Tara snorted. “That’s one I’m definitely familiar with.” She pulled another tissue from her pocket and wiped her own eyes. “But I want to believe good intentions are rewarded sometimes, too.”
They sighed in unison.
A fish jumped out of the water, making a light splash. They watched in silence as the ripples widened in the cove until the tiny laps crawled onto the beach.
“The ripple effect,” Summer murmured. “Once they’ve started, you can’t pull them back in.”
* * *
RICK WAITED UNTIL HE SAW the shadowy figure making her way back to the girls’ dorm.
He’d watched Summer and Tara go down to the beach after the quick but tense staff meeting. No doubt Tara had needed some time to discuss whatever it was that had happened at home. She was obviously still upset. Ginny and Summer had clucked around her all day like mother hens, while the men in the camp had been kept in the dark about the entire situation.
A welcome cool front had come through on the heels of the blistering heat. Rick kept an eye on Summer’s cabin as he grabbed a jacket. The cabin stayed dark, so she must still be on the beach.
He could discern the small figure, huddled with her knees under her chin and her hood up.
She didn’t move as he approached, not even when he called to her from the edge of the trees.
“Not speaking to me, eh? Then I’ll have to do the talking.” He plopped down on the towel beside her.
A startled Tara threw her iPod with an “Eeep!”
“I thought you were Summer, Tara. I’m so sorry.” Tara wiped her eyes. Damn. She’d been crying.
“Summer’s staying with the girls tonight.” The young woman retrieved her iPod and sat back down beside him with a sniff.
“That bad, huh?” Not a great opening, but one she could either take or back away from.
“Yeah, but getting better.” She still didn’t offer to tell him what was wrong, so he didn’t ask.
“Help me understand men, Rick.”
The sadness in her voice clutched at his heart. “We’re very basic creatures actually,” he answered. “Feed our egos and our stomachs, and our hearts are in your hands.”
“Well, I’m not a very good cook, so maybe that’s where I went wrong.”
He wasn’t sure what happened, but he reasoned it had to do with another woman. He’d noticed that men, as a rule, wouldn’t leave one without another to go to. “Not that this is an excuse or anything, but sometimes guys leave their favorite dish just to try something new. Later, they figure out they still crave that favorite dish.”
“And sometimes the new dish suits their palate perfectly.”
“Then it was meant to be,” he answered softly.
She nodded and her breath stuttered.
“Want to talk about it?”
She shook her head with a sigh. “I’ve thought about it to death. Time to let it go.”
They sat mutely for a few minutes, avoiding eye contact.
Rick broke the silence. “Any words of wisdom for me? Any deep insights into the feminine psyche?”
“Summer’s an interesting person.” She didn’t hesitate on the name, so she knew whose psyche interested him. “She comes across as a free spirit, but she’s really a worrier about some things, especially her dad.”
Rick thought about the few times he’d been around Herschel Delaney. “He seems to be doing okay. I mean, he needs to lose some weight and get more exercise, but for a man his age, he’s not that bad.”
“Did you know Summer blames herself for his heart problems? She thinks she worried him too much in the past, so she’s determined to keep him worry free now. That’s why this place has such a hold on her. I didn’t realize how deep it was until a few minutes ago. She’s obsessed with getting her parents out from under the debt.”
Put that way, her recent actions didn’t seem so selfish...didn’t seem selfish at all. The conclusions he’d jumped to and the things he’d said to her gnawed at his insides even harder than before. Big chunks of regret landed with a thud in his stomach.
“She loves her parents...and she loves you,” Tara said.
The statement jolted Rick. The few looks he’d received from Summer the past couple of days had been anything but looks of love. “Your woman’s intuition may be a little outta whack right now.”
Tara turned to look at him squarely. “You’re not that clueless, are you?”
“Well.” He rubbed a hand down his face. “I never thought so until now. Does she say she loves me?” His