I followed him and got in. By the time he was back in the driver’s seat, he was thoroughly wet. His hair looked like it did when we used to swim together, turning into dark gold corkscrews, but his face was very different from the mischievous cherub I once knew. It was chiseled, the jaw line strong, the mouth sensitiveI quickly looked down and buckled my seat belt. I had seen enough of mouths tonight. It was bewildering to me how much I wanted to avoid Jason’s and didn’t want to avoid Nick’s.
“All set?” he asked.
“Yes, thanks.” My voice shook a little. I hated it when this happened to me. I could get through all kinds of anger and frustration, but when a crisis was over, I wanted to cry like a baby. I blinked my eyes hard.
“Okay,” Nick said. “I’ll explain your job. See this string?”
I looked up. It ran from one side of the car to the other, disappearing out the side windows. Peering through the fogged windshield, I realized the string made a big loop and was tied to the wipers.
“The blades don’t work,” Nick said. “So you have to grab hold of this string and pull. Left, right, left, right. Got it?”
I looked at him for a moment, then moved the string to the left. In unison, the wipers moved to the right.
“You’re going to have to do it faster than that,” he said.
I started smiling. “This is crazy.”
“Left, right, faster, faster — there you go.”
“Why don’t you get them fixed?” I asked.
“It’s more fun this way.”
“I hope you don’t feel the same about brakes. They don’t need fixing, do they?”
“Why do you think I wear these thick rubber soles?”
I laughed. “You’re kidding.”
“You can try dragging your foot,” he continued, “but I don’t think those heels will do much more than knock off menacing forms of life.”
I laughed again. “They are pretty good at that.”
I liked being in the old car with Nick. I liked there being nothing but rain and us. He turned on the radio, which had lousy reception. I didn’t care. I could have ridden around with him for hours. Probably all his other one-night girls had felt the same way.
Nick pulled up to the edge of Aunt Jule’s driveway. “Last time I went down there in the rain, I had to be towed out,” he said.
“No problem. Thanks for the ride.”
“I’ll walk you to the door.”
“No, you’ll get wetter than you already are,” I told him, “then drip all over the dance floor.”
Nick reached over the seat. “I just happen to have a shower curtain with me.”
“You do? Why?”
“It’s showering,” he said, then pulled it over his head and got out of the car. I watched him hop over the puddles to my side.
“I use it as a drop cloth when I’m painting at Frank’s,” he explained as he opened my door and helped me out. Still holding my hand, he used his other to grab an edge of the curtain. I did the same and we made our way down the driveway.
My slim skirt made it difficult. I needed a third hand to hold up my dress. Suddenly I lurched forward. My heels had stuck firmly in the mud, pitching me headlong.
“Whoa!” Nick cried, dropping his part of the shower curtain, catching me around the waist. He straightened me up like a toppled-over mannequin, trying to get me back in my shoes.
I felt my way with my toes and was standing squarely again, but Nick didn’t let go. The shower curtain rested on our heads like a collapsed tent He ignored it, facing me now, his arms around me, his eyes shining softly. My hands rested on his shoulders.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi.”
“I’d like to kiss you.” He waited a moment for my response, then added, “Or, if you’d rather, we can dance, as long as we can get you unstuck.”
“I think I’m in deep.”
“Me, too,” he said, looking into my eyes.
His head moved closer to mine. Then he lifted his hand, cupping my cheek ever so gently. His lips touched my lips, light as a butterfly, once, twice.
The kisses were lovely, so lovely I couldn’t help it — I did a totally stupid, uncool thing. I sighed.
I heard the laughter rumbling inside Nick and I started to pull away. But his arms wrapped around me. He held me close and pressed his lips against mine. A thrill went through me. I kissed him back — I didn’t think about it, just kissed him with all that my heart felt.
Now Nick pulled back, looking at me surprised. I wondered if I had done something wrong. My only experience was a smattering of hardly-touch good-night kisses after dance dates. What if I had done something weird and didn’t know it?
“I–I have to go,” I said, ducking out from under the shower curtain, making a dash for the porch without my shoes.
When I glanced back Nick was wearing the curtain like a cape, watching me run to the house. He turned away slowly and walked back to his car.
I stood inside the door and ran one muddy foot over the other. Aunt Jule’s red shoes were stuck in the driveway, like little memorials at the magical place where Nick and I had kissed.
Aunt Jule looked up from her book, silent for a moment, surveying me. “Oh, dear.”
“I hope I haven’t embarrassed Holly,” I said, entering the river room.
“What happened? Where’s Jason?”
“I left him on the dance floor, sprawled on it.”
She laughed and pointed to the chair next to her. “Sit.
Tell.”
I did. When I had finished, Aunt Jule smiled. “And you seem so sweet and innocent. I bet he was surprised.”
Not as surprised as Nick, I thought, recalling the expression on his face a few minutes before. I decided not to tell Aunt Jule that Nick had brought me home. She’d want every detail.