That was when he kissed her again. Then they walked back to his motorcycle without saying a word. And this time when they rode home she held him tight.

When they entered the lobby of the Villa Veneto, Mrs. Benedetto was dressed in her going-away suit and everyone was hugging her and crying. The wedding was almost over. Lu started toward the crowd of weeping well-wishers, but Ricky pulled her back. “I want to see you again,” he muttered. “Can I call you?”

But Lu couldn't even imagine what would happen if Mama knew a boy was calling her. “I'll come out to Savin Rock on the trolley,” she said. “Next Saturday.”

AND SO IT began. Because it was summer, Lu had a lot more free time than she would have had during the school year, and sneaking off to be with Ricky turned out to be easier than she'd expected. Paulie was having a fling of his own—with the neighborhood girl Mama said was a disgrace—and he and Lu covered for each other. And Mama was distracted. Eddie had finally gotten his orders and was somewhere in the Pacific, but they hadn't gotten any mail from him yet. And the accountant Mama had hired to run the grocery stores was making a mess of the business, so Mama worried about that too. With Mama's attention so scattered, Lu was able to sneak entire afternoons with Ricky.

They always spent their time together in public places—Ricky insisted on that. His brothers owned a cottage on the beach near Savin Rock, and before they'd left for the army they'd given Ricky the keys. He could have taken Lu there anytime, but he never suggested it. Instead they met in the amusement park, where they walked around aimlessly before they headed to the beach. There they would kiss and drive each other crazy until one of them—usually Ricky—would stop it. Sometimes he took her to the movies, but neither of them could have told anyone what picture they'd seen. They wandered around neighborhoods where neither of them knew anyone until they found a deserted park where they could be alone. Sometimes the kissing and touching went further than they meant it to, and when they had to pull away from each other, Ricky would curse and Lu would want to cry. Ricky would say that they had to stop this. He'd swear that the next time they would actually watch the movie. They would look at the flowers and the trees in the park. They would talk—nothing more. But when they were together the kissing would start again. It seemed to Lu that they were marking time, waiting for something inevitable. It turned out that she was right.