Chapter 8
“Ihave a question,” I tell Anita that evening.
My mother is holed up in the camper in a writing frenzy.
Regardless, I’m not speaking to her right now anyway.
Her attitude over family secrets is getting annoying.
I’m reading under the canopy when I spot Anita and Sibley walking along the shore, out for an after-dinner walk.
Perfect opportunity to dig for a little information.
Surprisingly, she replies, “I have one for you, too, but you go first.”
It’s weird that now that I know we’re related I can see tiny features that are similar to my own or my mother’s. We have the same blue eyes and dark lashes and slim fingers. But Anita is small all around and quick to flash a grin and make everyone comfortable.
“So what’s the deal with our mothers?”
Anita stops walking and looks at me. “You don’t know?”
“No, do you?”
“No,” she says. “Shoot. I was hoping you did.”
Sibley runs to the edge of the water and sits down in her shorts. “Sibley! No sitting—remember? You’re not in a bathing suit!” The toddler just laughs and splashes her feet.
“Well, that was a bust—you really don’t know anything?” I ask, once Anita gives up on a dry Sibley.
“I know they used to be super close and something happened between them, and your mom got upset and never came back.”
“That’s why she never came back? Because of a fight with your mom?”
“That’s how I’ve always heard it, but it does seem a little dramatic, right?” she agrees.
“Weird. I mean, I never knew any of you existed, so I’m clueless. I tried to get it out of her today but she got a bit hostile.”
“My mom cries,” she says, kicking the sand. “She looks at these old pictures of them and gets sad, but when I ask about it she tells me to mind my own business.”
“Huh.” I’m disappointed.
“Although,” Anita declares, “I do have one theory.”
“Really? What is it?”
I see an excited glint in her eye. “I think Richard is involved.”
“Justin’s uncle?”
“Yep. He was the big catch back in the day—I’ve seen photos. He looked like Justin, except with a military haircut. He and my mom dated for a while. There’s a photo of them at a school dance.”
“Interesting. My mom mentioned going to some dances at the Citadel. And she Richard were hanging out the other day at our camper.”
“Oh really?” Anita asks, a tiny smile forming on her lips.
“Yep. They sounded like they were fighting about my mom coming back to Ocean Beach and something about her book. I don’t know. None of it makes sense to me.”
“Hmm… I wonder what that’s about. My mom has always kept Richard out of it but it sounds like they all were involved. I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s always about a guy, you know?”
“Yeah.”
We walk a little bit, following Sibley as she picks up shells and tosses them in the water. “Okay then, my question,” Anita says.
“Ready.”
“What are you running from?”
I give her a sharp look. “What makes you think I’m running from something?”
“You’ve just got that look—kind of skittish. Like Maggie before she broke up with her ex. What a douche bag. Thank god she found Ivy.”
I stop short. “Wait, Ivy and Maggie are a couple?”
“Duh.”
“How was I supposed to know? Ivy was all over Justin the other day.” It made sense though, with what Nick told me about their pact. No girlfriends.
“That’s just what they do. They’re really comfortable with one another.” Anita frowns. “Stop avoiding the question. What’s going on? You can trust me, you know.”
“I know,” I tell her. “It’s just hard letting the world know you’re an idiot.”
“I’m not the world, Summer. I’m your cousin. We have a bond,” she laughs.
She’s right, and so far Anita has been nothing but great to me. There’s no reason not to trust her. “I’ll tell you but seriously, no one knows about this. I haven’t even told my mom.”
“I can keep a secret,” she says.
“Remember the ex-boyfriend I told you about?”
“Yeah?”
“He was my teacher.” I pick another shell up off the ground and toss it in the water.
Anita’s eyes pop wide open. “Wow.”
“Right.”
“You dated your teacher. Like a for-real relationship.”
“Yep. Well, he was a teaching assistant, but still.”
“That’s illegal. Like he could go to jail.”
I nod. There’s no doubt it was a risk. A stupid risk.
“That’s just…” she stares at me.
“What?”
“Girl, I just did not see that coming. Not with the modest bathing suit and old-lady vibe you’ve got going on.” I frown at the old lady jab. “I mean, a taboo relationship with your teacher? Mind blown.” She leans in and whispers. “Is he hot? Did you have sex? Tell me everything.”
Her response is a bit of a relief, not the shock and disappointment of my friends back home.
“Mason didn’t look like a teacher. He’s young—only twenty-four.
He had that hipster thing going on; all intellectual and understanding.
I felt the spark between us right away and yeah, things were kind of hot and exciting for a while.
We snuck around and left each other stupid messages and little love notes.
I’d go to his office for a meeting and we’d make out behind the desk for an hour.
I’d hang around after class, wait outside at his car, you know, whatever I could do to see him and not get caught.
” Just talking about it sent a thrill up my spine.
Again, all she says is, “Wow.”
“Say something else!”
“I don’t know what to say? I mean, that’s crazy! And yeah, I get why it would be kind of sexy, all the sneaking around and crap. It reminds me of when Bobby used to sneak into my room back in high school.”
“I can totally see him doing that,” I laugh.
“It was all fun and games ‘til my dad caught him halfway out the window one night. You can’t imagine the humiliation.”
I make a face. “Trust me. I can.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh yes.”
“Who caught you?”
“Well,” I grimace. “That’s where things get interesting.”
“The principal?”
I shook my head. “His girlfriend.”
“Oh. My. God. Did she tell?”
“No. But only because Mason begged her not to because he’d lose his job.” Mason turned on the charm, that’s for sure. Something he’s really good at.
“Did you know he had a girlfriend?”
“Nope,” I tell her. “I had no idea. No ring, no pictures, nothing to clue me in—except all the stuff that should have. The sneaking around. Never taking me to his house. His stupid whispery late-night calls.”
“Okay, so yeah that is way worse than my dad. Even though he had a shotgun. It’s not like he was going to use it.”
“Nicole didn’t have a shotgun but she had photos, and she threatened to share them with the headmaster at my school and anyone else she could think of, if we didn’t break up.
We did but by then, my friends were suspicious and rumors were going around.
If I hadn’t graduated a few weeks later I think there may have been an investigation. ”
“And your mom has no idea.” Sibley runs up to us and hands us each a pile of sandy shells and rushes back to the water.
“Nope. None. Just that I ditched the trip I’d been saving for two years and hitched a ride to South Carolina in her disco ball trailer.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. Wow. Now you know how I managed to royally screw up my life.”
“Have you heard from him?” she asks.
“Oh, yeah. He keeps calling and texting. I was supposed to go with him and a group to France for the summer. My friends keep begging me to reconsider the trip, but I don’t want to see him.” Tears build in the corner of my eyes.
“I can see how that would be hard. Do you still love him?”
“I don’t know. I see everything differently now.
What I used to think was passion and romantic, I now realize wasn’t right.
I lied so much—so often—to everyone. My mom, my friends, my other teachers.
Then finding out about Nicole…I’m not sure I could ever love a cheater.
My dad left my mom for another woman. I feel like shit that I hurt someone like that.
” I pick up a shell and toss it in the water.
“I never, ever, would have started something with him had I known.”
“Sounds like maybe he manipulated the situation a little.”
I shrug. “It’s easy to think that but I was all in. I wanted that relationship more than anything else in my life and was willing to do anything for it.”
Anita wraps her arm around my waist and gives me a hug. “Sure, it may not have been your best moment but the guy is obviously a sleaze. You were a student. He totally took advantage of the situation.”
We walk along the shore a while longer, turning back when we get to the point. When we’re close to the boardwalk, Anita says, “Can I ask you something else?”
“Why not?” I figure I have few secrets left at this point.
“I noticed you’re still hanging out with Justin and Nick.”
“I know you told me not to. It’s just a distraction—friends.”
“That talk the other day…that was all Maggie. I don’t agree with that she said at all.”
“Even so, there’s nothing going on. Justin—as you know—is a big flirt, and my mom invited Nick with us on the interview. I think they’re just being nice.” I can’t deny there’s not something between us though, and the comment Nick made to me about the boys and their pact seemed oddly directed.
“Eh, I love these guys but ‘nice’ isn’t usually a big priority of theirs. They’ve all been around a lot more than normal and Justin took you on the boat. For him that’s almost a commitment.”
I step into the water to cool my feet. I’m hoping the feeling will help the burn in my cheeks. “He was just showing me around or whatever. Nothing happened.”
“Yet.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Is he a player? Should I avoid him? I’m just here for the summer and I don’t know, just broke up with my…” I bite back the word ‘boyfriend.’
“Well, you’re right, Justin in particular is big flirt but he’s also a sweetheart.
And smart. All of those boys are smart. Not to sound lame, but they’re probably just as attracted to you being a college girl than anything else.
They have some crazy deal about getting out of here, but they’re not celibate or anything. God no.”