“The banned book? How did you get it?”
“I found a copy in Margaret’s bag.”
“And you didn’t share it with me?”
Vivie pursed her lips in a fair imitation of Evelyn’s face. “I’ve had a lot of time to read before bed. You sneak in awfully late.”
“Okay, well, you’re giving that to me as soon as we get home.”
“I put it back in Margaret’s bag. I didn’t want her to notice it was missing.”
“What’s she going to do? Admit to having it? We’ll swipe it.”
Vivie laughed. “I’ve missed you this summer. You’ve been here, but it hasn’t been the same.” Then she turned more serious. “You haven’t answered yet though. Are you going to?”
It was a question preying frequently on Evelyn’s mind. There was the obvious concern about pregnancy, particularly with college looming. Papa’s shop did have prophylactics, but he kept them in a locked box under the counter, and he sold them only to married men and the sailors. Never to a woman. And Tony certainly couldn’t buy one anywhere in Hereford. Not if he was ever going to try to appeal to Papa.
There was also the question of where. The house on Main Street sat empty most of the time with everyone at the cottage and Joseph at work. But the neighbors were nosy and posed too big a risk. And a car for her first time was simply not an option. Tony would never agree to those choices either.
Tony himself was the final obstacle. Would he agree before marriage? Evelyn liked the idea of doing the deed before leaving for school. It was a way of promising herself to him. And moreover, she wanted to. A year earlier she couldn’t have pictured herself straddling a boy in a car and so desperately wanting his hands on every inch of her skin. And she knew, from what she could feel when she moved on his lap, that he wanted to go further too. No matter how much he argued that they shouldn’t.
Evelyn licked her bottom lip. “I don’t know yet.”
Vivie nodded sagely. “I’ll get you the book. You might need it.”
Laughing, Evelyn elbowed her little sister again. “There are things you can’t learn in books, you know.”
“I know. But I’m not brave enough until I go to college.”
“Good.” Evelyn leaned her head on her sister’s shoulder. “I’m glad you know about Tony though. I haven’t been able to tell a soul.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The Instagram notifications trickled in as we drove toward town. I scrolled through my feed briefly, not realizing it had been so long since I had posted anything. Life had, well, stagnated since Brad left. My social media feed had always been heavily curated to show what I wanted the world to see, and I definitely did not want anyone seeing that I was living in my childhood bedroom, convalescing from a failed marriage.
“Where are we going next?”
He inclined his head slightly, keeping his eyes on the road and squinting in the bright sunlight. “I was thinking we’d go to Main Street and walk around there today.”
“Today?”
He glanced over. “Yeah. Your grandmother—”
“Hired you to babysit me?”
“Are you always this suspicious?”
“When it comes to my grandmother? Yes. Did you know she doesn’t have a driver’s license?”
Joe let out a deep laugh. “I didn’t. But it doesn’t surprise me at all.”
“And she was going to drive herself here.” I shook my head. “She’s always up to something. And I’ve been on enough bad fixups from her to last a lifetime . . .” I trailed off. “No offense.”
“None taken.” He paused. “How many is enough?”
“Honestly not that many. But the last one—that was bad enough for several lifetimes.”
“What happened?”
I felt my cheeks turn red and didn’t answer. He looked over again at my silence. “Okay, now you have to tell me.”
“No way.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know you well enough for that story.”
He chuckled softly, looking back to the road. “I’ve got a goal for this week, then. I’m going to get that story out of you.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.”
“We’ll see.” He glanced at me again, and I felt a strange flutter of excitement in my lower abdomen. Or the clams hadn’t been so good, after all. It was more likely that. Obviously.
Thankfully, he changed the subject. “Anyway, it’s not babysitting. She said she had some business.”