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“The Billion Dollar Bennetts.” Malik grins. “Word gets around.”
I slide him a tight smile. That nickname for our family is pretty unfair to me, being that I’m not named Bennett. But Malik doesn’t need to know that I hate it. “My last name is actually Taylor. But Rex is my brother. And no, I don’t carry any autographed photos. That’s usually the next question.”
Pearl looks at me skeptically. “He didn’t ask you for anything, River.”
“It’s cool. I get it. You probably get asked that a lot.” Malik splays his hands. “I’m going to make a run to the QuickTrip. Does anyone need anything?”
Pearl stops fidgeting with the telescope and pulls a small, pink wallet out of her hoodie pocket. She offers Malik twenty dollars. “Here’s a little money for snacks. Get me a pack of chewy fruit candies, will you?”
“Yes ma’am. River, you good?”
I hold up a hand. “I’m fine. Thanks.”
“Okay. I’ll be back.” He retreats down the hill into the darkness.
I look around, searching for something to comment on. Her aunt’s property is all that I want to ask Pearl about. But it seems rude to launch into asking her to help me convince her aunt to sell me her property right away. I need something else to talk about first, to ease me into the part of the conversation where I ask Pearl for help.
While my wheels are spinning, Pearl cocks her head to the side and beats me to the punch. “What are you doing here, River?”
I rub the back of my neck. I’m embarrassed. “Well, to be perfectly honest, I came here looking for you. Lucy told me that you would be here. But she didn’t tell me about… whatever GCUFOS is.”
“I love me some Lucy.” Her eyes light up. “She sent you in here blind? How devious.”
“She’s a handful all right.”
Pearl steps over to me and puts her arm through mine as casually as you please. “Well, you’re in luck. GCUFOS is meeting for the first time this season. And you probably aren’t going to be the only newcomer to the meeting.”
I look down into her face, thinking how perfectly sculpted her cheekbones are. I see a smattering of freckles over the bridge of her nose that probably grow darker with the summer sun.
This close, she’s stunning. Her beauty empties my brain for a moment, and it takes me a few more to remember what we were talking about.
“What exactly is this group?”
She beams at me. “Investigators that believe in extraterrestrial beings.”
The woman’s T-shirt. The telescopes. The antennae headband. Several things click into place for me. I’ve made a grave mistake.
“Ohhh.” I cast a look around the gathering. “I see.”
“You’re also here at the right time, because I just got this telescope.” She gives me a gentle push toward it. “Check it out.”
I lean down, shutting one eye while I peer through the eyepiece. The night sky unfolds before me, a series of dark purples swirled with pinks and faint blues, like the palette of some unseen artist. Laid among all the brush strokes are bursts of twinkling lights, the softly glinting stars.
I’m impressed. “Wow. You really have some definition here. It’s so clear.”
I look at Pearl as I step back. Her smile is so excited that it is radiant. “I saved up for ages to get a MagTek 3600. No more begging to look in other people’s telescopes for me. See Mitch and Jenny over there?”
I look where she’s pointing and see an older couple wearing the bright green GCUFOS hoodies and taking turns peering through the viewfinder of their large telescope. Mitch sees Jenny’s phone hanging out as she bends over, and tucks it into her pocket.
Bleh. Mitch was probably his own person once, but now he and Jenny share the same clothes and energy. Gross.
“Yeah,” I say, biting my tongue. “I see them.”
“Well, they were nice enough to share their telescope for the first couple of years that I was a part of the GCUFOS. But now I’m bona fide.”
Pearl says it with such pride and enthusiasm that it’s impossible not to smile at her joyfulness.
“That’s pretty exciting,” I tell her.
