Finally, Eliza turned to Mara. "I'm really sorry. For everything. I really hope ... I mean, I hope you know I would never do anything
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to hurt you," she said, her voice cracking. "I know you and Ryan are meant to be, and I made a mistake, and I'm really sorry. I wish I'd told you about Palm Beach earlier--I tried, but not hard enough. ..."
" 'Liza, don't. Please don't cry," Mara said. "I was so awful to you at the fashion show, and I accused you of taking those stupid earrings. I'm so embarrassed. It's my fault too."
"No, really, it's me," Eliza said, wiping at her face with her whole palm. She reached down and blew her nose on the bottom of her gorgeous Missoni shirt. It was such an un-Eliza move that Mara and Jacqui had to laugh.
Mara nodded. "I trust you," she said simply. And, looking in her heart, she found that it was true. She really did trust Eliza. People made mistakes. She understood that now. And as happy as she was to be with Ryan again, her friendship with Eliza was just as important. You only met a few kindred spirits in your life, and you had to hold on to the ones you were lucky enough to find.
Eliza's eyes filled with tears again. In a hoarse voice, she said, "I hope you guys know you're the best friends I've ever had."
Jacqui slung an arm around each of their shoulders, and the three of them hugged each other tightly. Mara started to sob too, and without entirely totally knowing why, Jacqui did as well. They'd been so lonely without each other.
"Hey, look ..." Jacqui said, pointing to some trash that had washed up on the beach. "Doesn't that look like our bottle?"
Mara almost couldn't believe it, but it was the same rum
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bottle they'd hidden their message in at the start of the summer. What were the chances?
Eliza pulled the cork open and fished out the label. On top of the scrap was their note: Hello from Mara Waters, Eliza Thompson, and Jacarei Velasco in the Hamptons. We're having the summer of our lives. If you find our bottle, please write your name and a note and toss it back into the ocean.
Scrawled on the bottom of the page was the following:
Hello from Nova Scotia, Canada, from Sandra Shepherd, Alana King, and Margritte Lyon. We found your bottle floating in White Point Beach. We're having an amazing summer, too!
Jacqui, Eliza, and Mara laughed. It was like a little miracle.
"Nova Scotia! God, that's far away," Eliza said.
"The hurricane probably pushed it farther," Jacqui surmised. "Or brought it back."
"I wonder if they're like us," Mara mused, touching her neck. The Mikimoto pearl necklace. Mitzi had said it was hers to keep at the start of the summer. It was the only real gift from the designers. Mara thought of a certain tall redheaded sister of hers who would love it.
"Next summer--we'll be back!" Eliza declared. "Next summer-- I know this sounds so cheesy, but I promise--it'll be the best summer yet. It'll be the summer of our lives."
Jacqui and Mara smiled indulgently. They were all thinking of the Internet ad that had gotten the three of them together in the first place. Would they au pair for the Perrys again? It was hard to
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say. Ryan had told Mara about little cottages you could rent down on the beach. Eliza was already planning her next internship, maybe for a fashion designer--she'd had enough of nightclub hostessing. And Jacqui . . . well, Jacqui was just thinking of how cute Kit had looked yesterday, and of making her dreams of NYU come true.
The day after the hurricane, the world was still, and at peace. It was a cleansing, a catharsis. The Hamptons would survive: During the fall the roads would be repaired, the monstrous houses rebuilt, and, come May, a new crew of hopefuls looking for fun and sun would come to play, fall in love, and drink too much champagne on the sandy white beaches.
Mara, Jacqui, and Eliza vowed that they would be back. Next summer would be here before they knew it.
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to Les Morgenstein, Josh Bank, Ben Schrank, and everyone else at Alloy for their wit, wisdom, and encouragement. Thanks to Emily Thomas, Jennifer Zatorski, Tracy van Straaten, and Rick Richter at Simon & Schuster for the wonderful support. Thanks to Deborah Schneider and Cathy Gleason for the thoughtful guidance.
Much love and thanks to all my family and friends, especially the DLCs; Bert, Ching, and Francis de la Cruz; Aina, Steve, and Nicholas Green; the Johnstons; Dennis, Marsha, John, Anji, Alexander, Tim, Rob, Jenn, and Valerie, and all the rest of the Ongs, de la Cruzes, Torreses, Gaisanos, and Izumis out there. Thanks to Kim De Marco, Deborah "Diva" Gittel, Thad and Gabby Sheely, Tristan Ashby, Gabriel Sandoval, Liz Craft, Caroline Suh, Tyler Rollins, Karen Robinovitz, Audrey Slivka, Katie Davis, Tina Hay, Tom Dolby, Lisa Marsh, Alyssa Giacobbe, Sarah Eisen, Jason Oliver Nixon, Andrew Stone, Paige Herman, Juliet Gray, Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss, and Ed "Jean-Luc" Kleefield.
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Thanks to the Flatotel, Khrystine Muldowney at Chanel, Siren PR, Norah Lawlor, and everyone at Lawlor Media Group for the fabulous New York launch. Thanks to Citrine, Nadia, Meredith, and everyone at Wagstaff Worldwide for the awesome West Coast party.
Thanks to everyone who dished and whose names I cannot mention here. You know who you are.
Last, I'd like to thank all of you who e-mailed, reviewed, and blogged about The Au Pairs. Thank you for your enthusiasm and good wishes. May all your summers be fun and scandalous!
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About the Author
MELISSA DE LA CRUZ is the author of many books, including The Au Pairs and her autobiographical teen novel Fresh off the Boat. She is also the coauthor of the tongue-in-cheek handbook to fashion The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-Inch Heels and Faux-Pas. Look for her next novel, The Fortune Hunters, and the forthcoming Blue Blood series in 2006.
Melissa has appeared as an expert on style, trends, and fame for CNN and the E! Entertainment Network and has written for Glamour, Marie Claire, Harpers Bazaar, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and The New York Times. She started her journalism career as a nightclub reviewer (and was once thrown out of a New York nightclub for giving it a bad review!).
She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, but considers herself bicoastal, since mentally, she's still in New York (and the Hamptons). You can e-mail her at [email protected]. And check out the Web site: www.theaupairs.com
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