Eclipse Bay

goody-goody overachiever.”
    “What do you think about him?” Isabel asked quickly.
    “I think he’s wasting his life. Told him so, too. The only thing we had in common the other night when we ran into each other on the beach was the fact that we both had to walk home after a bad date. Trust me, seduction was the last thing on his mind.”
    “Unfortunately, almost no one in town believes that,” Elaine said grimly. “I’m told that Kaitlin Sadler’s brother believes far worse. He’s convinced that Rafe really did shove Kaitlin over that cliff and later seduced you in an effort to persuade you to cover up for him.”
    “I know,” Hannah said. “Poor Dell. He’s lost his sister, and all everyone can talk about is how Rafe spent the night making wild, passionate love to me on the beach.”
    Isabel’s eyes lit with speculative interest. “I don’t suppose that he actually did—?”
    “No, he did not,” Hannah said brusquely. “I told you, all we did was talk.”
    Elaine shook her head. “I believe you, dear. And I’m relieved to know that Rafe was nowhere near Kaitlin at the time she died. I just wish that he had found someone else to give him his alibi that night. I’m afraid it’s going to be a long time before people stop talking about this unfortunate affair.”

    “Actually it’s kind of weird when you think about it,” Pamela said the next day over veggie burgers and French fries at Snow’s Café. “I mean, what are the odds that either you or I would ever spend a couple of hours on a beach with a guy like Rafe Madison?”
    Hannah eyed her friend over the top of the bun. Pamela attended Chamberlain College. She had her sights set on a career teaching English literature to undergraduates. She already wore the uniform of the successful young academic: black tights, chunky black shoes, a long black skirt, a slouchy jacket, and glasses with thin frames. Her shoulder-length brown hair was held at her nape with a mock-tortoiseshell clip.
    “I admit the odds are not high.” Hannah took a mouthful of her tofu burger. “It was just one of those things. I owe it all to Perry Decatur.”
    Pamela made a face. “So much for your mom’s opinion of Perry. She was so sure he was the nice, upwardly mobile type.”
    “He’s definitely committed to upward mobility. Probably go far in the academic world.”
    “But not a nice guy, huh?”
    “Smooth. Slick.” Hannah thought back to the scuffle in the front seat and shuddered. “Not nice.”
    Pamela glanced around the crowded café. Apparently satisfied that no one could overhear, she leaned across the table and lowered her voice. “So what really did happen between you and Rafe Madison?”
    “Nothing. I told you, we just talked. That’s all.”
    Pamela’s eyes clouded with disappointment. “That’s all? Honest truth?”
    Hannah briefly considered the insignificant good-night kiss Rafe had given her. “Pretty much.”
    Pamela flopped back in her chair. “Too bad.”
    “Think so?”
    “Sure. Intelligent, educated, clearheaded women like us know better than to marry guys like Rafe Madison. But that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be fun to fool around with one.”
    “A little hard on the reputation, especially in a town like Eclipse Bay. Trust me, I know this now. After those infamous two hours on the beach with Rafe Madison, my image as a nice girl has plummeted to somewhere in the vicinity of zero.”
    “The least you could have done for yourself was have a good time on the way down.”

    Rafe phoned the day he left town. Hannah was alone in the house at the time. When she heard his voice on the other end of the line she had a feeling he knew that her parents had driven into Eclipse Bay together.
    “I owe you,” he said without preamble.
    “No, you do not owe me.” She clutched the instrument very tightly. His voice was as sexy on the phone as it was at midnight on a shadowed beach. “I just told the truth, that’s all.”
    “Is everything that simple for you, Miss Voted Most Likely to Succeed? Black and white? True or false?”
    “In this case it is, yes.”
    “You don’t care that everyone in town thinks I did a lot more than hold your hand that night?”
    She sought refuge in irrefutable fact. “You didn’t even hold my hand.”
    There was a short beat of silence on the other end of the line. She wondered if he was thinking about that meaningless little kiss he had given her just before he sent her into the house. It was