“I have a younger brother. He’s in tenth grade. He’s a jock’s jock. Ask him about any football player who played during the past ten years, and he’ll give you all his statistics. He’s currently the second-string quarterback for the team, but he’s breathing down the starting quarterback’s neck. Helluva baseball player, too. Hit two-eighty last year, which is pretty good for a high school kid. My father’s convinced he’ll go to college on a sports scholarship.”
“You sound proud of him.”
“I am. We’re so different that there’s no sibling rivalry. That’s why I was somewhat surprised at your request.”
“What’s between Ava and me has nothing to do with sibling rivalry, Buddy.”
“What does it have to do with, then?”
“Let’s forget it for now,” I said. “Maybe it won’t matter.”
“Whatever you say. I’ll play by whatever rules you want. But believe me,” he added quickly, “this isn’t a game with me. No girl I’ve met has ever had the effect on me that you had after just a short time together. You know what that means, don’t you?”
“What?”
“You’re magical. And you don’t fool with magic.”
I laughed. We walked on. I was so content just holding his hand and talking to him that I didn’t think of the time. When I looked at my watch and saw how long we had been together, I felt a small bird of panic flutter its wings under my breast. Ava and Marla could be home by now.
“I have to go,” I said.
He nodded, and we hurried back up the beach to the sidewalk. He decided to walk me to my car.
“I don’t want to lose a possible second of being with you, Lorelei. If you will just…”
I put my finger on his lips. And then I kissed him.
“I’ll call you,” I said.
“Promise?”
“As long as you keep yours.”
“Then you’ll call me,” he replied.
He stood there while I got into the car, started it, and pulled away. I looked at him throug
h the rearview mirror. True to his word, he coveted every moment with me, even his last glimpse of me before I disappeared around a turn.
No one, not even Daddy, had told me how wonderful I would feel.
This is surely love, I thought. Forbidden or not, it’s what I want.
The question hovering was clearly, what would I be willing to do to have it?
I had no idea, but worse, I was terrified that I would soon find out.
13
Destiny
Ava and Marla were not home yet, which both pleased and bothered me. I was happy I didn’t have to explain my late arrival to Ava, but I couldn’t help but wonder where she had taken Marla and why it was so important all of a sudden to be alone with her for so long a time. Until recently, and only after Daddy’s orders, Ava had never taken me anywhere special. We had never spent quality time together away from the house when I was Marla’s age. With Daddy often fanning our sibling rivalry, it was difficult in this house not to think in terms of conspiracies. More and more lately, I found Marla resembled Ava and not me. She had Ava’s temperament, certainly, and not mine.
The house was very quiet when I arrived. Neither Mrs. Fennel nor Daddy was downstairs. We usually didn’t announce ourselves when we returned from school now, so I went directly to my room. I tried to do some homework and get my mind off my afternoon with Buddy, but his face, his smile, our kiss, wouldn’t take a backseat to anything. Would Ava or, more important, Daddy take one look at me and know I was having strong feelings for a boy, and this after the near disaster with Mark Daniels?
When we had first gone to Dante’s Inferno, Ava had told me that it was both a curse and a blessing that we could get whomever we wanted. She had said that someday I would understand how it could be both. As I sat there in my room, enjoying my reminiscing about Buddy and at the same time frightened that Daddy, Mrs. Fennel, or Ava would see that enjoyment in my face, I thought I understood what she had meant.
A real relationship between any of us and some boy was a threat to Daddy and therefore the family. Buddy was very attracted to me. I wanted him to be, but Ava was right. How could I afford to fall in love? What would come of it? How could I, like any other father’s daughter, ever have a serious relationship, ever get engaged, marry, and move away to have a family of my own?