CHAPTER FOUR
Selena
The call lasted four minutes.It felt like forty.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity, mija. RipTide is one of the biggest brands in extreme sports—do you know how many towns applied to host this? And they chose us. Because ofme.”
A pause so themehit just right.
“Because I told them I could guarantee conditions that no other location on the East Coast could offer. And I can, Selena. You know I can.”
“Mamá, my tournament?—”
“Ay, your tournament.”
She said it like she referred to summertime tourist traffic, an inconvenience.
“You can move it, no? Do it the weekend before. Or the weekend after. It doesn’t matter.”
“Itdoesmatter. The tides that weekend are aligned with the nesting cycle. I’ve planned around the lunar?—”
“Mi corazón.”
My mother’s voice shifted to the tone I’d grown up with—the one that wasn’t cruel, exactly, but was so absolute it left no room for argument.
“I have been working on this for two months. I have spoken with their executives, their event coordinators, their lawyers. I have signedpaperwork, mija. This is happening. And it is going to be wonderful for this town—for the businesses, for the tourism board, for everyone.”
For everyone.
The word hung there, glittering, daring me to ask whether “everyone” included me.
I didn’t ask. I already knew.
“And the turtle nests? On the north shore? You know?—”
“The turtles will be fine. They’ve been nesting on that beach for hundreds of years, Selena. A few days of music and cameras isn’t going to?—”
“A fewdays? Mamá, they’ve planned a full week just for setup. This is a huge undertaking. Generators, stage lighting, foot traffic across the entire?—”
“Ay, Selena,enough.”
Final.
“Confía en mí.I know what I’m doing. I have always known what I’m doing. When have I ever let this town down?”
Never.
That was the answer, and she knew it.
Marina Torres had never let the town down. She’d made the Fourth of July waves perform right along with the dock’s fireworks for twenty years running, and tourists came from three states away just to watch the water dance. They hadn’t known why, but they always left Crescent Cove saying it had been magical. Ha, how right they were.
A side effect of the town’s barrier. Outsiders conveniently forgot anything supernatural when they left but kept the feelings it had inspired.
Apparently, that wasn’t enough anymore.
She had never let the town down.
She had only ever let me down, and only one of them counted in her mind.
