Summer by Summer (31 page)

Her fingers fumbled with the latch, and then finally managed the small hook. Window opened wide, a salty breeze gushed into the room. Aaaahhh. That’s what I needed. “I love you, Mom.”

Stopping at the bed, Mom hugged me again. “Love you too, sweetie. Get some sleep.”

I waited for her to leave, but she stayed there with me, probably watching me like Bray had watched me so many nights. I wanted to stay awake with her, but exhaustion claimed me.

As I slept, I dreamed of a white wedding.

I didn’t wake up until three o’clock the next afternoon and stared at the alarm through the haze, unable to imagine being in bed that long. Outside my door, voices drifted up the stairs. I ran into the restroom and tried to corral my hair, then headed down to see what was going on, wishing I’d set the alarm. Why didn’t anyone wake me?

The living room was crowded with people. My parents, Markus and Sandra, Orlin MacAbee and a woman I didn’t know.

Markus turned to me. “Ah, Summer. Great. I’d like you to meet these folks.”

Sandra headed into the kitchen. “I’ll get us some drinks.”

“How’s Bray?”

Orlin spoke up. “He’s great. On his way here, in fact.” His face was splotchy, and I noticed he didn’t mention that we’d already met, so neither did I.

“He’s coming home? Now?”

Everyone nodded.

“Summer, this is Special Agent Orlin MacAbee and Special Agent Maria Sosa.”

I went straight to her and first noticed a partially covered bruise around her left eye. She’d done what she could with makeup, but it
didn’t fully disguise the swollen purple flesh. “Hello,” I mumbled trying to hold in my emotion. She’d saved our lives. Almost at the expense of her own.

“Maria is the woman Bray met on the island.”

I tried to act surprised. “You’re the one.”

She nodded.

“You saved us.” The tears came quickly and hotly down my cheeks.

“Yes, she did,” Markus said.

She was beautiful. There were tears in her eyes too. “All I did was make a phone call. It was Orlin who got things into motion.”

“It could have cost her life,” MacAbee added, and I detected a hint of awe as he glanced over at Maria Sosa.

She chuckled. “Everything worked out in the end. I was on the floatplane, Summer. I watched Raul shoot Bray. You did a great job thinking quickly and snapping into action.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled. “I don’t remember doing anything.”

“You rolled him onto his back, stripped off your T-shirt and used it to apply pressure to the wound until the helicopter could land and the paramedics could get to him. You may have saved his life.”

Splinters of that horrible memory materialized with her words. “Well, we saved each other multiple times on the island.”

She smiled, eyes crinkling. “I’m sure you did.”

Sandra rounded the corner from the kitchen with a tray of iced drinks. Everyone took one and settled in the living room. “Who’s bringing Bray home?”

Maria spoke up. “Our operatives. We didn’t want to make a fuss about him leaving the hospital until we had a chance to brief all of you on what lies ahead. The media doesn’t know he was shot or the connection with the trafficking ring.”

What did she mean? I thought the nightmare was over.

Orlin jiggled the change in his front pocket. “It looks like the
croc incident might have leaked to the press. Honestly, we were hoping your rescue wouldn’t get a lot of media coverage.”

“I was hoping so too.” I didn’t say it loudly, but really, I just wanted us to be able to move on.

“Unfortunately, Katie Van Buren has already alerted the media, and she’s called a press conference for tomorrow afternoon. We’ll need you and Bray to speak. And we need to brief you both on what you can and can’t say. Do you understand, Summer?”

My mind began to spin, and I wished I’d eaten something before I talked to them. “I don’t want to speak to the media.”

“Well,” Orlin said. “I’m afraid that’s out of the question now. What we don’t need is reporters poking into the situation. I know this is difficult to understand, but Maria is an undercover agent. As far as we know, the only suspects who knew her identity were the man who was killed on the island and his pilot. If you’re too secretive, it might look like you’ve got something to hide.”

My drink clinked on the glass coffee table. “Something to hide? We were trying to survive.”

“I know, Summer. If you appear and make your speech, the media will undoubtedly lose interest quickly. We’re already working on damage control. Keeping Maria out of this media fest is imperative.”

Maria brushed her hair back. “Also, if you tell the media the wrong thing, it could jeopardize the case we’re building against the traffickers.”

I touched my fingers to my temple. My head was pounding. “Won’t they lose interest if I just
don’t do
the press conference? I mean, no one
asked
me.”

Orlin gave me a sympathetic look. “You could do that, but it might actually be worse. For you. If you refuse to give a public statement, reporters will hound you, hoping to get an exclusive.”

I pressed my palms into my eye sockets. “This is a nightmare.”

“The best way to make this go away quickly is to smile and play nice with the reporters. Answer as we instruct. Tell them how happy you are to be home. Half hour, forty minutes, then you’re done. If they don’t sense anything out of the ordinary, they’ll leave you alone.”

My hands came down with a clop. “Okay, whatever I have to do.”

“Great. When Bray arrives, we’ll give you all the info.” Maria excused herself to take a call.

I finished eating breakfast at three thirty in the afternoon, just as Bray showed up, looking fit in a pair of sweats and a white T-shirt. After hugging everyone again, they settled him on the couch. I headed over to sit beside him, but Sandra slid into the spot. He sent me a pleading look, but I just winked and gave him a soft smile. Maria and Orlin explained about the exotic animal ring, and as I listened, I noticed how good they both were at giving only minimal information — which was what we’d be expected to do. I tried to learn what I could from them.

If anyone could get us ready for this press conference, they could. The spectacle was to be held in a convention room adjacent to the hospital, leaving people under the impression that Bray was still there. It was all very spy-ish and seemed bizarre and over the top. But hey, what did I know?

“What about the murder?” Bray asked.

Maria’s eyes darted to Orlin’s. “We know you found the body on the island, Bray.”

“We watched the murder.”

Maria popped up from her seat. “What?”

“We were hidden in the tree line and we watched them shoot and kill Cavanaugh.”

Orlin leaned forward. “Could you identify the man who pulled the trigger?”

Bray nodded. “Easily.”

For the next two hours, we went over what Bray and I should and shouldn’t say. I took notes because I’m a visual person and can’t remember anything if I don’t write it down. Rather than tell about Bray meeting Maria, we were to say a couple of fishermen found us and alerted authorities in Belize. The Belizean police would confirm they received an anonymous tip from someone fishing in the area.

It wasn’t the truth and that bothered me, but I knew lives were at stake if we gave up Maria’s identity. Plus, it was helpful that we would have no information about the person who called. If the reporters wanted to dig around trying to identify the fishermen, so be it. Maybe they’d leave us alone.

When the intensity became too much, I slipped into the kitchen for a drink of water and grabbed a bottle from the counter though I knew there were several in the fridge. I wasn’t surprised when warm hands came around me as I stood at the kitchen sink. My eyes drifted shut.

“I miss you,” he whispered against my hair, and my whole being came alive. I stayed there a moment, savoring him, the heat of his arms, the brush of his chest against my back.

He turned me to face him. “I miss you too, Bray. But we just have to get through this stupid media circus tomorrow and we can move on.”

“Are we going to tell our parents tonight?” He nuzzled into the hair covering my neck.

“I wanted to, but now I just want this whole thing to be over. Can we wait until after the press conference? Tomorrow night?”

He held me at arm’s length. “You aren’t backing out on me, are you?” Those blue eyes searched deep. Eyes I knew so well. Eyes I’d watched in almost every imaginable circumstance.

“No. Never. I swear. I just want it to be a celebration. I don’t want this press conference hanging over our heads.”

He threaded his fingers through my hair. “You want it to be perfect. I get it.”

Of course he did. He knew my feelings almost before I did. I never knew there could be someone on the planet so perfectly right for me. He pulled me in an embrace. “I love you, Bray.”

“I love you too, Summer.”

At noon the next day we were escorted back to the hospital in an SUV with darkened windows. Our entourage entered through a back loading area, and I hoped the whole thing would be over quickly. Nerves started getting the best of me, so Bray reached over and took my hand. We waited in a small room and could hear the reporters on the other side of the wall. Orlin had instructed us to talk freely about life on the island, even the croc if it came up since that may have leaked, but not to mention how it got there. Or the boat. Or the men. Or Maria.

I leaned over and whispered to Bray, “I don’t think we should talk about the crocodile.”

“Orlin says they may know. We don’t want to get caught in a lie.”

“But let’s not volunteer it.” Killing the croc was still raw and painful. I knew people would understand, but I just wasn’t ready to talk about it.

He squeezed my hand. “Just keep bringing the conversation back to life on the island. It’ll all be fine. I’ll do most of the talking, okay?”

I dipped my chin in a nod. “Okay.”

“You can do this.” And looking into his eyes, I felt like I could. “You’re strong, Summer.”

“Because of you.”

Orlin rubbed his hands together. “Showtime.” He turned us over to another set of handlers and left through the back door.

Bray pushed the side door open, and I was instantly blinded by flashing lights. Someone led us to the podium where a microphone angled toward our faces. I did my best to hide behind it, but that was futile. As soon as we stopped, the room erupted in a barrage of questions coming from every direction. With a set of bright lights before us, I could barely see beyond the first few rows of the crowd. I felt like a piece of bread thrown in front of a bunch of pigeons.

Before I really knew what was happening, Bray started answering questions. I calmed, listened to him explain about losing power in the boat and drifting for hours. He said thanks to me we were both wearing life jackets; that he’d tried to refuse but I’d insisted.

“Do you think you’d be dead right now if you hadn’t had the life vest?” one asked.

“I know I would. We almost didn’t make it even with the jackets. We were being crushed against the rocks and the jackets not only kept us afloat, they were a cushion from the rocks.”

Well, that was sort of true. Actually, it was Bray who protected me from the jagged boulders.

I concentrated on his profile, his sandy hair curled slightly against his neck, how the muscle in his jaw moved. This was going to be okay. Bray did all the talking, and I just stood there and smiled when I felt the need to tear my gaze away from him.

“Summer, can you tell us what it was like to be on the island?”

I couldn’t tell who had spoken. “It was terrifying at first. Bray was amazing. He protected me. Stayed awake at night to make sure crabs didn’t crawl on me.”

Another voice from the back said, “The two of you must have become very close.”

I looked up at Bray to find him looking at me. We both smiled. “Yes. I don’t think you could be in that situation and not become close to the person you’re with.”

Another voice, “Are you in love with him?”

My gaze snapped back to the crowd. Had I just imagined that? Surely someone wouldn’t ask.

Bray answered. “We’re here to talk about the island. Let’s not put Summer on the spot like that, okay?”