And when all was said and done they landed in Newburyport, Massachusetts, this pretty little town on the sea, with pretty little girls with their colorful surfboards and pretty mothers who had sharp serpent tongues.

41.

Alexa

Direct Message from @jt76 to @silkstockings via Instagram: If you’re looking for a place to stay when you come to L.A. I know a great Realtor. This will all make sense once you know the whole story! I promise!

@silkstockings to @jt76: (no reply)

Cam texted Alexa two days after Canobie Lake.

Can you go out with me tonight? I’ll buy dinner.

She was at work, off at four. Definitely, she texted back. Where? (She needed the context to figure out the right outfit.)

She wondered if Cam might take her to Brine. Their menu was supposed to be fantastic this summer, and over the past two years Alexa had acquired a taste for oysters, something she’d never liked as a kid. She figured if she was going to live in L.A. in the not-too-distant future, if she was going to have the kind of life where people have, like, caviar and champagne for a midmorning snack, she’d better start getting used to the finer things. Next on her list were fois gras and dishes involving truffle oil. If they were going to Brine she was definitely going to have the bacon-and-egg fried oysters. And wear her new Halston dress.

Sylvan Street, came the reply.

Sylvan Street? Alexa deflated. For real? Sylvan Street was the chain restaurant out by the movie theater in Salisbury. It was the restaurant Morgan used to pick to go to on her birthday because she liked the Potachoes, which were potato skins that had been recklessly bred with nachos, but even Morgan had tired of the Potachoes and had started choosing Oregano Pizzeria downtown instead.

Ok, she texted back. Whatever, she thought. She waited for him to tell her he would pick her up, but the next text caused her to deflate even more.

6:30. See you there.

When she arrived at Sylvan Street, the parking lot was already full to bursting and the lobby was crowded with large families and cranky kids waiting for their tables. Cam had put his name in but he informed Alexa that it was going to be a forty-five-minute wait, which she could have predicted. There was always a wait at Sylvan in the evenings, especially if there was a big movie playing next door. But the seats at the bar were first come first served, so they took a quick walk around, where a lot of people were glued to the Sox-Yankees game. It was the third of the series, and it would mean a sweep for the Sox if they won this one. There was a collective sense of anticipation among those watching the TVs.