Read That Carolina Summer (North Carolina) for Free Online Page B

distraction.
    The match ended with Annette the easy winner. She would have liked to stay and watch Josh, but as she had pointed out to Marsha yesterday, it was simply too obvious. Plus, she was plagued by the knowledge this hadn't been a very successful meeting. As she and Marsha gathered their things to leave, Annette tried to think of a way to salvage something from this missed opportunity.
    Her glance lighted on Marsha's tennis sweater, a twin to her own except that hers was trimmed in black and Marsha's had navy blue braid. She froze for an instant as an idea formed.
    “Marsha, is your room key in your sweater pocket?” Annette asked with an eager rush.
    “Yes. Why?” Marsha was absently curious. “Did you forget yours?"
    “No, I have mine,” Annette assured her. “As we leave the courts I want you to accidentally drop your sweater. You can't know that you dropped it."
    “Then why am I doing it?” Marsha frowned.
    “Because I want you to leave it behind—with the key in it—so Josh can find it when he leaves, and return it,” Annette explained.
    “You can't be serious.” Marsha stared at her, fully aware that Annette was perfectly serious. “I came along with you this afternoon just to play tennis. You didn't say anything about losing my sweater."
    “Marsha, you aren't losing it. You're just going to accidentally leave it behind. And if you're going to argue, will you please smile?” she urged. “I don't want Josh to think we're up to something."
    “No,” Marsha agreed with a wide and faintly sarcastic smile. “We mustn't let Josh know that we're plotting against him. If you want to leave a sweater behind for him to find, drop your own—and leave me out of it."
    “Marsha, I can't. It would be too obvious if I left mine,” Annette reasoned with forced calm. “It has to be yours so he won't get suspicious."
    “And what happens if he doesn't see it? Or someone else sees it and steals it?” Marsha retorted. “Then I'm out a sweater."
    “I'll buy you another one,” Annette offered. “Will you do it?"
    “Give me one good reason why I should,” she challenged.
    “Because you're my sister,” Annette replied. “And I've helped you out of trouble a lot of times."
    “You've also got me into it a lot of times,” Marsha reminded her, then sighed. She wasn't even sure why she was resisting. She always gave in to Annette's mad plans, however reluctantly. “Okay, I'll do it,” she agreed, and added the warning, “But if I don't get my sweater back you're buying me a whole new tennis outfit, not just a sweater."
    “That's a deal.” Annette beamed her agreement to the terms, her gray eyes sparkling like burnished silver. “Let's go."
    As they walked to the gate in the fence, she glanced at Josh. She was warmed by the discovery that he was watching her. It took all her control not to break into a smile. Instead, she lifted her head in an absent wave.
    Josh acknowledged the salute with a nod of his head. When they started down the walk, Annette murmured instructions to her sister. “Let the sweater slide off your fingers while you pretend to be talking to me."
    “What am I supposed to talk to you about?” Marsha asked anxiously. She had never been any good at subterfuge or deception.
    “It doesn't matter.” Annette tried not to let her exasperation creep out. “Just talk to me about what you can't think to talk about."
    “I think I'm going, to regret this,” she murmured as she nervously tried to let go of the sweater so it could slide casually to the ground. “As a matter of fact, I know I am. I don't know how you always manage to talk me into these things. You'd think by now I'd have better sense, wouldn't you?"
    The sweater was lying in the middle of the sidewalk. No one had called their attention to it, and Annette breathed easier now that the mission was accomplished.
    “You don't have anything to worry about,” she soothed her sister's rattled nerves.
    “What happens when he