about Ellie, but thereâs nothing useful except for what I saw last time about her not being what she seems.
Iâm just about to slam the book shut in frustration when something catches my eye under a section titled âAmir.â
âEllie dumped Amir today. She waited until his shift at FP Sushi ended, and then she gave him the ring back in front of everyone. He begged her to change her mind, but she said that his kids were a deal breaker.â
The entry is dated last August, almost exactly a year ago.
Oh my goldfish. Does this mean Ellie was engaged to someone else at the resort? âFP Sushiâ has to mean Four Palms Sushi. I scan the rest of the Amir notes, but thereâs nothing else except one mention of his twin sons.
My head is pounding as I shove the Gossip File under the counter. Then I head to the back of the café and peek my head into the storeroom.
âWhat are we ever going to do with ten pounds of granola?â Carrie says with a laugh, pointing to a giant container in the corner. âIâm pretty sure that stuffâs been here as long as Iâve been alive. Maybe we should have thrown it into the sinkhole.â
âHey, Carrie,â I say. âDo you know a guy named Amir?â
She thinks for a second. âYou mean Amir who works at the sushi place? I think heâs the manager or something.â
âYes!â I say. âHeâs still there?â
âI think so. I think Iâve only met him a couple of times.â Her brow furrows. âI think he was dating Ellie for a while. But who cares about that, right?â
âNo. I want to hear more about it.â
âIâm not really the person to ask. If you want the dirt on the whole thing, why not just ask Amir?â
Itâs my turn to laugh. âYeah, right. I canât ask a total stranger about his ex-girlfriend.â
Carrie shrugs. âI guess that would be awkward.â
And yetâ¦what choice do I have? Maybe if I can find out what happened between Ellie and Amir, itâll help me figure out what to do. At this point, I donât know if I can save my vacation, but at least I can still save my dad.
â¢â¢â¢
As Iâm leaving the cafe, my phone rings. Itâs Evan.
âHey, Booger Crap,â he says when I answer. I can actually hear him grinning. âHow are things going?â
âUm, okay,â I say, which feels like a lie. Thereâs so much to tell him that I donât even know where to start. âIâm not sure about my dad and Ellie, but otherwise things are good.â
âWhat happened?â he says.
âShe, umâ¦I think sheâs going to ask him to marry herâ¦at Disney.â
Evan sucks in a breath. âReally? Wow.â
âYeah.â
âBut thatâs not so bad, right?â he says. âI mean, your mom found someone new too. And your parents are almost divorced.â
âYou donât understand. Ellieâs⦠She wants everything to be some bizarro version of perfect. She pretends that family is the most important thing to her, but I just found out she dumped a guy last year because of his kids. You should see how she is, always telling my dad what to do, taking over his whole life. If my dad marries her, I might never see the real him again!â
âSo what are you going to do?â Evan knows me well enough by now to guess that I wonât sit by and do nothing.
âWhat I always do,â I say, chuckling. âFumble around doing stupid things until I make a total mess.â
Evan doesnât laugh. Instead, he says, âI know you want to help, but be careful.â
Heâs right. Iâve learned my lesson about sneaky schemes, but I need to do something to help my dad. Otherwise, I might lose him forever.
âI will,â I tell Evan.
But as I hang up, I realize that I canât afford to be careful, not when I only have ten days left to