Chapter 11
“Y ou’re the first boy I’ve ever kissed,” she said to me.
It was a few days before the new year, and Jamie and I were standing at the Iron
Steamer Pier in PineKnollShores. To get there, we’d had to cross the bridge that spans the
Intracoastal Waterway and drive a little way down the island. Nowadays the place has
some of the most expensive beachfront property in the entire state, but back then it was
mainly sand dunes nestled against the MaritimeNational Forest.
“I figured I might have been,” I said.
“Why?” she asked innocently. “Did I do it wrong?” She didn’t look like she’d be too
upset if I’d said yes, but it wouldn’t have been the truth.
“You’re a great kisser,” I said, giving her hand a squeeze.
She nodded and turned toward the ocean, her eyes getting that far-off look again.
She’d been doing that a lot lately. I let it go on for a while before the silence sort of got to
me.
“Are you okay, Jamie?” I finally asked.
Instead of answering, she changed the subject.
“Have you ever been in love?” she asked me.
I ran my hand through my hair and gave her one of those looks. “You mean before
now?”
I said it like James Dean would have, the way Eric had told me to say it if a girl ever
asked me that question. Eric was pretty slick with girls.
“I’m serious, Landon,” she said, tossing me a sidelong glance.
I guess Jamie had seen those movies, too. With Jamie, I’d come to realize, I always
seemed to be going from high to low and back to high again in less time than it takes to
swat a mosquito. I wasn’t quite sure if I liked that part of our relationship yet, though to be
honest, it kept me on my toes. I was still feeling off balance as I thought about her
question.
“Actually, I have,” I said finally.
Her eyes were still fixed on the ocean. I think she thought I was talking about
Angela, but looking back, I’d realized that what I’d felt for Angela was totally different
from what I was feeling right now.
“How did you know it was love?” she asked me.