by Ann Herrick
Logan grinned as he led me into the house. "It's a three-story climb up to the turret. But it's worth it just for the view."
The stairway alone was enough to impress me. The wide stairs were thickly carpeted and bordered on each side by ornately carved mahogany railings. Tiny sconces lit the way. They looked so much like real candles that I almost expected them to drip wax.
"Whew! That was some climb." I puffed, trying to catch my breath at the top of the stairs. But Logan was right—the view was worth the effort. I could see for miles.
As I stepped into the room itself I felt as if I were entering a castle. Window seats cushioned with green velvet pillows were built in under three arched windows with crosshatched leaded panes. Pink and purple rays of the sunset flooded the room through the diamond-shaped panes of glass, brightening, for a moment, a room otherwise dimly lit by a single sconce.
"Take a load off your feet," Logan invited. He sat on the middle window seat and pulled me down onto his lap. Out the window I could see the figures of Alex and Nicole on the beach. Alex had his hands on his hips. Nicole was pointing toward the house. I tried to ignore them.
"The sunset is beautiful," I said. Even as I admired the tones of gold and pink sinking in the west, I tried to slip off Logan's lap. His grip tightened around my waist.
"You're beautiful," Logan said. He pushed me back against the soft pile of pillows.
I stiffened as his body pressed against mine. I could feel his hot breath all over my face. His prolonged kiss sent a shiver of panic to the pit of my stomach. Finally he stopped kissing me long enough for me to catch my breath. "Logan. Let's go downstairs, now," I said shakily.
"I'd rather stay here," he answered huskily. "Just settle back and relax." He engulfed my mouth in another kiss. I felt his hand sear a path up my back and fumble with the zipper of my dress. When I heard the zipper going down, I pressed against a pillow, hoping to immobilize his fingers. Logan stopped kissing me. His face was flushed. "Look," he said, his voice shaky, "all this may have started as just a favor to Nicole, but now I really want you."
Want you! The words echoed in my head like a five-alarm warning siren. "No," I said firmly, even though my heart was pounding. "I want to get out of here."
"Please." Logan's voice was pleading, and his eyes had a glazed expression, but he loosened his grip on me slightly.
"I want to go," I said, trying to keep my voice even.
"Take your hands off her!" From out of nowhere Alex hovered over us. He pulled me to my feet and stood me in a corner. Grabbing Logan, he pulled him up and slammed his fist into Logan's jaw. Logan was too startled to react. He blinked, then slid gently to the floor.
"We're getting out of here." Alex grabbed my hand and yanked me toward the stairs.
"What about Logan?"
Logan moaned, sat up and rubbed his chin.
"Don't worry about Logan," Alex said, pulling me toward the stairs again. "He'll live."
I went with Alex this time, practically running to keep up with him as we raced down the stairs. At the bottom, we ran past a speechless Nicole, her eyes wide as dinner plates, her mouth formed in a shaky O. I shrugged as we flew by as if to show her that I really didn't know what was going on either.
We flew out of the house to the car, and as Alex opened the door on the driver's side I slid across the seat as fast as I could, to avoid having Alex land on my lap. As we pulled out of the driveway in suffocating silence, I struggled to somehow explain in a few short sentences all my thoughts and feelings from the moment on the island when he'd told me how much he liked me to that very instant sitting beside him in the car. I wanted to explain the scene with Logan.
"I could have handled Logan—" I started to say.
"I don't want to hear about it!"
From the streetlights shining into the car I could see by the thin tight line of Alex's mouth that he wasn't about to listen to anything I had to say. If only he would cool off—and slow down—maybe we could talk.
But it seemed like only seconds until we were back at the cottage, Alex grasping my elbow and propelling me to the door. The cottage was dark. I fumbled with my key. "Alex, won't you please come in so we can talk and—"
Alex turned to leave.
"Wait!" I was too late. He'd jumped into his car and driven off before I could say another word.
Chapter Thirteen
It was just getting light out when I woke up the next morning. My eyes stung from crying half the night. I'd fallen asleep with my dress on, and now it was a crumpled mess. I threw off the covers, sat up and ran my fingers through my hair. Through the window I could see that it was high tide.
I heard a clicking noise.
Silence followed, then I heard it again. I spotted pebbles hitting the window.
Alex! It had to be Alex.
I flew down the stairs, not caring how I looked. I flung the door open.
"Logan?" I gasped. "What on earth—"
"Shh." Logan held his finger to his lips, then motioned for me to come outside.
I stepped into the cool morning air. The sand was cold on my bare feet. "What are you doing here? I didn't think you'd want to see me again. I'm glad you came, though. I wanted to apologize for—" I swallowed hard. "—for using you. I'm sorry."
"Using me?" Logan raised one eyebrow.
"To make Alex jealous. It's hard to explain, but—"
"Oh. That." Logan grinned. "At least I knew what you were doing. I came over to apologize for my behavior."
"You mean last night?"
"That, too." Logan brushed a lock of hair off my face. "Look, I figured out pretty quickly that you were 'using' me, and I have to admit I enjoyed every minute of it." He stroked my cheek with the back of his hand.
I could feel myself blushing.
"But," Logan continued, "you didn't know that Nicole offered me a hundred bucks to flirt with you so she could move in on Alex."
My mouth dropped open. It came back to me. Last night ... Logan had said something about that last night. "Of course! How could I have been so stupid? I should have realized! You would never be interested in someone like me. I—"
"Hold it right there." Logan held up one hand. "Once I saw you I would have been willing to give Nicole a finder's fee. I admit, flirting with you was still a rotten thing to do, knowing what Nicole had in mind. But you're an attractive girl, Katie. A little young for me, maybe—"
"Young and stupid," I said bitterly.
"Not at all." Logan took my hands in his. "You got taken in by a couple of pros from the 'all's fair in love and war' school of thinking. And this old pro is very sorry about it." He stroked my hair. "How about if I give you a call when you're eighteen?"
"Sure." I smiled uncertainly. "I might be ready for you by then."
Logan looked a bit uncomfortable, but he gave me a vague smile in return. "I've got to go now. We're leaving soon—I'm supposedly out jogging. But I had to apologize to you." He put out his hand. "Still friends?"
I smiled and shook his hand. This gesture was getting to be habit-forming. "Still friends."
I watched him as he jogged away, until he turned and waved before he disappeared from sight. Then it struck me. Alex was leaving, too. I had to see him before he left, before he went back to Hartford!
But I was too late. The Stedmans' car pulled out of the driveway and headed down the road before I could stop it.
I moped my way back along the beach, stopping to pick up a stone and skip it across the water. At one point I smiled in spite of my anguish, remembering how embarrassed I'd been when Alex had caught me skipping rocks that first night at the beach. Maybe ours had been only a summer romance. One of those temporary flings I'd planned on having in the first place. At least I had my memories. No one could take those away.
Back at the cottage Jason greeted me. "Hi, Katie." His brow wrinkled with concern. "You're up early."
"I guess." I shrugged.
"Let's go swimming. Mom and Dad aren't up yet."<
br />
"Sure. Just let me change into my suit. You write a note so they'll know where we are."
At the beach I settled myself on the sand to watch Jason swim. He proudly demonstrated his ability at the backstroke, which had taken him most of the summer to master. If nothing else, I'd helped Jason with his swimming and grown closer to him in the process. It had taken all summer for me to appreciate his cheery good nature. I realized that now.
This summer I realized something else, too. I could attract a guy like Alex and enjoy his company just by being myself. If I did it once, I could do it again. If not with Alex, then with someone, some day. But pretending about my feelings, I now knew, accomplished nothing.
For the next three days I felt as though I reverted to the age of eight, swimming with Jason, building sand castles with him, playing with him. It helped take my mind off Alex.
By Monday night, the night before we would go back to Hartford, I had convinced myself that somehow I could salvage my friendship with Alex. There was no law that he couldn't like me just because he cared more for Nicole. Would he have reacted so strongly to the scene in the turret with Logan if he didn't care about me, at least as a friend? When I saw Alex at school I would just have to get up my nerve to approach him and show him that I wanted to be friends, just friends, if that was what he wanted. I could even be friendly to Nicole, though I couldn't picture us ever becoming what you'd call "close."
On the ride back to Hartford early Tuesday morning I was glad to have Jason chattering and singing all the way home. It didn't annoy me as it had on the way down to the beach at the beginning of summer. It distracted me from my thoughts. I even laughed when Jason thrust his arms into the front seat and declared that he beat me back to Hartford.
About a mile from home something less amusing occurred. I spotted Alex's car going in the opposite direction. Nicole was with him. I turned my attention to my fingernails. I didn't want Alex and Nicole to catch me staring at them.
Once home it didn't take long to unload the car, and soon I was in my room, staring at the open suitcase spread across my bed. My bathing suit sat on top of my clothes. I picked it up and held it against me, picturing a day at the beach with Alex. But that was just a pipe dream now. Seeing Alex with Nicole had made me realize that.
I had started to put my things away when I heard the doorbell. I ran down to answer it. Standing on the front step were Hailey and Alex.
"Hi, Katie!" Hailey held out a small package for me.
"Hello, Katie." Alex smiled, and his eyes crinkled at the corners.
I was too surprised to speak.
Hailey waved the package at me. "This is for you."
I summoned my voice. "Th-thanks." My hands shook as I took the package from Hailey. "Won't you come in?"
"Open it!" Hailey pointed to the package.
"Oh. Yes. Sure." I peeled off the pale pink wrapping paper. Nestled inside the soft tissue was the shell frame Hailey had worked on all summer. In it was a drawing of Alex, me, Jason and Hailey picnicking on the island.
"Don't you like it?" Hailey's eyebrows drew together. "I drew the picture myself."
I cleared my throat. "I—I do like it. Definitely." I let out a shaky breath. "It will always remind me of what fun we all had this summer." I hoped Alex caught my emphasis on the world "all."
Hailey beamed. "By the way," she said, trying to act casual, "is Jason home?"
"He's in the backyard." I cleared my throat again, took a deep breath and tried to sound like the gracious hostess. "He'd love to see you." I pointed to the back door and hoped it didn't look as though I was rushing her out of the house.
"Yipee!" Hailey ran out back, shouting, "Jason, hi!"
I turned away from the window and looked over at Alex, feeling myself blushing forty-nine shades of red. Now that we were alone at last, I couldn't think of any more sparkling dialogue than a paltry, "So …." My voice trailed off.
"Hailey couldn't wait to see Jason," Alex said.
"I'm glad to see both of you." I wanted to say more, but the words caught in my throat. I stood up and paced the floor. Finally I said, "Look, I want to talk to you in private with no chance of interruptions. Could we go for a ride?"
"Well, sure." Alex raised an eyebrow, looking at me uncertainly.
"Good," I said. "Just let me run and tell my folks I'm going."
Alex drove us to a nearby park where he stopped the car and we got out to walk along a tree-lined path. Still, Alex didn't say anything. My knees trembled. We came to a bench under a maple tree. "Let's sit," Alex said.
"It's good to be back home, isn't it?" I began after an awkward pause.
Alex nodded. "We had a lot of fun this summer, though." He paused. "I enjoyed having you as my girlfriend."
"It was fun pretending. For the summer. You know, we really had those giggling girls going." I tried to laugh, but only a strangled sound emerged from my throat.
"Summer's not over yet."
What did Alex mean? He looked serious, but maybe he was joking, making light of the situation as I was trying to do.
"I suppose we could renew our option for the fall," I suggested, in what I hoped was a casual tone.
"Good idea," Alex answered, just as casually. "We could negotiate a new agreement ... tonight ... over dinner—" Alex took out his wallet and looked inside. "—at McDonald's?"
"I'd like that." I paused, then had to ask, "But what about Nicole?"
"What about Logan?" There was a twinkle in Alex's eye.
"L-L-Logan?" I stammered. "I just flirted with him to make you jealous. Because I was jealous of you and Nicole."
"Well," Alex said, "I just flirted with Nicole because I was jealous of you and Logan. I saw you two kissing in the rose garden the night of that barbecue."
"Only after I saw you kissing Nicole! Beside, Logan kissed me."
"Well, Nicole kissed me. She practically tackled me."
"What about that kiss on the blanket—and behind the buoy?"
Alex shifted in his seat. "Nicole started kissing me and, I admit, I got caught up by it and was kissing her back. I'm only human. But I was wishing it was you the whole time." A look of annoyance crept into his eyes. His face was red now. "What about you and Logan making out at the drive-in? There was one long kiss you seemed to really enjoy."
It was my turn to get defensive. "I guess I sort of got swept away, too—but I was also wishing it was you." I stared down at my feet.
Alex tilted my chin up with his fingertips. I closed my eyes, anticipating a kiss.
"Wait a minute!" Alex cried.
My eyes flew open.
"What about you guys in the turret?"
"Alex! You know how I felt about that!"
"I guess I do," Alex said sheepishly. "But I'm still so glad I gave it to him."
I laughed. "We could go on like this all afternoon, you know."
"You're right." Alex closed his hands over mine. I made no effort to retrieve them.
"There's still one thing I'd like to clear up," I said. "What about Nicole? You never answered me when I asked you before."
"I'm not seeing her anymore," Alex said. "She came by my house today, and as I was driving her home I made that clear to her. We’d already taken a break for the summer—my idea."
"But you wrote to each other all summer. Every week."
"She wrote me every week," Alex corrected. "I wrote back a couple times, just to be polite."
"But her picture on your dresser? I even saw her photograph on top of your suitcase when you packed to go home."
"First of all, the picture was on top of my suitcase because I'd decided to throw it away. The rest—that was Hailey's doing. I kept putting Nicole's picture down on the dresser and she kept propping it back up. Didn't you ever notice how compulsively neat she is? I told you she arranges her toys alphabetically."
"Hailey." I groaned. "I should have guessed!"
"Nicole and I have known each other since we were little," Alex explained.
"Our parents have been friends for ages. When we got to be about twelve, she decided we were supposed to go together. I ignored that for a long time. But then I finally tried dating her this spring. She immediately began acting as though I was her private property. That's why I was happy to go away for the summer. I was even more pleased when I saw you in Chatfield. I'd noticed you at school, liked the work you did on the school paper and I wanted to get to know you better."
"I was pretty happy to see you too," I said. "How did we ever get so messed up in one short week at the end of such a great summer?"
"Well, I almost hate to tell you this." Alex paused. "It might hurt your feelings."
"Now what?"
"Nicole confessed—she and Logan worked together to break us up."
"Oh, that." I giggled with relief. "She bribed Logan to flirt with me. Logan told me."
"And you're not upset?"
"Well," I admitted, "for a second or two it was a blow to my ego. But we parted friends."
"Hmmm. I'll bet," Alex said. He gave me a wry smile, then continued. "When Nicole sent me to the turret to persuade you two to go for a walk with us, I should have suspected she was up to something. It never occurred to her that Logan might actually find you attractive and get carried away."
I fingered Alex's collar. "I could have taken care of the situation myself, you know."
"Are you sure? I think you need me to keep you out of trouble."
"Sounds like a good idea," I said. "How about starting now?"
In one motion I was in Alex’s arms. He held me tight as we melted into each other. His lips touched mine, soft at first, then harder, until I felt swept away on a soft and wispy cloud.
It was the perfect start.
The End
Other Books We Love Ltd. books by Ann Herrick
All's Fair in Love and Words
Hey, Nobody's Perfect
How to Survive a Summer Romance (Or Two)
It’s All in Your Mind
Life, Love, and Surviving High School
Snowed In Together
The Perfect Guy
The Real Me
Trading Faces
