburn!), something happens to wash me right out again.


So I’ve been butting out of all this Dad and Stephanie stuff. But now it seems worse than ever and I am really REALLY worried. I thought about calling Mom to ask her about it but THAT would be pretty stupid, right? I mean, she doesn’t exactly care about Dad’s love life now, does she? She’s too busy dating her own lineup of weirdos LOL.


I keep thinking about what Fiona and I were talking about the other night online. I was being so harsh to her about Julio. But meanwhile, I’m practically doing the same thing with Hart and Will, right? Why do people have secrets? We all do, I guess. Dad and Stephanie seem to have a HUGE one they won’t tell me about.


Rude Awakening:
Sometimes the hurricane brewing inside seems way worse than the hurricane brewing outside.


Which one will hit first?


19341 TCARTF-GO

EMERGENCY BULLETIN

TROPICAL DEPRESSION THIRTEEN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 1A NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL

2 AM EST TUES AUG 17

TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE TURKS AND CAICOS … TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

HURRICANE WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTHWEST BAHAMAS. HURRICANE WATCH MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA … GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS.

INTERESTS IN SOUTH FLORIDA AND THE FLORIDA KEYS … AND IN CENTRAL AND WESTERN CUBA SHOULD CLOSELY MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS SYSTEM OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

ESTIMATED MIN. CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1009 MB … 29.80 INCHES. THE DEPRESSION IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAIN ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES OVER MUCH OF THE ABOVE AREAS WITH POSSIBLE ISOLATED RAINFALL OF 8 INCHES.

NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER (NHC) AT 5 AM EST.

FORECASTER DI CARLO

A
FTER THE BIG (AND WEIRD)
Dad–Stephanie conflict on Tuesday night, Madison found herself preoccupied with thoughts of an inevitable breakup between her dad and her stepmother. Her only point of reference was the separation between Dad and her own mom, and for them, all the disagreement and fighting had led to one place: divorce court.

Why should this be any different?

Although Wednesday afternoon at camp was enjoyable, Madison felt a little as though she weren’t really there. She couldn’t stop thinking about Dad and Stephanie, naturally. She also thought about the very long hurricane bulletin she’d downloaded from the Internet the night before—the document full of storm warnings. It had been a jumble of coordinates and directions, and was beginning to worry Madison more than she’d realized.

Everyone split into their groups to prepare for hatchling night on Thursday. Kids readied their little notebooks, made lists of supplies, and plotted the nesting areas they would stake out for observation. Since she wasn’t feeling well, Madison let Ann do all the talking for the Egrets. Will and the other boys spent most of the day cracking jokes among themselves, but Madison didn’t really feel like joking around. But when, after an intense week and a half together, Suchita and Ann started to get all mushy about camp, Madison joined in.

“I know we’ve only been here for a week,” Suchita declared in the middle of lunch that day. “But I feel like I’ve known both of you for longer.”

“That is
so
true,” Ann declared. “We’re like beach sisters.”

Madison laughed out loud. Ann was right.

“Do you guys have best friends back home?” Madison asked, thinking of her own BFFs.

Suchita nodded fiercely. “Oh, yeah,” she said. “Me and my cousin Raya are best,
best
pals.”

“Not me,” Ann said. “At the end of school this year, I sort of broke up with my friends.”

“What?” Madison turned to her. “What do you mean, you broke up with them? Why would you break up with a friend?”

“You just do,” Ann said. “My friend Patti said I was a geek. She said she’d rather hang out with the cooler kids. I don’t know what changed. I don’t think I changed. It really bummed me out.”

“Wow,” Suchita said. “That
is
a bummer.”

“
Your friend
changed,” Madison declared. She thought about herself and Poison Ivy. “A while back, my best friend turned into my best enemy,” she said. “And she’s still the enemy.”

“Wow,” Suchita said again, louder this time. “I’ve never had any enemies. Not really. You guys are way ahead of me in the friend thing.”

“The truth is, my friend Patti isn’t really my enemy,” Ann said. “I don’t want her to be. The truth is, I just want her friendship back again. You know?”

Madison smiled knowingly. “I know,” she said softly.

Something about the exchange with Madison’s new friends made her feel better about all the rough feelings she’d been having the previous night and that morning.

At the end of the day, Will made a point of coming over to Madison when she was standing by herself. He looked nervous. She wasn’t sure why, but he made her feel nervous, too.

“So … will I see you later?” he asked quietly.

“Why are you whispering?” Madison asked, just as quietly.

Will coughed. “I’m not,” he said. “I just asked a question. Um …”

Madison crossed her arms in front of her. “You mean tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah,” Will said. Then he shook his head. “Actually, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come with me—well, me and my grandpa Ralph, tonight. I mean, your whole family should come, too, obviously. Riverside Mini-Golf has this special on Wednesday nights. And I asked some of the other camp kids to come, too. That’s what I wanted to ask.”

“You want to play mini-golf? With me?” Madison was floored by the invite. “Tonight? I have to ask. But … I think it’ll be okay.”

“Okay? Okay. That’s cool,” Will said. “You have the phone contact list, right? So you can call me when you get home.”

“Right, home,” Madison said. She didn’t know what else to say.

“Okay, then …” Will said. “Okay, then.”

As he walked away, Madison said, “Who else is coming?”

But he had already gone.

Ann came over just afterward with a curious look on her face.