“Are we going to let that silly little twit spoil our evening?” Evan asked quietly. “She’s trying so hard to be a flapper, she makes a fool of herself.” He reached for Julie’s hand and held it lightly, giving her the opportunity to pull away. When she didn’t, he tugged gently. “Come sit close to me. I hear that it’s what people do on a date. I’ve not been on many, so I have to take their word for it.”

He looked at her when he could take his eyes off the road. His nearness confused her and weakened her willpower. She moved until her shoulder and thigh were touching his.

“That’s much better. Forget about what the jealous cat said. She’s ill-mannered, rude, and not worth our giving her a second thought.”

“She was in my class at school.” It was all Julie could think of to say as she swallowed an assortment of lumps in her throat.

Evan stopped the car on Main Street in front of the drugstore. He looked at Julie. Her lips were slightly parted as she breathed through her mouth. The flush on her cheeks and the vein that throbbed in her neck were signs of her discomfiture. He wanted badly to cradle her in his arms and rest his chin on the top of her head. He didn’t dare, for fear he would damage her trust in him.

“How about another ice-cream cone?”

She turned to him and immediately the corners of her mouth tilted.

“Oh, no. But thank you.”

“I want to get some tooth powder. Do you mind waiting while I run in?”

Of course not.”

“Be right back.”

Julie watched him go into the drugstore.
He uses tooth powder,
she thought, with growing concern. Another difference between them. She’d never used tooth powder. All of her life she had cleaned her teeth with soda and salt.

Was Zelda right? Was he just giving the poor country girl a break from her dull life?

There were quite a few people on the street. They strolled along, either on their way home from the picture show or gathering in groups to visit. Several people looked pointedly at her, or was it Evan’s nice car that had drawn their eyes?

Julie hadn’t thought to check if her father’s car was still on the street. The picture show was over. Miss Dahlstrom, the round-shouldered spinster who played the piano to accompany the movie, had gone by.

She was surprised to realize that she hadn’t thought of her father or Birdie Stuart since she and Evan had laughed about the joke Thad and Joe had played on her. The fear that her father had become infatuated with the woman was still there even if she had forgotten about it for a while.

She watched Evan come out of the drugstore. He was a good-looking man, half a head taller than most of the men on the street. He moved with such assurance that people automatically moved out of his way.

A man like Evan would never be seriously interested in a girl like me.

Evan opened the door, got in the car and placed a box on her lap.

“What’s this?”

“What does it say?”

Julie tilted the box up to the light. “French Chocolate Creams?”

“Open it,” Evan said, smiling. “I’ve got a fondness for sweets.”

“Oh, you! You’re like a little kid.” Excitement made her cheeks rosy as she broke the paper seal and opened the box. Inside were three rows of small round pieces of chocolate. Evan reached for one and held it up to her mouth.

“Open up,” he commanded laughingly.

When she opened her mouth, he popped the chocolate inside. The instant she bit down on it, a burst of delicious cherry-flavored cream filled her mouth.

Her eyes, alight with pleasure, met his. “Oh, my,” she said. “Good.”

His eyes still holding hers, he popped one into his own mouth.

“Oh, my, you’re right.” He lifted his arm to position it on the top of the seat behind her. Their heads were close.

“I’ve never had candy so good.”

“I think I’ll have another. How about you?” Without waiting for her to answer, he held the chocolate to her lips. She took it, being careful not to touch his fingers.

Their eyes held. She was the girl of his dreams, even more wonderful than he had imagined. Her hair was the rich color of ripened wheat, her mouth wide and sweet, her eyes like stars. The desolate look on her face when she heard the cruel remarks by the tart at the dance hall had cut him to the bone.

Sweetheart, somehow I’ve got to make you want me. I’d give you the world if I could.

Julie stared at him for a long silent minute. He was so close she could see the small squint lines at the ends of his eyes and the cowlick that stood up next to the part in his hair. She was afraid that if she moved, he would be sure to know how happy she was, being here with him. When she finally spoke, her voice caught, then came out in a husky whisper.

“Thank you for the treat.”

“The entire evening has been a treat for me.”

“It’s nice of you to say that.”

“I mean it. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and we can do it again.” He was looking past her down the walk. “It’s time we moved on. I see Walter and a couple of his cronies coming this way. I sure don’t want to give them a ride home.” Evan started the car, backed out and turned toward the road leading out of town.

The extraordinarily wonderful evening was almost over.

Chapter 16

W
HEN EVAN STOPPED THE CAR
at the side of the front porch, Julie wasn’t sure what to do.

“Thank you. I’ve had a good time.” She placed her hand on the door handle.

“Will you stay for just a little while? I don’t want the evening to end.”

“I…ah …really had a good time,” she stammered, not knowing what else to say.

“I’m glad. I’d like to do it again sometime.”

“Go to Spring Lake?”

“Or the picture show. Just be with you.”

“All right.”

“I like being with you … and your family.”

Julie laughed nervously. “I’d think that we’re rather dull compared to what you’re used to.”

“You’re anything but dull, Julie.” His hand on the back of the seat moved to her shoulder, then to massage the nape of her neck. “Do I make you nervous?”

“A little bit.”

“I make myself nervous. I’m so afraid I’ll make a mistake and scare you away from me.”

“I don’t scare easily,” she whispered and turned to look at him. His face was closer than she expected.

“I hope not, because before you go in, I’d like to kiss you.”

“You … would?”

“Will you scream for Joe if I do?”

A smile tilted the corners of her mouth. “I imagine it would be over by the time he got here.”

Evan chuckled. She was fun, intelligent … soft. She was all a woman should be.

“He could drag me out and punch me in the nose.”

“He might—if I yelled real loud.”

“To kiss you would be worth a dozen punches in the nose.” His voice was husky and rawly disturbed, like his deep, quivering breaths. “But I won’t do it if you don’t want me to… .”

The hand at her nape brought her face toward his, then slipped down to cup her shoulder to allow her to turn away if she chose. She felt the caress of his warm breath on her cheek before, with the utmost tenderness and caution, his lips, warm and soft, settled on hers.

Oh, my! This is what I’ve heard about, read about, but it’s a thousand times more wonderful.
The thought floated through Julie’s mind during the brief kiss. A warm tide of tingling excitement washed over her. Her heart beat wildly and her mind whirled giddily.

Evan moved his head and placed his cheek against hers. His arm tightened. His heart was drumming; he was stunned with happiness. Neither of them spoke for long minutes. He was content holding her and she was content resting against him. Finally she stirred and gently moved away from him. For an instant he feared her sweet surrender was all a dream, then she uttered a little laugh so soundless that it was no more than an exhalation of breath.

“I’ve not had much experience … kissing—”

“I’m glad.” He laughed with relief and pure happiness. “Maybe we should practice,” he teased.

“I could volunteer for the kissing booth at the county fair. I’d get a lot of practice there.”

“You don’t have to go to the fair. You can practice on me … right here.” Then he laughed, intimately, joyously, and his arm tightened around her. “The only thing that would have made that kiss better was if you had put your arm around my neck. Shall we try it again?”

“If you want to.”

He heard her voice quiver. His relief was so profound that he thought his whole being would dissolve, that his heart would cease its beating. Too moved for words when her hand crept up over his shoulder and around his neck, he kissed her lips softly, gently, so as to not scare her away. Their lips caught and clung, released and smiled, and caught again.

“You’re getting the hang of it,” he whispered against the side of her mouth, then kissed her again. “After a few hours of this, you might get to be an expert.”

She squirmed and turned her mouth away from his. Her hand slid from around his neck.

“My goodness. I don’t know what came over me. I shouldn’t be doing this. I don’t …I never—”

“Thank God that you don’t and you never. You’re a rare treasure, Julie Jones.” So much tenderness was in his voice that Julie blinked several times, then leaned back so that she could look into his face. Her hand went up to cup his cheek.

“I’m no treasure! I’m terribly ordinary, Evan. I’ve lived on this farm all my life and not been more than fifty miles from it. I’ve not ridden on a train and very few times in a motorcar. I can count on my fingers the times I’ve been to the picture show, and tonight is the first time I’ve been to Spring Lake. I’m what Zelda and her chums called me, a country girl, and I’m not ashamed of it. I’d rather be what I am than what they are.

“There.” She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ve said it.”

“You’ve not said anything I didn’t know. It isn’t where you’ve been that matters. It’s what you are on the inside—what you care about. I like what you are, Julie: untarnished, unaffected and innocent. You’ve got more integrity in this little finger”— he stroked her finger with his thumb—“than the banker’s daughter has in her whole body. I’d like for us to go out again, get to know each other …that is, if you don’t mind being seen with the son of the man they call the meanest in the county.”

Innocent? Lord, what would he think if he found out?

“You’re not like Mr. Johnson,” Julie said quickly, hoping to rid her mind of unpleasant thoughts.

“I can’t help what people think. I just want you and your family to know that I have Walter’s name, but that is as far as the kinship goes.”

“Do you remember Miss Meadows? You met her at the ball game. She once told me that you can choose your friends but not your relatives.”

“Words of wisdom,” he said quietly. “Did it bother you when the jelly bean said I asked you out because I couldn’t get anyone else to go out with me?”

“No.” She spoke without hesitation. “I know it isn’t true. Zelda and any number of her crowd would jump at the chance to go out with you.”

“That will never happen.” He tilted his head and took a deep breath. There was a decided firmness in his voice.

Uneasy silence hung between them for a long moment before Julie spoke.

“I … should go in.”

“Shall we go out somewhere next Saturday night?”

“If you want to.”

“I do. I was afraid to ask for fear you’d turn me down.”

Julie laughed. “I can’t imagine you being afraid of anything.”