A Girl Named Summer (5 page)

Chapter
3

T
he next morning Summer was running late and had to race to get Michael ready for his swimming lesson. He looked terribly silly walking beside her in a lemon yellow swimsuit and his red winter boots, but Summer didn’t have time to argue with him. At least he had promised to remove the boots and the red towel when he was in the pool. Summer only had time to put on a pair of her mother’s sunglasses and hope that no one recognized her.

They were standing on the corner of High Drive and Meyer Boulevard when Summer heard her name called. She recognized the singsong voice immediately. Ann Logan.
So much for the disguise
, Summer thought with a sigh. She removed the sunglasses and squinted at Ann.

“I’m so glad I spotted you,” Ann said, leaning out
the window of her sports car. “I wanted to invite you to a little swim party I’m having next Wednesday. I do hope you can come.” She giggled. “Of course, you’ll have to bring a date,” she added with a smirk, “but if you can’t find one, call me and I’ll see what I can do.”

“I’m sure I can find a date, Ann. Thank you for inviting me,” she said sweetly. She wanted to add “Why did you invite me?” but thought she knew that answer. Ann liked an audience to stand on the sidelines while she reigned as Miss Popularity with the boys.

The stoplight changed, and Ann waved a dramatic farewell before gunning the motor. Both Summer and Michael watched her zoom off. Ann Logan was one of the few sophomores who had turned sixteen and had a driver’s license. The sports car was a sweet-sixteen present from her parents. That was ironic, Summer decided, for there wasn’t a darn thing sweet about Ann Logan.

“Come on, Michael,” she snapped. She grabbed hold of his hand, sticky from the candy he had just finished, and propelled him across the street. Ann Logan had a knack for putting Summer in a rotten mood.

“I don’t want to run,” Michael protested.

“Sorry,” she replied when she realized Michael was stumbling to keep up. She abruptly changed the pace to match his short-legged stride. They entered the
park, dodging a couple of joggers as they made their way to the pool.

The water was going to be cold, she realized, but she had worn her swimsuit under her jeans and T-shirt anyway. A good swim would be invigorating, and since running into Ann Logan, it would be just the thing to rid Summer of the huge knot of tension settling at the base of her neck. It galled her that the only reason Ann had invited her to the party was that she was sure Summer couldn’t get a date. It galled her, and it hurt.

“Hi.” The deep voice shocked Summer and sent shivers of delight racing down her legs. It was David.

“Hi!” she said. “What are you doing here?” As she spoke, she took in his appearance, hoping she wasn’t gaping. He was wearing navy blue, very official looking swim trunks. “You’re the swimming instructor, aren’t you?”

“How’d you guess?”

“My brother must be taking his lesson from you,” she all but stammered.

It was too good to be true. She would get to see David every single day for the next two weeks.

While she spoke, Michael had edged behind her legs, peering out and up at David with obvious suspicion. She glanced down and immediately took in his expression. Michael was definitely having second thoughts.

She was about to drag him out from behind her when David squatted down, his face just inches from
her little brother’s. “Hi, there,” he said. “You ready to learn how to swim, buddy?”

“No.” The one word was issued into the back of Summer’s kneecaps.

“Well, then, come and sit beside me on the side of the pool. You don’t mind getting your feet wet, do you?”

“Do I have to get my face wet?” Michael asked with a frown.

“Not unless you want to,” he promised.

Michael believed him. David looked up at Summer and winked. “Why don’t you come back in a half hour?” he suggested, and before either she or Michael could argue the point, David had taken Michael’s hand and was walking toward the pool.

“He can’t swim at all,” she yelled, and then felt herself blush. She was sounding just like a mother hen!

He nodded so that she knew he heard her. She waved and quickly turned to leave before Michael decided to make a scene.

For the next half hour, she roamed the park. It seemed an eternity. She contemplated running home and changing into something more sophisticated. Or maybe she should let her hair out of the sloppy knot she had hurriedly twisted it into on top of her head, but she discarded the idea. David would know she was interested in making a good impression on him if she did that, and even she knew one simply didn’t act overly eager where boys were concerned. Regina said it scared them off.

The pool area was crowded with mothers and children when she returned. David praised Michael a great deal in front of her, and her little brother positively glowed. His hair was plastered back from his face, indicating that he had gotten more than his feet wet.

“It’s good that Mike is learning to swim early. It’s easier with his age group. The older ones get all uptight.”

“Do you give group lessons, too?” she asked. “Or are they all individual lessons like Michael’s?”

“He’s my only single,” David answered. “I have four groups.” He was so self-assured and confident, and there was a note of pride in his voice. “I fill in as a lifeguard some evenings.”

“Is this your first year teaching?” she asked.

“Can you tell?”

She smiled and shook her head. “You’re very good with little kids.”

Before he could reply, she prodded Michael into saying thank you, and they turned to leave. From behind her she heard David whisper, “I’ll call you later, okay?”

“That would be nice,” she murmured in a soft voice. She strove to maintain her composure, holding her smile to a minimum when she glanced back at him. David didn’t need to know she was bursting at the seams.

Summer paced back and forth in front of the phone, willing it to ring. The afternoon seemed to last forever,
but then at exactly five minutes after four, David called.

Over the phone he sounded very formal. “Hello, Summer? This is David Marshall, and I was wondering if you’d like to go to a movie with me tomorrow night? If you’re busy, maybe we could do it another time.” Odd, but he sounded as if he was out of breath.

“That would be great,” she replied when he slowed down. She decided that playing hard-to-get would be stupid. She told him where she lived and agreed that seven o’clock would be a good time to be picked up.

“Ask him if he has any tall friends,” Regina insisted when Summer told her the news. She sounded just as excited as Summer but couldn’t stay on the phone because her brother needed to use it.

“Come over and help me decide what to wear,” Summer begged, and Regina, best friend that she was, didn’t let her down.

“I’m leaving right this minute.”

She could always count on Regina! By the time she arrived, Summer had three possible outfits displayed on the bed.

“It’s definitely the blue dress,” Regina declared. “It just matches the color of your eyes. You’ll look super.”

“I still can’t believe—”

“—he asked you out, right?” Regina finished for her.

“Wait until you meet him. He’s…
so
great.”

“Are you going to ask him to Ann’s party?”

“I thought I would,” Summer replied. “Why are you frowning? Don’t you think it’s a good idea?”

“Well, part of me does. I want to see the look on Ann’s face when you show up with a Chalmers boy. She’ll be green with envy. The other part of me says to keep your David as far away from Ann Logan as possible. Don’t tempt fate.”

“Well, I’m going to ask him,” Summer decided. “Not every boy falls for her act. David is much too mature.” Her voice sounded very sure, but a nagging worry was forming in the back of her head. She ignored her misgivings and squared her shoulders. “David must like me a little, or he wouldn’t have asked me out. Right?”

“Right!” Regina’s enthusiastic reply was at odds with the frown wrinkling her brow.

“It’s time to fight fire with fire,” Summer said with false confidence.

“You’re one hundred percent right,” Regina declared. “I worry too much, but I’ve seen Ann in action more than you have.”

“Think positive,” Summer chanted. “I sound just like my dad.” Both girls laughed. “He’s right, you know,” she continued. “It’s time to give Ann a little setdown.”

“Right!”

“We sound like a pep rally,” she said. “And I will ask David all about his friends, including their height.”

“I asked Carl to Ann’s party, but he can’t go,” Regina said with a shrug. “He’s going out of town.”

“But you have to go to the party.”

“I will,” she answered. “I’m going to make Gregg take me. That way I can really circulate. And besides, I wouldn’t miss seeing—”

“—Ann’s face when David and I make our appearance?”

“Exactly!” Regina said.

Chapter
4

I
t seemed to Summer that an entire lifetime passed before it was truly Wednesday night. She was dressed and ready to go a good hour before David was due. One final look in the hall mirror convinced her that there wasn’t anything more she could do. She looked as good as she was ever going to look, which really wasn’t all that bad, she decided with almost clinical detachment. For once her hair was willing to conform, falling softly to her slender shoulders.

She had prepared her family as best she could. Luck was on her side. Grandpa had decided to return to the basement right after dinner, and though she felt a little guilty, she sighed with relief. There was no telling what her grandfather would do in front of David. And if he was in one of his teasing moods…She shuddered to think of that possibility.

“Mother, I’ll wait up here. Remember, you let David in and then call me, okay? And don’t forget you’re going to ask Dad not to talk to the plants.”

“Yes, dear, I’ll remind him. My, don’t you look lovely,” her mother said. “And don’t worry. We’ll all behave.” She turned to leave and then stopped. “Oh, by the way, dear, I was getting ready to bake a cake a few minutes ago and the phone rang. Now I can’t seem to find my measuring spoons. Let me know if you see them, will you?”

“Sure, Mom,” Summer answered, shaking her head.

A short time later the doorbell chimed. Summer stood on the landing at the top of the stairs, carefully concealed behind one of her father’s jungle plants, and waited. She didn’t want to appear overly eager. She would wait until her mother called her, then count to ten, and then she would slowly descend, her head held high, her eyes…

“Michael, tell this young man what you would be if you weren’t Irish.”

“A-a-a-shamed,” squealed her little brother.

The alarm bell inside Summer’s head rang loud and clear. Her grandfather was entertaining David!

She automatically responded. She almost tripped over her own feet in her haste to get downstairs, sounding very much like an elephant in tap shoes on the uncarpeted steps, and unfortunately, David saw and heard the whole thing.

“Hello, David,” she rushed. “I see you’ve met the family. Well, we better leave now?”

“Summer, where’re your manners?” her father said from behind. “Ask the young man to sit and talk for a few minutes.”

It couldn’t be avoided. She led David to the sofa and sat down next to him. Grandpa perched on the arm of the chair her mother was sitting in, and her father gave her a smile of encouragement before taking his seat in his worn leather recliner. He didn’t seem to notice that he was holding a potted plant in his lap, but she was sure David must have thought that a bit strange.

“Michael tells us you’re a fine swimming instructor,” her father began.

“I did not,” Michael interrupted, but quickly fell silent when he caught Summer’s glare.

“Of course you did, son,” her father continued in a smooth voice. “Do you enjoy teaching, David?”

“Oh, yes, sir,” David replied. “And Mike is going to be a great swimmer, aren’t you?”

“Yep,” Michael responded.

“Well, I best be getting back to the basement, now that I’ve met your young man,” Grandpa bellowed. “I’m just putting the finishing touches on my latest invention,” he confided to David in a conspiratorial and very loud whisper.