Once Holt and I had reached the porch and greeted everyone, Carley offered us lemonade. Holt accepted, but I said I wasn"t thirsty.
"Glad Susan"s here?" Nick asked, grinning at me.
"I"m sure I don"t know what you"re talking about," I said primly.
"HA. Sure you do," said Nick. "Her being here means Mrs. Hightower will have a harder time asking why you have the two most eligible bachelors in Castleton following you around."
"Actually," I said, "I already had a plan for getting Mrs. Hightower off that topic." I grinned wickedly.
"Oh, and what plan is that?" asked Nick, still smiling.
My smile broadened. "I was going to throw you and Carley under the bus."
Everyone laughed.
Mrs. Hightower"s voice came out to all of us on the porch. "Everyone, dinner"s ready. Let"s all sit down together and eat!"
I gulped.
Chapter Nineteen.
From my perspective, the dinner was going surprisingly well.
First of all, I hadn"t realized that Mrs. Hightower was going to make all the food from scratch and that she was really good at it. She"d made pasta primavera, a salad filled with vegetables from the local farmers" market, and fish chowder. She also had breads and a fruit and cheese platter, and just in case that wasn"t enough she"d grilled chicken as well. She also had freshly squeezed lemonade to go along with the usual a.s.sortment of sodas.
"Just wait until you see the dessert menu," was all she said when everyone broke out in compliments.
I mostly thought that dinner was going well because I wasn"t doing much of the talking. Instead, Mrs. Hightower quizzed all my friends about their lives. She obviously relished having the children of two of the most powerful families in town at her table, and she took full advantage. At least, from her perspective she did. At one point she actually got into a discussion with Samuel about water quality in lakes. At that point I had basically tuned out, but Samuel partic.i.p.ated in the discussion intelligently and with a smile. I was impressed.
Not to be outdone, Holt and Susan also added their opinions, which actually sounded like they had given the issue some thought as well.
On the bright side, I was seeing entirely new sides of them and I didn"t have to talk. I gave myself a pat on the back for the evening having turned out alright after all.
Unfortunately, it wasn"t to last, but the trouble came from a surprising source.
For the whole night the only other person who spoke as little as I did was Nick.
I didn"t even realize it at first. But at some point between the soup and the salad course, Carley made some flirty remark to Samuel. I didn"t even hear what she said a she liked to flirt, after all a but I knew she was doing it, because a blush crept up her cheeks and she batted her eyelashes more than was necessary.
Nick, sitting across from me, muttered, "Geez, you flirt with absolutely everyone."
Carley didn"t look like she had heard, but Susan did. Her head snapped up in dismay and she glanced over at Samuel, who was smiling back at Carley. Susan looked at me and then looked down again.
Crisis averted.
Or so I thought.
When Mrs. Hightower got up to get the desserts, Carley said, "Samuel, will you pa.s.s me the bread?" The bread was well within her reach.
"Can"t you do it yourself?" Nick asked, this time laying down his fork. He didn"t care who heard him.
Carley froze. "I don"t want to be rude and reach across the table," she answered primly.
Samuel handed her the bread.
"It has nothing to do with being rude," said Nick.
"What else would it have to do with?" asked Carley. Her jaw was set in a mulish line.
"You flirting with every guy in sight. Even the ones who are clearly interested in other girls." Nick glanced at me, and Carley and Samuel"s faces both got very red.
"Look, Nick, it"s not a big deal," said Samuel casually.
"You flirting with my girlfriend?" Nick almost shouted. "Isn"t a big deal? Forgive me if I don"t want a rich, hot, older guy making pa.s.ses at her. Especially when he"s clearly trying to get with her friend."
I should have said something at this point, but I had no idea what. From the looks on Susan and Holt"s faces, they didn"t either.
"I am NOT your girlfriend," Carley stormed at Nick, throwing her own silverware down.
"Oh yeah, you"ve made that PERFECTLY clear," Nick yelled back. "You were all over that Jake guy. He was a drunk idiot who threw you in the ocean and you nearly died, but no big deal as long as he thought you were cute!"
I could see tears forming in the sides of Carley"s eyes. She hung her head, embarra.s.sed to have Nick saying stuff like that to her in front of friends.
"Nick, let"s go outside and cool off," I said.
Nick shoved his chair back and stormed out. He didn"t even bother to look at Carley.
I got up and followed him out, grabbing a fleece on my way out the door. Now that it was mid-August the Maine nights were on the chilly side.
Nick was sitting on the steps to the porch. I had a flashback of the night when I"d come home from swimming with Holt, and Samuel had been there waiting for me. At the time I thought he was an intruder, but he"d just come to warn me about his crazy mother. Unfortunately, the warning didn"t accomplish much, and she"d ended up attacking me anyway.
Even though Nick knew I was following him, I didn"t want to startle him, so I made sure to make a little noise as I walked down the few steps to sit next to him. His forearms were resting on his knees, and his head was bent low. I put my hand on his back, trying to soothe him.
"That was a mistake, huh?" he asked.
I shrugged, then realized he couldn"t see it. "Probably not the best way to start a conversation about your relationship," I said cautiously.
Nick laughed bitterly. "We aren"t in a relationship. That"s the point. Carley can do whatever she wants and she obviously doesn"t want to be with me."
"Are you kidding?" I asked. "She"s crazy about you."
"No, Autumn, she"s not. If she was she wouldn"t treat me as if I don"t give a d.a.m.n," he said sadly.
"I don"t think she"s always aware of how her actions affect others," I said, still trying to choose my words with care. Carley was a great friend of mine, but sometimes she was callous.
"No," said Nick. "Look, thanks for coming out here, but I"m going home. I can"t deal with watching Carley flirt."
Nick stood up to go.
"Nick, her flirting doesn"t mean anything," I said desperately. I knew that was true.
"Whatever," said Nick. "If that"s true she should act like it. Goodnight, Autumn."
He walked towards his car, and then he was gone.
I sighed and watched him drive away, reluctant to go inside even though I knew I should. The night was so pleasant that it was a great temptation to just stay on the porch and avoid the complications indoors. I felt bad about Carley, but I honestly felt worse about Nick. He shouldn"t have gotten involved with Carley in the first place. Not if he wasn"t going to like how she treated him, and he had known her well enough to guess how that would be.
For a while I just sat there, noticing the beautiful night. The sky was clear and filled with what looked like a million stars, there were crickets and even a few last fireflies, and from somewhere in the distance, the smell of the ocean.
It was strong and salty, reminding me of warm days and gorgeous views. I stood up, suddenly desperate to see the water, not just smell it. I started down the driveway, telling myself that it wouldn"t take long and I was sure I"d be back before dessert was over.
I hadn"t gotten more than five steps when I heard the door open behind me.
"Hey, Autumn," said Holt.
I spun on my heel. For some reason I felt terribly guilty, and I knew my face would show it. I"d definitely suck at poker.
"Where are you going?" he asked. He didn"t sound suspicious; just curious.
"Nowhere," I said. I put my hands behind my back, feeling the need to look innocent.
"You look like you just drank vinegar," said Holt, grinning.
"I was just going to go for a walk," I said. I looked longingly towards the ocean.
"Autumn, come back in." He reached a hand out to me.
I looked from him to the water behind me. Every fiber of my body wanted to go. In fact, I wanted to run towards the water and not stop, not until I"d thrown myself in.
Holt must have realized that I wasn"t going to come back to the porch, let alone inside, without help. Quickly he sprang towards me, skipping all the front steps. As he took my arm I felt the jolt of his warm fingers on my bare skin.
I couldn"t help it, I smiled up into his eyes. Every time he was near I completely forgot about Samuel, the Winter Queen, and Sprites. The thought that I was destined for Samuel sounded ludicrous whenever I looked at him.
"Come inside," he said again. This time I moved with him. He put his arm around my shoulders. "Nick leave?"
"Yeah. I couldn"t talk him out of it, or into the idea that Carley actually likes him."
"As opposed to just using him for s.e.x," asked Holt.
"Blunt much?" I asked. But he was right. "Yeah, that"s how he feels. Personally," I continued, even though I knew I shouldn"t, "I admire a guy who talks about his feelings openly."
"What do you want to know?" Holt asked.
"What?" I said. It wasn"t what I expected him to say. I"d expected him to laugh at me.
"What do you want to know? You were making a comment about not knowing how I felt, right? Anything you want to know, just ask."
I was all set to ask when the door came flying open and Samuel dashed out. He skidded to a stop when he saw us coming up the steps. Awkwardly I stepped out from the circle of Holt"s arm. Susan followed him out, carrying a plate of what looked like cookies.
"What lit a fire under your a.s.s?" Holt asked casually.
"I sensed the Water Sprite," said Samuel. "I wanted to make sure Autumn was alright."
I raised my eyebrows. I"d seen no sign of a Water Sprite.
"She was on her way to meet it when I came out," Holt replied.
"I what?" I gasped. "I was not." My voice sounded feeble even to me.
"You were," said Holt. "That"s why you were heading for the ocean."
I chewed my lip, thinking. What he said made sense. Until this whole Water Sprite thing, I had never really cared about the ocean. Whenever my mom would say how beautiful it was, I"d just roll my eyes. The last few days I"d felt drawn to it. I guess that"s why the Fairies always wanted to be with me. If the Water Sprite could make the ocean call to me and I was powerless to resist it, maybe I did need protecting at all times.
"You almost walked into the water?" asked Susan, horrified.
"I didn"t," I said, just as Holt chorused, "I stopped her about two feet from here."
We smiled at each other.
Samuel looked away.
"This is not okay," said Susan. She picked up her own cookie and ate it, staring around absently.
"Give me one of those," said Holt. He grabbed a cookie and handed one to me. "Yum; chocolate chip," said Holt.
"My point is," said Susan, starting to pace, "we have to fix this."
"How do you want to do that?" asked Samuel. He sat down on the steps.
"I don"t know," said Susan, "but we can"t let it go on like this."
"Lydia and Leslie caught it before; maybe they will again," said Samuel. I noticed that Holt shifted slightly, and I wondered if he was as uncomfortable about Lydia and Leslie as I was. Lydia had punched him, after all.
"So, we need a plan," said Holt. "I just don"t like our options."
"What are our options?" I asked. "Can we go in after it?"
There was a moment of silence, and then I realized that none of them would look at me.
"What?" I asked.