Page 37 of Tourist Trap

I walk into the kitchen to where they all scramble along in their shells.

“It was all I could grab while they were distracted. I did manage to get Big Gina, though, so that was the real win. She’s a real beauty.”

“Big Gina?” Exasperation has entered his words, which, in my opinion, probably means I’m wearing him down.

“This one,” I say, then point to the one in a white bedazzled shell. I’m still in the process of figuring out just how ethical it is to keep them in painted, much lessbedazzled,shells, but I’m hoping to find out that it’s fine.

“Who distracted them?”

“June.” He nods like he should have known. “Don’t worry, no one caught us.”

He stares at me, pieces clicking, I assume, before he leans onto the counter like he no longer has the energy to stand. “Claire, how did you get these hermit crabs?”

“I rescued them.”

He rolls his lips between his teeth and then nods before asking his next question. “Do you and the police have a different definition of rescued?”

I roll my eyes and shake my head left and right before answering. “I think everyone has a different definition of whatrescuingmeans, you know?”

“No, I think there’s really just one definition of rescuing when you’re talking about an animal.” I don’t respond to that. “Claire, if you don’t tell me what happened, I’m marching you back down there and making you return them.”

He says it like he’s a disappointed dad, and without my mind's permission, I think about how much mydadwould like him.

He never cared for Paul, and I always knew deep down from the day I met him that my dad and my older brother Nate would probably see right through him, but I deluded myself into thinking he would change.

But they’d like Miles.

I came to this decision a while ago, because the truth of the matter is IlikeMiles Miller. He’s sweet when he wants to be, and he’s funny without meaning to (heavy on thenot meaning to), and we get along in a strange way, his cautiousness balancing out my wild, even if his cautiousness is a bittoocautious sometimes.

That’s why I made that list for him. Because, for whatever reason, the man is so damn serious, so focused, and if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s having fun.Andmaking other people have fun.

And, it seems, hermit crab-napping.

“Okay, okay, so June and I were taking our morning hot girl walk because I didn’t have work today. Honestly, it was pretty cold, so we had our sweaters on, but then it got warm, so we took it off and—” I start explaining my morning, and he glares at me.

“The hermit crabs, Claire.”

I lift a hand.

“I’m getting there! It’s relevant to my story!” He rolls his eyes, but I continue. “So we were walking, and there was someone opening the gift shop the surf shop owns—like they werejustlifting the front door, no one was inside or anything yet, lights off and everything. That’s when I noticed the little display for the hermies—what I’ve named their pop group.” He looks at me like I’m insane, but I keep going. “Was outside.All night,Miles. They left the poor babies outside! And it wascold!So cold,Ineeded a sweatshirt!”

“Okay, let’s not be too dramatic. It was, like, sixty-five last night,” he says, and I slap his chest.

“They’re Caribbean crustaceans, Miles, they weren’t built for this kind of weather.” He closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath, but I don’t think he’s much calmer. “Anyway, so we kept walking and looped back around at our normal spot, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the poor babies and the conditions they’re stuck in. And when the display wasstilloutside when we came back around, I had June go in and distract the guy working.”

“And you…”

“I grabbed what I could hold and ran. Then I came back here.”

Long, long moments pass as he stares at me, his gaze moving from me to my new babies and back.

“And now I have a half dozen hermit crabs in my kitchen?”

“Well, they’re going to be in my room in a little bit. I just needed to clean a spot for them upstairs.”

He closes his eyes and rubs his face with both hands. “What happened to no pets?”

I shrug, not worried about his stupid, useless rules.

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