Saving Summer (2 page)

“So you live on the island?”

“Temporarily, I’m going to Michigan State in the fall for my freshman year. Looking forward to ditching Half Mile.”

“Do you like your school?” I couldn’t ask him if he liked the island, since it was kind of clear that answer would be a no.

“It’s okay…why?”

“Oh, it’s on my list of places I’ve applied to. I’m enrolling… You know, early admission.” Way to go Summer. I felt so lame. Cat stickers. Early admission. My embarrassing photo…

Jumping overboard was starting to look really appealing. I was a really strong swimmer. I could make it back to the dock.

“Nice,” he pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen, then up at the water every so often.

It was really, seriously, uncomfortable. Not to mention hot. As Celso went faster, I was able to cool down a little, but it wasn’t much. I would have been so much more comfortable if I hadn’t been wearing jeans. I should have changed when I got off the plane.

“I’ve never seen you around before,” Celso put his phone away and pulled a ball cap out from under his seat, settling it on his head. “And Lou says you spend every summer here.”

“Yeah, she likes to keep me close.” I said, holding back an excited squeal as we caught the wake from another speedboat. “I don’t get to meet a lot of people.”

“Well, you know me now. I live on the other side.”

“Do you know any other people on Half Mile, our age?”

“Just one other, I’ll introduce you.” he smirked. “Damian is throwing a party tonight. Our parents left for New York, and we’ll have the next month without them.”

“You’re inviting me?” I wasn’t exactly part of the popular crowd back home. I had a few connections, and was even accepted by some of the more popular girls. But I’d never been invited to a party before by someone like Celso.

“Yeah, why not?”

“Well, considering the way you looked at my suitcase…” Why couldn’t I just accept his invite and shut my mouth? “I put those stickers on it when I was a kid.”

“And you never run into anyone out here, so you didn’t think twice about carrying it?” He started laughing.

“Pretty much.” I felt a little tension ease out of me.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I think you and my girlfriend, Felicity, will get along great.”

“It’ll be nice to know another girl.” Perfect. I could cross having a summer fling off my list. Damian was not my type, and I wasn’t the kind of girl to go after someone else’s boyfriend. Though I wasn't exactly attracted to Celso either.

“And you can meet my other brother, Gael,” he said. “He’s the only other person on the island.”

“There are three of you?” Torture. Fate had decided to torture me. Stick Summer on an island with three brothers who look like Spanish gods. Out of her league, maybe out of her species, and watch her squirm. Normal people were not that good looking.

“Yeah, Gael’s the baby. Damian and I are twins, not identical. Gael is a year younger. He’ll be a senior this year.”

“I’m going into my senior year too.” Perfect. So he’s also my age. Not that we’d have anything else in common. Me being a total dork. Him being one of the perfect brothers. I would meet him, but after that, I’d go right back to being bored and alone with Lou. This summer would be no different than the last. At least I could count on that.

“You guys will have a lot to talk about.”

“Sure…” If Gael was anything like his brothers I sincerely doubted that.

Chapter 2
Gael

“I thought we went over this,” I tapped my pencil on the table and glanced at Josie’s notes. “In fact I’m certain we went over it, more than once.”

“I forget I guess.” She ducked her head and stared at her hands. “The letters confuse me. Why can’t they just be numbers, or the question marks like before?”

“Because this is algebra.” I held back a sigh. “Remember what I told you about using your imagination? Just pretend the letter isn’t there. It’s gone, and in its place are the question marks.”

She let out a huff and pouted. “Fine, twelve divided by the question mark equals six.”

At least she was cooperating. “Great, now what are we looking for?”

“We have to find out what number should be in the question mark’s place?”

I wasn’t going to give her the answer. Whenever she wasn’t sure, she always said her answer in the form of a question. “Maybe, you’ll have to figure it out.”

I sat back and watched her stare at the paper. A few seconds passed and she wrote the number two in the answer column. We were making progress. “Remember, your mom said she’d take you out for ice cream if you get most of the answers right.”

Bribery worked really well with Josie.

She blazed through the rest of her worksheet, only getting two out of the ten wrong. I graded it, had her fix the questions she missed, which were word problems and had confused her. I left her in the dining room to find her mom and give her the news. If she kept up the good work, she’d pass summer school just fine.

Josie’s mom, Mrs. Foster, paid me and I left thirty bucks richer.

I grabbed my bicycle and pedaled across town for the lifeguard station. My older brother Damian was just getting off work, and I’d be stuck on Big Pine Key if I didn’t hurry.

“Your shoe is untied,” he said by way of greeting.

“Thanks for waiting.” I met him at the dock behind our dad’s restaurant, ignoring my sneakers.

“Actually I’m staying here. I’ll catch a ride with someone so I’m back in time for the party.” He said. “I just wanted to give you the keys to the boat. Don’t scratch her. Dad will freak.”

I rolled my eyes. “Where are you going?”

“I’m picking up a girl I met…Chelsea…No, Charity. That’s it. Her names Charity and she’s vacationing here with a few friends. I’m going to show her a good time.”

Yep, he was going to do that, and much more by the look on his face. My brother was going to score with some random chick and then he wouldn’t have to worry about seeing her again once she left.

There were times I envied Damian, but they were short lived. He was anti-commitment. His relationships lasted about a week. All of the girls were out of towners, and he never had to worry about them coming back.

I watched Damian head back towards the restaurant wondering how he would make it through college if he went through girls like this. People would label him as a player.

I put my bike in the boat. It was one of the family boats we used to get on and off the island. We left our cars at the restaurant, wasn’t like we could take them to Half Mile Isle.

I motored home, listening to the small radio we kept on board. I tied the boat up to our dock and grabbed my bike, wheeling it up to the house and leaving it propped against the side. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and fished it out.

“Hey,” I said to my dad when I answered. “What’s up?”

“Not much…if you had to take one of the appetizers off the menu, which one would you get rid of?” Right down to business as usual. Whenever he changed something on the menu, he called a few people. Me, a friend or two, and then the chef.

That was easy. “The spinach dip with pita chips.”

“Really? Your mom loves it.”

“Yeah, and I think she’s the only one.” I said this knowing that he knew it was rarely ordered, and usually went to waste. “What if you made it like, a hot spinach dip? Maybe with cheese?”

“I like that idea. It’s still similar to what she likes. I’ll tell Chef Mike to play around with it. Would you keep the pita chips?”

I sank into a cushy chair on the porch. “I like the tortilla ones better.”

“Maybe I could give them the option of either pita or tortilla…” It sounded like he was taking notes in the background. “Where are your brothers?”

“Uh, well…Damian has a new conquest, and I haven’t seen Celso all day.”

“You’re a good guy, Gael. I trust you to keep the peace while we’re gone.”

So far they’d only been gone a week. But a lot can happen in that time. “Understood.”

“You need anything, you call me and Mom.” They were leaving for a trip around Europe to celebrate their anniversary. First they had some business in New York concerning a purse mom was designing for some fancy store. I’d be stuck here, tutoring kids, and wondering which of my brothers would wreck the house with wicked parties first.

Knowing how crazy it would be, I’d stay in the shed and focus on building my new computer. I was the odd one. Not great party company. Last time I went to one of their drunken raves, I collected all the boat keys so no one would try to leave the island and get in an accident. It was the right thing to do, but Damian hadn’t appreciated it. He’d been so pissed, I actually considered hiding from him.

Of course, I’d been fifteen at the time, and over cautious. I’d learned to loosen up, but I still kept an eye on things when the party started.

“When is your flight, Dad?”

“We are heading to the airport in half an hour, then its bonjour France, Spain, and Germany.” He chuckled. “Your mother wants to be fluent in each language before we land, but all the guidebooks in the world won’t help her out. Oh, make sure to put the valuables in the safe, Gael.”

My dad knew what went on here when he and Mom were gone. He’d known for a few years. Since the time he came home to find one of our windows broken from a fight that started between a few of the hotheaded friends Damian invited.

“Will do.” I headed in the house, looking forward to the solace of my room, and hoping things weren’t too crazy tonight. “Have fun, see you guys later.”

“You too, have a good time.”

I frowned as I hung up the phone.

A good time was sure to be had, but chances are it wouldn’t be me having it.

Chapter 3
Summer

“Hey, Lou.” I had everything unpacked. My room was exactly how I liked it, and the wallpaper was still peeling a little. But that was okay. Because I had a party to look forward to.

“In the kitchen, doll.”

I wanted to skip out of my room, but kept cool as I found her standing at the mustard colored counters that screamed 70’s chic. “What are the plans for this afternoon?”

She turned, frowning at my frayed shorts and tank top. “So this is what the girls wear now? What ever happened to leaving what you’ve got to the imagination?”

I glanced down, “Well, there isn’t anyone here but you and me…”

“If you say so.” She huffed a white curl off her forehead. “Are you unpacked?”

I sat at the kitchen table in a creaky chair and accepted a glass of limeade from her. “Thanks. Yeah, Napoleon doesn’t seem happy to share the guestroom.”

She muttered under her breath about the damn cat and opened the fridge. “I’m going to run to the store. Is there anything you want?”

I sipped my drink, smiling as my lips puckered. “I’ll eat anything, you know that.”

“I’ll be back in a couple hours.” She took a slip of paper off the counter and added a few things to a list she’d already made.

I stood. “I could come with you…”

“Dressed like that?” she snorted. “Oh, I found this in your purse.”

The blood drained from my face when she pulled my cellphone out of her back pocket. I didn’t think she’d go snooping through my things. This was ridiculous. She couldn’t expect me to be like her all summer. I had to have some freedom. And if I wasn’t allowed to do…well, anything, she could at least let me keep my cell phone.

“No,” I pleaded, holding my hands out. “I promise I won’t use it. I’ll just keep it in my drawer.”

“You know the rules. I’ll give it back to you before you leave.”

“Come on, please Lou!”

“You’re lucky I don’t take a hammer to it.” She narrowed her eyes. “These are the devil’s creation. Makes your mind mush. But I know how much they cost, so I’ll be hiding it. I won’t have that kind of corruption under my roof.”

“It’s not a sin to have a cell phone!” But she ignored me, turned, and walked out of the kitchen. No telling where she was going to put my phone.

When she came back I tried to ask where she hid it, but she simply shook her head and grabbed her purse.

“What am I supposed to do while you’re gone?” I sighed, wondering if I could search for it.

She smiled. “Your explorer bag is by the door. I dug it out of storage. You can search for shells, or maybe catch some hermit crabs. Or you can sit and brush Napoleon.”

“Okay,” I plopped back in the chair and let out a frustrated breath. This was going to be my whole summer. Brushing the cat and wishing for something to do. It was so much better when I was a kid. I didn’t get bored. The cat was fun to terrorize with the brush. Things were bigger, more exciting. I could spend all day digging in the sand on the shore, walking amongst the mangroves. Being with Lou was enough. But once I hit my teen years, things started to change. The boredom settled in. I wished I had friends to hang out with, go to the movies, or maybe get a summer job. Instead I was forced to stay on the island and do nothing.

But there was a glimmer of hope.

I was going to have some fun, even if it meant Lou finding out.

Once she was gone, I carefully searched the house, hoping I would discover where she put my phone. It was hard because I knew if I didn’t put things back exactly how I found them, she’d know I’d snooped.

I found a secret stash of cookies in a vase by her bed. Spools of yarn and knitting needles. There were old lotto tickets in almost every drawer, and enough mini hand creams to sink a spa cruise. But no phone.

So I sat on the porch and tried to knit.

When Lou got back I helped her unload all the groceries and she told me she brought me a surprise.

A puzzle!

A jigsaw puzzle with a million little pieces.

Kill me now.

I counted down the hours until Lou started to get ready for bed, and I could sneak out for the party. I pretended to act sleepy and yawned, stretching for good measure. “I’m going to sleep. Need anything?”

She looked up from her knitting and smiled. “No, I’m good honey. Have a nice sleep.”

I gave her a kiss on the cheek and went in my room, but left the door cracked the tiniest bit. When she shut off the living room lights I waited for a few minutes, just to make sure she was in bed.