Page 108 of Beaches, Bagels & Babes
Down the way, Candace stood with her hands hovering over the ride controls. She urged,“Push him!”
Daisy shoved without thinking, without realizingwhy, until she was mid-motion. When she understood, she put everything she had into forcing Lamarka back into the coaster seat. As soon as he was in place, Candace proved once and for all that she was the claw-machine master—she slammed the pressure restraints down and locked Lamarka in.
“Shall we send him on a ride?”
Lamarka thrashed impotently while Daisy picked up his gun. She stepped back, nodding with grim determination, and cleared the way. As reality set in for the man, he became enraged.
“Don’t you dare, youbi—AGHHH!!”
Lamarka’s insult turned into a scream as he was launched forward. In addition to being larger than the Mouse Kart, the Manta Coaster did not start out at a gentle climb. This roller coaster was for thrill seekers. It launched its riders straight up at a tongue-swallowing pace, before careening them back down into a series of loops and corkscrews.
It was one of the East Coast’s favorite coasters. By the sound of it, though, Lamarka did not have very much fun. They let him do one lap before leaving him at the depot. After what he did to her parents, and who knows how many other innocents, there was a part of Daisy that wanted more bloody vengeance. Even so, she was merciful enough to give him a sliver of survival.
Then, Daisy and Candace (with Horace in tow) bolted for shelter that was not over the ocean. Thanks to Wonderwood’s healthy duneline, the water seemed to be holding at the boardwalk level. However, with the chaos around them, they deemed it too dangerous to go far. Instead, they managed to break into Bagel Bombs! through the back entrance Daisy had forgotten to board up in her panic over Candace. While the storm buffeted the whole building so hard it shook, they did what they could to bunker down.
With a flashlight upturned for light, and beach towels spread out over the backroom floor, they made themselves comfortable. It was almost cozy. Daisy leaned back against a chest freezer, and Candace leaned against her. She listened to the discordantdripdripdrips, hypnotized by nature’s fury.
Candace nuzzled her head against Daisy’s shoulder like a cat. She said, “I won’t ask if you’re okay, because there’s no version of the word that covers this. There’s no way to make up for what they did. But… I’m here for you, whatever you need.”
“I needyou,” Daisy begged. She did not even realize she said the words until they left her tongue, did not register the want until it was voiced, yet it came like a tidal force. She caught Candace’s chin between her thumb and pointer finger so thatshe could turn her face. As their mouths met, her lips tasted like ocean, rain, and tears—of truth and lies untangled to the very last thread until their essences were bare.
One tender kiss turned to several, each one more urgent than the last. Gentle caresses became needful pulls. Piece by piece, their clothing littered the floor. Before long, it was not the sounds of the storm that Daisy focused on, but Candace’s building pleasure.
It crested along with the adrenaline still pulsing from their escape, leading to a gasping release. They collapsed back onto beach towels and bagel bags, blissfully spent. While Hurricane Mandy continued to wreak havoc, the world outside was cast to ruin, in this tiny corner, there was only contentment.
Daisy was not sure which of them fell asleep first. She was glad, though, that Candace had the foresight to throw a towel over their naked bodies. It made the scene asmallsliver less awkward when the Coast Guard came bursting in for their heroic rescue. Thankfully, and with a fair amount of eye-contact avoidance, they all made it back to inland safety with relative ease.
A small crowd was waiting for them at the marina.
“Demi?! Rio? How did you find us?”
Smirking, Rio pointed to Horace. “You can thank her for that.”
Daisy smacked her forehead, saying, “The livestream! Wait, does that mean…?”
Demi nodded and, to her credit, at least tried to hold in her laughter. “People saw the whole thing. The attempted murder, Lamarka’s confession, and er…Let’s just say the nature center cut the feed off before it turned too X-rated.”
Daisy found Candace’s hand with her own. The gentle pressure of her squeezing back was better than a thousand verbal reassurances. There was more to be said, so much to unpack emotionally, but the marina dock in the middle of a hurricane was not the place. As Ed Cando charged up with some of Peter Perry’s other friends to call for Candace andDaisy’s arrest, they ignored him. Ted, meanwhile, had a car waiting to take them to a hotel.
“You two deserve rest after the day you’ve had,” he said, speaking over his blustering father. “If the station is still there after this storm blows through, you can come down and make a report once you’re up to it.”
While Demi and Rio went back to the high school with Ted, Daisy and Candace went their own way.
And they always would.
Epilogue
Three months later
Candace and Daisy
Traditionally, the fall season was Wonderwood boardwalk’s last hurrah before its winter hibernation. From harvest celebrations featuring local farmers to beer-fueled Oktoberfests, the town tried to keep the shoobies coming as long as possible. This year, though, the vibe was markedly different.
For one, Hurricane Mandy left the town in shambles. The storm tore a path of destruction along the whole New Jersey coastline, and Wonderwood bore the brunt of it. Many of the old, unfortified speakeasy bungalows along Higbee Point were ripped to splinters. Beachy Ben’s was blown away, and the Wetlands Institute on the bay that Rio interned at was flooded with two feet of marshy water. Worst off of all was Perry’s Pier.
Late that night, after Candace and Daisy made their harrowing escape, the hurricane’s full power pummeled the poorly maintained structure. Whole pieces of it washed away,including the offices where Daisy had been held. The Mouse Kart even pried up from its supports and drifted half a mile down the beach. Despite the losses, with insurance payouts and government assistance, it's possible Peter Perry would have been able to come out of the ordeal stronger.
Instead, people finally saw him for the monster he was.
