Cries in the Night (41 page)

“Yes, we’ve hung out a little,” Kelly admitted.

“Zoey Chandler?” blonde Taylor gasped.

“Are there other Zoeys?” Kelly asked, then shrugged. Of course there would be. If there were multiple Taylors, why not several Zoeys?

“But why would she hang out with
you
?” red-headed Taylor asked bluntly.

Kelly had absolutely no answer to that. She wasn’t sure if it was an innocent question or a slam. She suspected it was the latter.

“Actually, Zoey’s been following
us
around all summer,” Austin spoke up. “No matter where we go, she shows up.” His statement was truer than anyone other than Kelly would ever imagine. “What did you do to piss her off?”

Both Taylors looked horrified. Austin had successfully pulled them off of Kelly and made them question their own place in Zoey’s world.

“Is she mad at me?” Taylor B. whimpered.

“What could she be upset about?” Taylor M sputtered.

“Maybe you should ask her,” Austin suggested with studied innocence.

Taylor B looked at Taylor M. “Do you think that’s why she wouldn’t come to the beach with us?”

“Maybe,” the second Taylor admitted.

Kelly glanced over at Carly who seemed to be totally detached from the drama. In fact, she was smiling and gave Kelly a wink that indicated she knew Austin was just messing with the Taylors to pay them back for being rude.

“Hey, we need some help over here!” a short college-age dude called from the volleyball court.

Austin, Brack and Logan jumped to their feet.

“Coming girls?” Brack asked.

Simultaneously, the Taylors shook their heads. Kelly really wanted to play, but she glanced back at Josie. “I’d better stay with her …,” she started to say, but Carly interrupted her.

“Go play,” she encouraged. “I’ll babysit your puppy.”

“Are you sure?” Kelly hesitated, not wanting to impose.

“I’ve had enough sun for today,” Carly assured her.

Kelly didn’t wait for her to change her mind. Josie seemed to be in good hands. Brack held his hand out and pulled Kelly to her feet. Eagerly, she ran with the boys to the flat area on the beach that had been measured off and marked with rope on the sand. They joined the half dozen kids that were already there and everyone split into two teams.

Austin and Logan were on the opposite team from Kelly and Brack. She was pretty good at volleyball, and if the boys didn’t hog the ball, she knew she could hold her own. Unfortunately, Brack thought he was the best player on the team and that she needed a lot of help. When Kelly was playing on the front row and Brack, who was supposed to be in the back corner, both went up for a spike, her elbow somehow managed to jab him hard in the ribs and he fell back with a grunt. Kelly kept her focus on the ball and slammed it over the net at Austin’s feet.

Brack gave her a surprised look, but then he grinned and let her play her position without interfering for the rest of the game.

Their team won and they switched sides and a new game began. Kelly glanced over at their spot on the beach and saw that Carly was stretched out on her stomach, reading a book and Josie was sleeping peacefully pressed up against her
side. The two Taylors were both busy texting on their cellphones, probably with Zoey, wherever she was hiding out.

Kelly suspected that Zoey was just not in the mood to hang out with her friends and pretend to be happy when she was missing Jesse. But that didn’t explain why she hadn’t let Kelly or Austin know she was home … or drop by to pick up her goldfish. The ball soared over the net, almost hitting her before Kelly pulled herself back to the present and set it up for Brack to spike.

Two hours later, they were sweaty and covered in sand as the last game ended. The players abandoned the ball on the sand and ran into the surf. Kelly was turning to head back to the blanket, but Austin grabbed her hand and pulled her along with them. The water was warm, but refreshing as everyone splashed in. Austin didn’t let go until they were waist deep, then he released her hand and dove into a wave.

He popped up on the other side like a seal and shook his head, flinging water off his shaggy, dark-brown hair. “Come on. I know you can swim.”

Yes, he did. It was only a few weeks ago that during their trip back to a deserted island off southeast Florida, Scott had miscalculated their landing, and they had dropped into the Atlantic Ocean for a surprise dunking. The sparkle in Austin’s eyes told her he was thinking about the same thing. It was not something they could talk about out loud when the others were around because no one else would believe them. In fact, if she hadn’t actually been there, she wouldn’t have believed it either, because when they dropped into the warm water off Crystal Key, the year had been 1980 and little did they know that they were about to come face-to-face with a madman.

It was all a memory now. One she shared with Austin. Kelly dove into the next wave and surfaced next to him. He immediately tried to dunk her, and they tumbled and played until they both re-surfaced, sputtering and laughing.

“You should try out for the girls’ volleyball team,” Austin told her later as they waded out of the water and headed toward the blanket where the two Taylors were impatiently waiting. Brack and Logan had stayed behind, taking turns sliding and falling off a borrowed skim-board.

“I’d love that. Do you think I’d have a chance?” Kelly twisted the water out of her ponytail as they walked over the powdery white sand.

“If you play as good as you did today, you’ll be our star.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” She nodded. “But I’ll check it out.”

The Taylors were pouting when Austin and Kelly returned. Austin ignored them and took a cold Diet Coke out of the ice chest and tossed it to Kelly, then got a Mountain Dew for himself. Kelly opened her drink and sat down next to Carly.

Josie’s eyes opened and she stretched lazily, then licked Kelly’s hand.

“I hope she wasn’t any trouble,” Kelly said to Carly.

“Not at all. I took her for a walk, and she did her business over in the grass.” Carly stroked the spotted fur. “She’s a really nice little dog. I have a beagle-terrier mix, but she’s getting old and doesn’t like to come to the beach.”

“Thanks for watching Josie for me.”

“My pleasure. If she hadn’t been here, I’d have had to try to talk with the Taylors.” Carly rolled her eyes.

Kelly laughed. She had an idea she and Carly were going to get along just fine.

 

The excitement level rose as the sun set. The sandwiches, chips and fruit were long gone. The boys had rushed off on a hot dog run, returning forty-five minutes later, grumbling about the crowds. The Taylors had stayed behind as if they were incapable of any more physical activity for the day except for their fingers that never seemed to stop as they sent out a constant stream of texts, sometimes even texting each other. They seemed incapable of face-to-face conversations.

Kelly had given up trying to communicate with them, but she was learning a lot about the ins and outs of South Beach High. Carly had somehow managed to successfully walk the tightrope between hanging with the popular crowd and still being friendly.

The boys passed out the hotdogs, bags of chips and chilled soft drinks, barely getting settled before the first rocket blasted into the sky and exploded in a huge red chrysanthemum. A murmur went through the crowd and everyone found comfortable positions to watch the show.

Kelly’s attention was torn. When Austin sat down, it had been next to her, so close that when she leaned back, their shoulders touched. At first she had abruptly straightened, but when a gigantic silver spidery firework filled the sky, she leaned back again. Austin didn’t move away … and neither did she. In fact, he would lean over and whisper comments in her ear. Apparently, he had read all about the different shapes and types of fireworks on a website, and he thought she would be interested.

She absolutely was interested. She smiled and relaxed.

Off to the northwest, the show started on Sanibel Island along with another show further north that was barely visible over the tops of the palm trees. For forty-five glorious minutes, Kelly enjoyed the magnificence of fireworks and the intimacy, however innocent, between her and Austin. When the grand finale totally filled the sky with color and the air with booms and whistles to the point of being deafening, Kelly almost wanted to cry from the overwhelming emotion of sight and sound while being so close to the most gorgeous guy in the world.

Then it was over.

There was a moment of stunned silence, then the crowd burst into spontaneous applause and started gathering up their things. The Taylors and Carly said their goodbyes and left, without helping, of course. The boys strapped everything back on the now empty ice chest and walked with Austin and Kelly as far as the street where they split off and headed toward their own homes.

They weren’t alone as all the people in their neighborhood had also walked to the beach rather than fight the traffic.

“That was fun,” she said as they strolled up their street. Kids ran past them, laughing and horsing around. Bicyclists rode down the middle of the road, not concerned about traffic because everyone had known better than to take their cars.

“Yeah, it was.” Austin agreed.

“I didn’t see Dan today,” Kelly commented, referring to the homeless guy who lived under the pier and could be found most days with his metal detector, searching for treasure on the beach or sitting in the shade making shell necklaces.

“No, he doesn’t like crowds. I don’t know where he goes, but I rarely see him on holidays. I’ll bet he was out there after everyone left. He told me days like today are a gold mine, and he finds all kinds of coins and jewelry and even car keys.”

“You’d think people would miss their keys if they were driving home.”

“Must have a spare and not think it’s worth digging through the sand.”

“Good for Dan. I made extra sandwiches for him, but they got eaten.”

Austin glanced over at her. “What did you think of the Taylors and Carly?”

“I really like Carly. She was nice and Josie loved her.” Kelly let her opinion of the Taylors go unspoken.

“Yeah, I totally agree.” He laughed, then added more as a statement than a question, “So, Scott will be back tomorrow.”

“I guess so.”

“You’re probably looking forward to that, aren’t you?”

Kelly sensed there was something beneath his question, but she wasn’t sure what. “It’s been pretty quiet with him gone. He’s been a good friend to me.”

Austin was quiet for a moment as they stopped at her front door.

Kelly looked up and saw that he was frowning as he studied her face. Her heart hammered in her chest. She didn’t know much about it, but she sensed he wanted to kiss her.

So, why didn’t he?

She waited, not moving, barely breathing.

He shook his head and took a step backward. “Yeah, Scott and I have been best friends for a long time,” he finally said. “I’d never burn him.”

“Neither would I,” Kelly agreed, wondering where that random thought had come from.

Austin hesitated just a few seconds longer. “Night.”

“Night,” she echoed weakly, wondering what she had done wrong as he turned and walked across the lawn toward his house. Could this have something to do with that bro-code thing her aunt had told her about? Did Austin think she and Scott were a couple? Kelly’s hand paused on the door handle. How could she convince him they weren’t without making it too obvious? It was a dilemma that was far beyond her experience.