A Sucker for Injured Creatures

Summary

• The protagonist, Cameron, has a sore body from his work at an aquarium and sleeping on a bad mattress.
• After paying to get his tire fixed and dealing with the stench of his mattress, he is now financially strapped as he waits for his first paycheck from the aquarium job.
• Cameron goes to a real estate office to find information about a man named Simon Brinks who he believes to be his father.
• The realtor, Jessica Snell, initially denies any knowledge of Brinks but eventually agrees to help him, being sympathetic when he tells her he was abandoned by his mother and has never met his father.
• Meanwhile, a girl named Avery, a worker from the surf shop next door, enters the office to complain about lack of hot water. Avery is irritated with Cameron, thinking he is using the realtor for some scheme.
• Jessica eventually finds a directory of potential addresses for Simon Brinks. Cameron thanks her and heads over to Avery's paddle shop.
• After a back-and-forth exchange where Cameron insists he's not trying to scheme anyone and shares his search for his father, Avery softens and gives him some pain-relief cream and her phone number.
• Cameron gets home to hear from his landlord, Ethan, that there is a call from the baggage services of an airline company.
• When he calls back, he learns that his lost duffle bag has ended up in Naples, Italy, rather than being returned to him in the US, so he needs to liaise with the airline's European partner to get it back.