Page 38

“No. I wasn’t… Mm… Useful enough.”

“Useful enough? For Kota?”

We both look over at her.

Tina leans close to me, saying a bit lower, “During the squall.”

I turn to look at her, and after another moment, she redirects her focus to me, too.

“What the fuck are you talking about? Was Kota in a storm?”

“Metaphysically.”

I try to correct her again. “Metaphorically?”

But she only says, “Sea Haven is an old port town.”

“And it got hit with a storm?”

“Back in the day, ships would always keep a cat on board. Did you know that?”

I don’t even get to respond before she continues, “Mostly to keep mice away, you know…rodents. Pests.” Her eyes widen, almost comically, at me.

“I didn’t know that,” I mumble. Why the fuck would I? New York is a port city, too, but no one I know can spit marine facts on a whim.

“Some also believed they had magical powers, the kind that offered protection against bad weather.” She nods at Guy. “He’s her cat.”

Guy is Kota’s cat? I must be hearing her wrong.

“Cat? He’s her cat?”

“Uh-huh. Pest control, smooth waters, all that jazz.”

So Stepsis is scared of mice, and she… No, I got nothing for the smooth-water part. I literally have no idea what Tina’s talking about.

Maybe one hit did hurt.

“What’s in that?”

She names some strain I’ve never heard of, then we find some loungers to sit on quietly as she finishes it off herself.

“Why doesn’t Guy chase that pest away?” Both of us watching the same person, I don’t need to specify who I’m talking about.

“Even cats need a treat every now and then.”

A treat? “Doesn’t he have a girlfriend for that?”

“A girlfriend that’s seriously lacking in the T department. Lisann, however, is not.”

“You can critique other girls’ bodies, but you can’t call one a cunt?”

“Not critiquing. Just stating. I’m sure you’ve noticed your stepsister is in the itty-bitty titty committee, no?”

I frown. I did notice. But unlike Tina here, I don’t find Kota to be lacking in anything.

Except maybe manners.

“He just looks? Or does he fuck around on Kota?”