Then Summer Came Read Free

deal for us; we’d been nearly inseparable almost our entire lives.
    I looked my best friend over.  She was gorgeous, like always.  Tall, like me, and mostly legs, like me.  My mom always loved for Em and I to model her designs for her photographer.  Her clothes were always tailored to emphasize the legs and we were “the perfect leg models” she’d always said.  
    Emily combed her fingers through her wavy, cola-brown hair, which spilled over her shoulders and into her sweetheart neckline.  Coffee-brown eyes matched her hair and lit up her face, and her usual earth-toned attire made her look like an ethnic force of beauty.
    “I’m serious, Lis.  My God that dress is killing it!”  She eyed me from my blown out hair to my bronze calves. 
    “You like?” 
    “I love ,” she emphasized.
    “Well, you look amazing too.  Tired …but amazing.” I patted her chin in a perk-up manner. 
    “Yeah,” she sighed, “working in parties around all-night cram sessions isn’t exactly a breeze.”  She slumped in her placated pouty, I’m-pitiful sort of way. 
    “It’s always a party with you…even in college.”
    “ Especially in college,” she corrected me.  “Enough about my crap, how’s everything with Derek?”  She asked as we took a seat at our favorite outdoor table, at our favorite café. 
    “It’s good.  I miss him, but I keep busy with work.”
    “I know!  You’re all work lately.  You need to find time to make an appearance at one of my parties.”
    “I will,” I promised, and we rambled off our usual order to the waiter. 
    “So, when is the wedding?  Have you decided?” she asked as the waiter left to fill our order.
    “No, Derek has been pretty busy lately, but he promised to make time so that we could discuss a date.  The stuff I’ve done with you is really the only progress we’ve made.”
    Em had taken me to look at bride’s maids’ dresses and flowers, and my mom had gone with us to taste cakes.  I put most of it off because I wanted to wait until Derek knew when he’d have a few weeks off for our honeymoon. I’d hoped I could get him to stay home with me for a few days, just to enjoy the first week as a newly-married couple. 
    Emily halfway rolled her eyes.  “I love Derek, you know that, but he needs to get his head out of his ass,” she scolded.  “There are successful ways to balance work and romance and he needs to find one that works for him.”
    “It’ll settle down.  He’s new to the whole ‘heading a company’ thing.  He’ll figure it out.”
    “Well, he could at least make time for dates,” she argued.
    “We’re going out tomorrow!”  I exclaimed. 
    “Awesome!  You better lock your claws into him and keep him for a few days.”
    I laughed loudly as the waiter returned with our lattes.  “I do think we’re leaning more toward next winter, for the wedding.”
    “ Next winter?” she asked as if it sounded absurd.  “That’s, like, eighteen months , Lis!  Doesn’t that upset you?”
    “Anyway,” I said, avoiding her habit of analyzing, “how’s school?”  She looked peeved that I’d just abruptly changed subjects, but she couldn’t resist. 
    “There are so many guys ,” she gushed.  “I try to get to them all but it’s just so hard.”  She stuck out her lip, pouting.  “There are so many of them, and there’s just not enough time in a day!”
    I laughed at her placated exhaustion, as she fanned herself dramatically. 
    “So, Derek’s twin is coming to stay at Wilshire…in Derek’s apartment.”  I changed the subject again.
    “ Twin !  I know nothing of a twin!” she shrieked.
    “Yeah, they don’t really talk.  And he lived in, like, Hawaii or something.”
    “Hmm…”  Her eyes narrowed in thought.  “And he’s coming to stay at Derek’s apartment?”
    “Yeah, he and Derek decided on it.  Derek says he doesn’t stay there, so someone should.”
    “You do…”
    “Well, not really.  If