Beach Blondes: June Dreams, July's Promise, August Magic (Summer) (24 page)

Not a good idea.

“You want something?” Marquez snapped.

“Look, it’s not like I was doing anything sneaky.”

Oh, no, no, Marquez thought. Like I don’t recognize that whole tilted-head, smiling, laughing, admiring-look thing. Like I haven’t used it on guys myself. “Oh, I know that,” Marquez said poisonously. “I know you’re still totally into Seth. Right? In fact, you guys are so tight you’re not even worried that he’s taking Summer scuba diving tomorrow.”

Yeah, chew on that,
Marquez thought. Hah. Yeah, hah! Summer told you that in confidence, Marquez, and you blurted it out just because you were angry at J.T.

But to Marquez’s surprise, Lianne did not explode. Instead she just looked a little wistful. “Sethie and Summer.” She sighed. “I guess…I guess I have no choice but to let that go. I was stupid to try so hard to hang on. I guess I’d gotten to the point of thinking Seth was the only guy in the world. And I was upset. But you know what?” She brightened. “Summer vacation will come to an end, and we’ll both go back to Eau Claire. Maybe Seth needs his little summer fling. So to speak. And maybe I should follow his example. Why get so upset? This is Crab Claw Key, right? The land of total freedom. The place with no rules. So, yes, maybe I should let Seth go for now, and see what other fun things there are to do.”

“Uh-huh. Maybe you could take up skydiving,” Marquez said. “Maybe you could try it without the parachute.”

“What a good idea,” Lianne said, batting her eyes. “Or maybe I could just take up J.T. He’s tall. I like tall guys. Do you think he likes petite, slender girls? Or is he just into…bigger girls, like you?”

Do not lose your temper,
Marquez ordered herself.
Do not go off on her, she’d just enjoy it, the sneaky little…
She took a deep breath. It was all for the best. It was over between her and J.T. It was a time of change. Summer and Adam were finished; Seth and Lianne were finished; she and J.T. were finished.

Time to move on. Time to let it go.

“You want J.T?” Marquez said coolly. “He’s all yours.”

Very mature, she congratulated herself as she walked away. Very sensible. When a relationship came to an end it was only natural that people would move on.

Only, she hadn’t expected J.T. to be able to move on quite this quickly. Fine. If that’s the way he wanted to be, she’d show him some moving on.

“This will be the day when I finally cross over the line that separates the tan from the untan,” Summer said. She lay back on the blanket and contemplated the red glow that came through her closed eyelids.

“This will be the day when I cross the line that separates the chubby thighs from the unchubby thighs,” Marquez said, lying beside her, but on her stomach. She looked down the beach, eyes shielded by sunglasses and a green plastic visor. “Because, see, that guy down there with the totally ripped abs is not going to be interested in chubby thighs.”

“Don’t make me look at guys,” Summer groaned. “If I have to roll over I’ll get all sandy. Besides, what does lying in the sun have to do with chubby thighs?”

“Oh, fine, so you
do
think I have chubby thighs.”

Summer sighed. “Marquez, you do not have chubby thighs. You have perfect thighs. If I were a guy, I’d go nuts for your thighs. No one in the entire history of the United States has ever had thighs to equal your thighs.”

“So you’re saying women in other countries have much better thighs?”

“I’m not talking to you anymore,” Summer said.

“Not talking to me? Good. Then I guess I can tell you,” Marquez said. “Because if you’re not talking to me you can’t yell at me. See, I may have kind of accidentally told Lianne you were going scuba diving with Seth.”

“I am now officially talking to you again,” Summer announced. “
Kind of
told Lianne?”

“As in I definitely told her. Look, I was mad,” Marquez explained. “I thought she was coming on to J.T.”

“The guy you don’t care about,” Summer said dryly.

“I don’t.”

“I see. You just get mad when some girl talks to him.”

“Exactly. If I have to be broken up, I don’t want him off having a good time somewhere,” Marquez said. “So I told her about you and Seth because I just wanted to have something to rub her face in.”

“Oh, great,” Summer said. “I can’t believe you let that slip.”

“I know. I’m sorry. It was pretty low. But it was Lianne…”

Silence fell for a few minutes. “All right already, so tell me. What did she say?” Summer demanded.

“Basically that she was writing Seth off for the summer,” Marquez said. “As in she’s discovered the joys of summer vacation flings, so let
Sethie
play tag with Summer, Lianne will just play with her new toy, J.T.”

“Ouch. Not that you care.”

“Or you, for that matter. I think it’s pretty clear that I don’t care what J.T. does, and you don’t really care about Seth.”

“This is all well-established,” Summer said.

“But I really am done with J.T.,” Marquez said. “Whereas you are already lining up on Seth. Adam isn’t even cold in his grave yet, and you’re scoping Seth. Poor Adam, tossed aside like yesterday’s trash. Good-bye, Mr. Merrick. Hello, Mr. Warner. Out with the charismatic boy billionaire, in with the sincere-yet-sexy carpenter.”

“I told you, it’s not like that,” Summer said lamely. “You really think Seth is sexy?”

“Sure. Plus he’s a nice guy.”

“That’s what I thought about Adam,” Summer said.

“You think Seth is hiding some darker side? No way. Hey, what about that card-reading lady? Didn’t she say one guy was going to be bad news? And wasn’t that Adam? Duh? And isn’t Diver the supposedly mysterious one? That leaves only Seth as the right one.”

“The one who would
seem
right,” Summer corrected. “Besides, I don’t believe in all that stuff.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I
don’t.
If I did, maybe I’d have figured out that Adam was trouble,” Summer said.

“That makes no sense. Oh, my God.”

“What?”

“You might want to dig a hole,” Marquez said under her breath. “You know the aforementioned charismatic boy billionaire? He’s about fifty feet away and closing in fast.”

“What should I do?” Summer asked. She felt panicky, like she should try to avoid him. Yet that was pretty well impossible, given that they were on a public beach. Besides, it was silly.

“Hmm, too bad he’s a dirtbag,” Marquez said. “The boy does look fine in a bathing suit.”

Summer decided against springing up and running like a scared rabbit. The only thing to do was be cool. She’d spent most of her life trying to be cool. Now would be a nice time to actually succeed.

His shadow fell over her. “Hi, Summer,” he said.

For once Marquez stayed quiet. For once Summer wished she wouldn’t.

“Hi, Adam,” Summer said in her squeaky fake-casual voice.

“Look, I…I kind of figured you might be here. I stopped by the Crab ’n’ Conch and they said you two left right after lunch.”

“Yes,” Summer said. “Yes, we both left. Right after lunch. The two of us.” She was half sitting, shading her eyes with her hand and squinting through one eye. Probably not an attractive look, she realized. Popeye in a two-piece.

“So, um, I was wondering if maybe we could talk,” Adam said. “Maybe walk down the beach.”

“I guess that means I’m not invited,” Marquez said.

“I think we should talk,” Adam said doggedly.

Summer hesitated only a moment. She let him take her hand and help her to her feet. They walked down to the water’s edge, then along the beach, with just the tepid lip of the Gulf cooling her toes.

“So,” he began. “What should we talk about? I wonder.”

Summer couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Not funny, I guess,” he said. He ran his fingers back through his hair and looked past her out over the sparkling green sea. “First of all, I’m really sorry about last night. Everything was going so perfectly, and then it all went down the toilet. Not exactly a great end to our date.”

“Adam, I don’t think that’s really the thing to worry about,” Summer said. They were talking like strangers. Like people who had just met. And she did
not
want to do this. She had decided to move on. To get past it as quickly as she could.

“I’m just saying, I hope you remember that things were really great before the whole thing there at the end. I want you to know that I don’t feel mad that you left or anything.”

Summer almost laughed. “That’s very generous of you.” There was no sign that Adam heard the sarcasm.

“Since you mention generosity,” he said. He reached into the pocket of his bathing suit and pulled out a small, gray, felt-covered jewelry box. It was oblong, with the name of a jeweler in gold letters. Adam opened the box, looked at what was inside, and handed the box to Summer. “Here. I hope this will help make it all up to you.”

Summer looked at the box and caught her breath. Inside it was a necklace, gold with a pear-shaped diamond in a simple setting. It seemed unlikely that anyone in the Merrick family ever bought fake diamonds or less expensive gold plate. Which meant that the value of this necklace was probably greater than the sum total of everything Summer Smith owned.

“I know it was kind of an intense scene and all,” Adam said, still holding the box out to her. “I just really hope we can go on, you know, get past it.”

“Get
past
it?” She made no move to accept the gift. The more she looked at it, and the more the meaning of it became clear, the angrier she felt. Why was he doing this?

“Sure,” Adam said. “I mean, there’s no reason why this should affect us. You and me. You’re not Diana.”

“I can’t believe you’re saying this,” Summer said. “I really can’t. No reason why it should affect
us
?”

He moved closer now. His face was just inches from hers. A face that she had kissed many times and had wanted to kiss many, many more times. He still exerted an almost magnetic pull over her. She could still recall all too clearly the sensation as his lips trailed down her throat…

“Why should Diana’s problems ruin what we have?” he pleaded earnestly.

“
Diana’s
problems? You make it sound like it’s no big deal.”

He looked troubled at her reaction. His eyes darted aside, then came back, renewing the link between them. “I don’t mean that. I know Diana’s been hurt. I wish I could do something to make her feel better, but I can’t.”

“Sure you can,” Summer said. “You can tell her you’ll back her up if she tries to do something about Ross.”

“What, testify against my own brother?” He sounded incredulous. “Is that what you’re saying I should do? I wouldn’t even
have
a family anymore if I did that.”

“Ross is messed up, Adam. I don’t know if he’s an alcoholic or what, but he’s dangerous.”

“He’s family,” Adam said, pleading. “Besides, give me a break. You think Diana’s some kind of poster child for good mental health? She was depressed long before this.”

“That doesn’t justify anything,” Summer said. Her voice was growing louder, to match his. “Ross tries to…he tries to rape Diana, and then you, her supposed boyfriend, help cover it all up?”

“My father is a rich and powerful man, Summer,” Adam said, almost sadly. “It’s the way the world is. I didn’t make the rules. I have no choice. I have to stick with my family. No matter what. You understand that.”

Summer bit her lip. “Yes,” she said sadly. “Of course I do. And Diana’s my cousin.
My
family.”

At last understanding seemed to dawn in his eyes. Understanding, and pain. Slowly he closed the jewelry box.

“You know what, though, Adam? If someone in my family was like Ross, I’d have to do whatever I could to stop him, even if that did mean sending him to jail. Because sooner or later Ross is going to hurt someone worse, or even kill someone. For his own good—”

“I don’t turn against my family,” Adam repeated.

“Then I guess we don’t have very much to say to each other.” She was relieved that she kept the tears out of her voice. She was not going to cry. Not now.

A smile flickered at the corner of his mouth. “You can be pretty cold when you want to, can’t you, Summer? Whatever happened to that golly, gee-whiz, Midwestern, Bloomington-Minnesota-home-of-the-Mall-of-America sweetness? Suddenly you’re acting so tough.”

Summer felt the tears welling up. Her throat was constricted and painful. Her voice was unnaturally low. “I guess you never really knew me all that well.”

Adam made one last attempt. He reached for her. “Summer, don’t just—”

Quite suddenly, without planning it or thinking about it, Summer slapped the jewelry box from his hand. It flew from his grasp and landed several feet away in the sand. “Whatever it is, I don’t want to hear it, you
creep
,” Summer yelled. “You jerk. You knew what Ross was capable of, and you put me right in the middle of it. And if he
had
tried to hurt me you’d have sold me out just like you did Diana. So don’t go waving some necklace in my face like that means something. You never did care anything about me, Adam. Maybe that’s why it’s been so easy for me to move past you. And you know what? In Bloomington-Minnesota-home-of-the-Mall-of-America, as you so sarcastically put it, maybe we know what we’re worth, and maybe we’re worth more than even you can pay.”

“Summer—”

“Oh, shut up,” she said. She turned her back on him, hiding a face contorted by tears and burning anger and regret.

Diana arrived home from her stint at the Dolphin Interactive Therapy Institute in the early afternoon. She had worked mostly with Lanessa, a little girl whose personal history before coming to the security of the institute was so horrible that reading her case file made Diana cry.

But on this day Lanessa had performed the amazing feat of actually talking to Jerry, one of the tame dolphins. Not just a whispered hello, but two long sentences. She’d told Jerry it was okay that he’d splashed her with water because she wasn’t mad at him. It had been a big moment for Lanessa, and for Diana, and even, Diana would have sworn, for Jerry. There was, of course, no way that the dolphins could really understand what was happening—all the professionals at the institute agreed on that. And yet, among the volunteers there was agreement that somehow the big, powerful animals understood everything that happened on an emotional level.

Diana always felt an afterglow from her time at the institute, and today, as she drove the twenty miles down the highway, it lasted all the way home.

Diana parked her little Jetta and went to her mother’s office. She sat down at the desk and filled in one of the presigned checks her mother had left her. She made it out to Seth Warner. He was almost done with the work on the stilt house, and Diana’s mother had asked her to pay him when it was completed. On her own initiative, Diana added an extra hundred dollars. Her mother would never notice it, but it would mean a lot to Seth.

She headed down to the stilt house, intending to leave the check with Summer. Unless Summer wasn’t home yet and Seth was still there.

Part of her hoped he was. He had been very kind. Her mind drifted back to disjointed memories of the night before. She had cried on his shoulder—literally. And he had held her. Awkwardly, perhaps, maybe a little embarrassed, no doubt worried that she would misinterpret.