Hudson saw Ben stiffen at the girl’s tone. He knew Ben was trying hard to keep things light, but he also knew that Caddie wasn’t going to make it easy for him. In some ways she reminded him of himself when he was her age—moody, craving independence, but still wanting to feel that someone was watching out for him. Those years were hard. Not that it really gets all that much easier, he thought.

“Have you dived at the Breakwater?” he asked Caddie.

She nodded. “A bunch of times,” she said.

“It’s amazing,” Hudson continued, refusing to let her air of superiority quiet him. “Who knew all of that stuff was under the water? It’s like an alien world or something.”

For a moment, Caddie looked at him with something like interest. He realized he’d touched something in her, however briefly. She feels the same way about diving, he realized. She wants to agree with me but she can’t. She’d lose too much ground.

“We saw this fish,” he continued, pressing his advantage. “It looked like it was straight out of the mesowhatever era. Like a dinosaur. It had these big eyes and a long tail, and its fins were like wings.”

“A ratfish,” Caddie said, bored. “We saw two of them the other day, and a bat ray.”

“Yeah, well, we saw a grompus,” Hudson informed her.

She regarded him over the top of her book. “A reticulated grompus or a regular one?” she asked him.

He hesitated. “A regular one, I guess,” he said.

“Nice try,” said Caddie. “There’s no such thing as a grompus.”

Hudson grunted. “Well, we saw some other cool things,” he insisted. “A sculpin, or something. It was kind of purplish.”

Ben, who had been listening to the exchange, said, “I’m going to go take a shower. Then I thought I’d grill some steaks for dinner. How’s that sound?”

“Great,” said Hudson.

“Fine,” Caddie added.

Ben went upstairs, leaving the two of them alone. Caddie continued to be absorbed in her book, and Hudson was tempted to leave her alone. But her attitude was starting to bug him. He didn’t appreciate her sarcasm, and because he knew his staying in the room would annoy her, he decided to stay put. It was childish, he knew, but if she wanted to play games, he was going to give her a run for her money.

“What are you reading?” he asked, sitting in the chair opposite her.

Caddie held the book out toward him so that he could read the cover. “Cannery Row,” Hudson read.

“There was nothing else around,” said Caddie sullenly. “And you all seem to think it’s the best book ever written.”

“Don’t you?” Hudson said.

Caddie shrugged. “It’s all right,” she said. “I don’t really get the fuss.”