“Look.” I held up the hundred-dollar bill, beyond relieved—this would surely be enough to buy our tickets for the performance and get us around. “We have more than enough cash. We have your phone. I’m sure we can leave the dog with that guy. It’ll be okay.” I unwrapped the gum and popped it into my mouth, hoping that if I said this with enough conviction, it would turn out to be true.

“Okay,” Stevie said, nodding. “Great. So… do you think we should just wait here until his uncle comes back?”

“Wait here?” What was she talking about? We had to go see Mr. Campbell’s play at eight.

The door swung open again, and Brad came trotting out on his leash, the guy walking behind him. “Any word from your uncle?” I asked hopefully. I was happy to see that the dog looked so comfortable with him—it would mean I wouldn’t feel too guilty leaving Brad behind with this guy when we had to go.

He shook his head. “No updates,” he said. “I’m really sorry. But I can give you my number. And I can take yours, and that way when I do hear from him, I can call you right away and let you know.”

“That sounds great.” It really seemed like it was the best we were going to do for the moment.

“Yes, thank you,” Stevie said, giving him a quick smile. “That’s really nice. I know this isn’t actually your job.” She unlocked Ophelia. “What’s your number?”

He told us an area code I didn’t recognize, then added, “I Cruise.” Stevie and I both stared at him. I wondered if maybe he’d just had a tiny stroke and this was how it was manifesting.

“What?” I asked, after a moment.

“Sorry—that’s what the numbers spell out. It’s usually easier than just giving them to you.”

Stevie typed his number into her phone, widening her eyes a fraction of an inch at me.

“How did you figure that out?” I asked because I knew Stevie wouldn’t. She truly would have made the world’s worst detective. Murderers and bandits would have been wandering around free because asking a follow-up question might have made someone momentarily uncomfortable.

“No,” he said with a laugh. “I only know it because Paradise Cruises has been trying to buy my number for years. They’re trying to get all the numbers that spell out that phrase, with all potential area codes, and apparently, I’m one of the only holdouts. They call me constantly, trying to talk me into it. But so far, I’ve held out.”