Page 27 of Bad Summer People
The rest of the day dragged. This always happened to Rachel the afternoon before an event she was looking forward to. She rode to the beach around 2:00 p.m. and spent the next couple of hours relaxing there, sitting with Lisa, who was watching her kids splash in the ocean. Rachel had brought a book in case everyone was busy with their children. She often felt left out of that part of Salcombe life—the camp stuff, the babysitting dramas, the swim lessons. The other women did their best to include her, but there were inevitably events—and more importantly, gossip—that she missed because she was childless. It made her depressed. She tried not to think about it.
“Lauren and Jen are going to play in the doubles tournament together. Can you believe it?” she said to Lisa. Rachel was sitting on her Tommy Bahama beach chair, facing out toward the ocean.
It was a calm day with barely any waves. The lifeguards, fit and brown, were sitting on their tall white stand to Rachel’s left.
“Oh, really? I thought Lauren hated playing in those things. And isn’t Jen a beginner?”
One of Lisa’s girls, Maryloo, sauntered over. She was only nine, but in a skimpy red bikini more appropriate for an adult. “Mommy, Rhenn keeps taking buckets of water and pouring them on my head.”
Rhenn Davidson was Mollie and Jeremy’s boy. He was a terror.
“Honey, just walk away if he’s doing that. Go play with your friends in the hot sand.”
The kids referred to the area closest to the dunes as the “hot sand,” because on warm days it felt like it was burning your feet. Maryloo obeyed, walking back toward the dunes, plopping down close to where Rachel had been sitting when she’d seen Jen and Jason kissing at the beginning of the summer.
“Yes, Jen is a beginner,” Rachel continued. “But she’s picked it up quickly, and with Lauren, they could be a real threat.”
Lisa played tennis, but not with the same drive or intensity as Rachel and Emily. She was in it more for the skirts and shit-talking.
“They have such a funny relationship, don’t they,” said Lisa.
Rachel still couldn’t tell what Lisa had done to her face over the winter. Filler, probably. Rachel got an occasional shot of Botox in her forehead, but nothing compared to what her friends out here did. She needed to catch up.
“I’ve always wondered if they actually like each other, or just pretend for their husbands’ sakes,” Lisa went on. “They’re so different.”
“Totally. They’re also both kind of mysterious,” said Rachel, who knew more than she was letting on.
“Especially Jen,” said Lisa. “I’ve known her for, what, almost a decade? And I still don’t feel like Iknowher. Sam is such an easy, nice guy. But there’s something about Jen that feels off to me.”
“I know what you mean,” said Rachel. She wished with her whole being she could tell Lisa about Jen and Jason. It was practically falling out of her. But for once in her life, she practiced restraint. Maybe this was whatpersonal growthmeant, Rachel thought.
“Well, hopefully they don’t crush you in the doubles tournament,” said Lisa, chuckling. “Either you’d die of shame or murder them both, neither of which is a great outcome.”
“Don’t be a bitch,” said Rachel, laughing. But Lisa had a point.
After another hour, the beach cleared out. Rachel went home and put the nachos in the oven and chopped for the guacamole. At 5:00 p.m., she had a quick meeting scheduled with Susan Steinhagen, to help her with the women’s doubles tournament draw. Rachel walked over to the courts and entered Robert’s little hut. Susan was already there, wearing a neon tracksuit that looked like it was from 1985. Susan had never mentioned seeing Sam in Rachel’s bedroom on July 4. It was the worst of both worlds—Susan probably thought she and Sam were having an affair, but they weren’t. Rachel felt a pang of self-pity.
Susan was holding a list of twenty pairs of players, everyone who’d entered the tournament. She wasn’t as familiar with the newer players and younger women, so Rachel took a pen and wrote notes next to each coupling.
Laura June and Hailey Milotic: Laura has a great net game but is inconsistent with her ground strokes. Hailey can hita strong backhand down the line, but that’s basically her only shot.
Trisha Spencer and Jane Rosen: Trisha’s weapon is her serve, which has great spin and hits deep in the box. Jane is a backboard—she gets everything back but dinks it over.
Jenny Jamison and Paula Rudnick: Jenny can’t move—she had hip replacement surgery last winter and is still recovering. If the ball is hit directly to her, however, she has a nice forehand. Paula never comes to the net.
And on and on. Susan looked on as she wrote, nodding approvingly.
“Nice work, Rachel. I appreciate it,” she said when Rachel was finished. Even when Susan was being kind, she was still intimidating.
Rachel thought that was that. She went to leave the hut, but Susan held her arm and pulled her back in, closing the door. She narrowed her eyes at Rachel, her lips pursed.
“Rachel, I need to speak to you about something, but confidentially,” she said.
Rachel immediately steeled herself for a question about why Sam had been in her bedroom. She’d already prepped a story about how she’d been feeling unwell on the court, and he’d escorted her in to make sure she was okay.
But instead, Susan said, “Have you noticed something going on between Lauren Parker and Robert? I know you’re her friend.”
Rachel shook her head. She hadn’t, had she? They’d all been looking at Robert this summer, it was just that Lauren was the only one of them who was pretty enough to get him to look back.
