Page 40 of Caught in a Storm

He tentatively explained this to Justin and Shin-Soo at lunch earlier this spring. They were respectful, because they think Caleb’s dad is cool and all, but: “Come on, dude,” said Shin-Soo, “Cali is insane.”

“Yeah,” said Justin. “You could sell your app to the Golden State Warriors for like five million dollars and date Olivia Rodrigo. Pull your head out of your ass.”

The little flatscreen TV on the other side of his bedroom is set to SportsCenter on ESPN, which Caleb isn’t paying attention to.

Justin: Working Theory: You need to go where the most nerds are. Among nerds, you’re a solid 8. In gen pop tho with all the hot people, you’re a 5 at best. This is just math. Don’t hate.

Shin-Soo: TRUTH!

Caleb picks up his phone. “Here goes,” he says, tapping the email from Stanford.

Across the room, the ESPN announcer says, “And now, finally, it’s that time of night. Time for Today’s Best.”

It’s Caleb’s favorite part of SportsCenter: when they count down the ten best moments in sports for the day. The first one is some crazy header goal from a soccer match in France. An MMA punch is next—an act of pure violence. He’s too busy to deal with sports, though. This is his life, after all.

There are so many words in the email, hundreds, arranged in neat lines and stacked in paragraphs. Only one word registers, though—the only one that matters. Congratulations!

“Motherfucker,” says Caleb.

“But enough about cricket,” says the announcer. “This is America, right? Slow news day? Maybe. But for number one, we take you to beautiful Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland, where, along with the smell of crab cakes, romance was in the air.”

Caleb looks up at the TV. The announcers riff.

“You remember the aughts, Tina?”

“Eh. I mean, I was alive.”

“You have the Internet, though, right?”

“I do indeed, Bobby.”

“Well then surely you’ve been following this story out of Charm City.”

Caleb has never seen his dad on TV before, so it’s the cardigan he recognizes first, as in My dad has the same sweater as that dude on TV. But then Margot Hammer is there. As the crowd cheers, his dad and Margot…start kissing.

“Wait, what?” says Caleb.

“I give you world-class-rock-drummer-turned-viral-sensation Margot Hammer, seen here on the kiss cam at an O’s game with everyone’s new favorite random cardigan guy.”

“At least someone in an Orioles hat got to first base tonight.”

“Zing! But, yeah, Tina’s right, the Orioles got beat down by the Sox. But who cares? I mean, come on, look at those two. Go get ’em, Cardigan Guy!”

Caleb’s laptop screen pings.

Shin-Soo: Dude. Cay. Are you watching SportsCenter?

Chapter 25

“It’s a beautiful piano.”

“Thanks,” says Billy. “I catch myself staring at it sometimes. Is that weird?” He plays a few lazy bars of his go-to, “She’s a Rainbow,” and offers her an espresso.

Margot frowns at the robot octopus of a machine on the counter. “I’d be up all night,” she says. “And no, it’s not weird at all. I stare at my drums all the time.”

They’re back from the game, side by side at the Steinway, and he logs these details about her: she can’t drink coffee at night, she stares at her drums. Also, she doesn’t know how to match socks. “Those’re different,” he says.

Margot looks down at her feet, curls the toes of the right one. “I’m a little color-blind.”