They took off down the winding, wooded path through the Merrick estate.
“I didn’t say good night to Adam,” Summer said.
“Too late now,” Marquez said. “Besides, I think he disappeared around midnight with a bunch of guys who said they were going to drive to some club down in Key West.”
“Oh.”
Marquez rolled her eyes. “If you’re going to hang around with Adam Merrick, you have to deal with the fact that he and his buds move kind of fast.”
“Oh,” Summer said again, nodding vaguely.
“So, you going to see him again?”
“I don’t know. I think so. I hope so. He said he’d like to take me out on a real date. You know, dinner and all that. Day after tomorrow.”
“You don’t sound totally psyched.”
“I’m just tired,” Summer said. “And it seems unreal, you know? This whole place. All of a sudden I meet a bunch of new people and go to a big party at a senator’s house and kiss this guy I barely even met.”
“Uh-huh. So, it was good, right?”
Summer giggled unexpectedly. “The first one was too quick, and I didn’t even know what was happening. Later we had a longer one. That was kind of nice.”
“Kind of nice?” Marquez made a face. “Don’t tell that to Adam. He thinks he’s the stud prince of planet earth.”
“It’s not that,” Summer said. “It’s just that I don’t have all that much to compare it to. I mean, half the time I was just scared that I would do something stupid, you know? Like burp or suddenly develop instazits. I’ve never kissed someone famous before.”
Marquez smiled. “But how did it make you feel?”
Summer nodded her head from side to side and scrunched her face up, struggling for some definition. “It made me feel slightly sick. Like maybe I was getting the flu. Or else like the time I visited my grandmother in Virginia and we went on a roller coaster at King’s Dominion. It was my first ever roller coaster, and I felt sick but also giddy and wobbly. It was fun, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to go on it again. Do you know what I mean?”
Marquez nodded knowingly. “You’ll go on it again.”
12
Video Blog
Hi, Jennifer. Sorry I’m whispering, but Diver is asleep up on the roof and I don’t want him to hear me. Yes, I know, I need to explain about that. I guess a lot’s been happening even though I feel like I just got here.
Anyway, it’s almost two o’clock in the morning, but I couldn’t fall asleep mostly because I’m kind of excited. I mean, I’m really excited, I guess. You know what happened tonight? This guy kissed me. This guy named Adam. Not Seth. Seth is the other one I told you about, the using creep with a girlfriend.
Forget him. This is Adam I’m talking about now. Totally different situation. I hope.
Now I’m going to tell you his last name, but you have to swear, absolutely swear, you won’t tell anyone, and I mean it. Okay. Did you swear?
Adam Merrick. You know, like the senator? His son. They have a house you would not believe. You’d faint if you saw it. It’s the size of a castle. Diana’s mom’s house is like one tenth the size. Anyway, we went to a party there, me and Marquez.
Wait, I haven’t told you about Marquez, either. Marquez is this girl I met here. She’s very cool and dances really well. Anyway, we’re going to this party at the Merrick estate, right? And we fall into the water. I mean, I fall into the water, being the klutzoid one. And Adam jumps in and gets me, not that I was drowning or anything, but he didn’t know that. So later he says I should let him kiss me because he rescued me, right? So, he did. Just a little kiss, only later we danced and then we ended up making out. For kind of a long time.
It was just like you told me it was with Blake, so now I guess we’re equal. Unless you’ve been doing something you shouldn’t, you bad girl. And if you have, you’d better tell me because I’m telling you everything.
Except for Diver. Which is complicated. See, he kind of lives here. He’s very nice but a little strange. I mean, he thinks he can communicate with Frank, and Frank is a pelican.
I don’t know why I’m letting him stay here. He just comes in to use the kitchen or the bathroom, so it’s not like he’s really living here. Just do not ever tell Mom about this or I’ll kill you. I’m serious.
I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, Jennifer. It’s weird, almost, because it’s like I just get here and boom! I’m kissing this guy in a photo booth at the airport, and then boom! I have this other guy practically living in my house, and then boom! I’m at a party making out with Adam Merrick.
Seth said it’s an effect of the tropics.
Maybe he’s right, Jen. I don’t know. I don’t feel like I’m any different, you know? Not inside. Maybe it’s just when you take your same, normal self to a new place and are around new people that everyone else sees you differently. That’s my theory, anyway. Or is it a hypothesis?
I know, you’re thinking: typical Summer, trying to analyze everything when she should just be enjoying it. But I have to think about it, at least a little. It’s like if I’m still me, why are people acting differently toward me? And if I’m not me, then…who am I?
And if I don’t know who I am, how am I supposed to know how I feel about things? I tell Seth to take a hike because he’s got a girlfriend already and because I’m not the kind of girl who goes out with guys who already have girlfriends. But who says I’m that kind of girl? Maybe I’m not. Or maybe in Minnesota I was, and here I’m not.
I am totally a mess. Lost and confused.
Or maybe I’m just sleepy.
13
Fishnets, Reeboks, and Lost Loves
“Good morning, Frank,” Summer said. The bird gave her a fishy look and turned away.
“Must be the uniform,” Summer muttered. She was dressed in her brand-new Crab ’n’ Conch uniform, consisting of a too-short white-and-blue sailor-suit dress, a white apron with a huge starched bow, fishnet panty hose, a really dorky sailor hat, and her own black Reeboks.
“What would CosmoGirl or Seventeen say about combining black leather running shoes and fishnets?” she asked Frank. “I’m thinking it’s a major ‘fashion don’t.’”
Frank spread his wings and flapped off.
Pretty much the same reaction as the one she’d gotten from Diver that morning. She’d gone into the bathroom to change and had emerged as he was eating a bowl of cold cereal. She’d been hoping for some sort of reassurance, but he had almost shuddered at the sight of her.
Like a guy with exactly one piece of clothing in the world was one to criticize.
Summer was too tired to care. Between the party, doing the latest installment of the video blog for Jennifer, and trying through bleary eyes to read at least some of the employee manual, she’d had very little sleep.
She ran into Diana on the lawn of the main house. Diana was in a fully reclined lawn chair, wearing a bathing suit showing off a disgustingly tan body, talking in a low murmur on a portable phone from the house. She glanced up almost guiltily at Summer. “No, she’s not here,” Diana said into the receiver. “She went to work.”
A pause while Diana listened, eyeing Summer’s outfit pityingly.
“The Crab ’n’ Conch, from the look of the uniform she was wearing,” Diana told the telephone. “Yes, she looked very cute in the uniform.” Rolled eyes.
Summer gave a little wave.
Diana returned her attention to her mother, a somewhat shrill voice in the phone, long distance from Ohio. “Sorry, what did you just say?”
“I asked if Summer likes the room.”
“The room? The room. Oh, well, she decided she didn’t want to stay in the room.”
“What are you talking about, Diana?” Her mother was using her dangerous I-suspect-you’ve-been-up-to-something voice.
“You know what happened? She saw the stilt house and absolutely fell in love. Her words—‘fell in love.’ So she’s staying out there.”
&nb
sp; Diana held the phone several inches away from her ear, anticipating the response.
“Little Summer is out in that pile of rotting wood?” Mallory shrieked.
“I know, I was surprised too,” Diana said blandly. “Different people have different tastes, I guess.”
“You guess? Why do I have the feeling you had something to do with this?”
Diana tried her best to sound outraged, but she hadn’t been expecting the phone call and was unprepared. “Me? Why would I have anything to do with Summer being out in the stilt house?”
“I don’t want to go into this over the phone, Diana. Just get your cousin moved into the house.”
“I think she actually does prefer it out there,” Diana said stubbornly. “She’s kind of a private person.”
“Uh-huh. I have a pretty good idea who the private person is behind this,” Mallory said.
Diana offered no response. Giving her mother the silent treatment was often the most effective thing to do. Then Diana noticed with a shock that Summer hadn’t left yet. She was still standing a discreet distance away, looking as if she wanted to talk to Diana.
Oh, man, had Summer been able to overhear? Maybe not—the gardener at the house next door was running electric hedge clippers. Diana hoped she hadn’t heard.
“Well, what’s done is done, I guess,” Mallory said in Diana’s ear. “But there is one thing I absolutely insist on.”
“What’s that?” Diana asked guardedly.
“Get someone down to make that stilt house livable. Get her a decent bed, at least. You can move the one out of the guest room. And have someone make any other repairs. Call what’s-his-name. The old man.”
“Mr. Warner?” Diana suppressed a smile. Mr. Warner was Seth’s grandfather. Seth worked for him during the summer. She liked Seth—it was almost impossible not to. He was a little like Summer in that way. The two of them should get together. They would represent more concentrated wholesomeness than existed anywhere else in the Keys.
“Yes,” Mallory said, breaking into Diana’s cynical reverie. “I want that stilt house made fit for a human being. Summer’s mother would kill me if she saw where her daughter is living.”
“Okay,” Diana said. “I’ll call Mr. Warner right away. Bye.” She pressed the disconnect button and put down the phone.
Well, the situation wasn’t ideal. Ideal would have been scaring Summer all the way back to Minnesota. But at least this way she wouldn’t really be a part of Diana’s daily life.
“Diana?” Summer came back over and stood in front of Diana.
“Uh-huh? Don’t you have to get to work?” Diana asked. “Black fishnets with running shoes?”
“That’s the uniform,” Summer said, blushing a little. “I have kind of a stupid question to ask you. I mean, maybe it’s stupid, I don’t know.”
“What is it?”
“Well, I went to this party last night. You know, over at the Merrick estate?”
“So?”
“Well, it’s just that you used to go out with Adam.”
Diana’s heart skipped several beats. What did Summer know about that? Had Adam actually told her something? “Used to,” she said guardedly.
Summer dug her toe into the grass awkwardly. She stared down at the ground, looked up, smiled her big smile, then looked down at the ground again. “It’s just that, what would you think if he was going out with someone else?”
“I guess I’d have to think something like ‘life goes on,’” Diana said, sounding much cooler than she felt. In fact, her heart was pounding at near-panic intensity.
“So you don’t mind if, like, I—”
“You? You and Adam?”
“I don’t have to if it would upset you,” Summer said quickly.
“Why should it upset me?” Diana asked. “It’s all in the past.” All of it. In the past.
“Cool,” Summer said. Again the smile. “I’d better get going. Don’t want to be late my first day of work.”
“Have fun.”
Summer trotted off across the grass, hurrying to make up for lost time.
Summer and Adam. Adam and Ross.
Diana shuddered and tried to thrust away the memory. It had all happened last summer, a year ago, a long time. And Ross had been doing a lot of drugs back then. A lot. And everyone said he’d calmed down quite a bit, had spent six months in rehab.
Nothing to worry about. Summer was a big girl. She could take care of herself.
In which case Summer would have Adam, Diana realized with a wrenching feeling that brought a grimace to her face.
And if Summer couldn’t take care of herself?
“Not my problem,” Diana told herself firmly. “I didn’t even want her here.”
“Hey, everybody, this is Summer Smith!” Marquez announced in a brassy yell that managed to carry over the roar of the dishwashing machine, the clash of plates, the pounding of knives on cutting boards, and a radio that was blaring salsa music. “She’s a new waitress.”
“Poor kid,” another waitress remarked.
“She have a boyfriend?” the dishwasher yelled.
“Yeah, me,” the smaller of the two male cooks replied, laughing.
“She doesn’t date outside her species, Paulie,” Marquez shot back.
“Good one, Marquez,” offered a female cook with a nearly shaved head and a long tail of hair down the back. “She don’t need none of what passes for males around here.”
“Wait a minute, Skeet, you pass for male around here,” the taller, cuter cook said.
The woman named Skeet Frisbeed a slice of tomato at him.
Marquez took Summer’s arm. “The tall one who thinks he’s funny is J.T. The stupid-looking one is Paulie, and that’s Skeet.”
“We may be stupid, but we have knives,” J.T. said. “So you have to obey us in all things. Just pick up your food when it’s hot and we won’t have to hurt you.”
Skeet and Paulie both laughed.
“Ignore them,” Marquez said. “Cooks are all crazy.”
They stepped out of the loud, boisterous, and brightly lit kitchen into the dining room, an area as big as a football field with what looked to Summer like a thousand tables.
“Okay,” Marquez announced, “so you read the employee manual, right?”
“Yes, last night.” Summer yawned.
“Cool, now forget everything in the manual. All that stuff is bull. Just follow me around and I’ll teach you what to do.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me,” Marquez said, laughing. “You’re my slave for the day, honey. Good thing, too, because I’m beat. I’m all sore, especially my legs from dancing.”
Summer nodded. “Now what?”
“Well, we’ve done our setup work, we’ve introduced you to everyone. Now we stand around and wait till the customers start to show up. And while we’re doing that, we gossip. Like you tell me more about Adam.”
“Today I asked Diana if it was okay for me to go out with him,” Summer said.
Marquez nodded. “That was a stand-up thing to do. I have this guy I was seeing for a long time. We just broke up a couple weeks ago, and I don’t know if I’d want my cousin going out with him. What did Diana say?”
“She said she didn’t care because it was all in the past.”
Marquez nodded. “Yeah, she’s right. Past is past.”
“Tell me about this guy. The one you were going with?”
Marquez sighed. “He was okay, I guess. Only, he was screwed up in the head. His family is totally screwed up. I mean, like his mom is completely weird.”
“Why did you break up?”
“Found out he was going out behind my back.”
“With another girl?” Summer asked.
Marquez rolled her eyes. “Actually, it wasn’t anyone, that I know of. It’s just that he suddenly says he’s not happy and wants to start seeing other girls. The jerk.”
“Wait, so now you don’t see this guy anymore?”<
br />
“I see him around,” Marquez said with a shrug. “It’s J.T., okay?”
“The cook? The tall one?”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
“But neither of you acted like…”
“Hey, we’re at work, right? We have to deal with it, so we both act like it’s no big deal.”
Summer noticed a waitress crossing the dining room toward them, swinging her petite hips through the close-packed tables with practiced ease. Her red hair was swept back in a ponytail held in place with bright scrunchies.
Lianne.
“Hi, Marquez,” Lianne said.
“Hey, Lianne. Back to the grind, huh?” Marquez said.
“Just like last summer,” Lianne said. “This place hasn’t changed. You have, though. You look wonderful, Marquez. I love your hair.”
Marquez nodded noncommittally. “You two met at the party last night, right?”
“We didn’t actually meet,” Lianne said. She flashed a killer smile at Summer. “I was so excited to see Seth again, it was hard to concentrate on anything else. It’s been days.”
“Uh-huh. Well, Summer, meet Lianne, and vice versa. Lianne waited tables here last summer, like me,” Marquez explained.
“Summer? I think that is the most beautiful name,” Lianne said. “It must be great. Every time anyone thinks of you they’re going to think of sunshine and warm breezes. And you have the looks to go with the name.”
Summer was a little taken aback. Lianne seemed very sweet. “Thanks,” Summer said, feeling flustered because she couldn’t think of a way to return the compliment.
“I’ve heard of you, you know,” Lianne said. “From Diana. She and I are good friends.”
“Still?” Marquez said skeptically.
Lianne looked sad. “We have grown apart, I’m afraid. I suppose Diana has outgrown me.” She made a wistful, bleak smile. For a moment Summer thought Lianne might actually cry.
“Diana has outgrown everyone,” Marquez said.
Lianne put on a brave face and directed her smile at Summer. “Anyway, now I feel like I have a new friend. At least I hope we’ll be friends, Summer.”
Beach Blondes Page 9
