“Seriously, what the fuck was that?” Nick said.
Camilla was looking at the door that Scot had gone into. “I think he’s very smart,” she said simply, and handed Nick’s BlackBerry back to him. With that, the meanness evaporated and the mood was kind again, and Evelyn wondered if she’d underestimated Camilla.
“Can we work on dinner plans?” Camilla said. “I’d like steak. Grilled and with chimichurri. Nick, will you make me chimichurri?”
“I’ll make you anything you desire,” Nick said, his voice soft, pleasant.
“Ooh, let’s have tiny lobster-salad rolls to start! Isn’t that fun and beachy?”
“You got it.”
“We’ll go get supplies,” Camilla said, and then looked at Evelyn, who jumped up from the picnic table when she saw that Camilla was including her in the “we.” “I suppose I have to put on pants. I’ll meet you at the door in five minutes, Evelyn.” Camilla walked inside, handing Evelyn her empty glass as she passed her.
“So,” Nick was saying as Evelyn headed in, “I now have a Best Buy credit card because of this zero percent APR offer they were running when I bought the flat-screen. I’m thinking, time value of money, it’s a year of interest-free financing, I’ll take it. But it’s so bush league, having a Best Buy credit card in my wallet.”
Evelyn hurried to wash and dry the glasses, go to the bathroom, pull on some pants herself, and be waiting by the door within five minutes, as Camilla had instructed.
A few minutes later, Camilla knocked on the den door and walked in without waiting for a response. “Hi—oh. That was your stuff?” Camilla looked amused as she scanned Evelyn’s things, spilling out of the duffel.
Evelyn quickly slammed her hand down over the tampon. “Mine? Oh, yeah. It is.”
“I threw it out of the upstairs room.”
“Oh, that was you?” Evelyn said, she thought unconvincingly. “I figured it was just in the way, or something.”
“Oh, my God,” Camilla said, starting to laugh. “I saw that, like, spangly turquoise bathing suit and thought whoever Nick slept with last night must have left her stuff there. Nick and I hooked up the last time I was here, and Preston said there was some girl here last night, and I just saw those dresses hanging in the bathroom and I thought—well.”
Evelyn hadn’t thought the turquoise bathing suit was overdone at all and wondered what was offensive about the dresses—her clothes looked like they belonged to the random girl that Nick brought home? She had bought half of that stuff at Calypso, when that girl was probably shopping at Rampage. “Seriously, the den’s really cozy,” Evelyn said. “It’s fine.”
Camilla leaned against the door frame. “We’re hooking up. Nick and I. It’s truly, like, the least interesting thing. But FYI. My palmist says that I need to work on being more open, so I’m telling you. I’m just bored and need someone to mess around with.”
“Completely. Completely. I think that’s great. Nick’s a good guy, and—”
“I wasn’t actually looking for your opinion. I just wanted to be open and honest, and being open and honest is a practice rather than a quality, the palmist says. So that’s all.” Camilla seemed to be waiting for something. “Oh, I Googled your father.”
“My dad? Just now?”
“On Nick’s BlackBerry. I found some very interesting things.”
Was Camilla actually coming in here to haze her, like this was Dazed and Confused and she was a freshman piggy? Evelyn was trying her hardest with this girl, but this was getting ridiculous. She plopped on the edge of the fold-out bed, facing away from Camilla. “Look. It was a guy from years ago who’s bitter, basically, that started all this. They’re not going to find anything.”
“What guy?”
“The grand jury, Camilla. If you’re coming in here to let me know that you know that my father is being investigated, very good. Go tell it on the mountain.”
Camilla walked around the bed and tilted her head. “Your father’s being investigated by a grand jury?”
Evelyn looked at Camilla, unsure how to answer.
“You’re not worried, are you?” Camilla said.
“Camilla, it’s a federal investigation.”
She heard Camilla laugh, and it was a kind, tinkling laugh, not a cruel one. “Oh, my dear,” Camilla said. “It is so not a big deal.”