Sunset Island - Sunset Secrets Part 14

Sam was equally involved in regaling Danny with her exploits on the road (well, perhaps she exaggerated a little), and before either girl real- ized it, a half-hour had pa.s.sed.

Sam and Carrie exchanged a look. Where was Emma?

As if to answer their thoughts, Emma ap- peared just then wearing a simple white skirt and blouse that had been impeccably tailored by Ralph Lauren. With nothing more than mascara, lip gloss, and one-carat diamond studs in her earlobes, she managed to look stunningly perfect.

"h.e.l.lo, h.e.l.lo, h.e.l.lo!" Emma cried gaily. Carrie thought her eyes looked a little gla.s.sy, and remembered that Emma had retired to her room earlier with a full gla.s.s of wine-her second.

Kevin and Danny were too mesmerized by her perfection to notice anything beyond it. Kevin eagerly introduced himself to the beautiful rich girl who lived in this house.

"Hi, Emma," said Kevin. "Great place you've got here." * "Actually, it's my mother's," Emma said.

Just then the pizza arrived. .Emma already had the cash ready, and Carrie took charge, leaving Emma free to enjoy Kevin's company for a few minutes before they ate.

"Sorry to be late for my own party," Emma apologized. "My aunt called from New York. She's my favorite relative in the whole world." Why was she telling this to a perfect stranger? Was it the wine talking? Oh, who cares, Emma told herself. For once, just stop thinking so much!

"So why is she your favorite?" Kevin asked in a friendly voice.

"Well, the truth of the matter is," Emma began in a confidential tone, "she's the only one in my family who even remotely cares about me."

"I'm sorry," Kevin said.

"Don't be!" Emma responded gaily, "Why should I care? I'm filthy rich! I'll simply buy a family to care about me!"

Although a bright smile was plastered on Emma's face, to her horror, she felt tears rising in her eyes.

"Hey, you two, chow time!" Sam called from the dining area.

"Oh, G.o.d, ignore me," Emma whispered. This is so embarra.s.sing! Crying in front of a total stranger!

"Start without us!" Kevin called into the other room. He turned back to Emma. "You don't have to explain if you don't want to," he said gently.

"I'm such a cliche!" Emma laughed shakily.

"The unloved little rich girl!"

"Hey, n.o.body ever said you're not allowed to be unhappy if you're rich," Kevin pointed out.

A tear slid all the way down Emma's cheek. "I had too much wine, that's all."

Kevin just sat there, waiting patiently. "Talk if you want, or don't if you don't want."

"I ... I hate myself sometimes!" Emma blurted out. "It's so disgusting, so self-indulgent!

When I think about people with real problems, poor people, sick people-"

"You're glad you're not one of them?" Kevin finished for her.

Emma had to laugh, even if his humor was a little dark. "Yes, I'm glad I'm not one of them,"

she admitted. "But I feel like I don't have any right to complain about anything. ..."

While everyone else started in on the pizza, Kevin stayed in the kitchen with Emma. Slowly, he asked easy questions about the trip north, drawing Emma out of her weepy spell. Before long, he had her laughing as she described her dance with Sonny. She was grateful he hadn't probed too deeply about the causes of her sadness. It was bad enough that she had already blurted out that her family didn't love her. Talking with Kevin made her feel so ... normal.

By the time they rejoined the others, sides were being chosen for a game of Pictionary.

Kevin got Emma a c.o.ke, and threw a few pieces of pizza in the microwave for them to eat as they played.

"Guess what?" Sam said with excitement.

"Danny's coming with us to Sunset Island!"

"Sam!" Danny objected. "You were supposed to ask her, not tell her!"

"Hey, Carrie said it's fine," Sam countered.

"Majority rules."

"It's Emma's car," Danny pointed out. He was really embarra.s.sed.

"It's fine, Danny," Emma said warmly. "Did your ski plans fall through?"

Sam guffawed. "No, he fell through ... he fell right through his costume!"

"I sprained my back," said Danny sheepishly.

"You guys gotta hear this story!" Sam yelled with glee.

"Go ahead, Sam, tell it," Danny sighed. "As if I could stop you."

"Okay, you know those baby strollers some people have, the ones the size of a small Mer- cedes? Well, one day Danny-a.k.a. Goofy-is plying his trade, and some woman was letting her oldest kid push the baby. The kid runs the stroller right up alongside Goofy's leg, hooking the costume on one of the wheel bolts. The kid starts yelling 'Leggo! Leggo!' at Danny, but he keeps right on pus.h.i.+ng!"

"The head of that costume is gigunda," Danny added. "I couldn't even see the kids or the stroller till I tripped. Luckily I didn't smash them on my way down."

"Poor Danny!" Emma exclaimed. "Sounds like an off-season week on Sunset Island is just what you need." She turned to Kevin. "So you're left without a ski partner?"

"I'll handle it," Kevin replied. "It's just for the weekend. My cash flow can't hack more than that, anyway."

"Hey, why don't you come up, too?" Carrie asked Kevin spontaneously. "We're giving a big party next Sat.u.r.day."

"That's a great idea!" Danny agreed. "Sam says there's a motel that should be mega-cheap in the off season."

"Are you sure it's okay?" Kevin asked.

"It'd be a total blast!" Sam a.s.sured him.

They agreed that Danny would ride with them the next day, and Kevin would meet them on the island on Monday. When they finished the Pictionary game, the guys got ready to leave.

Kevin wanted to start for the slopes before dawn.

He gave Emma a special hug before he left. That brief moment managed to convey a lot of caring and concern. Emma was touched.

Sam walked out with them, and Carrie and Emma noticed Danny taking her hand as they left.

"You think Sam would even know it if she was in love?" Carrie asked Emma as they watched them go.

"I'm probably the last person on earth anyone should ask about love right now,," Emma said sadly. "Kurt didn't even call me."

From the window they watched Kevin and Danny getting into Kevin's car. "I'll tell you something, Carrie," Emma said in a soft voice.

"Kevin Logan is a truly decent guy, one of the nicest guys I've ever met. If it doesn't work out with Kurt, I hope he's still around."

"I know just what you mean," said Carrie.

"Whoever gets him will really have a prize."

Sam bounded back through the door, looking pleased with herself. "Fellow vixens, I ask you- can I pick them or can I pick them? Two-count 'em, two-gorgeous guys have just been added to our island repertoire."

"You know, I think Danny's crazy about you, Sam. I wouldn't treat that lightly if I were you."

"Ah, well," said Sam breezily, "so many men, so little time. Now where's the rest of that pizza? I forgot to pig out!"

Carrie got up and excused herself quickly from the room.

Emma was feeling so much better, she decided to have a last gla.s.s of wine before bedtime.

Maybe she'd get up the nerve to share some of her anxieties about Kurt with Sam and Carrie.

Sam decided to redo her nails, now that it was back to all-girl company. Fis.h.i.+ng through her makeup bag in Emma's guest room, she was thinking that now might be a good time to tell her friends about her unemployed status. All of a sudden she noticed sounds coming from behind the adjoining bathroom door.

"Carrie?" she called, then knocked. "Are you okay?"

There was almost a minute of silence, and Sam was about to knock again. Then the door opened, and Carrie walked right into the room as if nothing were wrong.

"Hey!" said Sam, taking her by the shoulders.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," said Carrie.

"Fine, h.e.l.l! I heard you being sick in there.

Why didn't you tell anybody you weren't feeling good? Was it the pizza?"

"I think it's just me. You know, I'm kind of overwrought," Carrie lied. "I didn't want to spoil the evening."

"Well, for G.o.d's sake, get right into bed and get some rest!" Sam bl.u.s.tered. "It could be a bug, and we can't have you spreading germs around!"

Cowed by Sam's good intentions, and ashamed of herself, Carrie let herself be fussed over and tucked into bed. Sam moved to the living room to do her nails while Emma sipped her wine. But the promise had gone out of the evening.

And they didn't really feel much like talking after all.

Sat.u.r.day dawned crisp and cloudless, with the sun glinting off the melting remains of the snow.

Sam, Carrie, and Emma picked up Danny on a corner near Boston University, and decided to put Boston behind them before stopping for breakfast.

"Can I drive?" Carrie asked as Danny got into the back of the car.

"Sure," Emma told her, and acted as if she was doing something nice for Carrie. The truth of the matter was that she still had the dull headache she'd woken up with-a headache she'd come to recognize as being caused by drinking too much wine before bed.

They stopped for breakfast at a place advertising family dining.

"Make that two western omelettes," Sam told the waitress after Danny had ordered one ahead of her. "No, make that four western omelettes."

She stared atvCarrie and Emma. "You two look like you need a protein infusion!"

"I can order my own food," Emma said tersely.

"Well, excuse me for caring," Sam said.

Emma rubbed her temples. "I'm sorry. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

Breakfast put everyone into a better mood.

The orange juice seemed to revive Emma and she soon felt almost human.

By the time Danny took the wheel after break- fast, they were singing old camp songs together.

"B-I-N-G-0, and Bingo was his name-o!" they all sang together, cracking up.

"Now how is it that these same stupid songs made their way from Camp Winnemucca in Kansas all the way to some snooty camp in the Berks.h.i.+res?" Sam asked, since Emma knew the words to the camp songs as well as anybody else.

"It reaches even farther than that!" Emma laughed. "I learned that song at a summer retreat outside of Paris for daughters of the hideously rich."

"Wow! International nonsense songs!" Carrie marveled.

"I've got to teach that one to Katie this sum- mer," Emma said with a soft smile on her face.

Sam looked surprised. "I take it that means you've decided to work for the Hewitts again."

Emma shrugged and wound a strand of hair around her finger. "My mother told me they called and asked me to."

"I'm not surprised they asked," Carrie said.

"You were great with their kids last summer."

Emma gave Carrie a smile of grat.i.tude.

"I don't know, I haven't committed yet," Emma said. "I guess I thought I'd have a ... new direction or something by this summer. How about you two?" she asked her friends.