Spring Break Secret by Holly Rayner
Tom
Tom was delighted to hear that the famous chef at The Crest, a woman named Antonia Gusterra, was happy to serve the son of one of her biggest investors. He and Louisa had a table reserved for them on the patio for lunch, and he couldn’t wait to treat Louisa to a lavish tasting menu prepared by one of America’s most preeminent chefs.
He took the drive slowly, winding his way down the dunes with the car’s top open, enjoying the sights almost as much as Louisa seemed to. There was something magical about seeing La Vega through her eyes, from the tiny grains of sand to the towering palm trees.
The maître d’ met them at the door, taking Louisa’s bag and Tom’s jacket, before showing them to a private table overlooking Wave Crest Villa’s landscaped beachfront and the ocean below.
“So fancy,” Louisa whispered as they took their seats.
Antonia Gusterra came over to greet them personally, and Louisa impressed the chef with her knowledge of local seafood and cooking traditions. Tom knew that Antonia would mention the poise and intellect of his date to his father, and he was certain that the senior Mr. Palmer would be curious about this girl he’d met in Florida.
Tom’s dad was often scolding him about his romantic tendencies, warning him not to get distracted by dating, and to be wary of girls who were more interested in his money. It was part of the reason he hadn’t mentioned the Palmer family fortune to Louisa. The other reason was that his father’s business, Palmco Development, was a real estate developer that often bought up huge tracts of seaside land to build resorts and luxury complexes. Louisa had mentioned her family fighting against the actions of similar companies, and he was worried about what she might think of him and his family if she knew exactly what business they were in.
Fortunately, Antonia didn’t bring up any of this, only charming Louisa with chatter about the unique flavors of La Vega shrimp and the way locals here used a dried seaweed seasoning on nearly everything.
The first course was a sweet, fluffy cake baked inside a conch shell. Louisa and Tom used miniature spoons to dig the cake out from the shell’s insides, which gave the cake a distinct but pleasant flavor. Louisa was especially delighted by the second course, a raw sea urchin skewered on smoked lemongrass.
“I love sea urchin,” Louisa said, licking the remaining bits off her lemongrass skewer. “It’s not easy to find around here, though.”
“I thought I saw some in the tanks back at the sea turtle conservation center,” Tom said, nibbling on his own dish.
Louisa laughed. “There are plenty around here in the water, but it’s not easy to prepare them for eating. Most people just don’t bother, and it’s uncommon to see them at restaurants. I haven’t had urchin this good in years!”
“I’m glad you like it,” Antonia said, stopping by to deliver their third course, which Tom couldn’t immediately identify. “This is a brined kelp reduction with pickled scallops, plus a bit of candied dune grass root to cut all the saltiness.”
“Wow,” Louisa said, looking down at her plate. “I didn’t even know you could eat dune grass.”
“The grass itself is far too tough,” Antonia explained, “but if you pack the roots in sugar, they soften up after a while. We prepare them in handmade baskets, and the sugaring process takes up to three weeks.”
“It’s delicious,” Louisa said, biting into the candied root. “This is so cool. I’ll have to try making this myself sometime.”
“Do they have dune grasses like this in Berkeley?” Tom asked after Antonia left them alone once again.
“Probably,” Louisa said, “but I haven’t taken my oceanside botany class yet. I know a lot about the plants out here in La Vega, but I’m not familiar with everything out on the California coast.”
“Are you planning to stay in California after you graduate?”
Louisa poked around at some of the sugar crystals still on her plate. “I don’t know. I might come back here to La Vega and keep working with Ellen and the turtles, but it’s a big world out there, with plenty of beaches. And they all need environmental researchers.” Louisa paused, looking out over the ocean, her expression thoughtful. “What about you? I know you said your dad wants you to take over the family business, but is that what you want?”
No one had really ever asked Tom that before. All of his professors knew that he was the heir to the Palmco Development Corporation, and everyone just assumed he was studying business so that he could take it over once he graduated.
“Well, I did think about becoming a veterinarian,” Tom said.
“Right! I remember, you mentioned that back during the beach cleanup.”
Tom smiled. Louisa was a good listener, and she seemed to take his hopes and dreams seriously. “When I was a kid, I wanted to work with animals.”
“Maybe you still could,” Louisa said, her focus entirely on Tom even as Antonia brought out their next dish. “Even if you take over your dad’s business, you could start a new branch focused on animal welfare, or supporting shelters, or something like that.”
“Maybe,” Tom said, though he didn’t share Louisa’s optimism. His dad’s company was a pretty streamlined operation, intended to make a profit and not much else. “So,” he began, wanting to change the subject before Louisa asked too many more questions, “why does Ellen call you Squid?”
Louisa laughed, rolling her eyes. “It’s been my nickname ever since I was a kid. When I would hang out at the conservation center, I’d ask Ellen a zillion questions, constantly curious about everything. Since squids are really smart and also very inquisitive, she nicknamed me that, and it just stuck.”
“Is that why you wear a squid necklace?”
Louisa reached up and fingered her pendant, her expression wistful. “Yes. When I was little, I had lots of squid stuff—toys, T-shirts, things like that. Once I graduated high school and planned to move across the country for college, Ellen and my parents got me this so I’d always remember where I came from.”
“That’s so cool,” Tom said. Gifts from his father were typically things like fancy watches or cufflinks, which had no personal significance other than being very expensive. He was expected to take good care of them, which usually meant not wearing them unless the occasion really called for it.
“Everyone thinks my favorite animal must be a sea turtle,” Louisa continued, “since I do so much work with the center. But I really do love squids and octopi the most. They’re just fascinating, and there’s still so much we don’t know about them.”
Tom thought back to the refrigerated package of squids he and Louisa had given to Mr. Leatherback at the conservation center as treats. “Does it bother you, then, feeding squids to Mr. Leatherback?”
Louisa shook her head. “No, not really. When you’re studying marine biology, you can’t get overly sentimental about individual animals. It’s just how nature works—sea turtles eat squids, squids eat other creatures. If that stops happening, the entire ecosystem falls apart. Of course, I don’t want any animal to suffer, but I try to focus on the bigger picture and making sure the whole ocean is healthy and that everyone, and everything, gets what they need to survive.”
Tom thought about that for a moment. He’d never considered that perspective before, but it made a lot of sense.
“What about you?” Louisa asked. “Do you have a favorite animal?”
“I always liked dogs,” Tom replied. “Especially golden retrievers. When I was a kid, I would beg my parents to let me get a puppy, but they never wanted dogs in the house.”
Louisa looked shocked. “They don’t like dogs?”
Tom shrugged. “My dad travels a lot for work, and it’s important to my mom to keep our house really nice. Having a dog would make both of those things harder, I guess.”
“Well, maybe you can get one in a few years, once you graduate from college and you’re on your own.”
“I hope so.” Tom wasn’t sure. If he took over at Palmco Development, he would also have to travel a lot, and he’d be in the office for long days even when he was home. A high-energy dog like a golden retriever probably wasn’t in the cards for his future.
“What would you name it?”
“I never really thought about that,” Tom said. “But, well, they are really smart, and curious. Maybe Squid would be a good name for a golden retriever.”
“Hey!” Louisa playfully smacked his arm. “That’s my name!”
“Okay, okay,” Tom said. “Maybe I could name it after your turtle. Mr. Furryback or something.”
“That’s a terrible name for a dog,” Louisa teased. “You’ll have to keep brainstorming.”
“Well, what would you name a dog?”
“I’ve never actually named a dog before,” Louisa said. “My parents have a little dog they like to take for runs on the beach. His name is Grubby, because when they got him as a puppy, he would always find something gross to roll around in.”
“Ew.” Tom laughed. “I don’t want a grubby dog.”
“Maybe you could call her Sunrise,” Louisa suggested. “After her golden fur.”
“Her? You’ve already decided my dog will be a girl?”
Louisa rolled her eyes again. “Or Sunny, if he’s a boy.”
Tom liked that. He remembered the sunrise they had watched that morning, the rays coming up over the sand dunes. There were plenty of golden hues there, and it would be a very good name for the retriever he had pictured in his mind throughout his entire childhood, with shiny blond fur and sweet brown eyes.
“I like that. Sunny.” He still doubted that he’d ever be able to get a dog like that, but if he was ever so lucky, he now had a name picked out, at least.