She returned with a jacket and a smile, determined not to let anything ruin their time together. Her dad was now talking with Rick and her mom. Dad acted and sounded like maybe he was warming up to Rick.
"Do you two want something to eat?" Mom asked.
"I thought we'd pick up some sandwiches for lunch, and then I told Christy I'd take her to Felicidades for dinner. They have the best Mexican food in Carlsbad. Have you ever been there?"
"No," Mom answered, "we'll have to try it sometime."
Christy had to admit she felt proud of the way Rick was nice to her parents after they had been so strict about her dating. In her opinion, they had also been downright rude to Rick.
"Have a great time, and we'll see you when you get home," Mom added.
"At ten o'clock," Rick added.
"Or even before ten," Christy's dad said. He was smiling.
It made Christy think of something Dad said last night after their ice cream. He told her that if being a teenager sometimes seemed difficult for her and she felt her parents were too strict, she should remember that they had never before been parents of a teen who could drive and date. Dad said he thought some things were scarier for him than they were for her. It wasn't like he was experienced at all this and had the instant right answers.
As Rick and Christy got into the Mustang, David pedaled his bike to the side of the car. Before Rick could start the motor, David asked, "Where are you going? Can I go?"
Christy was used to David tagging along whenever she and Todd did things together since she wasn't technically old enough to date then. Having David along tended to keep it from being a date. Things were different now. She was on a date with her boyfriend and was about to say, "Sorry, David. Not this time," when Rick answered for her.
"In your dreams, dog breath! Get your own life!" He revved up the engine and screeched down the street.
Christy felt like scolding Rick and telling him he couldn't talk to her brother like that. She also wanted to let him have it for being so late. But she resisted the urge, not wanting to start off their special day with an argument.
Rick opened the conversation. "I should have stayed with you at the pet store last night instead of going to the football game. Vista High beat us again."
"Did you go out afterward or anything?" Christy asked.
"Yeah. The usual place, the usual gang. Not much has changed since last year. Oh, and Renee was all over me until I told her we were going out. She'll probably look you up on Monday." He added in a mumble, "And by then you'll have proof."
Renee and Christy had had major conflicts last spring at cheerleading tryouts, but this year their paths hadn't crossed much yet. Christy had to admit, hearing that Rick had called her his girlfriend in front of Renee felt satisfying.
"You like turkey?" Rick asked, parking in front of a sandwich shop and opening Christy's door for her.
"I like you, don't I?" she teased, taking his hand and stepping out of the car.
"Oh, cute. Very cute," Rick said, squeezing her hand and pulling it until her arm was around his middle. He wrapped his arm around her waist. "So you think you're funny, huh?" And he proceeded to tickle her mercilessly.
The laughing spell made her glad to be with Rick. They had the rest of the day together, and she wanted to cherish every minute of it. She could forgive him for being so late. After all, he did call and tell her he was running late.
They ate their sandwiches in the car on the way to the beach. As they drove, the sky became more overcast. It definitely did not look like a good day to go to the beach.
Rick parked in a dirt clearing near a precarious cliff that dropped off to the sand below. They put on their jackets and carried their kites down a path to the practically deserted beach.
"This is pretty," Christy said, surveying the long, narrow stretch of sand. "It's so different from Newport Beach. I've never been here before."
"You think we have enough wind for the kites?" Rick fastened the string to the back of his.
The air felt thick and padded. A sliver of sun broke through the heavy clouds and struck the ocean like an iridescent javelin.
Rick handed Christy her kite. "Follow me. We're going to have to give these guys a running start."
Rick held his kite over his head and took off running down the beach. On the second try, his kite was airborne.
Christy followed Rick, and after six attempts, her kite took off. She let the string reel itself all the way out until the kite was only a colorful little triangle against the gray cotton-ball ceiling.
"That's us," Rick said, looking up. "Two wild kites dancing in the wind."
For a long time they stood side by side, tugging on their strings and watching their kites whip and twist in the air. A few times their strings almost tangled together as the kites lunged toward each other and then pulled away.
"I don't think I've ever flown a kite before," Christy said, trying to link the present with some kind of memory from the past. "I probably did when I was little, but I don't remember. This is really fun."
"So, you think number four was a good choice for today?" Rick said with a grin, referring to his date list.
"Avery good choice. Although my arms are starting to feel tired."
"Here," Rick offered, taking her string. "Find us a couple of good rocks, and we'll anchor these guys down."
Christy had plenty of rocks to choose from. She lugged the closest two over to Rick's feet, where he secured the kite strings in the sand.
"That ought to hold them. You want to go for a walk?" Rick offered Christy his hand, and they started down the endless beach.
Feeling secure with her hand in Rick's, Christy opened up more than she had all day and began to tell him about the adventure with Walter the night before.
"Boy, am I sorry I missed all the excitement!" Rick said. "Wish I would have stuck around."
"Me too."
Rick squeezed her hand. "It's been hard seeing you only once a week. I wish we could be together more. You don't have any idea what it means to me to be with you, Christy. I've waited so long to spend moments like this with you."
Rick stopped walking and looked at Christy with his warm brown eyes. "Sometimes I can't believe you're finally mine."
Then he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.
Christy pulled away slightly, before he had a chance to kiss her again, hoping to catch her breath. As always, Rick came on too fast and too strong for her.
"Oh no, look!" She pointed over his shoulder. "Our kites are taking a dive into the water."
Down the beach, the wind had changed, and both kites were losing altitude rapidly. They took crazy, gyrating swoops toward the incoming surf.
"They're okay." Rick pulled Christy toward him.
"Come on," Christy urged, "we have to save them." She pulled away and started to run down the beach with Rick soon right beside her.
He's mad. I know it. He's mad that I pulled away. I'm still not used to him coming on to me like that. Does he really care about me, or is Katie and everyone else right? Is he going to use me until he's bored and then toss me away?
They reached the kites about the same time, but it was too late. The strings had become entangled, with both kites losing their momentum in the wind. Together they fell to earth at the edge of the shoreline, where the foamy waves rushed up to lick their paper wounds.
Christy examined the ruined bundle and wondered if they could be untangled and repaired. It didn't look too promising. They had crashed pretty hard.
"Well," Rick said lightheartedly, "so much for wild kites dancing in the wind." He gathered them up and wadded them into a crumpled ball.
An unexpected tear slid down Christy's cheek as she watched Rick toss the fragile kites into the metal trash can.
After gathering their belongings and hiking back up the rocky hill, Christy enjoyed the warmth of Rick's car.
He didn't say much as they drove up the coast to Carlsbad. She wanted him to hold her hand and put on some soothing music, but he seemed deep in thought.
The moisture from the ocean mist had turned Rick's dark hair wavy and thick, making him look all the more rugged, like a mountain climber. She liked his hair this way and wondered if she should say something.
"We need to talk before we go to dinner," Rick said. "I want you to tell me everything you're feeling. There's too much that's going unsaid between us, and I want to clear everything up, okay?"
Christy nodded as he glanced at her. They parked in a paved area on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Rick turned off the engine of his Mustang and leaned against the window so he could face Christy.
She couldn't tell from his expression if he was angry or just serious.
"We've known each other about a year," Rick began. "From the first time I met you, I knew you weren't like a lot of other girls. I don't know how you did it, but you got inside my head, and I thought about you all the time. Somebody told me you already had a boyfriend, but then I took a chance and asked you to homecoming, remember?"
Christy smiled. "Yes. I was so embarrassed to have to tell you I couldn't date until I was sixteen-a whole nine months away."
"And do you remember what I told you that day?" Rick's voice matched his soft expression.
Christy felt her heart turn into a marshmallow as she looked into Rick's eyes. "You told me that for a girl like me, you could wait that long."
"I meant it, Christy." Rick reached over and took her hand. "I've waited a long time to have you as my girlfriend. And now every time I try to hold you or kiss you, you pull away. Do you realize that ever since that night when you toilet-papered my house and jumped out of the bushes-man, you sure scared me-you've been running away from me? Why? I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. I only want to be close to you."
He looked as if his heart had turned to marshmallow too. She had never realized Rick cared this deeply about her.
"I need to know why you won't let me hold you and kiss you. What's wrong with a guy showing his girlfriend how much he cares?"
How could Christy answer that? He made it sound so natural and innocent. How could she explain to him that she wanted to feel close to him too, but that his kissing overpowered her? How could he understand her promise to Alissa to do nothing more than light kissing with a guy?
"I want you to open up to me, Christy. Tell me what you're thinking," Rick pleaded, squeezing her hand.
Christy decided to try a question. "This may sound really stupid, Rick, but what is your standard? Do you know what I mean? How far would you go with a girl?"
Rick looked surprised. "What are you getting at, Christy? You think I'm trying to take advantage of you?"
"No, not really." Christy felt embarrassed trying to talk about this with Rick. "I guess I kind of have a standard of not doing anything more than light kissing. And today on the beach, the way I started to feel when you were kissing me was, well, it felt like more than light kissing."
Rick's smile spread across his face. "So I made you feel sick to your stomach again?"
Christy remembered how she had said that the night they parked at a place overlooking Escondido to admire the lights of city. It seemed to make Rick proud that he had such power over her.
"No, it's not that you make me sick to my stomach. I don't know how to explain it." Christy gathered courage to speak her mind. "You see, I love holding hands with you, and when you hug me, I feel warm and protected. Those things feel safe. The reason I keep pulling away, I guess, is because I don't want to go beyond that and get into a situation I can't get out of." The tangled kites came to her mind, but she decided to let her statement stand without adding the example.
"Okay." Rick readjusted his position and acted as if their heart-to-heart discussion had come to an end. "Then that's what we'll do. Hold hands, hug, and kiss lightly."
The way he said it sounded as if he was making fun of her.
Starting the car, he added with a grin, "For now, that is."
Christy didn't know if her openness had given her a victory or had merely postponed a defeat. At any rate she felt better, more settled and at ease with Rick, now that he knew where she drew the line and how she felt about things.
The Mexican restaurant was just beginning to seat guests for dinner. The hostess took them to a plush booth with high wooden backs covered in antique brocade fabric.
A man wearing an embroidered white shirt and a wide orange sash around the waist of his black pants brought them a basket of tortilla chips and filled their water glasses. "Buenas noches," he said.
"Yeah, lots of nachos to you too." Rick scanned the menu. "You have to have the tostada."
"Oh, I do, do I? And who says I have to have a tostada?" Christy asked, her voice light and sassy.
"I do," Rick retorted, equally sassy. "Trust me. You want the tostada."
He slid to the edge of the booth. "I'll be right back. If the waiter comes, order me an iced tea and a number four combination."
Rick disappeared. The waiter appeared. Christy obediently ordered an iced tea and a number four for Rick. She hesitated, then gave in to Rick's directive and ordered a tostada and iced tea for herself.
Does this guy have power over me, or what?
Rick returned, all smiles. "You ordered the tostada, didn't you?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"What?" Rick looked startled that she would make such a comment. "You think I'm too demanding or something?"
Christy smiled. "Or something."
He shrugged and reached across the table to hold her hand. "Must be that magnetic force I seem to have over you."
He barely touched his fingers to her hand and made an electrical buzzing sound. "Bzzzzt! Bzzzt! Oh no, we're making a magnetic connection!" Meshing his fingers through hers, he said, "I can't seem to break loose! Oh no!" He twisted and jerked their linked hands back and forth as if an electrical current had permanently bonded them.
"Stop it," Christy said, smiling at his antics but inwardly feeling crushed that she had opened up her heart to him in the car, and now he was making fun of her for explaining why she had pulled away from him.
Rick relaxed their hands. "Do you know you have the softest hands of any girl I've ever known?"
Rick used his free hand to dip a tortilla chip into the ceramic saucer of salsa and said, "So, what do you want to do tomorrow? You have any great ideas, or should we keep working our way down my list?"
"Would you like to come over for dinner after church?" Christy asked, reaching for a chip.
"I'm not going to church. Didn't I already tell you? My brother and I have a racquetball match at ten o'clock. I could be to your house by one-thirty, though."
It had been so long since Rick had been in church that Christy couldn't even remember the last time she had seen him there. It had to be sometime back in June, before he went to Europe. Each week it was a different excuse. She didn't want to sound like she was scolding him for not going to church anymore, so she said nothing and made a mental note to make sure he went with her next week.
The waiter approached their table with a steaming platter, which he placed in front of Rick. Then with a particularly toothy grin, the waiter said, "Y senorita, your tostada."
He set before her a plate heaped with a mountain of shredded lettuce, capped with a snow peak of sour cream. Something thick and silvery circled the lettuce just below the sour cream, catching the light and glimmering at her.