He didn't answer right away. It's Gregory, she thought. He still has himself all wound up about Gregory and last weekend.
"Tell me!"
He faced her. With one finger he touched the back of her neck. Her hair was pinned up that night. Her shoulders were bare, except for two thin little straps. The top she wore was a simple camisole, with small buttons down the front.
Tristan ran his hand down her neck, then across her bare shoulder. "Sometimes it's hard to believe you're real," he said.
Ivy swallowed. Ever so gently he kissed her throat.
"Maybe… maybe we should get in the car," she suggested, glancing up at the windows of the house.
"Right."
He opened the door. There were roses on the seat, more lavender roses. "Whoops, I forgot," said Tristan. "Do you want to run them back inside?"
She picked them up and held them close to her face. "I want them with me."
"They'll probably wilt," he told her.
"We can stick them in a water glass at the restaurant."
Tristan smiled. "That will show the maitre d' what kind of class we have."
"They're beautiful!"
"Yeah," he said softly. His eyes ran all over her, as if he were memorizing her. Then he kissed her on the forehead and held the roses while she got in the car.
As they drove they talked about their plans for the summer. Ivy was glad Tristan took the old routes rather than the highway. The trees were cool and musky with June. Light dappled their branches like gold coins slipping through angels' fingers. Tristan drove the winding roads with one hand on the steering wheel, the other reaching out for hers, as if she might slip away.
"I want to go to Juniper Lake," Ivy said. "I'm going to float out there in the deepest part, float for an hour, with the sun shooting sparkles at my fingers and toes-" "Till along comes a big fish," Tristan teased.
"I'll float in the moonlight too," she went on.
"The moonlight? You'd swim in the dark?"
"With you I would. We could skinny-dip."
He glanced over at her and their eyes held for a moment.
"Better not look at you and drive at the same time," he said.
"Then stop driving," she replied quietly.
He glanced quickly at her, and she put her hand over her mouth. The words had escaped, and she suddenly felt shy and embarrassed. Couples dressed up and on their way to expensive restaurants didn't pull over to make out.
"We'll be late for our reservation," she said. "You should keep going."
Tristan eased the car off the road.
"There's the river," he said. "Do you want to walk down to it?"
"Yes."
She laid the roses in the back of the car. Tristan came around to open Ivy's door "Are you going to be able to walk in those shoes?" Tristan asked, glancing down at Ivy's high heels.
She stood up. Both heels sank straight down in the mud.
Ivy laughed, and Tristan picked her up. "I'll give you a lift," he said.
"No, you'll drop me in the mud!"
"Not till we get there," he said, and hoisted her up higher till he held her legs, letting the top half of her fall over his shoulder as if he were carrying a sack.
Ivy laughed and pounded him on the back. Her hair was coming out of its pins. "My hair! My hair! Let me down!"
He pulled her back, and she slid down the front of him, her skirt riding up, her hair tumbling down.
"Ivy."
He held her so tightly against him, she could feel the trembling up and down his body.
"Ivy?" he whispered.
She opened her mouth and pressed it against his neck.
At the same time, they both reached for the handle and pulled open the car's back door.
"I never knew how romantic a backseat could be," Ivy joked a while later. She rested against the seat, smiling at Tristan. Then she looked past him at the pile of junk on the car floor. "Maybe you should pull your tie out of that old Burger King cup."
Tristan reached down and grimaced. He tossed the dripping thing into the front of the car, then sat back next to Ivy.
"Ow!" The smell of crushed flowers filled the air.
Ivy laughed out loud.
"What's so funny?" Tristan asked, pulling from behind him the smashed roses, but he was laughing, too.
"What if someone had come along and seen your father's Clergy sticker on the bumper?"
Tristan tossed the flowers in the front seat and pulled her toward him again. He traced the silk strap of her dress, then tenderly kissed her shoulder. "I'd have told then I was with an angel."
"Oh, what a line!"
"Ivy, I love you!" Tristan said, his face suddenly serious.
She stared back at him, then bit her lip.