6. Britta

Chapter six

Britta

S tella and I both study the picture like it's a famous piece of art in a museum. The guy in the picture is definitely a younger, much, much blonder version of Dex, even though the printed name at the bottom of the picture identifies him as Liam Dexter.

"Dex is Slater?" Stella says excitedly.

I whiplash between her and the picture. "I have no idea who Dex is anymore."

"Wait! Did you say his friend who came over was Archie?" Her voice grows more excited as she points to the tall auburn-haired surfer next to Dex in the picture. "Like, Archibald Forsythe?"

I look closer. "Yeah, that could be him."

"Britta!" She grabs my shoulders, her face inches from mine. "If Dex knows Archie, then he knows Frankie Forsythe, too. They're twins on the show and in real life." She suddenly goes still, her hands dropping from my shoulders as she pivots back to the picture. "And if he knows them, he knows Rhys James," she says reverently.

"You mind taking this order out, Britta, while I help Diva make an Americano?" Annie says from behind me over the clatter of coffee cups clinking, espresso machines hissing, and customers chatting.

"Of course," I answer before taking a second look at the picture.

"If Dex is in the picture with Rhys and Frankie," I say to Stella. "He's met them at least once. I think he said Archie's his manager, so he obviously knows him well." I grab the cups from the counter and carry them to the table outside that Annie points to.

Stella follows me, talking the whole time. "How are you not freaking out right now? We are definitely going to that surf competition. Rhys James could be there. Archibald Forsythe will be for sure. No one's seen Frankie in ages… but, oh my gosh, what if Rhys James is there?"

I walk back to the counter with Stella still trailing behind.

"Why would Rhys James be there?" That's the one name I recognize. I don't listen to his music, but everyone knows who Rhys James is, and I'll admit to feeling a whisper of excitement at the possibility I might meet him. I'm not getting my hopes up or anything, but I've never met anyone famous in Paradise. Rubbing elbows with celebrities is kind of the dream for anyone who comes to LA, and I might actually get to do it.

Wait…

Technically, I already have. Because, apparently, Archie, at least, is famous, and Dex may be semi-famous himself.

"This order goes to the Gupta family over there." Annie says when I return to the counter. She points to a mom, dad, two young girls, and a poodle-looking dog. "The cookie is for the dog."

"They were on Surf City High together," Stella says behind me, and I realize she's still talking about Dex's connection to Rhys James. "But they were friends before that. All four of them, if I remember right." Stella helps me carry the order to the Guptas, setting the dog treat in front of Yogi.

When our backs are to the family, we exchange a look, and I'm sure we're thinking the same thing; a dog is being served food in a restaurant that's for people? We are not in Paradise anymore.

We both pull back a laugh before Stella picks up the thread she'd set down long enough to play waitress to a dog.

"I can't believe I never made the Surf City connection before. I thought Dex looked kind of familiar when he came to Paradise, but he was only in the show for one or two episodes. I'd kind of forgotten about him." She wags her finger toward the photo, then goes back to stare at it up close again.

I leave Stella to study the Surf City High crew and return to the counter where Annie is taking orders again. When Stella notices I'm gone, she finds a table close to the counter and pulls out her phone.

Annie moves away from the register and motions me to her. "You seem to know what you're doing. Can you take orders while I do a little training? Neither of these gals has done the espresso machine before, so I'm having to do all those orders. The point of sale is pretty intuitive. If you have time to make the orders yourself, great. If not, send them back here and we'll get them."

"No problem." I take her spot, and she gives me a thirty-second tutorial on her system. When she turns back to the staff, I smile at the waiting customer. "What can I get for you?"

"A flat white," he says, and I breathe a sigh of relief that it's a simple order and, thanks to Dex, I've had plenty of experience making it. But then he adds, "Quad shot, extra hot, extra foam, lactose-free milk."

There it is . But I've got this, and it feels good.

My experience and ability to pick things up quickly doesn't mean things go smoothly. There's some confusion as I learn how to call back the orders and communicate with the staff. But we fall into a pattern within the first twenty minutes I'm at the register that, while not completely smooth, speeds things up.

While I work, Stella sits at her table, eyes glued to her phone screen. She only lifts them long enough to call out something new Google has revealed about Dex and his Surf City High friends.

"Britta! Dex is really good at surfing! Like, one of the best in the whole world!"

I roll this over in my head. I don't think there are many surfers in the world, so does being one of the best come easy? Or is it so rare that it takes loads of hard work and talent?

A few minutes later, Stella adds, "Britta! This competition is huge! He'll officially be the best surfer in the entire world if he wins!"

Followed by, "Archie is his manager."

"That's what I thought."

The fact Archie is his manager seems like the least important thing I knew about Dex, considering everything else I've learned this morning. I had no idea he was so good, and I'm slightly humiliated that I teased him about being a slacker with no ambition. To be fair, I didn't realize surfing was as big a deal professionally as it is.

The line of customers finally slows to a trickle, and in between customers, Stella moves closer so that she's leaning her elbows on the counter, still holding her phone in front of her face. "Archie, Rhys, and Frankie were all competitive surfers, too, until the show started. They came here together from Australia to model for Rip Tide, then got recruited for the show. Rip Tide came up with the idea for the series and financed it; that's how they all got involved. But Dex is the only one who stuck with surfing instead of the TV show. They had no idea it would take off the way it did after the pilot, and he backed out of his contract only a few episodes in. They all stayed in America, but he was primarily in Australia until 2021."

Annie comes up next to me. "Learning about our local celebrities, are you?"

Stella lowers her phone and lifts her wide-eyed gaze to Annie. "You know them?"

"They've been coming in here since they were kids. Their show was filmed at our beach and the local high school." Annie wipes her hands on her apron, reaches into her pastry case to pull out what looks like a piece of custard pie, and hands it to Stella. "They were all so homesick. I wanted to do something, so I told them I'd add an Australian dessert to my menu. Rhys gave me his grandma's recipe for it. Lemon and honey Anzac biscuit tart. This one's on the house."

Anzac? I've never heard this word in my life.

Speechless, Stella takes the plate to her table. While I'm waiting on another customer, Stella lets out a borderline inappropriate moan and says, "this is amazing! It's as delicious as Rhys's voice."

Annie laughs. "Enjoy it. That's probably as close as you'll get to him. Fame makes it hard for him to come in anymore or even go to Dex's competitions. He hates the attention off stage."

"We're still going," Stella says around her bite of tart. "At least I can meet Archie."

"I never said we weren't going," I say. "You're the one who was complaining about the early morning."

I glance over my shoulder at Annie, almost regretting my new "job" now that I know Dex is famous- famous, not just semi. I want to see him do the thing he's famous for.

"Dex is a… friend." I don't know how else to explain our relationship to Annie. "He invited us to his competition tomorrow. We thought we'd go, unless you need me here."

Annie shakes her head. "You're volunteering. I'll take you whenever I can get you, but if you've never seen Dex compete, you need to watch him. That boy is magic on the water."

A large group walks through the door and Annie calls for Mitzi and Diva to come off break. Stella scrapes the last bit of tart from her plate, then reaches for her phone again.

"I bet we can find footage of Dex from other competitions," she says, typing.

Something flutters behind my ribs, and I have to fight the overwhelming urge to pull up a chair next to Stella and watch every video I can of Dex—including his two episodes of Surf City High.

I pick up the tart plate and wipe down her table to keep from looking over her shoulder at the video that's made her drop her jaw. I'm working—or volunteering, anyway. I have to stay focused.

I hand Stella her half-full iced mocha—her second of the day—that she's been nursing for an hour. "Maybe the bookstore has some books or magazines about him, since he's a local celebrity. I'll find you there when things slow down here. Or I can meet you back at Georgia's."

Stella gives me a questioning look before noticing the growing line at the counter. "I'll meet you at the bookstore." She drops her phone in her bag, then waves to Annie. "Thank you, Annie!"

Without Stella interrupting me every few minutes with more info about Dex and his friends, I'm able to keep my head where it should be—on my non-money-earning job. By the end of the day, Annie lets me take over the espresso machines, and I feel the sweet satisfaction of her trust. The worry in her eyes has almost disappeared and her voice is lighter.

After locking the door at three o'clock and turning the closed sign—an old school one that reminds me of Britta's —Annie lets out a long sigh.

"Britta, thank you," she says, tearing up. "Karen probably told you about my daughter. Things have been pretty rough without her. You were an answer to prayer today."

Annie wraps me in a tight embrace, and I fight back tears as I'm engulfed with the scent of coffee and browned butter. She smells like Mom. This takes me off guard, but is such a sweet realization that I give her an extra squeeze. I've missed Mom so much, but realize that more than that, I've missed the sweet memories of her. The last few years were so difficult that maybe they crowded out my memories of the mom I had before she got sick. That's made it easier to be mad about Britta's.

"Thank you, Annie." I pull away and smile. "You've helped me as much as I've helped you."

She smiles softly. "Get out of here before Stella comes back asking more questions about my Aussies."

I take a second to realize she's talking about Dex and his friends, but when I do, excitement bubbles up the center of my chest. I tap it down, afraid that acknowledging my feelings would be like popping the tab on a can of Coke that's been rolling around the backseat of a truck after that truck's been four-wheeling.

"Let me help you clean up first." If I leave now, I'll give into the temptation to google Dex and re-read everything Stella's already told me about him.

"Absolutely not. Mitzi and Diva will clean up." There's no room in Annie's stern voice for argument. "You've got an early morning tomorrow if you're going to make it to that competition. I'm packing up some of Dex's favorites that I made for after the competition. Since you're going, will you get them to him? He's going to be nervous; some lamingtons will remind him of home."

"Okay." I reluctantly slip off my apron and hand it to Annie.

In the time she takes to grab the box of goodies in the back for Dex, I've already texted Archie back, finally answering his message from this morning.

Send directions, please. We will be there with delicious baked goods from Annie.

With the box in hand and plans to help Annie again the day after Dex's competition, I send Stella a text to meet me outside the cafe.

She's there when Annie lets me out the front door. There's a huge smile on her face and her hands are behind her back.

"Did you find a good book?" I ask, holding back a yawn. It's only three o'clock, but I'm wonderfully exhausted, and I've barely thought about Dad or Britta's all day.

Stella nods enthusiastically, then whips her hands from behind her back to show me a softcover photo book emblazoned with the stars of Surf City High. A whisper of disappointment runs through me when I don't see Dex's face on it, but I quickly brush the feeling aside.

I still take the book and flip through it, stopping only long enough to look at the one page devoted to Dex's character Slater—named in honor of famous surfer Kelly Slater, who I'd known nothing about until Dex's tutorial this morning. Then I hand it back to Stella.

"That's a good find."

She lets out a dismissive laugh. "I found better than that. Check out this video of Dex."

She holds up her phone, and for the next thirty seconds, I watch a very young Dex in a Rip Tide commercial. It has over two hundred thousand views on YouTube. That number doesn't take into account how many people saw the commercial when it first aired.

And my earlier feeling of humiliation from not understanding who Dex was, grows from slight to utter and complete. Dex is a VBD—very big deal, and I had no clue. Because I've spent my life—the past five years in particular—in a little town serving up coffee instead of experiencing the world. I'd planned on seeing the world, but then Mom got sick, and I got… stuck.

I chose to go back to Paradise after college instead of taking an internship opportunity right here in LA, a city I'd always wanted to come to. It was the right decision, but I guess, somewhere in those years of taking care of Mom, I decided I'd never be able to leave Paradise again. I can't even pinpoint when it happened. Especially since I just noticed it right now.

Watching Dex ride the inside of a wave opens something inside of my chest, releasing the tightness that's been there so long I've forgotten it. His hand outstretched, gliding through the wall of water at his side and the smile on his face softening his look of intense concentration feels like freedom.

Stella tries to show me more videos, but I wave her off. Instead, we window shop, sit on the beach, get some dinner, and basically do nothing until all I want to do is curl up into bed. Which is exactly what I do once we return to the apartment.

But I don't close my eyes. Once I'm snuggled into Georgia's downy comforter, I pull up the videos of Dex and watch him surf wave after wave until I fall asleep.