"Bennett, Cherie - Sunset Island 009 - Sunset Scandal" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bennett Cherie)

"I know this must be very hard for you," Emma said sympathetically.
Kurt ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "The worst part is that the
club's suspended me without pay until my trial. There goes my summer job!"
"Oh, no!" Emma cried.
"Oh, yes," Kurt retorted. "They said it would be too controversial for me to keep working there now. I guess they think their members would be horrified at having a criminal suspect teach their kids how to swim. Maybe they're afraid I'm a child mo-lester, too!"
"That's just not fair!" Emma protested.
"But guess what? It's perfectly legal. I asked Jane," Kurt said grimly. "It's legal for everyone to treat me like I'm a leper, and it's also legal for people to think I'm guilty until I prove myself innocent. It's not fair, it's not right, and it's against what America is supposed to be all about, but it's legal."
Emma said nothing. What could she say? Their dinners arrived, and they both picked at their food for a while. Evidently Kurt was having just as tough a time eating as Emma was.
Finally he threw down his fork and crumpled up his napkin. "Let's get out of here," Kurt said. "I need some sleep."
They each laid some money on the tableЧ
Kurt was too tired to protest Emma's paying for her own dinnerЧrose, and left. When someone catcalled "Bye, Jesse James!" as they went though the door, they didn't turn around to see who it was.
No one was home when Emma returned to the Hewitts' house. There was a note saying that they had all gone to the movies and wouldn't be back until late.
Thank God, thought Emma. I'm too exhausted to make polite conversation or deal with the kids. She climbed the stairs to her room and headed immediately for the bed. She lay staring at the ceiling awhile. None of this seems real, she thought. / don't know if I can handle it.
"You can handle it," she answered herself out loud, as if to talk herself into it. It didn't work. She felt on the verge of tears. Then she realized that it was Kurt she would normally go to if she was upset, that he would hold her and comfort herЧbut now it was her job to comfort him.
"What I need," Emma murmured out loud, "is a shoulder to cry on." But whose? Her first choice would have been her Aunt
Liz in New York City, but she knew her aunt was in Europe on business.
I'll call Carrie, Emma decided as she got up and undressed, hanging her clothes in the closet. Then she slipped into a silk kimono and sat down on the bed to dial Carrie's number. Just talking to her will make me feel better.
But there was no answer at the Temple-tons'. She tried Sam next, but Mr. Jacobs said that Sam was out with the twins.
Emma hung up the phone feeling even more depressed. What should I do? she wondered, at a total loss as to how to make herself feel better. Suddenly she was tempted by the thought of a glass of wineЧit would relax her. But she shook her head resolutely. She wasn't going to allow herself to use wine as a crutch, as she had started to do a few months earlier. There had to be another way.
The diary! That's it! She opened the small drawer in her nightstand and pulled out the tapestry-covered journal that her aunt had given her before she came to Sunset Island the previous summer.
Why can't my mother be more like her
sister Liz? Emma thought for a moment. Aunt Liz has a worthwhile job running an environmental organization, she has boyfriends who treat her with genuine respect, and she listens to me when I talk to her. She's everything my mother isn't.
Emma hadn't written a word in the diary since the summer before. She opened it and scanned some of her entries from a year ago. As she read them she smiled and shook her head. I've come a long way since then in some ways, she realized. At least that's good news. Then she took out her favorite calligraphy pen, opened the diary to a fresh page, and began to write.
/ can't believe a year has gone by since I've written in this journal. Last summer, I wrote in it a lot when I felt confused, which seemed to be most of the time. Kurt and I are still together, but last night he got arrested for a burglary even though he didn't do it. And when he told me that he was innocent, I doubted him! A tiny part of me, deep deep inside, still doubts him. I tell myself I love himЧ/ know that I love him. Then how can I be suspicious of
him? What does that make me? Here's Kurt being treated like some kind of commonЧ
The phone rang in Emma's room, interrupting her writing.
"Hewitt residence," Emma answered automatically, putting her calligraphy pen back in its case.
"Emma darling, it's your mother!" said the girlish, enthusiastic, well-bred voice on the phone.
Oh, great, Emma thought, closing her eyes. My mother is the last person in the world I want to talk to right now.
"Hello, Mother," Emma said tonelessly.
"Always so formal!" Kat chided. "Listen, darling, I have wonderful news!"
"Great, Mother, tell me," Emma said without enthusiasm.
"I'm on Sunset Island!" she exclaimed happily. "I'm staying at the Sunset Inn. I decided to come up a couple of days early to get myself in the mood for the party! Isn't that grand?"
"Grand," Emma repeated tonelessly.
"You know I love this island of yours," Kat babbled. "So say something, darling!"
"Something," Emma repeated.
Silence. Finally Kat spoke. "I don't know why you want to ruin this for me, Emma. You're very hard for your age, do you know that?"
"I'm sorry, Mother," Emma said with a sigh. Why did her mother always bring out the bitch in her? "I've just had a rough day, that's all."
"I don't doubt it," Kat replied. "I'm very concerned about you, dear, I just read the most shocking story in that little local newspaper about how you had to bail your boyfriend out of jail after he got arrested for burglary!"
Oh, no, Emma thought wildly. It's in The Breakers/ Now not only can people talk about it, they can read about it.
"He's innocent, Mother," Emma said.
"But darling, it's right there in the paper!" Kat exclaimed.
"It says he was arrested," Emma shot back. "It doesn't say he's guilty!"
"Cresswells don't associate with criminals," Kat reprimanded her daughter, as if
she hadn't heard a word that Emma had said. "I hope this doesn't interfere with my party."
Her party? She's worried about what effect this will have on her party? Emma couldnt take any more of this.
"Mother, it seems to me that both of us are having boy problems at the moment. It's a pity yours are worse than mine," she said, her voice venomous.
"I don't understand," Kat said in her usual gay tone. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"What I mean is this, Mother," Emma said. "My boyfriend may have been arrested, but he isn't guilty. But your boyfriend, the one and only Austin Payne, the man you are planning to marry, spent last night in the arms of a girl my age right here on the island!"
"You always do this, Emma," Kat said in a small voice. "You lash out with lies and try to hurt me. You know that story about Austin isn't true."