Beach Blondes: June Dreams, July's Promise, August Magic (Summer) (25 page)

Diana hadn’t misinterpreted. She knew he wasn’t interested in her. Not in
that
way. How could he be? Seth was from that other world of normal, decent people. People of sun and laughter and easy happiness. People like Summer.

People not at all like Diana.

Diana walked out to the stilt house, holding the check in her hand, waving it like a big, visible excuse for intruding. She started to knock on the door, but it was ajar. She went in.

Seth was right there, his back to her, absorbed in something. A book.

Good grief, a school yearbook. Summer had brought her school yearbook with her. Diana almost laughed. Yes, Summer was a different variety of human being. And so was Seth, concentrating so closely on what was, undoubtedly, a grainy, badly done black-and-white picture of Summer.

Diana drew back outside. She sighed. She shouldn’t feel disappointed. Of course Seth was in love with Summer. Of course he was. How could he not be?

A pelican (named Frank, Summer insisted) swept in, wings beating the air. He settled on the railing.

“True love,” Diana whispered to Frank. She peeked around the corner. Seth was seated at the table now, the better to admire the yearbook photo. He had a wistful half-smile on his lips and was running his finger over the image. It made Diana want to cry. It would be a wonderful thing to be loved that way. A really wonderful thing.

Had Diana ever been loved like that? Had Adam once longed for Diana the way Seth longed for Summer? Diana smiled ruefully. Hard to imagine anyone feeling that way about her.

She knocked on the doorjamb. Seth jumped, startled. He flushed, looking guilty, and snapped the book shut.

“Just me,” Diana said. “You can continue drooling.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Seth said as though he actually expected her to believe him.

“Uh-huh. I have a check for you.” She flourished it and put it on the table for him.

“Well, I still have a few things left to do around here,” he said.

“Anything that will give you an excuse to be around Summer,” Diana said.

He didn’t answer. Instead he changed the subject. “It was nice of you to give me back the picture.”

“Have you burned it yet?”

“No. I won’t, either. It’s a nice photograph—even if it is the most embarrassing thing in my life. You were always talented with a camera.”

“Thanks,” she said.

“So, um, how are you doing?”

She shrugged. “It’s all ancient history,” she lied. “Old news. I don’t even know why I was weeping last night. Probably just an excuse to get to slobber all over you and make Summer jealous.”

“I don’t think we’re at the point where she’d be jealous of me,” Seth said sheepishly.

“Well, you obviously are, even if she isn’t,” Diana said, pointing to the yearbook.

He had no answer, just looked even more sheepish. Diana started several times to say something. What she wanted to say was,
Seth, any girl who doesn’t want you is a fool…
or,
Look, if it doesn’t work out with Summer…
or just
It would be nice to think that your shoulder would be there for me again, the next time I need to cry….

But all of those things would be the wrong things to say.

Instead she said, “You realize, of course, that I kept one copy of the picture.”

Seth laughed silently. “No, I don’t think you did.”

“No, I didn’t,” Diana admitted. “Seth, how come…”

“How come what?”

She’d been about to say,
How come we never went out? How come I never realized what a great guy you are? How come you never fell in love with me?
But she knew the answer. Seth could not be the person he was and love a person like Diana.

“Never mind. Enjoy the check.”

“Diana? I know this is none of my business, but are you thinking of doing anything about Ross? I hate to see him get away with what he did.”

Diana smiled. “What should I do?”

“I don’t know,” Seth admitted. “I guess I’d like to see you get justice.”

Diana nodded thoughtfully. “What’s the difference between justice and revenge?”

Seth shrugged. “I’m not sure, Diana.”

“Me neither,” Diana said. “But I’m thinking about it.”

“Okay, now you see why you use powder on the inside, right? So it will slide on easier,” Seth explained patiently. His upper torso was already encased in black and blue rubber. He stood with arms crossed over his chest, shaking his head critically.

Summer was making a spectacle of herself, trying to get her hand through the sleeve of the wet suit top. Her hand was stuck, and with every push or pull the rubber just stretched, with the result that she’d ended up turning in a circle trying to accomplish the simple act of getting dressed.

It would have been bad enough if only Seth had been there to watch her fight her idiot battle against the rubber, but they were at the end of the public beach, not far enough from afternoon sunbathers, several of whom were staring at her with frank amusement.

“Wasn’t there somewhere more private we could have done this?” Summer demanded, grunting as she at last popped her hand through. “Finally. Of course, I’ll never be able to get it off.”

“The only other choice was in the bay, and that’s no fun. Too much old crap, thrown-away tires, and old shoes and stuff in that water. Besides, over there you have all the tourists hot-rodding around in their rented motorboats.”

“And on that side I might not have had to do this in front of a thousand people,” Summer grumbled.

“Ignore them,” Seth advised.

“Why is this even necessary? The water here is hot, and the suit makes me feel like I can’t breathe.”

“The water’s not as warm deeper down,” Seth advised. “Besides, it’s just the top. Be grateful you aren’t wearing the pants, too. Now,
those
are hard to put on.” He smiled. “I think you look kind of sexy this way.”

“Very funny. I’m burning up. Anyway, we’re not going deep, are we?” She added the last part nervously. The fact that she was going to be breathing
under
the water was something she had avoided thinking about.

“No, not deep. I just want you to learn everything in the right order. Weight belt,” he said. He lifted a heavy belt studded with lead weights and leaned close to wrap it around her waist. “Normally we’d use a buoyancy compensator—”

“Oh, I love those,” Summer joked.

“Only, Trent didn’t have any spare to lend out. Okay, now, the tanks. Turn around.”

Seth hefted a single gray metal tank onto her back, helping her work her arms through the straps. It felt as if it weighed a hundred pounds. “I’m going to drown in all this.”

“No, you won’t drown. I won’t let you drown. You have your mask? Put it on your head but don’t pull it down yet.”

“Yes, master,” Summer grumbled. “At least that way no one will be able to recognize me. The whale girl. Free Willy. The newest attraction at Sea World.”

“Snorkel?”

“No thanks, I don’t snorkel. It’s an unhealthy habit. I gave it up.”

“Very funny,” Seth said, smiling. “But not as funny as the next part. Go ahead and put on your fins.”

“On my feet?”

“No, on your ears. Of course on your feet,” Seth said. He handed the huge, triangular flippers to her.

“My feet are all the way down there,” Summer said, pointing. “I can’t move, let alone bend over.”

“I’ll help you. This time.”

He bent down and fitted the fins on her feet. Then he stood up.

“Why is it that you look like James Bond or something,” Summer asked, “whereas I feel like Oprah
before
the diet?”

“You just have to get used to it. Besides, you look great.”

“We’re going to die, aren’t we?” she asked.

“Eventually. Not today, though. Knock on wood.”

“I don’t have any wood.”

“Oops.”

“Oh, you’re really funny,” Summer said.

“Since we don’t have any wood, how about a kiss for luck?” Seth said.

“In front of ten million people who are already trying not to laugh at me?” Not that she didn’t want to kiss him. She’d been thinking about it much of the afternoon as he solemnly went through all the instructions she needed, being so serious that his very seriousness had started to seem funny.

“You want
bad
luck?” Seth asked.

“This is total blackmail,” Summer grumbled. But she tilted back her head, lips parted, eyes drifting closed. The memory of their kiss over eggs had lingered. It had been an excellent kiss. And it wouldn’t mean she was getting too deeply involved with him or anything. It was just for luck.

To her annoyance, Seth planted a brief, light kiss on her forehead.

“We don’t need
that
much luck,” he said, obviously hugely amused by himself. “Come on.” He led the way the few feet to the water’s edge. “Now, remember everything we talked about. All kidding aside, it’s fairly easy to screw up, so do exactly what I tell you.”

“You’d like that.”

Flopping across the sand on her monstrous flippers, Summer made a face at Seth’s back. Water washed over her toes, which just made walking in fins even more difficult.

“Okay. Time to get wet,” he said after they had walked out a way. “Let’s do it.”

The first sensation was of drowning. Definite drowning. Summer sucked wet air through the snorkel in quick, panicky gasps. She couldn’t see anything at all.

Of course, that was because her eyes were shut.

Summer opened her eyes and nearly screamed. Her head was definitely underwater. She was breathing, but her head was underwater.

Okay, it wasn’t exactly deep water. Actually, the sandy floor of the Gulf of Mexico was only about two feet below her.

She sucked air through the snorkel again. A small wave broke over her and she caught a sickening mouthful of salty water. She swallowed it, and only then remembered that Seth had told her to spit it out and then clear her snorkel.

Great. Now she was going to die from drinking salt water. Everyone knew you couldn’t drink salt water.

Summer felt something tapping her on the back of the head. She looked up, raising her mask out of the water.

Seth was standing in front of her, grinning. “Takes getting used to, huh? Breathing underwater and all?”

“Ung gwesh sho,” Summer said. Then she spit out the snorkel mouthpiece. “I guess so.”

“Okay, we’re going to go out a little farther. You’ll swallow less salt water that way. By the way, there’s no shortage of oxygen on the planet. You don’t need to try to breathe it all at once. Easy does it.”

“We’re not going out
too
far,” Summer said anxiously.

“Summer, the water is so shallow here that if we swam out a quarter mile we’d barely be in ten feet.”

“Oh.”

“Follow me, now. I’ll be just a little ahead of you, okay? And I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Okay.”

She stuck her mask under water again, this time keeping her eyes open, and tried to breathe normally. It took a while till her breathing became anything like normal, but eventually it did. She learned to clear her snorkel when a gulp of seawater poured in. She learned to swim by moving her legs slowly, powerfully, letting her fins do part of the work.

Gradually, very, very gradually, the sandy floor of the Gulf fell away. Two feet. Three feet. Four feet. She glanced over at Seth, arms trailing casually at his side, legs working regularly. He looked at her every few seconds, checking to see that she was okay, his eyes looking overly intense behind the mask.

It wasn’t the worst feeling in the world, the way he was so concerned. It did make her feel safe. And he was so obviously at home out here.

Kind of ironic, Summer thought. She’d gone floating at night with Diver, but she was diving with Seth. Somewhere in there was irony, she wasn’t sure where.

Seth reached over and took her arm gently, signaling her to stop. They both came to rest, and Summer stood up.

Only, the Gulf floor wasn’t four feet below her. It looked like four feet. But it was at least six, which was unfortunate, since that left all of Summer underwater.

She gasped and fought her way back to the surface. Seth put his arms around her. Summer spit salt water directly in his face.

“Oh, sorry! Oh, gross,” she cried.

Seth laughed. “It’s okay. I was already wet.”

“Yeah, but I spit on you. I thought it was more shallow.” She was chattering, not from cold, but from the shock of discovering she was so far out in the ocean. She twisted back and forth to try to find the land. It was harder treading water with tanks and a weight belt, though the wet suit top seemed to give her some buoyancy.

“We’re only about a hundred yards out,” Seth reassured her.

“How come I can’t see the beach?”

“Because it’s behind you.” He turned her around, held her by the waist, and boosted her up to see over the crests of the tiny waves.

“Oh.” Beach umbrellas could be seen very clearly. Parallel with her, a small boy rode an inflated air mattress. They had not exactly swum all the way to Bermuda.

“Okay, ready to try going on the regulator?”

“I guess so,” Summer said gamely.

Seth went back over a list of all the things he’d told her on land, making sure she understood everything she had to do.

“By the way,
now
we need more luck,” he said.

“I’ll drown,” she said.

“No, you won’t.” He put his arms around her, or at least as far as he could with the bulky tank on her back. This time he really kissed her and she kissed him back, a salty, strange, intense kiss. He held her on the surface by powerful strokes of his fins, buoying her. She put her arms around his neck, feeling at once exposed and invisible in the trough between gentle swells.

“Now we’ll have plenty of luck,” he said.

“You’re sure this is part of the training?” Summer asked, trying to sound flip, but with a slap of water in the face, gargling instead.

Finally, when she was ready, he helped fit the regulator mouthpiece in her mouth. It was a little like doing the kindergarten trick where you shove an orange peel over your teeth.

“Ung mung lnk hrnhy nhad,” she said.

“Did you ask if you looked pretty silly with that thing in your mouth?”

Summer nodded.

“The answer is yes. Come on. See you below.”

Summer tested the air coming through the regulator. It seemed like normal air.

She stuck her head under the water and let herself sink slowly down. Seth was already below her, looking up protectively. She began to swim, slowly descending toward him.

Now, this! This was cool, Summer thought. Okay, this was definitely cool. Much cooler than drifting around on the surface with the snorkel.

I am underwater!

She did a slow roll over onto her back and looked up at the surface of the water. The brilliant yellow sun was nearly blinding, even through the ripples of the sultry waves. She exhaled an explosive cloud of bubbles and watched them rise, circling and bobbing and sparkling in the sunlight.

Her mind went back to the night with Diver, watching the stars overhead, floating motionless between sea and space. And before that she had looked out over this same sea with Adam, skimming across it in his boat. Now here she was with Seth, encased in protective rubber armor, literally beneath the waves, invading an alien world, a vast new undiscovered universe.

She was sure there was some profound meaning there somewhere.

She touched the bottom and trailed her hand through the sand, stirring up a tiny whirlpool. Okay, Summer thought jubilantly, now summer vacation is back on track.

This would be fun with anyone, she told herself. It’s not because I’m with Seth.

Seth floated by, paused, and waved his hand in a slow, beckoning gesture that meant “follow me.”

He was leading her deeper. She hoped he wouldn’t take her too deep.

“Look, you
have
to come,” Summer insisted. “I want to get some stuff to go on my walls. I have brand-new linoleum and brand-new tile and even brand-new grout, and all I have on my walls is nothing. Besides, I need a book about fish.”

Summer and Marquez were on the lawn with Diana, who wished they would go away. Marquez was just back from work, flush with tip money. Summer was back from scuba diving and had not shut up about it yet. They stood over Diana, who was lying on a beach chair under two layers of sunscreen, baking and thinking.

“Yeah, we really, really want you to come with us,” Marquez said. “Really.”

Diana shook her head wearily. “Let me guess. Marquez can’t borrow her parents’ car, and you both need a ride.”

“You shouldn’t be so cynical,” Summer chided.

“Yeah. You’re right, we do need you to drive, but still, cynicism isn’t called for,” Marquez said.

Diana nodded thoughtfully. “Summer, do you happen to have one of those little, tiny tape recorders?”

“What? Why?”

Diana looked bored. “I need one, okay?”

“I don’t have one,” Summer said.