The screen over the merch booth displayed a video of these new bottles dissolving in just a week when exposed to salt water, BIODEGRADABLE flashing across the screen the whole time.
Well, that was an improvement, at least.
I’d seen too many beaches completely trashed after big events like this. Hopefully, this would reduce that.
“Tibby.”
Tanner materialized from somewhere with Diego behind him, both of them carrying huge plates from craft services.
“How’s it looking?” Tanner asked, surveying the tent with genuine enthusiasm.
“Big,” I answered.
“So big.” He was already eyeing the merch table. “Can I have one of these?” He pointed at a RipTide-branded trucker hat.
“No,” Derek said.
Tanner took one anyway.
An assistant appeared at Derek’s elbow, looking apologetic.
“Sorry to interrupt. We have a situation with the north setup.”
“What kind of situation?”
“There’s a—” He checked his clipboard. “A local named Elliot Fitzgerald claiming we can’t build in that section because of turtle nesting sites. He’s got documentation.”
Derek didn’t even blink.
“Move him.”
“He says the nests are protected under?—”
“Move. Him.”
Derek was already turning away.
“Get legal on the phone. No matter what he has, they’ll walk him around until this is all over anyway.”
The assistant turned away, already pulling out his phone. I grabbed his shoulder.
“This local have any more complaints?”
The assistant hesitated, glancing at Derk, but he had already moved on, trying to get Tanner and Diego out from behind the merch booth, where they had found more things to acquire.
“Um, yeah. So there were the turtle nests, and apparently there is some sort of volleyball tournament that had booked the north end of the beach near the pier, but we took that over too.”
A volleyball tournament.
I thought about long legs and strong thighs.
“Got it, thanks.”
I let him go. El Tiburón didn’t have opinions about these things.
But as I remembered the taste of one particularly fierce witch, Chase Perez just might.
I strolled back over to Derek when a seagull landed on the merch table, looked directly at Derek, and knocked a stack of bottles onto the ground.
