* * *
I planned just to drop Daisy at the entrance to the boardwalk and start my drive-bys, but once I pulled in, I changed my mind, parking instead. If a couch was on the roof already, another half an hour wouldn’t make much of a difference. I needed to clear my head.
The boardwalk was crowded, the beach below it even more so. In the winter, we often had this entire stretch to ourselves, save for some circling birds, but the difference between then and now was as vast as the ocean alongside. A band was playing at the grandstand, the outdoor tables filled with people eating and drinking. The boardwalk itself was a solid mass of strollers, folks in bathing suits and cover-ups, and more beach-related stuff for sale—shot glasses, picture frames dotted with shells, and COLBY BEACH T-shirts in every possible design and color—than anyone would ever want to buy.
I’d barely taken two steps when a guy wearing sunglasses and a baseball hat suddenly appeared square in my path. “Ladies’ night tonight!” he barked, thrusting a piece of paper at me. “Free entrance and two-dollar cocktails! All at Tallyho, hottest club in Colby!”
I shook my head, dodging him, but Daisy wasn’t so quick and ended up with one. She flipped it over as we picked our way through the crowd. “Tallyho is the hottest club in Colby? Since when?”
“It probably just means the air conditioner’s busted,” I told her. Clearly we were not the only ones lacking interest, as discarded fliers littered the boardwalk ahead of us. A step later, I got a strong, sudden whiff of cotton candy, sugar incarnate filling my lungs. If I had to bottle the boardwalk, it would be a mix of this and sunscreen, with a tinge of sweat mixed in. Lovely.
“On your right!” I heard a voice say, and a second later a bike was moving past me, ridden by a shirtless guy in swim trunks. Behind him was a girl in a bikini, a woven bag over one shoulder with a rolled up towel sticking out of it. They went a little farther before stopping in front of Abe’s Bikes, where a girl with curly brown hair in a bright pink T-shirt was standing with a clipboard. Behind her a sign said QUICK, EASY BIKE RENTALS! PAY AND RIDE AWAY! She waved at us, and as we passed, Daisy tried to hand off the flier to her. She shook her head.
“Come on, Maggie,” Daisy said. “It’s the hottest club in Colby.”
“Since when?” Maggie replied. “No, no, no to Tallyho. Nice try, though.”
“I hate that somehow I’m responsible for killing this tree.” Daisy sighed, crumpling up the paper and tossing it into a nearby trash can.
“You going to do the window?” Maggie asked her.
“Yep,” Daisy said. “Florals are so last month.”
“You would know,” Maggie said, taking the bikes as the riders dismounted. She was just asking them if they were sure they didn’t want another hour—at half price!—as we came up on Clementine’s. Sure enough, the mannequins in the window were all in flowered dresses, with petals scattered around their feet.
“Looks pretty cute for something already passé,” I said to Daisy as I pulled the door open.
“It is,” she agreed. “But it’s time for a change. I’m thinking robots.”
“What?” I said, but she was already walking past me inside, the chime sounding over our heads announcing our arrival.
“There she is,” I heard a voice call out from behind the register. I looked over to see Heidi, the owner, sorting bills into the drawer, while her stepdaughter Auden pegged stretchy bead bracelets with a pricing gun. “Our fashionista has arrived.”
“You know I hate that word,” Daisy replied. “It makes me sound like I’m starting a revolution.”
“Aren’t you?” Auden asked. The gun stuck suddenly. She banged it on the counter, once, twice.
“One robot at a time,” I said.
“Robots?” Heidi raised her eyebrows. “Really?”
Daisy nodded. “Silver, futuristic. Metallics. Contrasted with deep skin tones, plus maybe some bead or sequin trim for texture.”
Heidi nodded. “I like it.”
“I,” Auden said, picking a stray sticker off her shirt, “have no idea what you guys are talking about.”
“Which is why you’re not doing the window,” Heidi told her. To me she said, “You here to help? You know I’m hiring, if your mom would ever let you jump ship on the family business.”
“Unlikely,” I told her. My mom and Heidi knew each other from the chamber of commerce, where they always seemed to end up on one committee or another together. They were the younger members, often joining forces against long-timers like my grandmother and her friends. Everything was small in Colby except the personalities. “I’m just procrastinating.”
“Doesn’t sound like you,” Heidi observed.
“I’m starting a revolution,” I told her, and she smiled.
Just then, the door chimed from behind us, announcing the arrival of two girls in bikini tops and sarongs. As Auden put down the gun to go greet them, I followed Daisy as she made her way back to the storeroom, stopping along the way to pluck pieces that caught her eye.
Before she’d taken the job, Clementine’s window, like that of any other beach clothing store, featured a few mannequins and lots of bathing suits. Now, it was a local institution. She did zombies (in bikinis) for Halloween, a tableau based entirely on coal for Christmas, a slasher theme in deep reds for Valentine’s Day. It had been pointed out to Heidi more than once that Daisy’s windows might be a bit too “visionary” for the Colby boardwalk, but she maintained that whatever else, they made people stop in front of the store. And once they stopped, they were that much more likely to come in.