"Your friend is a good swimmer," Tim told Vix.

"Yeah a she's a regular mermaid."

He bent over to pick up his hat and sungla.s.ses and as he did Vix let her eyes wander down his body to the curly hairs on the insides of his upper thighs, to his skimpy wet bathing suit, then to the bulky area in front. As he straightened up, he caught her in the act and smiled, though she'd already looked away.

Tim was the one who suggested a different route back to the house. He'd noticed a house under construction just down the road from the beach and knew Max would love it. He pushed Max in his stroller while she and Caitlin lagged behind. A hot, ugly feeling was building up inside her but she couldn't express it. She hated the way Tim made her feel, as if she barely existed. Buy one, get the second one free.

When they reached the construction site Tim lifted Max out of the stroller, and hiked him onto his shoulders, moving in for a closer look. Max announced for the zillionth time, "I'm into construction!"

Vix and Caitlin followed though they hadn't exchanged a word since the beach. As they approached the house Caitlin suddenly grabbed her by the arm.

"What?"

Caitlin pointed and Vix saw that Bru and Von were part of the crew. Bru and Von looking unbelievably s.e.xy in low-slung jeans, with strong, lean, suntanned backs and muscled arms. She was. .h.i.t by a sudden wave of heat, making her face flush and her knees go weak. Eat your heart out, Tim Castellano, because next to them you're nothing!

A minute later both guys were coming toward them. Von recognized Tim. "Hey a you're that cop on TV. No, wait a don't tell me a Sukovsky a something like that, right?"

Actually, it was Wolkowsky, but Tim didn't correct him.

Von said, "How're you doing?" and put out his hand for Tim to shake. "That's a d.a.m.n good show."

"Thanks, man," Tim said, all of a sudden one of the guys. "And this is my kid, Max. He likes construction."

"Hey, Max a" Von said.

"I have a hard hat," Max told him. "It's yellow."

"Yeah a you want a job? We could use another helper."

"I have to go to Kitty's house," Max said. "I'm having peanut b.u.t.ter for lunch. I always have peanut b.u.t.ter for lunch. With grape jelly."

"Sounds good to me," Von said. Then he focused on Caitlin.

"These are our baby-sitters," Tim said. "Caitlin and a Vicky."

"Vix," she said under her breath, annoyed at Tim for getting it wrong.

"Oh yeah a" Von said. "We know them."

Bru just stood there gulping c.o.ke from a can. After an uncomfortable silence, Von asked, "So a where've you two been hiding?"

"You're the ones who've been hiding," Caitlin said.

"How would you know unless you've been looking?" Von asked.

Caitlin punched him in the arm, like in the old days. But this time he grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of dirty laundry. She was laughing as she whacked his naked back. "Put me down, you idiot!"

Max clapped his hands and started singing "Upside Down," a three-year-old Diana Ross impersonator.

Vix could feel Bru watching her as she watched them.

"Okay, that's enough," Tim said, the expression on his face changing. "It's time for Max's lunch."

Von returned Caitlin to the ground. She was glowing. "See you around," she said to him.

"Not if I see you first," he answered.

"Yeah a see you around," Bru said to Vix.

"Not if I see you first," she answered, playing their game. Oh, she was glad she'd given her sweatshirt to Caitlin. Glad she was wearing just shorts over her yellow suit. Glad she was tan and her long dark hair swung from side to side, that her skin was clear that day, and most of all, that she filled out the top of her suit, that she filled it out really well.

They went to see My Brilliant Career, about a young Australian woman who's determined to have a career as a writer, and the man who loves her. Afterward they had a heated discussion. "She made the right decision," Caitlin said. "He was an a.s.shole. She'd have been miserable the rest of her life with him."

"Not necessarily," Vix said. "She could have had him and her career."

"Please!"

"Well, maybe not back then. But now a"

"Now? You think things are different now?"

"Look at Tim and Loren. They both have brilliant careers."

"Oh, sure a but which one is pregnant?"

"So a she'll have the baby and then she'll go back to work."

"I suppose you want a dozen screaming brats. I suppose your brilliant career is going to be mother."

"I really hate it when you tell me what I want! Just because I like kids doesn't mean I'm going to have them. For your information I haven't made that decision yet."

Tim asked if they could baby-sit one night during his last week of vacation so he and Loren could take Kitty out to dinner. Max was already in his pajamas when they got there, ready for bed. Loren looked pretty in a loose white dress, funky earrings, her hair French braided. Tim made a big thing out of admiring her. "Do I have the most beautiful wife in the western world a or what?" he asked, kissing Loren in front of them while Max danced in a circle, hugging their legs.

They got back just before eleven. Loren was yawning. "I'm exhausted," she said. "I'll be glad when this baby is born."

"That makes two of us," Tim said, kissing her good night. Then he offered to drive them home since Kitty had trouble with her night vision. Caitlin sat up front next to Tim and Vix climbed into the back, grateful that it was just a ten-minute drive. Tim tuned the radio to WMVY. From time to time he'd glance over at Caitlin but she stared straight ahead, speaking only to tell him when to turn off the main road, then directing him down the dirt road leading to their house. But instead of swinging right, into their driveway, he kept going, as if he knew he would wind up at the beach. When he did, he turned off the ignition. You could see the lights from Woods Hole across the water.

It was very quiet. Vix was aware of the sound of Tim's breathing, of Caitlin's, her own. Finally, Tim spoke. "I don't want you hanging out at that construction site. I don't want Max's baby-sitters messing around with guys like that. You hear what I'm saying?"

"Excuse me?" Vix said. "It was your idea to go by the construction site, not ours. I mean we didn't even know they were working there, did we, Caitlin?" She had to poke Caitlin to get a response and even then all Caitlin did was shake her head.

"I want you to be very, very careful." He spoke slowly and softly, turning in his seat to face Caitlin, and Vix could see he was talking only to her. She had the feeling he wished she weren't there. And to tell the truth, she was wishing the same thing herself. This was getting too weird.

"You come on strong, Spitfire. You give a guy the wrong idea."

It wasn't his business to talk to them about guys, especially at night in a dark car parked at the beach.

"Some guys," he continued, in that seductive voice, "once they get turned on, can't help themselves. They can't think rationally. Some guys follow their pointers through life. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Caitlin made an odd sound, almost a laugh, but not quite.

"I think you should take us home now!" Vix said, leaning forward, her hand on Caitlin's shoulder. She could not believe he was talking to them this way a and about pointers!

"Relax," he told her. "I'm just trying to talk some sense into your friend. It's for her own good."

Vix didn't like the husky quality of his voice. Maybe he enjoyed talking to them about s.e.xy stuff. Maybe it turned him on. She wondered how her mother would feel if she read about this in People magazine? Her favorite TV personality and his thing for fifteen-year-olds. Then she started to get scared. Suppose he was dangerous? Suppose he a you know a pulled his pointer out of his pants? The palms of her hands were clammy and she felt dampness under her arms. "Open your door," she told Caitlin, leaning way over to make Tim aware of her presence. But Caitlin just sat there, mesmerized. So she reached across and tried to open the door herself but it was locked. He had them automatically locked from his control panel.

That did it! She threw herself over the seat, tumbling into Tim's lap, taking him by surprise as she grabbed the car keys out of the ignition. He tried to hold her still, tried to wrestle the keys away from her but she was no fool. There was no way she was going to give them up.

"Vix a Vix a" Caitlin said over and over. "What are you doing?"

What was she doing? Saving her! She was prepared to scratch out Tim's eyes if she had to. She'd read about situations like this. Stick the key all the way into his ear a or up his nose, to cause maximum pain. But somehow she couldn't get herself to stick a key up Tim Castellano's perfect nose.

He twisted her arm until it hurt and wrenched away the keys. "Jesus," he said, "what's with you?" He started the car, backing up so suddenly Vix tumbled into Caitlin. He came to a screeching halt at their driveway and released the automatic door lock. Vix shoved open the door on Caitlin's side and practically dragged her out. "Run a" she said. But Caitlin shook her off and chased Tim's car down the dark road, calling, "Tim a wait a" He must have seen her following him because the car stopped. If Caitlin couldn't protect herself, then Vix would have to do it for her. She headed toward them. But after a minute, Tim's car pulled out and Caitlin called, "Vix a where are you?"

"Here a "

Caitlin followed the sound of her voice. "Isn't he incredible!" she asked, grabbing Vix. "I think he's attracted to me. I could feel it."

"I could feel it, too," Vix said. "When I fell over onto his lap. Inside his pants, if you get what I'm saying."

"He was hard?"

"I refuse to answer that question."

"That's so exciting."

"Are you crazy? He's lewd. He's sick."

"He just wanted to give us some advice. It's not like he touched us or suggested anything."

"Is that what you were waiting for?" She shrugged.

"I can't believe this!" Vix said. "What would have happened if I hadn't been here?"

"He wouldn't have done anything. I mean, maybe he was thinking about it a but a "

"He shouldn't be thinking about it," Vix told her. "We're fifteen and he's thirty-five, remember?"

"Actually, I think he'd be a good one for my first time, don't you?"

"He's married. His wife is pregnant. They have a three-year-old. So no, I don't think he'd be a good one at all!" Where was her judgment?

Caitlin held up two bills. "He almost forgot to pay us. He gave us each a twenty."

"I don't want his money!" She knocked the bills out of Caitlin's hand.

Caitlin bent down, picked them up, and stuck one in the pocket of Vix's jeans. "I'm not going back to that house," Vix said. "I'm never going back!"

"We only have three more days."

"Fine. You can tell them I've got the flu a or poison ivy or something highly contagious. And if you get raped don't say I didn't warn you!"

"He's not even going to be there. He and Loren are going to Nantucket tomorrow morning. It'll just be Kitty and Max."

"Who told you that?"

"Tim. Just now. That's why I kissed him goodbye. We're not going to see him again."

"You kissed him?"

She nodded. "I stuck my tongue in his mouth."

"Are you completely crazy?"

Caitlin started laughing. "I don't know. Maybe."

Vix couldn't let Caitlin go to Kitty's house alone. Who knew what trouble she might get into without her protection. But when they got there the next morning, Tim and Loren were gone.

"A little honeymoon," Kitty told them. "A romantic getaway." She sighed. "You have to work to keep romance alive in a marriage. Remember that when your time comes."

14.

EVERYTHING SHE KNEW about a loving relationship came from watching Abby and Lamb. They knew how to keep romance alive in their marriage. That's what she would remember when and if her time came. Until the last Sat.u.r.day of the summer when it all seemed to fall apart. She was in the kitchen with Caitlin arguing with the Chicago Boys over whether or not to mix the tomato sauce with the spaghetti before it was served. She and Caitlin wanted the sauce on the side, with basil and parsley from the garden, but Daniel said, "No green stuff in our pasta! Put it on yours after it's on your plate."

"I don't want mine drowning in your Ragu," Caitlin told him. Sharkey, who was buried in a crossword puzzle, asked, "What's a four-letter word for undulate?"

"Flow?" Vix said. "Or maybe gush?"

"Gush a that's it!" Sharkey said. "Thanks."

Outside it was raining, a slow, soft rain.

Abby and Lamb had been cool and remote all day but now their voices, coming from the living room, heated up and as they did, the kitchen crew grew more quiet.

"I keep telling you, it's no big deal," they heard Lamb say. "Everybody hitches on the island."

"You're oblivious!" Abby told him. "You live in some other world."

"If you'd learn to cut them some slack, Ab, you wouldn't have such a hard time. You bring it on yourself a that's all I'm saying."