Her father and Hudson agreed. Caddie, trying to stop her father before he could ask any embarrassing questions, said, “Brian works at the aquarium. That’s where we met.”

“Really?” her father said. “What do you do?”

“I’m just summer help,” Brian said. “Nothing major.” He turned his attention back to Caddie. “Are we still going diving later?” He looked at her father. “I promised her I’d take her on her first night dive,” he said.

Caddie felt her stomach knot. She felt her father and Hudson both staring at her. Then came the inevitable question. “Since when do you dive?” her father asked.

“Oh, I showed her,” Brian informed him.

Ben looked at him. “You’re an instructor?” he asked, sounding doubtful.

“Nah,” said Brian. “But I’ve been diving for a couple of years.”

Caddie tried to shrink into the bench. She was horrified, both because she’d been caught in a lie by her father and because Brian was about to find out that she wasn’t everything she’d pretended to be. Even though she’d pretty much decided she didn’t care about him, she hated to be found out.

But her father didn’t betray her. “Maybe we’ll all go together one of these days,” he said. “I’m about to certify Hudson.”

Brian beamed. “Cool,” he said. “Well, I should be getting back. I just came to pick up an order. Call me later,” he added to Caddie.

“He seems nice,” Hudson said.

“He does,” her father agreed. He looked at Caddie.

“I was going to mention the diving thing,” she said, trying to head him off.

“It’s okay,” he said. “We can talk about it later.”

Relieved, she resumed eating. But she felt as if she’d been reprimanded. Her father had used that tone with her, the one that meant, “You’re in big trouble, young lady.” It was the same tone her mother used. But at least her mother had been around long enough to earn the right to scold her.

You haven’t, she thought, glancing at her father. But he was talking to Hudson again, as if nothing had happened. He doesn’t even know how to be mad at me right, Caddie thought. Her mother would have had it out with her, demanding to know who Brian was and what they were doing together. Her father didn’t seem interested in anything other than the fact that she’d gone diving without telling him. Big deal, Caddie thought. Of all the things she’d done for him to be annoyed by, that was the least of them.

She looked out the pub’s big front window. The day had started off so well. Now everything had changed. I knew it was too good to last, she thought. It always is.

Her father waited until they were alone in the car before getting back to the topic of diving.