Beach Blondes: June Dreams / July's Promise / August Magic

by Katherine Applegate

  “I’m just saying, I hope you remember that things were really great before the whole thing there at the end. I want you to know that I don’t feel mad that you left or anything.”

  Summer almost laughed. “That’s very generous of you.” There was no sign that Adam heard the sarcasm.

  “Since you mention generosity,” he said. He reached into the pocket of his bathing suit and pulled out a small, gray, felt-covered jewelry box. It was oblong, with the name of a jeweler in gold letters. Adam opened the box, looked at what was inside, and handed the box to Summer. “Here. I hope this will help make it all up to you.”

  Summer looked at the box and caught her breath. Inside it was a necklace, gold with a pear-shaped diamond in a simple setting. It seemed unlikely that anyone in the Merrick family ever bought fake diamonds or less expensive gold plate. Which meant that the value of this necklace was probably greater than the sum total of everything Summer Smith owned.

  “I know it was kind of an intense scene and all,” Adam said, still holding the box out to her. “I just really hope we can go on, you know, get past it.”

  “Get past it?” She made no move to accept the gift. The more she looked at it, and the more the meaning of it became clear, the angrier she felt. Why was he doing this?

  “Sure,” Adam said. “I mean, there’s no reason why this should affect us. You and me. You’re not Diana.”

  “I can’t believe you’re saying this,” Summer said. “I really can’t. No reason why it should affect us?”

  He moved closer now. His face was just inches from hers. A face that she had kissed many times and had wanted to kiss many, many more times. He still exerted an almost magnetic pull over her. She could still recall all too clearly the sensation as his lips trailed down her throat…

  “Why should Diana’s problems ruin what we have?” he pleaded earnestly.

  “Diana’s problems? You make it sound like it’s no big deal.”

  He looked troubled at her reaction. His eyes darted aside, then came back, renewing the link between them. “I don’t mean that. I know Diana’s been hurt. I wish I could do something to make her feel better, but I can’t.”

  “Sure you can,” Summer said. “You can tell her you’ll back her up if she tries to do something about Ross.”

  “What, testify against my own brother?” He sounded incredulous. “Is that what you’re saying I should do? I wouldn’t even have a family anymore if I did that.”

  “Ross is messed up, Adam. I don’t know if he’s an alcoholic or what, but he’s dangerous.”

  “He’s family,” Adam said, pleading. “Besides, give me a break. You think Diana’s some kind of poster child for good mental health? She was depressed long before this.”

  “That doesn’t justify anything,” Summer said. Her voice was growing louder, to match his. “Ross tries to…he tries to rape Diana, and then you, her supposed boyfriend, help cover it all up?”

  “My father is a rich and powerful man, Summer,” Adam said, almost sadly. “It’s the way the world is. I didn’t make the rules. I have no choice. I have to stick with my family. No matter what. You understand that.”

  Summer bit her lip. “Yes,” she said sadly. “Of course I do. And Diana’s my cousin. My family.”

  At last understanding seemed to dawn in his eyes. Understanding, and pain. Slowly he closed the jewelry box.

  “You know what, though, Adam? If someone in my family was like Ross, I’d have to do whatever I could to stop him, even if that did mean sending him to jail. Because sooner or later Ross is going to hurt someone worse, or even kill someone. For his own good—”

  “I don’t turn against my family,” Adam repeated.

  “Then I guess we don’t have very much to say to each other.” She was relieved that she kept the tears out of her voice. She was not going to cry. Not now.

  A smile flickered at the corner of his mouth. “You can be pretty cold when you want to, can’t you, Summer? Whatever happened to that golly, gee-whiz, Midwestern, Bloomington-Minnesota-home-of-the-Mall-of-America sweetness? Suddenly you’re acting so tough.”

  Summer felt the tears welling up. Her throat was constricted and painful. Her voice was unnaturally low. “I guess you never really knew me all that well.”

  Adam made one last attempt. He reached for her. “Summer, don’t just—”

  Quite suddenly, without planning it or thinking about it, Summer slapped the jewelry box from his hand. It flew from his grasp and landed several feet away in the sand. “Whatever it is, I don’t want to hear it, you creep,” Summer yelled. “You jerk. You knew what Ross was capable of, and you put me right in the middle of it. And if he had tried to hurt me you’d have sold me out just like you did Diana. So don’t go waving some necklace in my face like that means something. You never did care anything about me, Adam. Maybe that’s why it’s been so easy for me to move past you. And you know what? In Bloomington-Minnesota-home-of-the-Mall-of-America, as you so sarcastically put it, maybe we know what we’re worth, and maybe we’re worth more than even you can pay.”

  “Summer—”

  “Oh, shut up,” she said. She turned her back on him, hiding a face contorted by tears and burning anger and regret.

  Diana arrived home from her stint at the Dolphin Interactive Therapy Institute in the early afternoon. She had worked mostly with Lanessa, a little girl whose personal history before coming to the security of the institute was so horrible that reading her case file made Diana cry.

  But on this day Lanessa had performed the amazing feat of actually talking to Jerry, one of the tame dolphins. Not just a whispered hello, but two long sentences. She’d told Jerry it was okay that he’d splashed her with water because she wasn’t mad at him. It had been a big moment for Lanessa, and for Diana, and even, Diana would have sworn, for Jerry. There was, of course, no way that the dolphins could really understand what was happening—all the professionals at the institute agreed on that. And yet, among the volunteers there was agreement that somehow the big, powerful animals understood everything that happened on an emotional level.

  Diana always felt an afterglow from her time at the institute, and today, as she drove the twenty miles down the highway, it lasted all the way home.

  Diana parked her little Jetta and went to her mother’s office. She sat down at the desk and filled in one of the presigned checks her mother had left her. She made it out to Seth Warner. He was almost done with the work on the stilt house, and Diana’s mother had asked her to pay him when it was completed. On her own initiative, Diana added an extra hundred dollars. Her mother would never notice it, but it would mean a lot to Seth.

  She headed down to the stilt house, intending to leave the check with Summer. Unless Summer wasn’t home yet and Seth was still there.

  Part of her hoped he was. He had been very kind. Her mind drifted back to disjointed memories of the night before. She had cried on his shoulder—literally. And he had held her. Awkwardly, perhaps, maybe a little embarrassed, no doubt worried that she would misinterpret.

  Diana hadn’t misinterpreted. She knew he wasn’t interested in her. Not in that way. How could he be? Seth was from that other world of normal, decent people. People of sun and laughter and easy happiness. People like Summer.

  People not at all like Diana.

  Diana walked out to the stilt house, holding the check in her hand, waving it like a big, visible excuse for intruding. She started to knock on the door, but it was ajar. She went in.

  Seth was right there, his back to her, absorbed in something. A book.

  Good grief, a school yearbook. Summer had brought her school yearbook with her. Diana almost laughed. Yes, Summer was a different variety of human being. And so was Seth, concentrating so closely on what was, undoubtedly, a grainy, badly done black-and-white picture of Summer.

  Diana drew back outside. She sighed. She shouldn’t feel disappointed. Of course Seth was in love with Summer. Of course he was. How could he not be?
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  A pelican (named Frank, Summer insisted) swept in, wings beating the air. He settled on the railing.

  “True love,” Diana whispered to Frank. She peeked around the corner. Seth was seated at the table now, the better to admire the yearbook photo. He had a wistful half-smile on his lips and was running his finger over the image. It made Diana want to cry. It would be a wonderful thing to be loved that way. A really wonderful thing.

  Had Diana ever been loved like that? Had Adam once longed for Diana the way Seth longed for Summer? Diana smiled ruefully. Hard to imagine anyone feeling that way about her.

  She knocked on the doorjamb. Seth jumped, startled. He flushed, looking guilty, and snapped the book shut.

  “Just me,” Diana said. “You can continue drooling.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Seth said as though he actually expected her to believe him.

  “Uh-huh. I have a check for you.” She flourished it and put it on the table for him.

  “Well, I still have a few things left to do around here,” he said.

  “Anything that will give you an excuse to be around Summer,” Diana said.

  He didn’t answer. Instead he changed the subject. “It was nice of you to give me back the picture.”

  “Have you burned it yet?”

  “No. I won’t, either. It’s a nice photograph—even if it is the most embarrassing thing in my life. You were always talented with a camera.”

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “So, um, how are you doing?”

  She shrugged. “It’s all ancient history,” she lied. “Old news. I don’t even know why I was weeping last night. Probably just an excuse to get to slobber all over you and make Summer jealous.”

  “I don’t think we’re at the point where she’d be jealous of me,” Seth said sheepishly.

  “Well, you obviously are, even if she isn’t,” Diana said, pointing to the yearbook.

  He had no answer, just looked even more sheepish. Diana started several times to say something. What she wanted to say was, Seth, any girl who doesn’t want you is a fool… or, Look, if it doesn’t work out with Summer… or just It would be nice to think that your shoulder would be there for me again, the next time I need to cry….

  But all of those things would be the wrong things to say.

  Instead she said, “You realize, of course, that I kept one copy of the picture.”

  Seth laughed silently. “No, I don’t think you did.”

  “No, I didn’t,” Diana admitted. “Seth, how come…”

  “How come what?”

  She’d been about to say, How come we never went out? How come I never realized what a great guy you are? How come you never fell in love with me? But she knew the answer. Seth could not be the person he was and love a person like Diana.

  “Never mind. Enjoy the check.”

  “Diana? I know this is none of my business, but are you thinking of doing anything about Ross? I hate to see him get away with what he did.”

  Diana smiled. “What should I do?”

  “I don’t know,” Seth admitted. “I guess I’d like to see you get justice.”

  Diana nodded thoughtfully. “What’s the difference between justice and revenge?”

  Seth shrugged. “I’m not sure, Diana.”

  “Me neither,” Diana said. “But I’m thinking about it.”

  8

  Black Rubber and Blackmail

  “Okay, now you see why you use powder on the inside, right? So it will slide on easier,” Seth explained patiently. His upper torso was already encased in black and blue rubber. He stood with arms crossed over his chest, shaking his head critically.

  Summer was making a spectacle of herself, trying to get her hand through the sleeve of the wet suit top. Her hand was stuck, and with every push or pull the rubber just stretched, with the result that she’d ended up turning in a circle trying to accomplish the simple act of getting dressed.

  It would have been bad enough if only Seth had been there to watch her fight her idiot battle against the rubber, but they were at the end of the public beach, not far enough from afternoon sunbathers, several of whom were staring at her with frank amusement.

  “Wasn’t there somewhere more private we could have done this?” Summer demanded, grunting as she at last popped her hand through. “Finally. Of course, I’ll never be able to get it off.”

  “The only other choice was in the bay, and that’s no fun. Too much old crap, thrown-away tires, and old shoes and stuff in that water. Besides, over there you have all the tourists hot-rodding around in their rented motorboats.”

  “And on that side I might not have had to do this in front of a thousand people,” Summer grumbled.

  “Ignore them,” Seth advised.

  “Why is this even necessary? The water here is hot, and the suit makes me feel like I can’t breathe.”

  “The water’s not as warm deeper down,” Seth advised. “Besides, it’s just the top. Be grateful you aren’t wearing the pants, too. Now, those are hard to put on.” He smiled. “I think you look kind of sexy this way.”

  “Very funny. I’m burning up. Anyway, we’re not going deep, are we?” She added the last part nervously. The fact that she was going to be breathing under the water was something she had avoided thinking about.

  “No, not deep. I just want you to learn everything in the right order. Weight belt,” he said. He lifted a heavy belt studded with lead weights and leaned close to wrap it around her waist. “Normally we’d use a buoyancy compensator—”

  “Oh, I love those,” Summer joked.

  “Only, Trent didn’t have any spare to lend out. Okay, now, the tanks. Turn around.”

  Seth hefted a single gray metal tank onto her back, helping her work her arms through the straps. It felt as if it weighed a hundred pounds. “I’m going to drown in all this.”

  “No, you won’t drown. I won’t let you drown. You have your mask? Put it on your head but don’t pull it down yet.”

  “Yes, master,” Summer grumbled. “At least that way no one will be able to recognize me. The whale girl. Free Willy. The newest attraction at Sea World.”

  “Snorkel?”

  “No thanks, I don’t snorkel. It’s an unhealthy habit. I gave it up.”

  “Very funny,” Seth said, smiling. “But not as funny as the next part. Go ahead and put on your fins.”

  “On my feet?”

  “No, on your ears. Of course on your feet,” Seth said. He handed the huge, triangular flippers to her.

  “My feet are all the way down there,” Summer said, pointing. “I can’t move, let alone bend over.”

  “I’ll help you. This time.”

  He bent down and fitted the fins on her feet. Then he stood up.

  “Why is it that you look like James Bond or something,” Summer asked, “whereas I feel like Oprah before the diet?”

  “You just have to get used to it. Besides, you look great.”

  “We’re going to die, aren’t we?” she asked.

  “Eventually. Not today, though. Knock on wood.”

  “I don’t have any wood.”

  “Oops.”

  “Oh, you’re really funny,” Summer said.

  “Since we don’t have any wood, how about a kiss for luck?” Seth said.

  “In front of ten million people who are already trying not to laugh at me?” Not that she didn’t want to kiss him. She’d been thinking about it much of the afternoon as he solemnly went through all the instructions she needed, being so serious that his very seriousness had started to seem funny.

  “You want bad luck?” Seth asked.

  “This is total blackmail,” Summer grumbled. But she tilted back her head, lips parted, eyes drifting closed. The memory of their kiss over eggs had lingered. It had been an excellent kiss. And it wouldn’t mean she was getting too deeply involved with him or anything. It was just for luck.

  To her annoyance, Seth planted a brief, light
kiss on her forehead.

  “We don’t need that much luck,” he said, obviously hugely amused by himself. “Come on.” He led the way the few feet to the water’s edge. “Now, remember everything we talked about. All kidding aside, it’s fairly easy to screw up, so do exactly what I tell you.”

  “You’d like that.”

  Flopping across the sand on her monstrous flippers, Summer made a face at Seth’s back. Water washed over her toes, which just made walking in fins even more difficult.

  “Okay. Time to get wet,” he said after they had walked out a way. “Let’s do it.”

  The first sensation was of drowning. Definite drowning. Summer sucked wet air through the snorkel in quick, panicky gasps. She couldn’t see anything at all.

  Of course, that was because her eyes were shut.

  Summer opened her eyes and nearly screamed. Her head was definitely underwater. She was breathing, but her head was underwater.

  Okay, it wasn’t exactly deep water. Actually, the sandy floor of the Gulf of Mexico was only about two feet below her.

  She sucked air through the snorkel again. A small wave broke over her and she caught a sickening mouthful of salty water. She swallowed it, and only then remembered that Seth had told her to spit it out and then clear her snorkel.

  Great. Now she was going to die from drinking salt water. Everyone knew you couldn’t drink salt water.

  Summer felt something tapping her on the back of the head. She looked up, raising her mask out of the water.

  Seth was standing in front of her, grinning. “Takes getting used to, huh? Breathing underwater and all?”

  “Ung gwesh sho,” Summer said. Then she spit out the snorkel mouthpiece. “I guess so.”

  “Okay, we’re going to go out a little farther. You’ll swallow less salt water that way. By the way, there’s no shortage of oxygen on the planet. You don’t need to try to breathe it all at once. Easy does it.”

  “We’re not going out too far,” Summer said anxiously.