"I"ve been thinking about it, too," Carrie ad- mitted. "Listen, we could all do worse than another summer on Sunset Island. Graham and Claudia told me at Christmas they were hoping to hire me again, but they didn"t know yet where they"d be. If there"s a European tour or some- thing, I"ll be out of a job."
Emma turned around to face Sam in the back seat. "How about you? Sunset Island would never be the same without you."
"What makes you think Dan Jacobs won"t need my help again?" asked Sam a little indignantly.
"With those twin monsters of his, he"d be lucky if anyone else would want the job!"
"I"m sure he"ll want you back, Sam," said Carrie, "but would you really quit your job at Disney World just to be an au pair for the summer?"
The car swerved slightly as Danny whipped around to give Sam a funny look.
"What?" Emma asked, noting the look.
"Nothing," Danny mumbled, but the expres- sion on his face belied his words.
A day of following highways up the coast of Maine brought them to the ferry dock with plenty of daylight left.
Emma was glad to see that hers was one of the only cars in line for the auto ramp-the ferry couldn"t hold more than a few. After a brief walk to stretch her legs, she returned to the car, letting the others wander on their own. The sun was still warm, and now that the car was stopped, she decided to put the top down.
Seating herself on top of the back seat, Emma gazed at the water and let her thoughts flow ahead to the island and Kurt. Kurt. She warned herself not to get her hopes up, even though just the thought of him made her heart pound in her chest. / mean, he didn"t even care enough to call me in Boston. And yet she couldn"t seem to shake this feeling of hopefulness. Wasn"t it possible that they really had a chance? That this summer they both would have matured enough to have the kind of relationship that Emma longed for?
Carrie, too, was wandering around the dock, lost in thought. As soon as they had arrived at the ferry station she"d headed for the ladies"
room. Her weight-loss plan was way off schedule.
Somehow she wasn"t purging often enough-it seemed as if Sam or Emma was always around, ready to catch her. It had been bad enough trying to talk Sam out of her firm conviction that Carrie had had a stomach virus the other night.
Carrie shut her eyes and leaned against the wall of the ferry station. G.o.d, it was so horrible, lying to her friends and hiding shamefully in a toilet, throwing her guts up. And maybe the most horrible part of the whole thing was that her friends would never, ever in a million years believe that she, Carrie Alden, supergirl, was capable of such sick, disgusting behavior.
While Carrie and Emma were lost in their private thoughts, Sam and Danny were having a difficult conversation at the end of the dock.
"I feel like a fifth wheel, if you really want to know!" said Danny.
"How can you be a fifth wheel? There are only four of us here," Sam said innocently.
"That"s not what I"m talking about, and you know it," Danny said angrily. "We come all this way and you just casually mention to me that you"ve got a guy waiting for you on the island.
What did you expect me to say?"
"Well, see, the thing is that he may be waiting for me, but that doesn"t mean I"m waiting for him," Sam explained.
Danny looked disgusted. "What are you talking about?"
Sam bit her lower lip. This was not going at all the way she had planned. She had thought that making Danny jealous would do wonderful things for her love life. Visions of Pres and Danny fighting over her had filled her head. Only now it seemed that Danny was really, truly angry. She hadn"t counted on that.
"What I mean," Sam said slowly, "is that he"s just a guy I went out with. It"s not like he"s my boyfriend."
"Went out with?" Danny repeated. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"
"You know," Sam floundered. "Like you and I go out. Not heavy."
"So you and this Pres guy don"t have a romantic relationship, is that it?"
"Uh, well ..." This was getting tougher and tougher. In truth, her relationship with Pres was strictly romantic-all excitement and not much substance. She had a feeling Danny wouldn"t take much comfort in that.
"If you mean am I sleeping with him, the answer"s no," she finally managed, trying her best to look confident and cool.
Danny gave her a level gaze and folded his arms. "I think my question is more like, do you want to sleep with him?"
Ooh, tough question. One part of her desper- ately wanted to sleep with Pres. Another part of her wanted to run in the other direction as fast as she could.
"Sam, I asked you a question," Danny re- peated. "Do you want to sleep with him?"
"I don"t know," Sam answered truthfully.
Because it was the most honest answer she"d given anyone in a long time, she was totally unprepared for Danny"s reaction.
"And why should I believe that?" he exploded.
"You"ll lie to anyone about anything if it suits your purposes!"
"Danny, I-"
"It"s true!" Danny shot back at her. "You"re still lying to your best friends about losing your job!"
With a final gesture of disgust, Danny turned on his heel and walked briskly away from Sam.
In the back seat of the car, Emma jumped to her feet. The ferry was coming! Craning to get a better look, she could just make out the silhou- ettes of those pa.s.sengers riding on the deck. The boat drew closer and her heart leapt. Was she seeing what she thought she was seeing? She blinked rapidly, but the sight on the deck of the ferry still riveted her. Kurt. Kurt was on the ferry. As her heart soared he lifted his arm and waved in her direction.
"Oh Emma, how romantic!" Carrie cried, coming up next to Emma. "He came over to meet you!"
"I can"t believe it!" was all Emma could think to say.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Carrie said with a laugh. "This is just like a movie-go throw yourself into his arms!"
Emma didn"t know exactly how she traveled the short distance from the car to the dock, but suddenly she was there, and there was Kurt, and the next thing she knew she was in his arms.
"You came to meet me," she whispered, her eyes shining up into his.
As for Kurt, he seemed at a loss for words. He just kept repeating her name softly, over and over.
Somehow Emma managed to introduce Danny and get her car squared away for the ride, but all these details went by in a haze. She was with Kurt again, and that was the only thing that mattered right now.
Carrie pa.s.sed the ferry ride thinking only of Billy. Her troubles with Josh seemed far away now, and she was glad she hadn"t had the chance to tell Emma and Sam about their quarrels.
On board, Sam was relieved to find Danny beside her.
"You still speaking to me?" she asked him with a sidelong look.
"So it appears," he answered, but he didn"t quite make eye contact with her as he said it.
"So, do you hate me, loathe me, never want to speak to me again, or what?" Sam asked him.
"All of the above," he said, but this time there was a definite laugh in his voice.
"Okay, so I drive you nuts," Sam allowed, happy to see a smile starting to break out on Danny"s face.
"You do," Danny agreed. "And listen," he said, turning serious again for a moment, "you can play this silly game with me if you want to. For the moment, anyway. But I really do think that lying to Emma and Carrie is beat."
"When you"re right, you"re right," Sam said lightly. "But I have to handle it my own way.
Now, how about if we just go have some fun?"
Once the ferry got away from the boat basin and picked up speed, Danny stood behind Sam on the deck, and Sam leaned against him, the wind lifting her hair back from her face. Kurt and Emma were so lost in each other that they might as well have been sitting on a cloud. And Carrie was completely absorbed in thoughts of Billy.
The wind was a little sharp on the water, but they all staunchly stayed on deck.
And then, finally, there it was on the horizon- Sunset Island. Each girl thought about how different she had felt traveling on that same ferry when she"d come to begin her job the summer before. Then, it had been a strange place, even a bit frightening. But now each of them smiled eagerly at the approaching sh.o.r.eline-they couldn"t wait to get there. In a way, it was home.
They left the top of Emma"s car down for the drive to the Play Caf6, where the Flirts were setting up for the benefit that night. Emma drove, with Kurt sitting up front and Carrie, Sam, and Danny wedged in the back. Everyone talked and laughed at once, pointing out land- marks to one another and playing tour guide for Danny.
"The Cheap Boutique! I love that store," Sam cried ecstatically when they reached the shops located on what was known as the rock-and-roll side of the island.
"Wow, look at the side of the Play Cafe," Emma said as she parked the car. "You can see the fire damage."
"I"m just so happy to see it at all!" Sam yelled.
"G.o.d, I love this place!"
Kurt got out of the pa.s.senger seat and, like a flash, Carrie followed. Billy came out of the cafe and she ran into his arms.
"Do you know how good you feel?" he whis- pered to her huskily.
"No, tell me," she said with a grin.
"Do you think anyone would notice if I threw you on the ground and ravished you right here and now?" Billy asked, wrapping his arms even more tightly around Carrie.
"I"d notice," Carrie said solemnly, "but I"d like it!"
Billy pulled back to give her a wickedly prom- ising smile, then turned to the group who had just made their way to the front door.
"Come on in. You"re just in time for one of our world-famous sunsets." Taking Carrie"s arm, he led the way.
Inside, the stage area was a tangle of cables and equipment, with people moving here and there amid the clutter. An odor of smoke was still barely detectable, reminding everyone of the purpose of all this mayhem.
Sam didn"t see Pres at first. She could feel Danny"s eyes watching her. He knew Pres was in Billy"s band. And then, there he was, standing up from behind an amplifier he"d been connecting.
Sam"s eyes met Presley"s, and her heart did a flipflop.
The guy was a serious, total, maximum, studly fox. Had he gotten even better-looking since she"d last seen him, or had her memory failed her?
Pres stepped down from the stage as Sam started across the floor, leaving Danny, stranded and ill at ease, to watch.
"Well, look what just blew into town," Pres drawled, his eyes taking in all of Sam. "You are one fine sight, girl."
"Mutual," Sam acknowledged.
"You been keepin" busy?"
"I"m a professional dancer now," Sam told Pres proudly.
"Watching you move was always a thing of beauty," Pres said with a grin.
Sam looked quickly behind her at Danny"s stricken face. Yikes. This was horrible. She had thought she"d feel like an incredibly s.e.xy, desir- able woman if she flirted with both guys. But now that the three of them were actually in the same room, all she felt was anxious and embarra.s.sed.
"Hey, come on down and meet my friend," Sam told Pres.
Pres gave Sam a big kiss h.e.l.lo and then ambled across the room with her until they stood in front of Danny.
"Danny, this is Presley Travis, ba.s.s player for the infamous band, Flirting with Danger. Pres, meet Danny Franklin, my best friend from Or- lando."
Sam breathed a silent sigh of relief as Danny and Pres shook hands. So far so good. There hadn"t been any actual bloodshed.
"First time on Sunset Island?" Pres asked Danny.
"Yeah," answered Danny in his typical mono- syllabic fashion.
"Don"t worry, we"ll show you a good time,"
promised Pres. He turned to Sam. Til see you later-that"s a promise," he murmured, then went back to setting up.
"See?" Sam tried to comfort Danny with a grin and a little tug on his sleeve. "We"re all friends here."
"Yeah," said Danny, not looking too sure.
"Oh no," Carrie groaned, her face turned to- ward the front door. "Look what the cat just dragged in."
Emma and Sam turned around to see Lorell Courtland and Diana De Witt sashaying their way into the Play Cafe.
"I feel a headache coming on, and it"s walking right toward me," Emma managed.
Lorell Courtland and Diana De Witt were the last two people in the world that the girls wanted to see. As far as Emma, Sam, and Carrie were concerned, Diana and Lorell were two of the most obnoxious, evil, manipulative, b.i.t.c.hy hu- mans on the face of the earth. Lorell had alleg- edly worked on the island last summer as an au pair for the Pope family, but the truth was that she had just used their house to change her clothes. Both she and Diana were filthy rich, and they made sure everyone knew it. Emma had gone to school with Diana. They had been arch- enemies for fourteen years. And it was Diana with whom Kurt had had his fling last summer, breaking Emma"s heart.
"If you ask me," Sam offered tartly, "someone left the gate open at the dog pound, and two of the b.i.t.c.hes escaped."
Emma licked her lips nervously and looked at Kurt. It had never occurred to her that she might have to face Diana in a showdown so soon.
"Everything"s fine, Emma," Kurt whispered, holding Emma even closer. "She can"t hurt us now."