My Fake Summer Boyfriend (7 page)

"You know, I could spend the rest of the summer right here."
Alex propped himself up on one elbow.

I sat up. "You might get hungry."

"Oh, I'd send you back to shore each day for fresh supplies." Alex rolled back down on the sand.

"That
's what you think!" I circled my hands on Alex's neck and pretended to choke him.

"All right. All right! Bad idea."

Just as I started to draw my hands away from Alex's neck, he caught me by my wrists, pulled me down on top of him and kissed me.

I was caught off guard. I wanted to say something funny to make light of the moment, but I was too surprised to speak. I turned around to see if Jason and
Hailey had been watching.

"Don
't worry," said Alex. "They're too engrossed in making that sand castle to pay any attention to us."

"I, uh, I—I..." I stammered. Part of me wanted to hop in the rowboat and row back to shore, and part of me wan
ted to throw my arms around Alex again. I knew then for sure that I wanted Alex to be more than a friend, but I wasn't sure I wanted to do anything about it. What if it spoiled our relationship for good?

Chapter Eight

Alex
sat up and took my hands in his. "Katie, the past few weeks with you has been the most fun I've ever had." He spoke quietly, so Jason and Hailey couldn't hear. "I like you—a lot. I like to kiss you. Is that so terrible?"

"Oh,
I—" I licked my lips. I wanted to tell Alex that I had liked him for a long time, but I'd been afraid to try to change our relationship. I'd been really happy the past few weeks, too. Just being friends with Alex had freed me from comparing myself to Nicole. I hadn't worried about measuring up. But if we declared ourselves to be more than "just friends" I could still turn into a shivering mass of insecurities. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I couldn't live in limbo forever and I certainly couldn't expect Alex to, either.

I took a deep breath. "
Alex, I—"

"Ahem."
Hailey cleared her throat. She'd appeared suddenly, as if beamed down from another planet. "Excuse me, but I think it's going to rain."

Alex
looked up. Big black clouds filled the sky. "It looks like a storm coming. Hailey, you and Jason start loading things into the boat."

"We will."
Hailey skipped off, shouting orders to Jason.

Alex
turned to me. "We'll talk later." He took me in his arms and pressed a kiss onto my lips. I didn't pull away. My heart fluttered. The touch of his body pressed against mine sent warm shivers through me. When Alex stopped kissing me, he gazed into my eyes and smiled. "We'll talk tonight."

"Tonight," I repeated in a whisper. Then a fat drop of rain landed on my head. "We
'd better hurry. We don't want to get caught in a downpour."

When everything was loaded into the boat, everyone climbed in. I insisted that Jason and
Hailey wrap their towels around themselves to keep warm. It'd grown cold once the clouds had covered the sun.

"I
'll warm up enough rowing," Alex said, lifting the oars.

After only a short time I could see that he was straining. The water was getting rough—it was a fight to make it over each wave. White caps slapped against the boat. Before long the occasional raindrop turned into a steady rain. There was a crash of thunder. I tried to look calm for Jason
's and Hailey's sakes, but my throat tightened with fear.

"Don
't worry," Alex shouted. "The lightning's still pretty far away, and we'll be back at the dock soon."

I squinted and saw the outline of the man who
'd rented the boat to us. It looked as though he was waiting to help us dock.

Lightning crashed, closer this time. I clenched the seat of the boat.

Alex grunted as he pulled on the oars. With a few swift strokes he narrowed the distance to the dock.

"You folks got back just in time!" the man on the dock yelled, as he helped pull in the rowboat. "That storm is going to be centered over us any minute now." He helped us unload. "You
'd better hurry and get inside."

As we all ran to our cottage,
Alex and I struggling with the ice chest, lightning flashed over the water. Finally, we burst into the cottage door and stood dripping on the kitchen floor. Our parents were sitting at the dining room table, drinking coffee.

Mom ran over to us. We must have been a bedraggled group. "Thank goodness you
're back! Another few minutes and we would have sent the Coast Guard out looking for you!"

"Mom!" I said. "
We’re soaked, but otherwise we’re fine."

"A-a-choo!" Jason shivered.

"I hope you're not getting sick," Mom said.

"I
'm fine." Jason sniffled.

"We really must be going," said Mrs. Stedman.

"Let me get you our big golf umbrella," Dad said. "It's upstairs."

"Thanks, I think we
'll need it in that rain," said Mrs. Stedman. She turned to Alex. "Oh, I've got some good news. The Kendalls are arriving tomorrow. They're going to spend the last week of August here in Chatfield. They'll be just down the beach from us." She turned to me. "Katie, do you know Nicole?"

I swallowed the lump solidifying in my throat. "I—I know who she is."

"Here's the umbrella." Dad handed it to Mr. Stedman.

"Thanks."

Alex looked at me with watery eyes. He was shivering and turning blue. "I'll see you tomorrow."

What about our talk?
I wanted to ask, but I bit my tongue. Alex was obviously in no shape to hang around and chat. He needed to get home and take a hot bath. I fought back the alarm that had been building in me since Nicole's name was mentioned and smiled. "Sure. Tomorrow. Take care of yourself."

After everyone left, I pulled my towel around my shoulders. Now I was cold and tired and wanted nothing but to soak in a tub of hot water myself.

Tomorrow Nicole would be in Chatfield.

Chapter
Nine

Eager to see
Alex, I rushed Jason through breakfast so we could hurry to pick up Hailey.

Hailey
opened the door. "Alex will be ready to go in a minute," she said.

The Stedmans had already left to play golf with my parents, and the only distraction was Jason and
Hailey chattering. I wondered why Alex was taking so long. Was he avoiding me now that he knew Nicole was coming?

"Sorry I
'm late." Alex came downstairs buttoning his shirt. "Hi, Katie. How do you feel?"

"Fine," I said. "How about you?" I tried to read his face. I wasn
't just inquiring about his health.

"A lot better after a good night
's sleep. We don't really have time to talk now. How about after I get off work?"

My heart beat as fast as a sparrow
's. Alex still wanted to talk to me. Of course, Nicole wasn't in Chatfield yet. Well, I would worry about Nicole later. I nodded. "We can talk then."

"Good. Now we
'll have to leave, or I'll be late for work."

Alex
kissed me goodbye at the store, and it was more than just a friendly kiss for the benefit of the giggling girls. I still could feel the force of his lips on mine as I walked away.

Jason and
Hailey wanted to go to our cottage to play. After lunch I took them swimming. I needed some exercise to push my worries about Nicole from my thoughts. When it was time to meet Alex at the store, I had managed to shove Nicole into a closet in the far corner of my mind and close the door on her. I would talk to Alex, we would explain our true feelings for each other, and Nicole wouldn't be able to interfere.

I almost broke into a run as soon as Little
's was within sight. As I approached the front door, I saw that the giggling girls were all atwitter, whispering behind their hands and glancing from the door to me and back to the store. I tried to ignore them as I shooed Jason and Hailey inside.

As soon as I saw
Alex, my heart nearly stopped. Leaning over the counter, looking up at Alex with her big blue eyes, was Nicole Kendall. Jason and Hailey ran to the back of the store to get their customary ice cream sandwiches, but I hung back in the doorway. Alex seemed to be enjoying his conversation with Nicole. He must have caught a glimpse of me out of the corner of his eye, because all of a sudden he turned in my direction.

"
Katie! I don't think you've met Nicole. Nicole, this is Katie Price."

"Well, hello,
Katie. Pleased to meet you." Nicole said quickly, turning immediately back to Alex, leaving me with my hand outstretched in midair, poised for a handshake.

I dropped my arm to my side. I decided to answer
Nicole even if she was ignoring me. "Nice to meet you too, Nicole."

She gave me another quick glance.

I met her deceptively bored look, which didn't quite mask the scrutiny hidden behind her eyes, and flashed a big smile at her. Maybe I didn't have Nicole's dazzling beauty, but I was attractive enough in my own way and hadn't Alex just said that the past few weeks with me had been the most fun he'd ever had? I wasn't going to give up on him just because of Nicole. Not yet, certainly.

Jason and
Hailey ran up to the counter with their ice cream sandwiches. I paid for them as I introduced Jason to Nicole. Nicole uttered a quick hello, then grabbed Hailey and hugged her.

"
Hailey, sweetie," Nicole said. "Great to see you again."

"Hi,
Nicole." Hailey squirmed free. "Would you like some of my ice cream sandwich?" She held it up to Nicole.

Nicole
shook her head and wrinkled her nose. "No, thanks. I have to watch my figure."

You
'd better watch it
, I thought meanly. "Well, kids," I said to Jason and Hailey. "Time to go." I hoped Alex would take the hint.

Alex
checked the time. "Ah, I'm off duty." He caught my eye. "Wait. I'll go with you."

"I
'd love to see where you're staying, Alex." Nicole slipped her arm through his. "I'll go with you."

I wished there was a button I could push that would open a trapdoor in the floor for
Nicole to fall through. Instead, I took Alex's other arm. Two could play Nicole's game.

It looked like a caravan leaving Little
's as we snaked our way through the bastion of giggling girls who were momentarily standing in shocked silence.

"What a cute cottage,"
Nicole said, when Alex put the key in the door. She didn't wait to be invited. She just stepped inside. She looked around the one-room downstairs and mumbled, "It's so … so cozy."

I could see it would be impossible to have a private conversation as long as
Nicole was around, and it looked as if Nicole planned on being there for a while. I wasn't about to stand around twiddling my thumbs waiting for her to leave. "I've got to go," I said to Alex. "Talk to you later."

Alex
leaned toward me, but Nicole grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"I
'd like a tour of the cottage," she said.

"Uh, sure."
Alex shrugged his shoulders as he said to me, "See you later, Katie."

"Yeah." I stormed out of the cottage and seethed all the way back to my room and for most of the rest of the afternoon. Here I was, all set to have this wonderful talk with
Alex, where I was going to tell him how much he meant to me and what a good time I'd had the past few weeks with him and how I
wanted
to kiss him now that I felt he really cared about me—and was not just looking for a good time for the summer.

So what happens? Along comes
Nicole, who was probably making all sorts of mad, passionate passes at Alex that would make him forget that he'd ever wanted to kiss me in the first place.

Well, if he didn
't come over right after supper to see me, I was going over to see him. I couldn't let one afternoon with Nicole ruin my chances permanently.

By five o
'clock I was standing in the kitchen, wondering if I should start supper, since my folks weren't back from playing golf. Just then they walked in the door.

"
Katie," Mom said breathlessly. "Change into something nice. A dress. We just met the Kendalls on the golf course, and they've invited us all over to their place for a cookout."

"All of us?"

"Yes. The Stedmans, too. Now hurry. We're expected there in an hour."

"Is this a command performance?" I whispered, once Mom was out of earshot. But I certainly didn
't want Nicole to have Alex to herself all evening, either. I went to my room and changed into my yellow sundress, remembering how I had worn it at the picnic to impress Alex with a sophisticated image. I decided to skip the blue eye shadow and fancy hairdo this time. I didn't have to try to outshine Nicole. Nicole was one type of girl, and I was another. And Alex preferred my type. At least I hoped he did.

Finally we all piled into the car to go to the
Kendalls', since Mom said she didn't want to walk on the road in her high heels.

I gasped when we pulled into the
Kendalls' driveway. It was the house with the turret—the one I'd seen when we first arrived in Chatfield. The one with stairs that led to the cove on the beach where I'd pushed Alex away after our steamy kiss.

No wonder Mom had wanted us to dress up! This was no cottage. It was a mansion. I couldn
't help but be impressed with the grounds, which were large and well-groomed, with a neatly-trimmed lawn and formal rose garden in full view from the driveway. I wondered if I should have worn the blue eye shadow, after all.

After we got out of the car, Dad started toward the front door, but Mom reminded him, "Robert and Penelope said to walk around back."

We followed a flagstone path, bordered by bright clumps of petunias, to a huge brick patio with a built-in barbecue. A handsome silver-haired couple greeted us as we rounded the corner.

"John! Louise!" cried the silver-haired man. "How good of you to come!"

"And this must be Katie." The silver-haired woman held out her hand.

I shook it and said, "How do you do, Mrs. Kendall?" There was no sign of
Nicole or Alex, but a tall blond young man with penetrating blue eyes who had been leaning against the patio door sauntered over and planted himself I front of me.

"I
'm Logan Kendall," he announced.

I felt as though I was supposed to applaud. Instead, I again murmured politely, "How do you do?"

"Logan will be a sophomore at Harvard this fall," explained Mrs. Kendall.

Logan
kept his eyes riveted on me. "What would you like to drink, Katie?"

I suppressed an urge to take a step back.
Logan was leaning close to me, violating my space. I didn't like it. I found his rather self-confidently male presence irritating. "Do you have any diet soda?"

"Diet soda? No wonder you
've got such a great bod." Logan lazily scanned me. "Come in the kitchen. I'll see what we have." He put his hand on my back and guided me in through the patio door to a vast chamber crammed with a blinding array of stainless-steel appliances. Opening a refrigerator door, he revealed several cases of soda. "What looks good to you?" he asked.

"I
'll have a diet root beer." It was the first thing I saw. I didn't want to hang around perusing the entire selection. Being alone with him made me uncomfortable.

Logan
poured the soda into a glass and pressed his hands around mine as he handed it to me. I pulled my hands out of his grasp and sipped the diet root beer. "We should join the others," I said.

"I
'll just grab a beer first." Logan poured himself a beer, and raised the glass in a toast. "Here's to us."

I hesitated, then lifted my glass to his. "We
'd better get back," I said.

"All right. But sometime I want to give you a tour of the whole house."

When I stepped out on the patio again, I saw that the Stedmans had arrived. Jason and Hailey were somersaulting across the lawn.

Nicole
was talking to Alex. Her bright green dress set off her red hair and blue eyes. It was low-cut enough to show off her other charms as well. She and Alex held glasses of lemonade.

Just as I started toward
Alex, Logan put his arm around my waist. "Alex!" he called. "Why didn't you tell me Katie was such a pretty little thing?"

I stepped out of
Logan's grasp. I didn't like being called a pretty little thing. It sounded condescending, at least coming from Logan.

"Hi,
Logan," Alex said flatly. Then he smiled. "Hi, Katie."

"Hi,
Alex." I returned his smile. I forced myself to look directly at Nicole. "Hello, Nicole."

"Hello." For a millionth of a second
Nicole glanced at me before turning back to Alex. "Let's sit down. Mom and Dad are yakking away! There's no telling when we'll get around to eating."

I saw that my folks and the Stedmans were attentively listening to the
Kendalls, punctuating every few words with laughter. By the time I turned around to sit down, Nicole was already next to Alex, and the only place left for me was next to Logan.

"It could be a while before they decide to cook the steaks,"
Logan agreed. He picked up a silver platter laden with canapés in various shapes and sizes and held it in front of me. "Have one?"

I chose a small cheese-covered triangle. I chewed without tasting it.
Nicole had her arm on Alex's and was all but on his lap as she joked and flirted with him. When Nicole caught me watching them, I stared down into my root-beer glass.

"I think
Logan and Katie made a cute couple, don't you, Alex?" she said brightly.

I choked on my canapé.

Logan patted me on the back. "Are you all right?"

I nodded and took a sip of my soda. "That canapé just went down the wrong way. I
'm fine."

I was thinking
Logan was much too old for us to be a couple and, besides, I liked Alex.

After I thought I had discovered the true meaning of the word
eternity
, Mr. Kendall announced that he was about to cook the steaks. I hoped everyone would want theirs rare. I wanted the evening to end as soon as possible.

When it was time to eat, parents sat at one table, offspring at another. I found myself seated all the way across the table from
Alex, with Logan and Nicole between us on one side, Jason and Cecilia on the other. I occasionally tried to catch Alex's attention, but Nicole was monopolizing him, emphasizing her comments with a lot of hands-on gestures.

Logan
directed all his attention toward me, though I tried to discourage him. It was Alex's company I wanted, not Logan's. But whenever I tried to start a conversation that would include all of us, either Nicole or Logan changed the subject, and we wound up with two separate, private conversations going again. Eventually I gave up and just concentrated on whatever Logan said, nodding now and then as if I were listening.