Page 29 of Beaches, Bagels & Babes
“Oh!” Rio slapped their hand on the counter, startling Candace from her mental image. “I bet she went to visit Horace!”
Horace, as Candace belatedly recalled, was the name of the horseshoe crab star of the boardwalk nature center’s new summer exhibit. Thankfully, the satellite center was not far, unlike the larger Wetlands Institute research facility that was located out in the mosquito-infested marshes. It was built into the boardwalk storefronts past the convention hall pier, between an adventure mini golf course and a jewelry shop.
A seaweed-covered, rusty diver robot waved at passersby while an audio recording belted out sea life factoids in a chipper, Flo-from-the-Progressive-commercial voice. The building itself was, like Bagel Bombs!, in bad need of a makeover. Candace supposed state funding and donations only went so far. Even so, the place had a sort of kitschy charm.
It seemed to be closing time. The ticket counter was vacant, and the pull-down metal gate was half-shuttered. With practiced privilege, Candace ducked inside. From there, Daisy was not hard to find.
The building itself was composed of artful, creatively placed glass cases that were teeming with local flora and fauna displays. There was a long, low table where kids could paint hermit crab shells alongside a beach hut-themed enclosure that teemed with the critters.
A hilly sand dune line was replicated in a detailed miniature scale model, and tiny plaques explained their importance; distantly, Candace recalled someone telling her the very same information. Someone familiar, with ashy hair and warm, amber eyes…
As the star attraction, Horace’s enclosure was in the very center of the hall. A sign explained that despite the masculine name, Horace was an elderly female crab who had been a subject of the nature institute’s research program for years. Thanks to her blood, the scientific community gained valuable research knowledge. Now, Horace was retired and had a nice setup made to look like the New Jersey bay where their kind liked to nest.
A see-through plexiglass barrier that was a few feet tall encircled the exhibit, giving a raised view of the angled marsh recreation. There was a deep section of water planted with marsh reeds, a muddy bank, and even a sandy beach scene complete with a mannequin family beneath an umbrella. It looked like the nature center had picked up a piece of the bay and plopped it right here in the building.
Candace found Daisy seated on a bench that surrounded the enclosure. She made no attempt to hide her approach, yet the other woman ignored her. Daisy’s attention was trained on the horseshoe crab, where the creature was burrowed into the faux bank. Candace held back a cringe as she looked at its weird carapace body. She noticed the tiny Go-Pro strapped to it for the enclosure’s so-called “Crab Cam” live YouTube feed, but could not imagine what it possibly showed apart from sand. In her nervousness to fill the silence, she made the comment aloud.
Daisy took notice of that, and not kindly.
Still facing the display, she said, “It’s not ‘nothing.’ It’s important research on a unique, close-to-endangered species. If the right people in the medical community took notice, it could make Wonderwood the ecological hub it’s meant to be. But why would you care? You hate it here.”
Slowly, Candace sat on the bench, a little more than an arm’s length from Daisy. “I thought I did. But I think it’s more complicated than that. I hate the memories that get dredged up when I’m here. Wonderwood isn’t without its charms, though.”
“Oh? Like what? Those sorority girls?”
Was thatjealousyCandace detected in Daisy’s voice?
No way, that would be crazy.
“They certainly don’t hurt. But there’s more.”
Quiet settled between them. However, Daisy did not tell Candace to go, so she went on.
“I forgot how much I missed the salt air. In the morning, when everything is covered in mist and dew, no one else around, it’s otherworldly. With sound and sight muted, the tinge of brine in every breath, it’s like something out of a scary movie. But it’s somehow peaceful at the same time. Great for the skin, too.”
Daisy made a ‘you would say that’ snort.
“I missed the way Wonderwood moves at its own pace. It's not like the city. People put their guards down, and they’re not in as much of a rush. Yes, I liked talking with Marta and her friends… They’re nice, and they spent a good chunk of change. But I like talking with Norman and the other Bagel Bombs! regulars just as much.”
Quietly, a begrudging slip, Daisy asked, “Anything else?”
“Your bagels. I’ve really, really missed your bagels. Sweet or savory, any flavor—it doesn’t matter, I love them. You… Your bagel bomb was the first good memory I made here after a lot of bad ones. But now I’ve gone and messed everything up. I should have asked about starting those accounts. And before I posted your picture. I’m sorry.”
Without turning, Daisy said, “You cut me out of my own business. You postedasme, saying things I’d never say. Plus, you totally fucked my inventory.”
“I know. Or, I know now. Rio explained that you have a system.”
Daisy grunted.
“I made a mistake,” Candace pressed. She hated the whine creeping into her voice, but she was desperate. “Can’t we just… start over?”
“Start over? You think we canstart over?”
Now, Daisy hauled a leg around the bench to straddle it, facing Candace. Anger drew her features tight, along with hurt. Emotions Candace wished she were not responsible for. But when they were staring her down, she had no choice but to face all she’d done.
Shoulders slumped, Candace answered, “No. You’re right. If we didn’t have the history we do, I wouldn’t be here.”
Surprise shifted Daisy’s expression for a moment. Then, right back to anger.
