covering my mouth as I swallowed. I was hungrier than I’d realized. “I’ll take it.”
“It’s three ninety-nine.” He sighed and added, “Plus tax.”
“Oh,” I said. “I can’t do that. I’m not exactly on vacation, I’m looking for a job.” I needed my three hundred dollars to last at least two or three nights. I sank a little lower in the chair. I was tired for the first time since I’d woken up at five a.m., wired with anticipation.
“Give her Rebecca’s room,” the girl said in a thick accent. Was she Irish? “Can’t charge more than a hundred for that, can you?” Was she his daughter? She was a little chubby, with pink cheeks and a sunburned nose. She pushed a black curl back behind her ear and gestured to me. “Poor thing looks knackered.”
“Rebecca won’t mind?” I asked, wondering who Rebecca was.
“She’s halfway to England by now,” Gavin said.
“I got my cousin a job on Nantucket, and she quit after a week ’cause she missed her lug of a boyfriend.” I wasn’t sure if this was funny because of her accent, or even if it was meant to be a joke, but I laughed. “And he’s a right wanker.”
“I’m looking for a job,” I said, sitting up and tapping the table with my palms. “And I need one that comes with housing.”
“Well, this works out perfectly, then, doesn’t it?” the girl said, a hand on her sturdy hip. “You get a job, Gavin doesn’t have to go on the great chambermaid search, and I don’t have to share a bathroom with a freak of nature. You’re not a freak of nature, are you?”
“Nope.” I shook my head. Chambermaid? It sounded like a job from another century, like a charwoman or a scullery maid. Would I be churning butter, cleaning chimneys, beating rugs with a broom? Who cared? I’d have a job and a place to stay for free on Nantucket.
“We don’t even know her name,” he said to the girl, then put a hand to his chest and turned to me. “Excuse us, what’s your name?”
“Cricket,” I said. “Cricket Thompson.”
“Amazing,” Gavin said. “I was noticing, really noticing the crickets earlier. I thought to myself, Ah, the song of the cricket, the song of summer.”
“See, it’s a sign,” Liz said. “I’m Liz, by the way. Not Liza, not Lizzy, and”—she shot Gavin a look—“definitely not Lizard.”
“Nice to meet you, Liz.”
“What do you say, Gavin?” she asked.
“I’m interviewing someone tomorrow,” he said. “But I don’t see why I couldn’t interview Cricket as well. Come back in the afternoon, say around three?”
“Okay,” I said, and shook his hand. “Sounds great.”
“Wait, who are you interviewing?” Liz asked.
“Svetlana,” he said.
“Svetlana…the cow?” Liz asked with a look of horror. She sounded dead serious, so I tried not to laugh.
“She has good references,” Gavin said.
“She flirted with Shane in front of my face at The Chicken Box,” Liz said.
“It’s not your decision, Liz,” Gavin said, now sounding officially annoyed. “See you tomorrow, Cricket?”
“Yes,” I said, and smiled. I felt too awkward to ask about Rebecca’s room again. “I’ll see you then.”
I gave him my cell phone number, picked up my duffel bag, and walked out the front door. As soon as I hit Main Street I sat on a bench in front of one of the beautiful shops, wondering where I was going to spend the night now. My phone rang. I prayed it was Jules and that she’d invite me over right away. But it was my mom.
A part of me didn’t want to pick up. I’d have to tell her that the job didn’t work out and I was considering sleeping on a park bench. It would show that she had been right and Nantucket was a bad idea. It would be evidence that I wasn’t the independent girl I worked so hard to be. But the other part of me, the tired part of me, with a blister forming on my left foot, a growling stomach, and no idea where I was going to sleep tonight, wanted to talk to her.
“Mom?”
“Honey? What happened?” She had always been able to tell by the way I said even one word if something was wrong. If Mom had a superpower, it was her hearing. When it came to me, her ears were as keen as a wolf’s. It was no use lying to her.
“Well, the babysitting job didn’t work out,” I said.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “You must be really disappointed.”
“Yeah,” I said.
“But do you remember when