behind me.
I really didn’t want him along. I didn’t want anyone along, actually.
“Or did you want to be alone?” he asked, looking at me uncertainly.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him to go back.“Oh, I was just trying to get away from the noise of camp—give my ears a rest,” I said.
“I know what you mean.” And then, unsure of himself, he said, “But if you’d rather I didn’t come…”
Oh, for Pete’s sake, don’t be so wishy-washy! I thought. “Of course not,” I said, and walked on. He gave a little skip to catch up.
Isn’t it strange how just the slightest mannerism can turn you off? That little skip, and I knew for certain I could not feel romantic about Gerald Eggers in a million years.
“Penny for your thoughts,” said Gerald.
I sighed and closed my eyes. He wasn’t just in my face, he was in my head.
“Thinking about this summer, that’s all. This’ll be the longest I’ve ever been away from home,” I said.
“Homesick?”
“Not really. I’m just hoping I can hold out another two weeks. Kids can sure be exhausting. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a mother and be around little children all day.”
“I think you’d make a great mother,” said Gerald.
“That’s a long way off,” I said. I was beginning to get bad vibes.
“I had a cousin who married at eighteen, andshe’s really happy,” said Gerald. “She’s a great mother, too.”
“Good for her,” I said.
“I guess that’s the first thing I look for in a girl,” Gerald went on. “How she gets along with kids tells me what kind of mother she’d make.”
I stared straight ahead. Was this a test? Oh, brother. Was this guy looking for wife material at the grand age of fifteen? If I said I loved children, would he propose? Ask me to wait for him while he worked his way through grad school?
I found myself suddenly babbling on about school and how I’d be entering tenth grade in the fall and how long I’d been on the newspaper staff and what had happened during our production of Fiddler on the Roof and how my dad was marrying my seventh-grade English teacher—anything to change the subject—and then I realized it might sound as though I were trying to impress him, show him I was the kind of girl he wanted to marry. My jaw snapped shut.
He glanced over at me. “Get a bug in your mouth?” he asked.
“No, my foot,” I said. He gave me a quizzical smile.
We’d reached the end of the path and were facing the low stone wall, the overlook beyond. It was a gorgeous day, and the taller trees werespreading their shadows out over the ones below. All the assorted greens of summer were stretching before us, and beyond the trees the blue and purple layers of hills grew fainter and fainter in the distance. If I couldn’t be alone, why couldn’t Richard have followed me up here, or Andy or Craig?
And then I felt an arm around my waist as Gerald edged in closer to my side. Yikes! He was going to propose! He’d get down on one knee and pull a gold-plated ring out of his pocket—one size fits all—and… I moved away and went over to lean my elbows on the stone wall.
“Sorry,” said G. E. “I guess I moved a little too fast.”
The third reason not to like him. I swallowed. “I’m really not looking for romance this summer, Gerald,” I said.
I heard him sigh. “Let me guess,” he said. “You’re about to give me that ‘I like you as a friend, but…’ line.”
“And?”
“Well, you aren’t the first girl who’s said it.”
“Maybe you come on a little too strong too fast,” I said.
“So if I slow down, do I have a chance?”
It just seemed that everything Gerald said made it worse. He seemed so desperate, as though hehad to pin down the rest of his life—his love life, anyway—in case he never got another chance.
“Maybe sometimes it’s better to make a girl worry a little that you won’t like her,” I said.
He gave a small laugh. “That’ll be the day.”
I
I really didn’t want him along. I didn’t want anyone along, actually.
“Or did you want to be alone?” he asked, looking at me uncertainly.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him to go back.“Oh, I was just trying to get away from the noise of camp—give my ears a rest,” I said.
“I know what you mean.” And then, unsure of himself, he said, “But if you’d rather I didn’t come…”
Oh, for Pete’s sake, don’t be so wishy-washy! I thought. “Of course not,” I said, and walked on. He gave a little skip to catch up.
Isn’t it strange how just the slightest mannerism can turn you off? That little skip, and I knew for certain I could not feel romantic about Gerald Eggers in a million years.
“Penny for your thoughts,” said Gerald.
I sighed and closed my eyes. He wasn’t just in my face, he was in my head.
“Thinking about this summer, that’s all. This’ll be the longest I’ve ever been away from home,” I said.
“Homesick?”
“Not really. I’m just hoping I can hold out another two weeks. Kids can sure be exhausting. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a mother and be around little children all day.”
“I think you’d make a great mother,” said Gerald.
“That’s a long way off,” I said. I was beginning to get bad vibes.
“I had a cousin who married at eighteen, andshe’s really happy,” said Gerald. “She’s a great mother, too.”
“Good for her,” I said.
“I guess that’s the first thing I look for in a girl,” Gerald went on. “How she gets along with kids tells me what kind of mother she’d make.”
I stared straight ahead. Was this a test? Oh, brother. Was this guy looking for wife material at the grand age of fifteen? If I said I loved children, would he propose? Ask me to wait for him while he worked his way through grad school?
I found myself suddenly babbling on about school and how I’d be entering tenth grade in the fall and how long I’d been on the newspaper staff and what had happened during our production of Fiddler on the Roof and how my dad was marrying my seventh-grade English teacher—anything to change the subject—and then I realized it might sound as though I were trying to impress him, show him I was the kind of girl he wanted to marry. My jaw snapped shut.
He glanced over at me. “Get a bug in your mouth?” he asked.
“No, my foot,” I said. He gave me a quizzical smile.
We’d reached the end of the path and were facing the low stone wall, the overlook beyond. It was a gorgeous day, and the taller trees werespreading their shadows out over the ones below. All the assorted greens of summer were stretching before us, and beyond the trees the blue and purple layers of hills grew fainter and fainter in the distance. If I couldn’t be alone, why couldn’t Richard have followed me up here, or Andy or Craig?
And then I felt an arm around my waist as Gerald edged in closer to my side. Yikes! He was going to propose! He’d get down on one knee and pull a gold-plated ring out of his pocket—one size fits all—and… I moved away and went over to lean my elbows on the stone wall.
“Sorry,” said G. E. “I guess I moved a little too fast.”
The third reason not to like him. I swallowed. “I’m really not looking for romance this summer, Gerald,” I said.
I heard him sigh. “Let me guess,” he said. “You’re about to give me that ‘I like you as a friend, but…’ line.”
“And?”
“Well, you aren’t the first girl who’s said it.”
“Maybe you come on a little too strong too fast,” I said.
“So if I slow down, do I have a chance?”
It just seemed that everything Gerald said made it worse. He seemed so desperate, as though hehad to pin down the rest of his life—his love life, anyway—in case he never got another chance.
“Maybe sometimes it’s better to make a girl worry a little that you won’t like her,” I said.
He gave a small laugh. “That’ll be the day.”
I
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