A bit sticky in my sundress, I settled in the seat next to Arie. He set aside his flat cap, then handed over our bag of popcorn and balanced a cup of lemonade on his knee.

I glanced around, wondering what I was missing.

“So…you and Hendrik,” he said tentatively. “You’re sweethearts now?”

This I wasn’t prepared to answer. There was too much to explain, too much I still didn’t understand. I simply shook my head.

His brows dipped. “Last night though…”

“I know how it must have looked, after what I said. But no.” I sighed. “Trust me.”

He nodded that he did. Yet with his demeanor darkening, I hurried to thwart his next natural thought.

“I swear, he didn’t do anything wrong. It was nothing but a few kisses. He’s a good egg. Just not for me.” Anxious to move on, to avoid dwelling, I jerked my chin toward the screen. “Tell me, then. This is your big surprise?”

Expression easing, he reclined and shrugged a shoulder. “Almost.”

Before I could probe, the lights dimmed and the projector beamed. Soon the film score played, a familiar tune, and the title screen appeared.

HOUDINI

IN

‘HALDANE OF THE

SECRET SERVICE’

This couldn’t be right. According to the marquee—

I turned to Arie, who was waiting with a conspiratorial smile. “I swung by on lunch break,” he said quietly. “Told the projectionist I was in the doghouse. He agreed to help for a little padding of his pocket.”

That padding, I suspected, exceeded anything Arie ought to spare. But everything about the gesture was so personal and touching I couldn’t help but grin. The picture was an all-time favorite of mine. I must have dragged him to see it half a dozen times before its showings at theaters turned scarce.

A few in the audience weren’t as happy about the detour. Based on their grumbles, they preferred Buster Keaton. A crotchety man even pitched a handful of popcorn toward the projection window, calling the teenaged boy up there a birdbrain, then stomped out in a huff.

But the Houdini reel kept on spinning.

I whispered to Arie, “Won’t he get booted for this?”

“Nah. His family owns the joint.”

All the same, instinctively I sank low in my seat, blending in to deflect associated blame. A short-lived worry. In no time, the remaining attendees were caught up in the film. Really, how could they not be?

Arie too was watching then. I was about to interrupt to express how grateful I was, but of course he already knew. And from that unspoken understanding, my date with Hendrik glared in contrast.