"Well, well, what have we here?" Lorell purred to Diana in that sickening Southern accent of hers. "As I live and breathe, it"s my favorite trio!"
"h.e.l.lo, Kurt," crooned Diana, her eyebrows raised smugly. She reached out one manicured hand and clasped his bicep. Only then did she deign to notice Emma.
"Why, Emma!" Diana said, wide-eyed. "What a surprise to see you here!"
"h.e.l.lo, Diana, h.e.l.lo, Lorell," Emma said coolly.
"My, my, Lorell, the last time I saw you it was Christmas, and you were throwing yourself at Flash Hathaway on a yacht. That was one of the more amusing moments of my life, I must admit."
Diana turned to look at Lorell. "You went out with Flash Hathaway?" she asked with surprise.
Flash Hathaway was a cretinous photographer known for offering his photographic services and then trying to get into a girl"s pants. Sam had had a run-in with him the summer before.
"No, no, I just went to a Christmas party with him on a yacht," Lorell explained hastily.
"That"s not what you told us at the time," Sam reminded her, enjoying every word. "You told us it was true love." Sam made loud smooching noises in Lorell"s direction.
"Lorell?" Diana asked, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
"Oh, puh-leeze!" Lorell shot back. "Are you goin" to take the word of these lowlifes? I might have dated him once or twice. He"s crazy for me, if you want to know."
"I don"t," Carrie whispered under her breath.
"But anyway, at this point in my life I"m looMn"
for a more mature, more open kind of a relation- ship," Lorell explained, her eyes running over Danny as she spoke.
"Really?" Sam commented, feigning interest.
"You know what that means, don"t you?" Lorell asked, staring right at Danny.
"Gee, I get confused, Lorell," Sam said, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up her face. "Does it mean open to ridicule, or just to transmittable diseases?"
"Well, I guess a girl like you, who needs to get tested regular for such things, would know,"
Diana said, brushing her curls out of her face.
"What are you two doing here, anyway?" Kurt asked the poisonous twosome.
Diana looked hurt. "Why, Kurt, you called and invited me!"
The sharp intake of Emma"s breath could have been heard clear out by her car. She turned to look at Kurt.
"You are full of it, Diana," Kurt said, his voice full of steel. "You know that isn"t true."
"But Emma didn"t," Diana said with a smug grin on her face. Diana raised her chin and stared Emma down. "Better be careful, Emma. I can see that you"re none too confident about lover boy here. I got him once, and I can get him again."
"Did anyone ever mention how completely dis- gusting you are?" Sam asked Diana, stepping closer to her. Sam"s hands were curled into fists. If Diana or Lorell said one more horrible thing, she was going to deck one of them.
"Come on, Diana," Lorell said, tugging on her friend"s arm. "Let"s come back later, when the music starts. The company in here is just too tacky for words."
"Totally without cla.s.s," Diana agreed, heading for the door.
"Better than being without a clue!" Sam called after them.
Carrie smoothed the last hair into place and observed herself in the mirror with momentary satisfaction.
They"d barely had time for dinner after drop- ping Danny at the Bay View Motel and checking into their suite at the Sunset Inn. Carrie had straggled behind after dinner, and had ducked into the hotel lobby"s rest room to get rid of her dinner, which had made her late in getting ready to leave.
Fixing her hair hardly mattered though, she told herself as she stared at her reflection. It wasn"t like she spent any time putting on makeup or was doing anything special with her looks.
Why was it that just because she"d gained weight it made her not want to take any care with her appearance? she wondered. Although her friends seemed to think she looked fine. At the last minute she"d thrown her new raspberry-colored blazer over her black stretch pants and black T-shirt. Did it really look okay? She"d lost all sense of perspective.
Carrie pushed through the door just as the band was striking up their opening number, "With You Again," a song Billy had sent her on tape with a note saying he"d written it for her.
Could he really care about her if she was over- weight? And was it really possible he hadn"t even noticed? He certainly hadn"t said anything to her about it.
"Hey, I guess this is the last we"ll see of you for a day or so," Emma teased, gliding up behind her and giving her a little nudge. It was understood that the fold-out sofa in the suite would probably stay folded up, as Carrie would most likely spend her nights with Billy.
"Well, we"ll see," Carrie demurred. Suddenly she thought she"d feel embarra.s.sed being alone with Billy. She"d feel fat.
"That was not spoken like a lovesick fool,"
Emma said, feeling Carrie"s forehead as though testing to see if she was sick.
I"m acting nuts, Carrie told herself. After all, Billy had been up at school visiting her since she"d gained weight. It had never seemed to bother him. Or was he just being nice?
"Hey, what great thoughts are you thinking?"
Emma asked Carrie lightly.
"I ... I was thinking that actually you and Kurt probably wish you could be alone together.
Maybe Sam will make a choice between Danny and Pres, or something."
"Actually, I don"t want to be alone with Kurt,"
Emma whispered confidentially.
Carrie looked shocked. "Excuse me?"
"I mean, I do, of course I do," Emma added hastily. "But after everything that happened between us last summer, I"m in go-slow mode. I want to be sure this time."
Just then Kurt arrived with a gla.s.s of wine for Emma and a beer each for Carrie and himself.
Conversation halted while they watched and listened to the band. The room was packed to capacity, but Sam stood out in a shocking pink tiger-striped bodysuit under a man"s old fashioned black vest. Standing next to her was Danny, looking morose. Sam"s eyes were glued to the s.e.xy image of Pres playing ba.s.s up on the stage.
Carrie felt really bad for Danny. She knew he was crazy about Sam-it was totally obvious. But Sam had him coming and going.
"Look at Danny standing over there," Carrie yelled to Emma over the music. "He"s such a sweetheart. I could throttle Sam."
"Oh, you know Sam," Emma began. "She-"
"Uh, excuse me," came a soft voice next to Emma.
Emma practically did a double take. "Daphne?"
Standing next to Emma was Daphne Whit- tinger, best friend of Lorell Courtland and Diana De Witt. The last time Emma had seen Daphne, in this very club, Daphne had tried to slice her face with a shard of gla.s.s. Only Kurt"s timely intervention had prevented it. Daphne had been taken away to the hospital to treat her severe anorexia nervosa and probable addiction to diet pills. That was the last anyone had seen or heard from her.
"Emma, don"t walk away," Daphne said quickly before Emma could respond. "I ... I have something I"ve needed to say to you ever since last summer."
"I"m listening," Emma said. She noticed that Daphne had definitely gained weight since the previous summer. She looked clear-eyed, lucid, almost normal.
"You were right last summer when you told me I was sick, Emma," Daphne hurried on. "I ended up in the hospital for a long time. I found out I have what"s called an eating disorder."
Emma nodded. That was all the encourage- ment Daphne needed to continue.
"I"ve . . . I"ve been in this recovery program since then," she continued earnestly. "I"m getting better. I mean, I"m learning to forgive myself.
Maybe someday you can forgive me, too," she finished.
"Listen, Daphne, you weren"t responsible,"
Emma began. But before she could get any further Daphne had melted into the crowd and was gone.
"Did that really happen just now?" Emma asked Carrie. "Quel bizarre!"
But before any of them could utter a word, Carrie heard her name being called from another direction. She turned to find Claudia Templeton opening her arms for an embrace.
"I"ve been looking all over for you!" exclaimed Claudia. "Graham and I just popped in for the first set. We"re leaving for Bangor, then on to Toronto in the morning, then to Scandinavia for two weeks!"
Carrie felt off balance-so much was happening at once! She stood back and let Claudia carry the conversation.
Graham had been offered a tour of Scandina- via, with enough time between concerts so that he and Claudia could have a kind of second honeymoon. When they"d heard about the benefit at the cafe, they"d wanted to contribute. Not only were they giving a generous donation, but Gra- ham was going to make a guest appearance to close out the Flirts" set.
"So all this means that he"ll be cutting the next alb.u.m over the summer, and we"ll be here on the island," Claudia said, wrapping up. "We"ve been desperate to find out if you"ll be coming back, too."
Suddenly Carrie knew that that was what she wanted more than anything. The chance to be on Sunset Island again, to slow down and figure out what the h.e.l.l was going on with her life.
"I"d love to!" she told Claudia happily, adding a hug to clinch the deal.
"The kids will be thrilled," said Claudia, "and so will Graham. We"ll always be grateful for what you did for him last Christmas."
Carrie"s efforts the previous winter had helped Graham face his second bout with a cocaine addiction, a battle he now appeared to be winning- with luck, for good this time.
Emma and Kurt had disappeared, and Carrie and Claudia kept up their visit between songs.
By the time Claudia left to wait by the stage for Graham-they"d have to race to make the last ferry-Carrie had been invited to stay at the Templetons" house while she was on the island.
They had already given the okay for the girls to have their party there. In fact, it had been Claudia and Graham"s idea as soon as they heard about Carrie"s spring break plans.
"Invite everyone and have all the fun you want.
Just leave the place like you found it. We trust you, Carrie," Claudia had said.
Now Carrie watched with a warm glow as Graham took the stage. How lucky she was to have the trust and affection of such a loving family-and the family of a famous rock star to boot!
After rapturous applause, the audience settled in, mesmerized by Graham"s performance of "Roll On," his latest hit. As the song moved into the second verse, Carrie was jostling through the swaying bodies for a better view when Sam came bursting through the crowd.
"Carrie!" Sam cried, a wild look in her eyes.
"Have you seen Danny? I can"t find him any- where!"
He probably felt ignored and left, thought Carrie, but to Sam she simply said, "No, I haven"t."
Sam went careening on in her search, and by the time Carrie reached the front, the song was ending. Graham saw her, though, and threw her a kiss and a wink before he and Claudia bolted out the door. She knew Billy would unwind with the guys for a few minutes before coming to find her. She propped her back against the stage to wait.
"Are you Carrie?" asked a slender, exotic- looking girl, walking up to Carrie with an out- stretched hand. She looked to be in her early twenties-older, hip, very confident.
"Yes," said Carrie, surprised. She didn"t re- member ever seeing this girl before.
"I"m Luann," said the girl, clasping Carrie"s hand for a quick, firm shake. "I"ve heard so much about you from Billy."
"Oh," said Carrie with what she hoped pa.s.sed for a smile. She couldn"t help it-her radar went up. Who"s this girl to Billy, anyway? "I hope he said something good," Carrie added.
"Maybe too good," Luann said with a rueful laugh. "You probably have a better chance than I do."
Icy fingers of dread wound their way around Carrie"s heart.
"Well," continued Luann, "I"m not the jealous kind, so I figured I"d come right out and intro- duce myself. I hate gossip."
Carrie was trying to fathom this when she looked up to see Billy staring wide-eyed at her and Luann from backstage. He ducked away quickly, trying to pretend he hadn"t noticed them.
Luann had seen him, too, and now gave Carrie a knowing smile.
"After all, we might as well get to know each other," she said with a meaningful look in Billy"s direction. "We do have^a lot in common."
Carrie"s mind was whirling as Luann strode purposefully toward the bar. In the past forty- five minutes, she had been bombarded with so much new information, she hardly knew how to sort it out. Her emotions were going in ten different directions.
Not even the hideous truth that she and Daphne Whittinger had something in common seemed to stay in her consciousness. She was too busy letting the truth register: Billy had another girl- friend.
"I figured this was where you had to be," said Billy, standing on the front steps of the Temple- tons" house. "Did you have to take off without a word last night?"
It was nine o"clock Sunday morning, and though Carrie was up and dressed, she felt exhausted.
"Come on in," she said quietly.
She led him into the Templetons" s.p.a.cious living room and through to the sunny kitchen.