When Diana got home from shopping, the apartment was empty. It was also hot, stuffy, and an incredible mess. Cardboard boxes were stacked everywhere. Crumpled newspaper littered the floor. One of Marquez’s bras was stuck between the couch cushions. A stack of dirty dishes leaned precariously in the sink.
Was it any wonder Summer had lost her engagement ring in this chaos? Of course, Diana knew, there was a psychological element to it, too. It was way too symbolic, given Summer’s flirtation with Austin, for it not to have been.
Diana tossed her shopping bags onto the couch. A skirt, two tops, a dress, a pair of shorts, some silver earrings, and the pack of photos from the one-hour lab at the mall. The only thing she hadn’t gotten around to was picking up some shoes.
She checked her watch. Well, she could at least try calling him. There was a chance he’d be home from work by that time. Diana would have to get Seth’s number from Summer’s address book.
She rummaged through the pile of stuff next to Summer’s bed and finally located the little blue address book. Summer had drawn red hearts around Seth’s name. How very cute, Diana thought. How very cute and insincere. She copied Seth’s number and address down on a piece of scrap paper and put the address book back where she’d found it.
Her eyes fell on a pair of Summer’s shoes, brand-new leather ones with chunky lug soles that would look great with the black micromini Diana had just bought at Burdine’s that afternoon. Would it be tacky to borrow your cousin’s never-worn shoes while you were borrowing her slightly used boyfriend?
Diana slipped her foot into the right shoe. It was a little snug, but she could get by for a night if she had to. She tried on the other one. Her toe hit something hard, like a piece of metal.
Frowning, Diana took off the shoe and felt inside.
The minute she touched it, she knew she’d hit gold. Literally.
She pulled out the ring and held it up to the light.
It was too bad Diana didn’t believe in signs. Because this one was a neon-lit, bigger-than-life, in-your-face sign if she’d ever heard of one.
She grabbed her cell phone, stretched out on her bed, and dialed the number she’d copied out of Summer’s address book.
She slipped the ring onto her finger. She could not seem to stop smiling.
For a giddy second she thought about putting everything on the line, just telling Seth there and then how she felt. She never really had, except in those letters she hadn’t had the guts to mail.
Wait, she told herself. Savor it. She had to wait till the time was right. In romance, timing was everything.
“Seth?” she said when he answered on the second ring. “You’ll never guess who this is.”
It was only two flights of stairs from Jitters to the apartment, but Marquez felt as though she were climbing Everest. She must have gained weight, must have. How else could she explain this heaviness in her limbs? Her legs and arms felt like big sacks of flour.
She’d worked her butt off at lunch and even stayed late, but still she’d only made a lousy sixteen bucks in tips. She was never going to make it through the school year this way. Maybe she could find a classier place to work or take on some more shifts. Maybe even pick up a second job for the summer.
At the door to the apartment, she fumbled for her key. Her hands had been shaking all day. Her breath came in sharp gasps. She definitely had gained weight. She was going to have to buy a new scale—if she could ever come up with the spare cash.
It was hot inside, and dark. The louvered doors were closed. She heard a muffled voice coming from the room Summer and Diana shared. The bedroom door was closed.
She wondered if the phone had been installed yet. But no, that was supposed to happen next week. It must be someone on Diana’s cell phone.
Curious, Marquez put her ear to the door.
“Oh, come on, Seth. For old times’ sake.”
Diana? Talking to Seth?
“We had fun over New Year’s, didn’t we?”
Marquez leaned a little too hard on the door, making it rattle. Instantly Diana yanked it open. The phone was in her hand.
“Oh,” she said, looking immensely relieved, “it’s you. I thought maybe it was Summer. What were you doing? Eavesdropping?”
“I was just wondering who you were talking to, is all.”
“When did you get home?”
“Just now.” Marquez pointed to the phone. “Is that Seth?”
“Um, yeah. I was just…um, letting him know I’ll be out west with Mallory. You know. In case we could all get together.”
“You and Mallory and Seth.”
“Yeah. You know, for dinner or something.” Diana shoved the phone at her. “You wanna say hi?”
“I’m kind of beat. You tell him hi for me.”
“Sure. I will.” Quickly Diana shut the door behind her.
Marquez went to her room. Very strange, she thought as she shed her waitron clothes for her exercise gear. Diana’s acting as though she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Marquez sometimes wondered if maybe there wasn’t something a little odd going on between Seth and Diana.
Marquez tied on her sneakers. It wasn’t anything she could put her finger on. Certainly not the kind of thing she’d ever mention to Summer, who had a vivid imagination when it came to problems of any stripe.
In the kitchen, Marquez surveyed the cupboard. She’d skipped breakfast and lunch, which was good, because she was clearly putting on the pounds again. She got out a piece of bread, a knife, and a plate. Carefully she sliced the bread into four squares. She sliced each of those squares into four more pieces.
She could hear Diana’s laughter in the other room. It was probably nothing. And if it wasn’t, Marquez didn’t want to know about it. She had enough on her mind without getting into some mess between Diana and Summer.
She picked up one of the squares, placed it on her tongue, and hesitated. Just two. She would eat only two of the tiny squares. The rest she would save for dinner.
Marquez ate the bread very slowly. She put the other squares in a plastic bag and took it to her bedroom. In her top dresser drawer there were two other bags, each with their own squares of bread. She’d been good those times. She hadn’t eaten any of the extra squares.
She’d just climbed onto her exercise bike when Diana emerged from her bedroom, looking flushed and hyper.
“So,” Diana said energetically, “want to see what I bought today?”
“Not unless you got a bathroom scale,” Marquez said. Slowly she began pedaling. Her legs did not want to cooperate.
Diana sat on the couch, studying Marquez as if she were an exotic zoo animal. “Didn’t you just get off work?”
“Yeah, and I’m picking up a dinner shift tonight.”
“Did you have lunch? There’s some pizza in the fridge we could nuke.”
“I already ate.”
Diana frowned. “Marquez, I know you don’t want advice from me—”
“You got that right.”
“—but don’t you think maybe you’re overdoing it? The dieting and the exercising and working extra shifts.”
“Not all of us can spend our days running up the credit cards, Diana,” Marquez muttered. “Some of us have to work for a living.” She was annoyed at the sound of jealousy in her own voice.
“If you need money—”
“I don’t need money. As it happens, I still owe you from that credit card I used over spring break.”
“Don’t worry about that, Marquez.”
“Look, Diana, I’m going to pay you back every penny, one way or another.” Marquez pedaled harder. Sweat poured off her brow, and she’d barely started.
Diana opened the front porch doors to let in more breeze. “You look kind of worn out, to tell you the truth, Marquez. Your parents just moved, and you’re working really hard. That can be awfully stressful.”
“Did you learn that at your dolphin job? What, did they make you an honorary psychologi
st?”
Diana looked annoyed, to Marquez’s satisfaction. She was silent for a few blissful minutes. Then she started in again.
“We’ve had a couple of girls there…” Diana pursed her lips, as if she wasn’t sure whether to continue. “Girls with, you know, dieting problems. There’s a woman who works with them, a counselor who’s really cool. I could give you her name.”
Marquez stopped pedaling. She could feel the anger moving inside her like a caged animal. “Are you suggesting I need a shrink because I’m trying to lose a few pounds?”
“It’s not just a few pounds, Marquez. And maybe you can fool your family and Summer, but I’m around you more. I’m just saying that I could give you her name if you wanted to talk. I’d pay for it, too.”
Marquez sent Diana her steeliest gaze. “I do not need your help running my life, Diana. If we’re going to be sharing this apartment, let’s get that straight right now. I’m not going to pry into your complicated little mind. I’m not going to ask why you’re calling your cousin’s fiancé. I’m not going to, because I’ve got my own life to keep track of, and that’s hard enough. All right?”
Diana held up her hands. “Okay, okay. You’re right. I’m sorry.” She gave a shrug. “What do I know, anyway? I do a little volunteer work now and then, and suddenly I think I’m Sigmund Freud.”
She headed for her room. “Just for the record, there’s nothing going on between Seth and me.” She smiled frostily. “But you’re right. It’s none of your business, anyway.”
17
Summer Goes to Dreamland, and Diana Goes to La-La Land
Summer checked her alarm clock. Three-twenty in the morning. Diana was snoring very loudly. And she claimed Summer made noise!
She rolled off her mattress and made her way across the floor, nearly tripping on an open suitcase. Diana was leaving early that morning for California. Aunt Mallory was picking her up, and Diana had been nice enough to say Summer could use Diana’s car while she was gone.
Summer gently closed the door behind her. Marquez’s door was shut. The main room was striped by yellow moonlight coursing through the louvered doors. The air was hot and sticky, even for a June night.
She located Diana’s cell phone under a pile of clothes. Carefully she punched in the numbers. Please, please, please, let it be Seth who answers, she thought. It wasn’t as late in California, but he and his roommates got up early for work.
To her relief, the sleepy voice at the other end was Seth’s.
“Hi, it’s me, Summer,” she whispered. “Did I wake you?”
“No.” Seth yawned. “Well, okay, yes. But I’m glad you did. Is anything wrong?”
She sat on the couch, hugging her knees. “Not really. I just wanted to talk, is all.”
For a sudden, vivid moment, she flashed back to that afternoon and the way she’d felt in Austin’s arms. Guilt washed over her like an icy wave.
“This isn’t about, uh, Diana, is it?”
“Diana? No, why?”
“Nothing. I was just wondering.”
“She’s coming out to California this weekend with my aunt. There probably won’t be time, but I thought I’d give her your address, you know, in case they can stop by. Would that be okay?”
“Um, sure.” There was a long pause. “Yeah, that’d be okay.”
“I don’t have to if you don’t want. I could just tell her you’re really tied up with work. I know Diana can be kind of…well, Diana.”
“It’s okay,” Seth said, sounding a little edgy. “Whatever.”
“You’re tired. I should let you go back to sleep.”
“No, don’t go,” Seth said quickly. “Don’t go yet. I like just hearing your voice. What did you do today?”
“I went job hunting.” With Austin. “Then I stopped by that college we applied to, Carlson.” With Austin. Then I kissed Austin till I thought I’d pass out.
“What’s it like?”
“Carlson? I thought it was pretty cool. I met a teacher there. A teaching assistant, really. She said it’s true what they say about it being a tough curriculum.”
“I’m glad I didn’t get in, then,” Seth said. “We want to have some fun during college, after all.”
“What if…” Summer took a deep breath. “What do you think would have happened to us if we’d decided to go to different colleges? You know, like Mindy Burke and Joe McGrath? You think we would have been able to pull it off?”
“I don’t know. It was hard enough with me living just a couple of hours away from you in Wisconsin. I can’t imagine doing that for four years straight, can you?”
“No.” Summer bit her lip. “I guess not.”
Seth yawned again.
“We should hang up,” Summer said. “I just wanted to hear your voice for a minute. Sometimes it feels like you’re so far away, and I feel so lost, you know?”
“I know. Me, too. But it won’t be forever.”
Summer felt a hot tear make its way down her cheek. “I love you, Seth,” she whispered, and then she hung up before she started crying.
She lay on the couch, sobbing softly into the smelly old cushions, hoping she wouldn’t wake Diana or Marquez. She didn’t want to have to explain herself. She didn’t want to try to explain how she was torn between two guys—one the safe and sweet choice, the other challenging and passionate.
Or how she was torn between two colleges—one the comfortable and simple choice, the other difficult and even scary.
She was even torn, she suddenly realized, between two places. The place where she’d grown up, where her family and long-term friends were, where the winters were bitter and the summers brief, and her adopted home there in the Keys, where the summers were sweltering but the sun never, ever stopped shining.
She closed her eyes and fell into a fitful, uneasy sleep.
She dreamed that she was in a classroom at Carlson. There was only one other student present—Austin. He was standing at the board, wearing his Jitters T-shirt, writing down an equation that explained the complex physics principles involved in the act of kissing. Summer tried to keep up, but she kept getting confused:
x/y
2(x-y) x (Summer-Seth)
Austin = the right answer
Every time she raised her hand to get help, the telephone in her book bag would ring. And every time she answered it, it was Seth, wanting to know what she’d done with her engagement ring.
She got a lousy night’s sleep.
Diana tiptoed out of the bedroom around six o’clock. Summer, for some reason, was sprawled out on the couch, softly snorting, as usual.
Well, no point in waking her. Quick, clean getaways were always the best.
Diana sneaked past the couch, her suitcase in tow. She stole another guilty glance at her cousin. She was a beautiful girl, in the wholesome, sunny way that guys like Seth always fell for. She looked so sweet and guileless that Diana felt an annoying twinge of remorse.
It wasn’t as though she hadn’t tried to keep Summer and Seth together, she reminded herself. Summer was the one who’d allowed Austin back into her life. Summer was the one who’d blown her chance with Seth.
Diana eased open the door. She could wait for Mallory, who would undoubtedly be late, down at Jitters, maybe have herself a latte and a cinnamon roll.
The door creaked like something out of a bad horror movie. Summer stirred instantly.
“Diana? Are you leaving already?”
“Yep. See you in a couple of days. The car keys are on my dresser.”
Diana scooted out the door, but it was too late.
“Hey, wait.”
She set down her bag with a sigh. “I’m kind of in a hurry, Summer.”
“Sorry. I was just thinking you might want Seth’s number and address, in case you have time.”
Damn. Diana hesitated. She could let it go, pretend she hadn’t called Seth, but Marquez might spill it.
“Not necessary. I called him yesterday to see if he’d
be around.”
“You did?” Summer sat up, rubbing her eyes. “But I just talked to him last night, and he didn’t mention it.”
Diana studied her manicured nails. “Well, we just touched base for a sec. He probably forgot, is all.”
“Maybe.”
“Hey, I borrowed your black shoes. Is that okay?”
“Sure. We’re roommates. What’s mine is yours.”
Diana cleared her throat. “Well, I gotta run. Good luck with the job hunt—”
“Listen, one other thing.” Now Summer looked fully awake, even wary. “If you do see Seth—”
“I probably won’t. There won’t be a lot of time, and you know Mallory—”
“But if you do, do me a favor and don’t mention Austin. It would just worry Seth. You know how he is.”
“I don’t see why you’d care. It’s not like there’s anything going on between you and Austin, right?”
“Just don’t mention him, all right?” Summer said pointedly.
“You know me better than that, Summer.” Diana grabbed her bag. “Gotta run.”
“And Diana? The same thing goes for the ring, right? I mean, who knows, it may still turn up.”
Diana gave a fleeting smile. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all.”
18
Summer Makes a Call while Diana Pays a Call
“You’ve been staring at that cell phone for hours, Summer,” Marquez chided that afternoon. “Lift your feet, by the way. I’m in full sweep mode.”
“Would you please stop cleaning already?” Summer pulled her feet up onto the couch so Marquez could rush past with a broom. “You’re making me feel guilty.”
“This place is a sty.”
“Yeah, but since when is that an issue for you? Your old room was never exactly neat, Marquez. I remember one time it took you three days to locate your bed.”
Marquez whisked dirt into a dustpan with frantic little strokes. “This is different. There are three of us slobs now. Although, to be fair, Diana is truly the queen of crap.” She pointed toward a pile of cardboard boxes stacked against one wall. “Look at all that stuff. She’s just waiting for the maid to show up.”
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