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Prologue Summer 1990 The city is broiling in an early summer heat wave and for the third day in a row Victoria buys a salad from the Korean market around the corner and has lunch at her desk. Her roommate, Maia, tells her shes risking her life eating from a salad bar. If the bacteria dont get you, the preservatives will. Victoria considers this as she chomps on a carrot and scribbles notes to herself on an upcoming meeting with a client whos looking for a PR firm with an edge. Everyone wants edge these days. You tell them its edgy, they love it. When the phone rings she grabs it, expecting a call from the segment producer atRegis and Kathie Lee.This is Victoria Leonard, she says, sounding solid and professional. Vix? Shes surprised to hear Caitlins voice on the other end and worries for a minute its bad news, because Caitlin calls only at night, usually late, often waking her from a deep sleep. Besides, its been a couple of months since theyve talked at all. You have to come up, Caitlin says. Shes using her breathy princess voice, the one shes picked up in Europe, halfway between Jackie Os and Princess Dis. Im getting married at Lambs house on the Vineyard. Married? Yes. And you have to be my Maid of Honor. Its only appropriate, dont you think? I guess that depends on who youre marrying. Bru, Caitlin answers, and suddenly she sounds like herself again. Im marrying Bru. I thought you knew. Victoria forces herself to swallow, to breathe, but she feels clammy and weak anyway. She grabs the cold can of Diet Coke from the corner of her desk and holds it against her forehead, then moves it to her neck, as she jots down the date and time of the wedding. She doodles all around it while Caitlin chats, until the whole page is filled with arrows, crescent moons, and triangles, as if shes back in sixth grade. Vix?And#160;And#160;Caitlin says. Are you still there?And#160;And#160;Do we have a bad connection or what? No, its okay. So youll come? Yes.And#160;And#160;The second she hangs up she makes a mad dash for the womens room where she pukes her guts out in the stall. She has to call Caitlin back, tell her theres no way she can do this. What can Caitlin be thinking?And#160;And#160;What wasshethinking when she agreed? Four weeks later Caitlin, her hair flying in the wind, meets Victoria at the tiny Vineyard airport. Victoria is the last one to step out of the commuter from LaGuardia. Shed spotted Caitlin from her window as soon as theyd landed but felt glued to her seat. Its been more than two years since theyve seen each other, and three since Victoria graduated from college and got caught up in real life--a job, with just two weeks vacation a year. No money to fly around.Bummer,as Lamb would say when they were kids. Going on to Nantucket with us?And#160;And#160;the flight attendant asks and suddenly Victoria realizes shes the only passenger still on the plane. Embarrassed, she grabs her bag and hustles down the steps onto the tarmac. Caitlin finds her in the crowd and waves frantically. Victoria heads toward her, shaking her head because Caitlin is wearing a T-shirt that sayssimplify, simplify, simplify.Shes barefoot as usual and Victoria is betting her feet will be as dirty as they were that first summer. Caitlin holds her at arms length for a minute. God, Vix . . .And#160;And#160;she says, you look so . . . grown up!And#160;And#160;They both laugh, then Caitlin hugs her. She smells of seawater, suntan lotion, and something else. Victoria closes her eyes, breathing in the familiar sce In the summer of 1977, Victoria Leonards world changed forever And#8212; when Caitlin Somers chose her as a friend. Dazzling, reckless Caitlin welcomed Vix into the heart of her sprawling, eccentric family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege, sweeping her away to vacations on Marthas Vineyard, a magical, wind-blown island where two friends became summer sisters. . . . Now, years later, Vix is working in New York City. Caitlin is getting married on the Vineyard. And the early magic of their long, complicated friendship has faded. But Caitlin has begged Vix to come to her wedding, to be her maid of honor. And Vix knows that she will go And#8212; for the friend whose casual betrayals she remembers all too well. Because Vix wants to understand what happened during that last shattering summer. And, after all these years, she needs to know why her best friend And#8212; her summer sister And#8212; still has the power to break her heart....