“An apartment,” she repeats skeptically.
“It’s nice.” I eye a crack in the ceiling that looks, to say the least, alarming. There wasn’t much for rent in Diamond Bay, and since I don’t drive, I needed to be close enough to the restaurant to walk. Maybe I’ll buy a bike. “Well, it’s acceptable. Furnished, too. Whoever decorated it is a Jimmy Buffett fan. There’s a cheeseburger in paradise sign in the bathroom. Weird place for it, right?”
“You’re really doing this, Poppy?”
“I told you I was going to.”
“I know.” Julia lets out a breath. “You. In Florida. And not even Miami Beach.”
“So?”
“The bugs will eat you alive.”
“Bug spray.”
“The sun will give you wrinkles.”
“You know I wear sunscreen every day. The good Korean-made stuff, too.”
“You don’t like being too hot. It makes your skin itchy.”
“It is hot,” I admit. “I think the air conditioner is broken. But you know what’s weird? A lot of people are wearing pants and hoodies anyway. I keep thinking they’re going to faint.”
“Do not become that person.”
“I didn’t even bring a hoodie.”
“Thank god.” Julia laughs. “I don’t know, Pop Tart. This is pretty badass of you.”
“Really? You said—”
“I know.” Her voice softens. I can imagine her sitting at her desk, hair pulled into a bun, cast in a pool of light with a relatively hushed Manhattan around her. “That’s why I wanted to call. I’m sorry I was so hard on you.”
“Oh.” I sit up, curling my legs underneath me.
“New York is a big, shiny bubble. You don’t need it. Leaving was smart.”
I’m silent for a moment. Hearing that from her means more thanshe realizes, probably, and I don’t want to get blubbery over the phone. My entire life, I’ve looked up to her. Stuck to her like a shadow, wanting to emulate everything that makes her so wonderful. “How did the statement go over?”
“Fine. Ryan’s reps were being little bitches about the spilled drink, but that was an accident, so whatever.”
“And Dad?”
“Pastiche is fine. You know how he gets about that place.”
“Mom?”
“She’s set up every possible hurricane alert. If there’s even a whisper of a tropical depression, she’ll probably blow up your phone.”
“Yikes.”
“She also learned what a Florida Man is.”
“Oh my god.” I snort. “Jack doesn’t qualify, but he’s close.”
“Mmm. The tattoos. I could totally see him wrangling an alligator.”
“He rescued me from a lagoon today. I, uh, thought I saw an alligator and fell in.”
