I swallowed, the unspoken part of his sentence holding a lot of weight. “Okay. Here we go.”
I turned to look behind me, stepped on the gas, and suddenly we were flying into the street. “Other pedal,” he said calmly. I did as he said, and we jolted to a stop. “Gentle touch with your foot. Very gentle. Like you’re worried there’s glass on the pedal.”
I moved my foot toward the gas again, but he stopped me with a hand on my knee. “Wait. Let’s put it in gear first so we don’t wind up on the beach.”
“Could be fun.”
“Let’s stick to the road for now.”
He put my hand on the shifter and showed me how to move it into gear. “Gently,” he reminded me again as I stepped on the gas, this time moving forward slowly. “Look at that. You’re driving.”
I felt a smile spreading across my face. It changed into sheer terror when we turned onto Dune and other cars were coming toward us, but except for a momentary steadying hand on the wheel, Dan let me do the rest, even directing me very crookedly into a parking spot.
“Are you sure you haven’t driven before?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I’ll have to swipe Ada’s keys to practice during the week.”
“Or you can use mine next weekend.”
I grinned at him. “What if I don’t invite you back?”
He took my hand and kissed the palm. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
The four of us ate breakfast together the next morning, Lillian asking Dan questions about everything she hadn’t covered the day before. Ada didn’t even have her newspaper at the table for once.
“What are you two doing today?” she finally asked.
“I figured we’d go to the beach,” I said. “Then maybe Atlantic City tonight.”
“How fun,” Lillian said. “You’ll take him to Hackney’s of course.”
I nodded, but Ada spoke. “I believe we’ll join you on the beach today.”
Lillian pursed her lips and put a hand on Ada’s. “Let the two lovebirds be. We can go another day.”
“Nonsense,” Ada said. “Besides, we don’t stay as long as they do.”
“You should definitely join us,” Dan said. I shot him a look, and he nudged my leg with his under the table.
“How romantic,” I muttered.
“Did you say something?” Ada asked pointedly.
I put my elbows on the table and leaned my chin in my hands. “It’s just the most perfect dream date ever.”
“Elbows off my table.” She turned to Dan. “You really want all this sass? It’s not too late. I could find a nice girl for you instead of my witch of a niece.”
He hid a smile with his napkin. “She’ll be so convenient at Halloween though. I won’t even need to decorate for the kids.”
Ada turned to Lillian. “I told you I liked this one.”
We all went to our separate rooms to get ready, but Dan and I were the first ones back downstairs. “What’s in the bag?” I asked.
He pulled it off his shoulder and unzipped it to show a camera, the letter F on the top, the word Nikon just below it.
“You weren’t kidding, huh? That’s a fancy camera.”
“Just a single-lens reflex. But it shoots beautifully.”
“Why are you bringing it to the beach? Aren’t you worried it’ll get sand in it?”
“Nah,” he said. “I’ll be careful. And I told you I was bringing it.”
“What would you do with pictures of me though?”
He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “I just like photographing beautiful things.”
“I’d tell you to get a room, but I don’t want any broken windows,” Ada said.
I jumped about a mile. “How does someone your age sneak up on people so well? Shouldn’t your joints be creaking?”
She ignored me. “I hope you know how to put up a beach umbrella better than Marilyn. She almost killed people the last time she tried.”
“I believe I can handle that.”
“She exaggerates,” I said. “Besides, the only one I’d want to kill is her.”
“And it’ll take much more than an umbrella to do that,” she said. She turned to the stairs. “Lillian! Are you coming?”
“I am,” Lillian called back.
“Why are you allowed to call room to room when I’m not?” I asked.
“Because it’s my house.”
“Then why is Lillian allowed?”
Ada looked at me shrewdly. “Because she’s not as easily cowed as you are.”
I shook my head. “We’re going to go get the umbrella and chairs. Unless you’d prefer a broom to sit on.”
“A chair will be lovely,” Ada said. She touched Dan’s arm as he turned to leave. “I meant it. You’d be a catch for a nice girl.”
I dragged Dan out the door.
We set Ada and Lillian up with chairs and the umbrella, both of them so covered from any amount of sunshine possibly getting near them that I began to wonder if perhaps they were actually vampires. It would certainly explain how Ada snuck around so easily.
Dan and I spread towels a little way from them so we could actually talk.
“This really is a little slice of heaven, isn’t it?” he asked.
“Avalon? Or the beach?”
“Both. We should come here until we’re as old as they are.” He gestured behind us.
“Are you planning our future again?”
He held up his hands in innocence. “Me? I didn’t say we’d be married or bring our kids. For all I know, we’re leaving our spouses to come here together.”
“How scandalous, Mr. Schwartz.”
He turned on his side to face me. “The rabbi would have a heart attack.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t when we crashed through that stained glass.”
Dan laughed. “Me too, to be honest.”
I leaned up on an elbow. “Do they know you’re here this weekend?”
He hesitated. “They don’t.”
“And why is that?”
He sat up. “Because I figured they’d tell your parents.”
I considered him for a moment as he looked out at the ocean. If he wanted me back in New York, the quickest way to get me there would have been to make sure my parents knew we were talking. Daddy would have yanked me back to New York so fast I would have whiplash.
I opened my mouth to ask why he hadn’t, then, but he stood and offered me his hand. “Come on. Let’s go in the water.”
I took his hand and followed him into the surf, realizing I already knew the answer: he didn’t want to force me into anything.
That night, as I got into bed, well past midnight after our trip to Atlantic City, I thought back to that moment on the beach. I had never met a man whose sole interest in me wasn’t getting his own way. My father and my brother both wanted me to be the perfect reflection of the family, seen but not heard. It was a role I was destined to fail in. I didn’t have my mother’s stoicism or ability to let things roll off her back. And Rabbi Schwartz didn’t care if I wanted to marry his son; he just wanted to save face. Even Freddy cared about what I could do for him—putting off college so he could finish his school and then assuming I would marry him to save him from his mistake.
Not one of them had ever actually asked me what I wanted or respected the fact that I had a brain in my head. Until Dan.
I rolled onto my stomach, hugging my pillow. I still didn’t want to get married anytime soon, but I was happy Dan had come back into my life.