Brian shrugged. “I spent last summer working with Iemanya Oceanica, tagging sharks in the Sea of Cortez,” he told her. “I picked up a little bit.”

“Sharks, huh?” Caddie said. “You weren’t kidding when you said you were into this marine biology suff.”

“I’d be back there this year, but I have to earn some money for school,” said Brian. “I made a deal with my parents, last summer doing volunteer work and this summer getting paid. So twice a day I get in the kelp tank and feed the fish. The rest of the time I help maintain the habitats.”

“So you’re a fish maid,” Caddie joked.

Brian pretended to be offended. “I prefer to think of myself as a marine sanitation engineer,” he said. “Maid sounds so cheap.”

The woman returned with their food and placed it on the counter. “Gracias,” Brian said as he picked up the tray and carried it to a table.

Sitting down, Caddie looked skeptically at the burrito. It looked normal, but she knew that inside lurked the dreaded squid. She watched as Brian picked up his burrito and took a big bite. Hesitantly, she poked at hers with a plastic fork.

“What are you waiting for?” Brian asked, watching her. “Dig in.”

Here goes nothing, Caddie told herself, stabbing the burrito and cutting off a chunk. She tried not to look at what was inside as she raised the fork and stuck it in her mouth. She chewed slowly, and was surprised to find that the burrito was delicious.

“Well?” Brian asked.

Caddie nodded and swallowed. “It’s fantastic,” she said, taking a second bite.

“I don’t want to say I told you so,” said Brian. “But I told you so.”

Caddie ate for a minute, then tried the drink Brian had ordered for her. The horchata was a milky white, flecked with brown and smelling of fruit and spices. She took a sip and found that she liked it.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never had horchata either,” Brian said, watching her taste the beverage. “What, do you live in a cave?”

“We can’t all be world travelers,” Caddie said, responding to his taunt with a sarcastic look.

“I just thought someone who grew up in Monterey would have already had her horizons broadened,” said Brian.

“I didn’t grow up here,” Caddie told him. “In fact, I’d never even been here until this week.”

“But I thought you said your father—”

“My parents are divorced,” said Caddie before Brian finished his sentence. “I’m just here—”

She hesitated. She’d been about to explain that she was only there because her mother had made her. Then she remembered, Brian was a college student. That meant he was at least nineteen, maybe even twenty. If he knew she was sixteen, he probably wouldn’t want to go out with her. She did some quick thinking.