Unforgettable Summer

by Catherine Clark

  “Brandon picked her up,” Hayden said. “Didn’t you hear his Harley? We heard this loud exhaust roar out on the street, and she bolted.”

  Bolted because she was about to be caught with you? I wondered. Or bolted, in general, because she’s skittish, like a horse?

  Except she wasn’t skittish, at all.

  “The neighbors freaked. The Crandalls will be down momentarily to kick us all off their point,” Hayden joked. “They’re taking back their rocks.”

  “Is there a law against Harleys?” Josh asked.

  “There should be,” Caroline said with a frown.

  “Don’t you approve of Brandon?” Claire asked her.

  “No, but I mean, it’s not up to me.” Caroline shrugged.

  “And thank you, Caroline,” Hayden said. “I’m sure Zoe appreciates you butting out of her life.”

  Caroline gave him a very huffy look. “I think she could do better, and so do her parents, but whatever.”

  I glanced across the bonfire ring at Hayden, but he didn’t make eye contact. What was he doing, exactly? Were he and Zoe friends, or weren’t they?

  Everyone including Caroline knew that they went off to talk privately, and they didn’t think that was weird. So everyone from last summer must know they still had some sort of connection this summer.

  So what did that make me, for spending so much time with Hayden and thinking we might have a “thing”? A fool, right?

  I was starting to wish we’d never found this supposed party. I definitely didn’t feel like sticking around. “I’m going to take off,” I said to Claire, who was laughing with Josh about something.

  “Want me to go, too?” she asked, looking up at me as I got to my feet.

  “No, you stay—I’m exhausted,” I said. Which was one word for it. Some others were confused, hurt, surprised, shocked, and baffled. And I didn’t even have a thesaurus with me.

  I walked back the way I’d come, picking my way between rocks until I got to the flat sand, and then I moved faster. I almost felt like running, but if I did, and I got back to the dorm too soon, what would I do for the rest of the night? Or should I head to the Inn and look for a guest who needed someone to play backgammon with?

  Yes, that was pathetic. But maybe I was pathetic, going after a guy who wasn’t really interested if his former girlfriend was around and available. But she was with Brandon, wasn’t she? It was really bothering me that I couldn’t figure this all out, that the “inn crowd” seemed to know more than I did. The one person who might explain it to me was Caroline, but I couldn’t ask her.

  I was nearly back to the Inn when I heard footsteps slapping on the sand behind me.

  He waited long enough, I thought as I turned around and saw Hayden.

  “I have a surprise,” he said.

  Yeah. I think I already experienced that, I thought. “Really,” I said.

  “Come on, let’s go to the top deck.”

  “We can’t get up there,” I said. Never mind the fact that I don’t know if I’m even talking to you.

  The deck was connected to the Inn’s biggest and best room, the honeymoon suite, and could only be used by guests who were staying there or for private parties. I’d never even seen it, not on our tour, because Miss Crossley said it was off-limits.

  “The room’s not rented tonight. I have a pass key,” Hayden said.

  I considered my options as we neared the Inn’s front entrance. I liked the idea of an adventure with Hayden. I wouldn’t mind seeing this famous deck. Plus, if we were going to argue, it would be very private up there—privacy wasn’t something we’d have back at the dorm or out here on the porch.

  “Okay, sure,” I said.

  We went inside and pressed the call button for the elevator. When it came, we stepped inside and looked awkwardly at each other. Unfortunately we were the only ones in there. Fortunately it was only four floors to the top. Hayden inserted a special electronic key card that made the elevator stop at the fourth floor. Once we stepped out, there was a hallway.

  There were two doors when we got to the top: one for the honeymoon suite and one for the deck.

  “You want to see the suite first?” Hayden asked.

  “Not right now,” I said. The last place I wanted to be with him was in a romantic room with a giant bed. I’d probably hit him over the head with a flower vase.

  I walked outside and went around the edge of the deck, checking out the view. I could hear glasses clinking and people laughing on the front porch of the Inn. One male guest had a really loud, obnoxious laugh—an actual guffaw—and when I heard it, I glanced back over my shoulder at Hayden and we both laughed. I was grateful to the guy for laughing like that, because it broke the tension. Which wasn’t to say there wasn’t still tension, and a couple of things I wanted to clear up.

  “So, when we were back at Crandall’s Point?” I began.

  “Yeah?” Hayden asked.

  “The way you acted toward me, it was like we’d never hung out the night before—or ever,” I said.

  “What? No, it wasn’t,” Hayden protested.

  “Yeah, it was.”

  “Look. If you want someone who’s into PDA, that’s not me.”

  “Well, I’m not into PDR,” I said.

  “PDR?” Hayden asked.

  “Public displays of rejection,” I said.

  Hayden started to laugh. “That’s really a term?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  “It’s just awkward, that’s all,” Hayden said. “People like to talk, and I don’t like being talked about.”

  “What are you so afraid of?” I asked.

  “Truthfully? I don’t know. Let’s talk about something else. I’m starting to sound paranoid.”

  “Okay.” I took a deep breath. I was ready for whatever he had to tell me. “Can we talk about the Zoe thing?”

  Hayden looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

  “I’m not the jealous type. Really. Honestly I’m not. But tonight you guys were off having this totally . . . I don’t know—”

  “That? That was just family stuff. From home. I’ll tell you about it sometime. But we’re friends, that’s all,” Hayden said.

  I wasn’t sure whether I believed him yet.

  “I mean, you know how it is, after you date someone. You’re still a—a close friend, sort of. Aren’t you and what’s-his-name still friends?”

  “I don’t know. We haven’t talked,” I said. “So probably no. But okay, I take your point, I guess.”

  “So can we officially move on?” he asked.

  I couldn’t see why not, even if it felt a little strange. “Sure.”

  “Good.” Hayden put his arms around my waist. “Isn’t it great up here?”

  “Yeah.” I leaned back against him, enjoying the feeling of being close to him. We fit together perfectly. From the upstairs deck you could see everything around the Inn, the entire property, from the dorm to the tennis court to the sailing pond to the ocean beach.

  “So how did you end up with a key?” I asked. “Wait, don’t tell me. Miss Crossley gave it to you, like the key to the bike shed. You have your special privileges.”

  “No, actually I just sort of borrowed it for tonight, from the front desk.”

  “The front desk?” I pretended to gasp. “Was Caroline there?”

  “She was fawning all over some California dude checking in,” Hayden said. “She never even saw me.”

  I laughed. “You know what? I like this side of you.”

  “Which side is that?” Hayden let go of me and turned around, stopping to pose and flexing his biceps. “Front side, back side . . .”

  I swatted him on the butt. “The daredevil side.”

  “Yeah. We’ll have to be quiet though. If we get busted, we’re in big trouble.”

  “Okay, so we’ll quietly listen to the surf,” I said.

  “Very quietly.”

  “Definitely.” I nodded. We stood there for a few minutes, me le
aning back against him again, both of us watching the ocean. I closed my eyes for a while and just listened to the water, the rhythmic rolling sound of the waves.

  Hayden gently took my shoulders and turned me so that I was facing him.

  “Wasn’t I being quiet enough?” I asked in a whisper.

  “Too quiet.” He traced my cheekbones with his fingers. “I thought maybe you fell asleep.”

  “No. Not exactly,” I said as I looked into his eyes. “You have the coolest eyes. You know that? They’re sort of blue, but then they’re sort of gray—”

  Hayden interrupted me by leaning down to kiss me. I wrapped my arms around his waist, and he pulled me in tight. We must have been kissing for a while, and I was totally lost in the moment. I completely forgot where I was.

  Then the outside deck lights came on.

  CHAPTER 13

  We jumped apart. If that was Miss Crossley, or anyone on the Inn staff . . . We were so in trouble. We’d already been caught once by her, dancing when we were supposed to be working. If she found us up here? Even her favorite employee, Hayden, would be history.

  “You said no one was staying here!” I whispered to him. “What are we going to do?”

  I had a brief mental image of the two of us scaling the side of the Inn, like in a heist movie.

  “Don’t sweat it,” Hayden said. “Come on, let’s see who it is.”

  “This feels really, really weird,” I said as we edged closer to the sliding glass door and peered into the honeymoon suite. Of all the rooms to spy on.

  All of a sudden the door opened. Mr. Talbot Junior was standing there.

  I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Not even air, because I’d stopped breathing.

  “Hello, Mr. Talbot. Sir,” Hayden said.

  “Hayden, is that all you have to say? Hello?”

  “It’s . . . a nice night?” I added.

  Mr. Talbot looked at me and his mouth turned into an even deeper frown. “And what is your name again?”

  “Liza,” I said. “Elizabeth McKenzie.” I wished that it was Mr. Talbot Senior, who might actually recognize my name and give me a break.

  “Elizabeth McKenzie,” he repeated as if trying to memorize my name. “Well, Hayden and Elizabeth. What do you two think you’re doing up here?” he asked. “Other than getting to know each other better.” He coughed a few times. “Substantially better, I might add.”

  Hayden looked over at me, and if he wasn’t turning red from embarrassment, then I certainly was.

  “Still speechless? Well, imagine my surprise when I walked into the office to deposit some cash and receipts into the safe. There’s a surveillance system in the office, and there’s a camera trained on this deck when the room is vacant. Or have you forgotten?”

  “I suppose, sir, that I did forget,” Hayden said. “My apologies.”

  I should have known, too—I’d only just spent hours cleaning and organizing that office.

  “So. What do you have to say for yourselves?” Mr. Talbot demanded.

  That we’re about to lose our jobs? I thought. Good-bye, this has been a great place to work?

  “Mr. Talbot, I’m really sorry. I just wanted to show the place to Liza. It’s my fault,” Hayden said. “I take full responsibility.”

  “There are two people standing here, so in my opinion, you’re both responsible. It’s not as if you both don’t know the rules.” Mr. Talbot glared at me.

  “I’m sorry. We definitely shouldn’t have been up here,” I said. “It’s just—it’s such a beautiful spot. We got carried away.”

  “It is beautiful,” Mr. Talbot agreed. “And such a nice night.” He took a deep breath and stretched his arms over his head. He seemed to be loosening up a little bit. “I wish I’d been up here, instead of in the office. Then you’d never have been able to get away with this.”

  I just stood there, smiling and feeling stupid. Had we gotten away with it? Or were we about to spend our last night at the Inn?

  “I should have checked with you first, Mr. Talbot,” Hayden said. “I mean, if I’d thought it through, I would have done that. It was an impulse decision.”

  “Hayden, I’ve learned over the years to trust you. And if you’ll trust me for a second, let me give you a piece of advice.” Mr. Talbot put his hands on the wall and leaned out over the deck. “And that is, never go with an impulsive decision. Never.”

  Hayden laughed. “I can see where you’re right.”

  “Who said . . . fools rush in—”

  “Where angels fear to tread,” I said. “Alexander Pope.”

  Mr. Talbot looked at me with newfound respect. “Very impressive.”

  “My grandfather,” I said. “He’s always quoting that.” And now I knew why. All those years he drove me nuts by saying that, he was trying to warn me for situations like this.

  “Look, I realize you probably need to report this to Miss Crossley,” Hayden said.

  “Probably,” Mr. Talbot agreed. “That would be the way we’d usually handle it.”

  “But if there’s any way we could . . . I don’t know. I know this is a lot to ask,” Hayden said, “but if we could keep this between us, I’d really appreciate it.”

  Mr. Talbot didn’t say anything for a minute or two. He was staring up at the sky. “Look, isn’t that the Milky Way?”

  “Actually, that is.” I started to point out different constellations to him. That astronomy minicourse we’d done in school was really coming in handy. Mr. Talbot seemed to have forgotten all about the fact we were only seeing all these stars and constellations because we were standing somewhere we shouldn’t be. “It’s so amazing here,” I commented. “You can see so much more here than back home.”

  “Light pollution. It’s a problem,” Mr. Talbot agreed. “That’s why I love the Inn’s location. That’s why city people love to come here.”

  “You should mention that in the brochure,” I said. “Talk about all the open sky and dark nights—”

  “And romantic locations?” Mr. Talbot turned back to us. “Well. Hayden, I’ve been thinking about what you asked. It’s asking a lot.”

  “I know that, sir—”

  “But I’m inclined to agree with you. We don’t need to share this.” Mr. Talbot extended his palm and Hayden placed the key card into it. “Now, I should get back to the office, and you should get back to the dorm. And don’t make any more stops on the way.”

  When we got back downstairs, Mr. Talbot headed for the office. Hayden and I looked at each other and I let out a big sigh.

  “I think I’m going to go see if he, uh, needs any help,” Hayden said.

  “Sounds good,” I said. For some reason I just wanted to get out of there.

  We quickly went our separate ways without even saying anything else, like “good night,” or “it was nice kissing you.” I think we were both sort of in shock from everything that had just happened.

  Then I ran back to the dorm and, of course, told Claire everything.

  I mean, what are roommates for?

  The next morning we were all eating breakfast when Miss Crossley walked into the Hull. Trailing her were all the employees from the restaurant upstairs, and everyone else currently on duty and in uniform.

  “Are we having a meeting?” Brooke asked.

  “I didn’t know we were having a meeting,” Caroline said.

  Miss Crossley banged a knife against a glass to get everyone’s attention. Not that everyone hadn’t stopped talking when she walked in, because she looked so serious and because the wait staff didn’t often leave work to follow her around.

  “I’ll make this quick, everyone. We’re letting someone go, and you need to hear it from me,” Miss Crossley said.

  CHAPTER 14

  My last bite of wheat toast stuck in my throat. I gulped and attempted to swallow.

  It was obvious what was about to happen. Once the effect of star-gazing wore off, Mr. Talbot had come to his senses and realiz
ed Hayden and I should be fired.

  I tried to catch Hayden’s eye, across the room, but he seemed to be deliberately avoiding me. That was probably a good idea, given the situation. Not that it would help, if Miss Crossley’s mind was made up.

  Suddenly I noticed that Miss Crossley didn’t have her usual pressed-and-starched appearance. She looked a little overwhelmed as she rubbed the side of her face. “I’ve been up all night deliberating,” she said. “It pains me to have to say this.”

  I chewed my thumbnail. The only person it could truly pain her to fire—would be Hayden. Her favorite, long-time employee. Me, she couldn’t care less about, although in her eyes I’d already given her a little bit of trouble. And, as she’d promised that day on the beach, she was watching me extra carefully.

  “Something happened last night,” Miss Crossley went on.

  I started to picture what it would be like to go home after only a few weeks here. How many people I’d run into, around town, and how stupid I’d feel explaining. “I got fired because I was making out with this guy.” How lame was that? Why would I risk my job over someone I barely knew? I was an idiot. Pure and simple. This was a good reason not to fall in love. You did stupid things.

  “An unauthorized Inn employee borrowed the van late last night, which is, bottom line, inexcusable.”

  I looked up at Miss Crossley. I felt like I’d just surfaced from being underwater. She was still talking, and she was saying that I wasn’t fired. Hayden wasn’t fired.

  But Tyler was.

  “Now, no harm was done. He didn’t go on a joyride, or get pulled over for speeding, or anything like that. And he was trying to help out a guest, by taking her to a convenience store on the other side of town. He was finishing his server shift around eleven o’clock, when she apparently settled her bar bill and asked for the trip. But it’s just—it’s bad judgment. He should have alerted someone on the night staff who was authorized to do that. Not taken it upon himself.”

  “How did he get the keys?” Hayden asked.

  “He borrowed them from the desk drawer. She gave him a hundred-dollar tip, which is what I guess made him make a bad choice. Anyway, it’s very sad. This was Tyler’s second summer here and we hate to lose him, but we can’t give him another chance.” Miss Crossley shook her head. “Everyone, please remember. The rules exist for a reason. To protect you, and to protect the Inn and its guests. Now get back to work.”