"Bennett, Cherie - Sunset Island 005 - Sunset Reunion (b)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bennett Cherie)

Emma reached out and pulled Kurt to her, running her hands through his sun-bleached hair as she planted hot kisses on his lips.
"I'll never let anything come between us again," Kurt vowed, burying his face in her fragrant hair.
"I know," Emma whispered, letting her hands roam down Kurt's muscled back. "Kurt, I want toЧ"
"Ladies and gentlemen, we're beginning our descent into Orlando," came the pilot's deep, melodious voice over the speaker startling Emma Cresswell awake. Poof! Gone just like that, was Kurt and the incredible dream she'd been having about him.
"The temperature in Orlando is a sunny seventy-eight degrees this afternoon," the pilot continued. "We'll be landing in about
ten minutes. Thank you for flying Delta Airlines."
"We're here!" Carrie Alden said from the seat next to Emma. She squeezed Emma's arm with excitement and peered out the window as the pilot dipped the plane toward its landing.
Emma smiled at Carrie and tried to catch a glimpse of the ground over her friend's shoulder. It was much more difficult than it would have been in first class, Emma noted. This was the very first time that Emma had flown anything but first class, actually. Well, she couldn't very well have told Carrie that she was going to buy her usual first-class ticket and meet her once they landed.
"I'm so pumped for this," Carrie said happily. "I've never been to Disney World before. Can you believe that Sam, our Samantha Bridges, is actually working there as a professional dancer? It's really unbelievable!"
Emma laughed. "You know Sam. With her we should always expect the unexpected!"
And it really had been unexpected.
At the end of the summer it had been horrible for the three of them to say goodbye to Sunset Island and to one another.
They had become so close over the three months they spent there that it was hard to believe there had ever been a time when they hadn't been best friends.
As the plane descended Emma and Carrie both thought back to their final night together on the island. Emma, Carrie, and Sam had gone to the beach and sat on the rocks watching the sun set over the water. Each had contemplated that final sunset and all the changes that had taken place in their lives.
Emma had felt unsettled about both her love life and her plans for the future. Though she'd learned a lot about herself during her summer as an au pair on Sunset IslandЧalmost more than she wanted to know, she reflected wrylyЧnothing about her life seemed resolved at all. She'd fallen in love with a hunky local guy, Kurt Acker-man, early in the summer. It was the first time she'd ever experienced that special feeling for someone, but as much as they cared for each other, it seemed that their backgrounds kept getting in the wayЧ Kurt's family was poor and Emma's family was rich. They had finally, painfully, broken up, but Emma still felt that she loved Kurt,
and she believed that he loved her, too. And as much as she had been trying to get interested in other guys, it was still Kurt who she dreamed about, Kurt who occupied her thoughts.
And then there was her future. Emma longed to tell her parents that she wasn't much interested in living the lifestyle of a Boston heiress, that she didn't want to attend elite Goucher College and study French, as they expected her to do. How <:ould she tell them that what she really wanted was to join the Peace Corps? She'd thought about it a lot during the summer on Sunset Island, but as yet hadn't done a thing about it except dream. For all the growing up she'd done over the summer, Emma was still scared that deep down inside she might be nothing more than a spoiled rich girl who couldn't stand up to a real challenge.
Carrie's plans for the future, by contrast, had seemed more certain on that August evening. Always an excellent student, Carrie would be going to Yale in the fall. She'd dreamed for years of becoming a professional photojournalist, maybe even a documentary filmmaker, and she was certain that studying at Yale would be an incredible
experience that would also help her achieve her goal.
When Carrie considered her love life, however, things seemed a bit more confusing. She had fallen hard for Billy Sampson, the lead singer of the local rock group Flirting with Danger. At first she had thought that maybe she just liked Billy's attention. After all, Billy was incredibly sexyЧevery girl on the island seemed to lust after himЧ and Carrie saw herself as the girl-next-door type, not the type to be a rock star's girlfriend. In fact, she had even thought she would have to change for him. But as they'd gotten to know each other better, Carrie had realized that they really did have a lot in common, much more than just a physical attraction. The fact of the matter was that she was really crazy about him, and the same seemed to be true for him, since they had wound up being an item for most of the summer. On the other hand, Carrie had been corresponding with her ex-boyfriend, Josh, from back home in New Jersey, and she wasn't sure just what they were to each other any more. She didn't feel the real physical pull toward him that she felt for Billy, but on the other hand she and Josh
were so in tune with each other that Carrie couldn't bear not to have Josh be a part of her life. And Josh was pretty adamant that he wanted more than just Carrie's friendship.
As for Sam, by the end of the summer she had still seemed to be the most adrift of the three of them. During the summer she had gone out with Presley, the bass player from the Flirts, but it hadn't ever turned into a big romance like the ones Emma and Carrie had had. Lots of guys had flirted with SamЧbeing a tall, thin, gorgeous redhead had its advantagesЧand she was an expert extraordinaire at flirting back. But when it came to real love, Sam knew she had not even come close yet. It bothered her that her knowledge of guys was mostly just theory, and she longed to fall madly in love with someone. Unfortunately, the right someone hadn't come along yet.
Sam had won a full dance scholarship to Kansas State, which in her small Kansas town was a very big deal. Her parents had been thrilled to no end. It had not been, however, a big deal to Sam. She had longed to bypass what she thought of as four years of academic grind and move right on to the
lifestyle of the rich and famous. Surely with her looks, nerve, and natural talent as a dancer, all she needed was the right person to come along and discover her. But, Sam had figured, Kansas State wasn't a likely spot in which to be^ discovered.
Sam, Carrie, and Emma all had dreams they wanted to fulfill. Their dreams were what they had in common. Only it was one thing to dream and quite another to make the dreams come true.
As the sun had disappeared beyond the horizon that last night on Sunset Island, they'd all wondered what would become of them, and of their friendship, now that it was time to move on.
"I just can't believe I have to leave you guys," Sam had said, staring out at the water.
Emma and Carrie both had had lumps in their throats. They'd felt the same way. Then Carrie, always the practical one, had come up with the reunion idea.
"Why don't we get together for Christmas vacation?" she had suggested. "That's not so far away."
"What a great idea!" Emma had cried. "And no matter what happens to us between
now and then, we can be sure we'll be together again in just four months."
"Pour months!" Sam had wailed, throwing herself back onto the cool sand. "Four months is a lifetime!"
"I bet it passes really quickly," Carrie had told her. "Where do you think we should meet?"
"Paris?" Sam had suggested hopefully.
"Well, why not right here?" Emma had said. "It will be the off season, so there will be plenty of room at the Sunset Inn." In the back of Emma's mind had been the fact that it would mean being near Kurt again, though she could hardly even admit that to herself.
They'd all agreedЧa Christmas reunion on Sunset Island it would be. Planning the reunion had made it a little easier to say good-bye the next day because they knew they'd be together again soon.
Emma had headed off to Goucher, just as her parents expected, feeling like a complete hypocrite for not standing up to them. Carrie had taken to Yale like a duck to water, and had written excited letters to both Emma and Sam telling them how fab-
ulous Yale was. And it had been impetuous Sam who changed her plans completely.
She had registered at Kansas State and had already attended two weeks of classes when she'd seen the ad in the local paper. The headline read, "Local Auditions Slated for Singers and Dancers for Disney World." Sam had quickly read the rest of the ad. It had explained that Disney World held regional auditions all over the country to find the best and most enthusiastic young singers and dancers for the famous theme park. The auditions were to be at a local dance club two days later. Sam had immediately vowed she would be there.
Evidently a lot of other people in town had had the same idea, because Sam had been number eighty-seven when she arrived. Sam had had to take a deep breath, but she knew she looked great in her hot pink leotard and glitter tights, and she'd danced her little heart out for the judges. She could tell they liked her dancing, so she hadn't felt too self-conscious when they asked her to sing. She wasn't much of a singer, but she could carry a tune, so she had just belted out a song and hoped for the best.
As if in a fairy tale, for once the best actually happened. A week later Sam had gotten a call at her dorm offering her a job as a dancer at Disney World. They had told her they would pay to fly her to Orlando, and pay her a salary and everything, just like a professional dancer. They had told her to take a few days and think seriously about whether or not she wanted to leave school to take the job. Sam had thought about it for about five seconds. As far as she was concerned, four of those seconds had been wasted time.
So that was how plans for the big reunion had changed locales from Sunset Island to Orlando, where Disney World was. It hadn't been hard for Sam to convince Carrie and Emma that they should come there. Carrie had had some money saved from the photos she'd sold to a rock magazine, and Emma of course could afford to go wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted. The girls had planned it so that Carrie and Emma would get to see Sam do her shows. Then Sam would take a few days off and they would all live it up.
"Basically, we'll just have great adventures, break hearts, and party," Sam had
told Emma on the phone the night before she left for Florida. Emma had laughed, but she knew that with Sam anything was possible.
On the morning of their flight Carrie had caught a ride with a friend to New York City, where Emma had been staying with her Aunt Liz since her Christmas break began a few days earlier. She and Carrie had talked nonstop on their way to the airport and on the plane. Now they were finally about to land, and all three girls would be reunited at last.
The wheels touched down on the runway, and Carrie and Emma turned to each other, both grinning from ear to ear.
"This is going to be fabulous," Carrie predicted.
"When you're right, you're right," Emma agreed. "Florida may never be the same."
"We may never be the same," Carrie added with a laugh.
"Good," Emma said. "I, for one, am ready for anything."