She's Up to No Good(53)
“Makes sense.” I took another bite. “And I’m guessing you’re only taking me to the good spots.”
“That too.”
“When do we go to your mom’s restaurant?”
“Whenever you want.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had Portuguese food.”
“Then we’ll go.”
My grandmother and Donna had gone quiet. I looked over to see them watching us like a tennis match.
I rolled my eyes at Joe and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”
“What did you say?” Grandma asked.
I pursed my lips. “I said, ‘I’m sorry.’”
“What are you sorry for?”
“You.”
Her eyebrows rose again. “Joe, darling, my granddaughter seems to think I’m imposing. Am I?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Well, darn. I hoped I was.” I could feel the color rising in my cheeks. “Jenna, I told you that you needed to be more interesting.” She turned back to Donna. “Speaking of interesting, did I tell you my Lily is engaged?”
“No! To that groomsman?”
“The one from the bog, yes.”
I puffed out my cheeks, then exhaled. “Does Massachusetts have the death penalty?” I asked Joe quietly.
“No,” he said, grinning.
“Excellent. A jury would totally believe that she fell into the ocean on her own. Especially with all that Xanax in her system.”
He laughed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
December 1950
Hereford, Massachusetts
Evelyn pulled the cigarette out of Tony’s mouth and took a long drag. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “What happened to the girl who didn’t smoke?”
“She went to college.” Evelyn took one more pull before putting it back between his lips as they lay together in an upstairs room in the cottage. If they piled enough blankets on and stayed close to each other, they barely noticed the cold anymore.
“And whose cigarettes are you smoking?”
“My own.”
He shook his head. “Liar.”
“Excuse me?” She sat up, feeling slightly guilty. She wasn’t lying exactly—just not telling the whole truth either. Her first—and many of the subsequent smokes until she bought a couple of packs of her own—had been Fred’s.
“I know you, Evelyn Bergman. You’re bumming them off people just to see what you can get away with.” She laughed and settled back into the crook of his arm.
“So what if I am?”
“So nothing. I trust you.”
She plucked the cigarette from his lips and stubbed it out in the coffee can they used as an ashtray to take the evidence with them, then climbed on top of him and kissed him fiercely. She had a month at home before the second semester began and she intended to make the most of every moment. Even if those moments were stolen, sneaking away from her family to meet him at the cottage.
When the sky began to darken, they dressed to leave. Evelyn couldn’t miss Shabbat dinner without a solid excuse, and Tony worked the night shift all week.
“Wait,” he said, his voice catching as she walked toward her father’s car after kissing him goodbye.
Evelyn turned, her head tilted curiously.
“I—I have something for you.” He reached into his pocket. “It isn’t much. And it’s not—I’m not asking yet. But—” He opened the box in his hand, where a small diamond shone against a gold band. Evelyn’s eyes widened. “I’ll get you a bigger one. I promise you that. I’ll save every penny. But I wanted you to have . . . something.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck in a crushing hug. When she finally released him, she held out her left hand. “Put it on me.”
He did as she asked, pulling it gingerly from the box and placing it slowly on her ring finger, both of them feeling the solemnity of the moment, the vow it represented for the future. Evelyn admired it, her eyes shining, before a look of disappointment crossed them.
“You don’t like it?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She shook her head. “I love it. But I can’t wear it around my family.”
“I thought of that.” He pulled a packet of tissue paper from his pocket and unwrapped it to reveal a thin, gold chain. “You can wear it on this for now.”
“I don’t want to take it off,” she admitted.
“Someday, hopefully in just a few more months, you won’t have to.”
She wanted to repeat her plea, that they drive south that very night. But she knew it would only sour this moment, which she wanted to keep sweet. And he would cave eventually when he realized her father wouldn’t. It was the thought that kept her going when the doubts crept in—she had yet to meet an obstacle she couldn’t get around; it was impossible to imagine one so obstinate that it could defeat her. So she put her shoulders back and agreed, pulling the ring from her finger and placing it on the chain, then holding her hair up to allow Tony to fasten the clasp around her neck.
“I love you,” she said, hugging him tight again. “I don’t have a ring to give you to remind you, but know that it’s just as real.”