The Lion's Den(77)

It was hard to know how much of Summer’s story to believe. Even if she and Eric had still been seeing each other regularly, I’d have had a hard time buying him losing his mind over her dating someone else, and now that they weren’t in any way together, it just seemed bizarre.

“But what can he say to John?” Wendy asked. “You had only just met him last time you saw Eric, and you haven’t been with Eric since things became serious.”

“John’s jealous as it is,” Summer moaned. “He’ll dump me on my ass and cut my salary, take back my car, make my life a living hell.” She bit her lip. “Also, I did see Eric again, in New York a few months ago.”

I wondered if that was the time I knew about or yet another incident. Maybe I didn’t know Eric as well as I thought. “But how is Eric going to get in touch with John, and what is he going to tell him that proves you’ve seen him while you were together?” I asked.

“He’s smart. I’m sure he can get in touch with him if he wants to. And there are emails, text messages, pictures.…God I’m so stupid! How could I be so stupid! What am I gonna do?”

A desperation I hadn’t heard before had crept into her voice. And yet still I was not entirely convinced by her story. “How did you leave it with Eric?”

She sighed. “We were yelling at each other, and he hung up on me. Then he called back, but I didn’t answer.”

“Oh man,” Wendy said. “This is bad.”

Wendy and Summer spent the rest of the evening analyzing the situation from every angle while I did my best to participate in the conversation amiably, all the while unable to shake the feeling that Summer was at best omitting details. Even if my gut instincts about Eric were wrong and he had in fact freaked out on her for dating John, it was still obvious she was covering something up. But what—and why? We were her friends, who could surely help her better if she’d tell us the truth.

I finally crashed around two in the morning, my mind made up to call Eric the next day and hear his side of the story. I knew it was a betrayal of Summer’s trust, but then, what trust? If she trusted me, she’d have told me what was actually going on. Maybe I’d find she was, in fact, telling the truth, and then I’d have to face that reality—but I could no longer pretend to have blind faith in Summer.

In the morning I woke to the sound of my bedroom door opening. Summer was silhouetted in the doorway wearing black Lulus, her hair pulled into a ponytail under a baseball cap.

“You going hiking?” I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“I’m going to the desert to stay with Rhonda for a few days,” she replied. “Eric won’t be able to find me there.”

“Okay.” I fumbled for my phone on the bedside table, but it wasn’t there. I must have left it downstairs last night. “What time is it?”

“Eight,” she said, approaching the bed. As she drew closer, I noticed her normally rosy cheeks were pale, her eyes rimmed by dark circles.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I need your car. Please, you know Wendy will never let me borrow hers.”

“But I need my car,” I protested, pushing myself up to sitting.

Her hand trembled as she placed a set of keys on the bedside table. “You can use mine till I’m back. I texted you the address of the garage and the code to get in. It’s way nicer than yours anyway. You’ll like driving it. And Wendy can drop you. It’s near her place.”

Too tired to fight, I acquiesced. “Okay. Just don’t wreck it.”

“You should hope I do. I’d make John buy you something better.” She jingled my keys. “Thank you. You’re the best. Love you, babe.”

She blew me a kiss and quietly closed the door behind her.

When I woke again, it was to blinding brightness as the automated blackout shades slowly rose, letting in the glaring sun and pounding surf. I buried my head under a pillow, only to have it removed by Wendy.

“You sadist,” I grumbled.

“Rise and shine,” she chirped. “I gotta get back.”

“I need a ride.”

“I know,” she said. “I’m gonna shower up. Can you be ready in thirty?”



I was unable to reach Eric when I called him later that afternoon, and he didn’t respond to my messages, either. Summer was unreachable, too, and as unlikely as it seemed, I couldn’t help but wonder if the two of them had reconciled and run off together.

When we still hadn’t heard from Summer by the next day, Wendy and I were both a little worried. We’d left messages, texted, and emailed, but she hadn’t replied to either of us, so finally I called Rhonda.

“Hi, Rhonda, it’s Belle,” I said when she answered. “Is Summer there?”

“Hi, Belle!” she said brightly. “Yeah, Summer’s here.”

“Oh, good!”

“Yeah, she’s been here since lunch yesterday.” Rhonda continued before I could say anything more. “We don’t get great cell service out here, so she probably didn’t get your messages.”

“Is she around?”

“She’s down at the pool right now, but I’ll tell her you called.”

“Can you tell her to call me back?”