I said, still unable to raise my gaze higher than his knees, “But then…why did you come back? Anddon’t say you can’t tell me. Because otherwise I’m going to know it’s to get revenge on me. Which you’ve managed to do, and pretty good. The whole town hates me now. Practically.”
“Nobody hates you,” Tommy said. Now there was laughter in his voice. “Except Seth, maybe.”
“Seth definitely hates me,” I said, thinking mournfully of Seth’s terse message, asking for his jacket back.
“Yeah, well, Seth always was an idiot,” Tommy said. “Just like his brother, he wants to blame everybody else for his own mistakes.”
“Iwas a jerk to him, though,” I admitted mournfully. “I was a pretty big jerk to you, too.”
“You weren’t a jerk,” Tommy said. “You were just freaked out. About starting high school with everyone hating you. I think it was natural to want to distance yourself from me.”
“Really?” I risked a glance at his face, trying to gauge the bitterness level.
But all I saw was his smile. Which made my heart lurch.
And of course, after that, I couldn’t look away.
“Yeah,” he said, grinning. “But you redeemed yourself last night. That was quite a speech.”
“Not really,” I said, chewing on my lower lip. Because I hadn’t been able to avoid noticing that, in the light from the afternoon sun, Tommy’s own lips looked particularly inviting.
What waswrong with me? Why didn’t my body seem to know that my brain had sworn off boys? For good?
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Tommy said, bumping his shoulder against mine.
He meant it, I knew, as a friendly gesture. He didn’t do it to make electric shocks of desire go shooting through me.
But that’s exactly what happened.
Which is why I looked away from him, and said, “I’m taking a vacation from guys,” as fast as I could. Because I was reminding myself — as well as letting him know — that physical contact, even shoulder bumping, was off the menu.
“Really?” Tommydefinitely sounded amused now. I had to risk another glance at his face, just to see if he really was laughing at me.
He was.
And he still looked hot as ever.
My cheeks burning, I hunched my shoulders and looked away from him again.
“It’s not funny,” I said to the tops of my sneakers. “You were right. I need to learn to understand myself better — and, like you said,like myself better — before I get into any more romantic relationships. Telling the truth for a change is a start. But I have a long way to go.”
I decided against telling him about Phase Two of my plan…the convent and/or all-women’s college. Better to take it one day at a time at this point.
“That sounds like an excellent plan to me,” Tommy said.
My shoulders slumped a little. I don’t know why I was so disappointed in his response. I guess I hadn’t exactly thought he’d try to talk me out of it.
But I thought he’d at least have said something like,Too bad. I was about to ask you out.
But this is just an example of how much I really do need to take a vacation from boys.
“I’ll let you in on a secret, if it’ll cheer you up a little,” Tommy went on. “It’s about why I’m back in Eastport. Well, part of the reason. But it’s got to stay a secret till tomorrow morning. So you have to promise not to tell.”
“Okay,” I said, instantly curious.
He reached down and pulled up a backpack that had been sitting in the gravel near my bike. Unzipping it, he took out a newspaper. I recognized the standard for theGazette. It was the Sunday — tomorrow’s — edition.
“Turn to the sports section,” Tommy said.
I did. And was shocked by what I saw.
“That’s you!” I cried.
Because it was. There was a new column along the left-hand side of the page — the high school sports beat. And there, next to a byline that readTOM SULLIVAN, was Tommy’s picture.
“That’swhat you came back for?” I cried. “Because Mr. Gatch offered you the high school sports beat?”
“Well, partly,” Tommy said. “But you can see why I’m not too worried about those guys — what did you call it? Oh, yeah — having any kind of blanket party on me. I don’t think Coach Hayes — or anyone else, for that matter — would take too kindly to the Quahogs beating up the reporter who’s going to be covering their games all year.”
“Tommy,” I breathed, looking down at his photo. He looked totally great in it. Maybe I’d cut it out, and when I was living in the convent, I could look at Tommy’s photo and remember what it was like to be kissed by him. “This…this is really impressive. It really is. Mr. Gatch has never hired anyone as young as you before. I mean, to have their own column.”
“Yeah,” Tommy said. “It was a pretty strong incentive to come back, I’ll admit. My parents weren’t too thrilled about it, but when I explained how good it would look as part of my college applications, they finally agreed to let me give it a try.”
“Well,” I said. I handed the paper back to him reluctantly. “I, um. I guess I must have sounded really stupid, going on about thinking you were here because of…well. Me.”
“Notthat stupid,” Tommy admitted with a smile, as he stuck the paper back into his bag. “Because you were partly right.”
I blinked at him. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, hey, I almost forgot,” he said, ignoring my question. “I have something of yours.”
“Of mine? What?”
And he reached into the backpack again, and this time drew out something bulky, wrapped in a brown paper bag.
“What is it?” I asked, taking hold of it curiously. “What—”
But the minute my fingers went around it, I knew.
“Tommy!” I cried, springing up from the bike rack and pressing the thing in the bag to my heart. “No. You didn’t.”
My mouth said the words. But my hands, clutching the camera to me, said something else entirely — they said,Mine. Because it was like they were home.
“You’re right.” Tommy was grinning. “I didn’t. Mr. Gatch did. Well, he and Mr. Bird, really. You know how much they both hate the Quahogs. Oh, and here.” Tommy reached into his backpack and pulled out an envelope, which he slipped into my hands. “Your money back. So you can give it to your parents, to put toward the sandblasting.”
I just shook my head in wonder. The tears had come back.
But they were a different kind of tears from before.
“Tommy,” I whispered.“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. And don’t think you’re getting that camera for free, either. Mr. G expects you to work it off taking photos for the paper this year. I was hoping you’d cover the games with me. What do you say?”
I shook my head some more. “Tommy…why? I mean…why are you being so nice to me? After what I did?”
He shrugged, getting up from the bike rack. “Are you kidding?I ’m the one who owesyou. If it weren’t for me, you’d have placed in that pageant last night. Jenna Hicks only placed because you dropped out.”
Which was when I noticed something, despite my tears. Or rather, I noticed something missing. From the Gull ’n Gulp parking lot.
“Tommy,” I said, blinking back the tears. “Where’s your Jeep?”
“Oh,” he said. He had bent over to unlock a chain around a mountain bike parked beside mine. “Parked back at my grandparents’ place. I figure, you know, if we’re going to be hanging out, I’m better off with pedal power, if I’m going to keep up with you.”