“I figured that.”
“Do you need a suit?” she asked, noticing my shorts and shirt. Then she grinned. “Do we dare to see what Mom has in her closet? Maybe a crochet bikini with matching beach mules?”
I laughed out loud. “Think I’ll pass on that.”
“You know, I’m glad to have your help tonight, Lauren.
Really, I’m desperate for it! But you’re going to party, too, right?”
“Right,” I replied, planning to keep a low profile.
It wasn’t hard at a gathering attended by eighty kids.
Jason, his buddies, and several girls passed by without noticing me while I was setting out trays of food. Rocky found me, but Nick was nowhere in sight. Frank came over about eight-thirty to munch and admire the work we’d done.
He had lent Holly two dozen torches, which made a fiery trail down to the river. His strings of outdoor lights and electric generator had the dock glowing like Christmas.
“Doesn’t it look terrific?” I asked.
“Yup! It’s a perfect site for a party,” he said, surveying the landscape. “Where’s Jule?”
“Last time I saw her, on the upper porch.”
“Great chaperon,” he observed.
“Don’t worry,” I teased, “if there’s any trouble I’ll come get you.”
“Will you?” he replied, grinning. “I’m locking the door and pulling the shades. I guess Nora doesn’t show up for these things.”
“She’s probably hiding in her room.”
Frank asked about the estimate Pete had given me on my car. “Not too bad,” he said. “Not nearly as bad as I thought it’d be, but if your insurance company gives you any grief, let me know. I’ll tell them what they need to hear.” He moved on, then stopped twenty feet away to survey the partyscape again and smile at someone. I followed his gaze to Nick.
I thought I had caught Nick’s eye, but he turned away and I didn’t see him for another hour. Holly and I were kneeling on the ground, bent over bags of ice, trying to break apart the cubes.
“Muscles, just in time!” Holly said, smiling up at him.
He didn’t smile back — barely acknowledged her — fixing his gaze on me. In the flickering torchlight he looked different, his jaw set, his eyes intense.
“I want to talk to you, Lauren.”
I saw Holly raise an eyebrow. “Shall I leave?” she asked, a note of irritation in her voice.
“No,” he replied quickly. “This isn’t private. I want to thank you, Lauren, for getting my cartoon pulled from the newspaper.”
“What?”
“The cartoon you saw hanging above my drafting table, the one I sold to the Easton paper.”
I looked at Nick confused. “What about it?”
“Aren’t they running it?” Holly asked.
“No.”
She frowned. “Did they give you a reason why?”
“Oh, yeah, they gave me a reason. Editorial decision.
Funny thing, the editors loved it last week.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “Why did they change their minds?”
He stared at me coldly.
I stood up. “You can’t be blaming me.”
“Who else on the Shore would want to protect your father?” he asked.
“I resent that.”
“I resent your getting my cartoon pulled.”
“But I didn’t!”
Holly rose and stood next to me. “Perhaps, Nick, you should have asked for a more specific reason than editorial decision.”
“I did, several times, but they were evasive. Obviously, someone has put pressure on the paper. Maybe not you, Lauren, maybe it was your father or his supporters. But then, how would they know about the cartoon? Who would have seen it and told them?”
I shook my head at him, amazed that he would accuse me.
“Things like small publications may not seem important to you,” Nick went on. “You’ve got connections — people will bend over backward for Senator Brandt’s kid. But I have to earn my way. One publication leads to the next. Every acceptance is important to me.”
“How can you think I’d do that to you?” I demanded. “I wouldn’t do it to anyone! I thought you knew me better.”
He glanced past me, then met my eyes with steely intensity. “So did I.”
Nick strode away. I stood there dumbfounded. When I finally realized Holly’s hand was resting on my shoulder, I turned to her.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “When Nick cools down, I’ll talk to him.”
“I didn’t ask them to pull it, Holly.”
“I believe you. And after I talk to Nick, he will, too.”
“Maybe.” I looked down at the lumpy bags of ice, then picked up one of the crab mallets that we were using as hammers. “Leave this job to me. I’ll enjoy it.”
She laughed. “Go for it, girl.”
I banged away, feeling better with each shattering of ice.
Several guys tried to help, but I politely declined their offers and filled up two cold chests by myself.
Karen, my guide at the yearbook office, stopped to talk.
Redheaded Steve came by and told me he had a photo of Jason and me at the prom, posing inside the arch of roses, and several excellent shots of Jason lying among the punch cups. Steve was hoping Holly would okay his before-andafter idea.
I laughed in spite of myself.
A little while later Holly tried to get me involved in the party by asking me to help with the dancing-on-the-dock contest.
We played music while blindfolded couples slow danced, trying not to fall in the water. Jason and a pretty girl went quickly. Nick and his partner didn’t tumble over till near the end.
We awarded silly prizes and the party went on. Some kids hung out on the dock, some swam, and others sat in groups scattered over the lawn. I wanted to leave but was afraid I’d hurt Holly’s feelings. I sat with Karen and her friends from yearbook, watching the party like a movie, trying hard to keep my eyes off Nick.
“Earth to Lauren,” Karen said.
“Sorry, what?”
“We’re going up on the dock. Want to come?”
I hesitated. “Okay.”
I followed the group, wishing I had made myself walk to the end of the dock before the party. A tall guy, one of Jason’s friends, was giving the girls a leg up, but when it was my turn, he withdrew his hand.
“Well, look who it is.”
“Hi,” I said, and climbed onto the dock unassisted.
Jason’s friend leaped up behind me.
“Want to play tag?” he asked. “We’re getting up a game of water tag.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. I was following Karen.”
When I tried to move on, he stepped on my heel. “Don’t you swim?”
“I do, but I don’t want to tonight.”
“Why not tonight?” he persisted.
“I’m not in the mood. And I’m not wearing a bathing suit,” I added, walking ahead.
He caught me by the elbow. “You know how to swim better than your mother, right?”
That didn’t deserve a response. I strode toward the end of the T-shaped dock and tried to turn right, where Karen had gone. But Jason’s friend followed and deftly stepped in front of me, separating me from my group.
“Come on. You can swim in what you’re wearing.”
“I really don’t want to.”
“Water’s warm.” There was no warmth in his voice.
He took a quick step toward me, and I moved away, toward the left side of the dock. Kids lined both sides of the walkway, dangling their feet over the river. As the guy pressed forward, the only thing I could do was continue to the left. We reached the end of that part of the dock.
“Hey, everybody, look who I found,” he announced to the kids gathered in the water below us.