think it had an effect on how she viewed me after that. The one thing I didn’ t tell her was that it looked almost as though Hegbert had been crying as I’ d made my way out the door. Not only didn’ t I understand it completely, I didn’ t want her to worry. That night, though, after talking to my mom again, she provided me with a possible explanation, and to be honest, it made perfect sense to me. Hegbert must have come to the realization that his daughter was growing up and that he was slowly losing her to me. In a way, I hoped that was true.
I picked her up right on schedule. Though I hadn’ t asked her to wear her hair down, she’ d done it for me. Silently we drove over the bridge, down the waterfront to the restaurant. When we got to the hostess stand, the owner himself appeared and walked us to our table. It was one of the better ones in the place.
It was crowded by the time we arrived, and all around us people were enjoying themselves. On New Year’ s people dressed fashionably, and we were the only two teenagers in the place. I didn’ t think we looked too out of place, though.
Jamie had never been to Flauvin’ s before, and it took her just a few minutes to take it all in. She seemed nervously happy, and I knew right away that my mom had made the right suggestion.
“ This is wonderful,” she said to me.“ Thank you for asking me.”“ My pleasure,” I said sincerely.“ Have you been here before?”
“ A few times. My mother and father like to come here sometimes when my father comes home from Washington.”
She looked out the window and stared at a boat that was passing by the restaurant, its lights blazing. For a moment she seemed lost in wonder.“ It’ s beautiful here,” she said.
“ So are you,” I answered. Jamie blushed.“ You don’ t mean that.”“ Yes,” I said quietly,“ I do.”
We held hands while we waited for dinner, and Jamie and I talked about some of the things that had happened in the past few months. She laughed when we talked about the homecoming dance, and I finally admitted the reason I’ d asked her in the first place. She was a good sport about it— she sort of laughed it off cheerfully— and I knew that she’ d already figured it out on her own.
“ Would you want to take me again?” she teased.“ Absolutely.”
Dinner was delicious— we both ordered the sea bass and salads, and when the waiter finally removed our plates, the music started up. We had an hour left before I had to take her home, and I offered her my hand.