She only had a minute to think about it and decide what to do before dialing Brett's number. "Hello?" said a feminine voice.
"Hi, this is Jamie. May I please speak to Brett?"
"He's over at Joel's. Can I take a message?"
Relief flooded through Jamie. This was going to be easier than she'd thought. "Please tell him I can't meet him at the theater Saturday. Something came up."
"Will do."
"Thanks."
The guilt began to eat at Jamie before she'd even hung up. She disliked lying and only did it when she considered it necessary. Yet, what other choice did she have? When she'd agreed to meet Brett at the theater, she hadn't known Andy would call her later. She didn't want to hurt Brett, but she couldn't wait to see Andy again.
She put the situation out of her mind and concentrated on getting ready to see Andy again. Jo took her to get her hair done and shopping for a new dress, and by a quarter to six on Saturday evening, she'd showered, brushed her teeth, dressed, painstakingly applied, removed, then re-applied make-up, and squirted breath freshener into her mouth.
Back and forth she paced the living room floor, glancing at her watch every couple of minutes. "You're gonna wear that carpet right out," teased Doug, and she made a face at him.
At a couple of minutes past five till six, the doorbell rang, and Jamie pulled the door open to reveal Andy standing there, dressed in tan slacks and a striped shirt and holding a bouquet.
"Jamie! You're gorgeous!" He held the bouquet out to her.
"Thanks." She blushed as she took it from him. "You look very nice yourself."
"Thank you." He held his arm out to her, and she took it. "Shall we be on our way, then? I promise I won't keep her out too late," he told Jo and Doug. Once they were out of the house, Jamie suddenly found herself tongue-tied. "I had the car vacuumed yesterday," Andy told her as he opened the passenger's side door for her.
"It looks really nice." She couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Thanks. I'm glad you think so." They rode in silence for awhile. "Well, I'm gonna be an uncle in about seven more months." He grinned at her. "Bits is a couple of months along. She waited until the family was all together to tell us."
"That's great! Congratulations!" So Erskine is going to be a grandfather, Jamie thought. I wonder if he's told Dad yet.
"Must be great to finally be done with school for another year," Andy remarked after a few more minutes of silence.
"Oh, yes!" Jamie exclaimed.
"So what have you got planned for the summer?"
"Lots of reading. I'm in an advanced English class next year." Jamie fidgeted with her purse. "I was so scared when I heard you were missing," she said a few minutes later. "I was so relieved to hear you'd been found safe."
"You and me both." Andy laughed. "All we could do was pray our hardest until help finally arrived, thank God."
They reached the restaurant, Andy parked, and they went inside. The waitress seated them and handed them menus. Jamie heard her stomach growl but was determined not to appear greedy. "What are you having?"
"I was thinking the sirloin steak with tomatoes, mushrooms, and potatoes looked pretty good."
"I'll have that, too."
While waiting for their meal to arrive, Jamie gazed into Andy's eyes, noticing for the first time how dark they really were. When his hand moved to cup her chin, she felt her heart begin to pound. "You're so beautiful in this lighting," he murmured.
When their food arrived, Jamie busied herself with pushing the onions to the side. Andy gave a bemused chuckle. "What ya doin' that for?"
"I don't like onions." In reality, she loved them but didn't want the scent on her breath, just in case Andy gave her a good-night kiss.
She was disappointed to see him eating all his own onions. "Want dessert?" he asked.
"No, thanks."
He gave a slight smile. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
The bill arrived, Andy paid it, and they walked back out to the car. "It's not quite eight yet," he remarked as they were getting in. "Want to do something else?"
"Like what?"
"Well, we could walk around the mall, if you want."
"OK!"
Half an hour later, they were walking down the middle of the mall, chatting happily, when Jamie saw a sight that nearly stopped her heart. Brett and Joel were walking directly toward them. She saw Brett gasp in surprise, then saw anger flash in his eyes.
"Are you all right?" Andy asked a moment later.
"I'm fine," Jamie replied, but she was no longer able to keep up the friendly chatter, which puzzled Andy.
They left the mall soon afterwards. "Please tell me what's wrong!" Andy said to Jamie when he'd pulled up in front of her house.
Jamie sighed, unsure of what to say. "Those two guys we saw walking together," she began. "I met one of them at the skating rink last weekend. I couple skated with him and ended up giving him my phone number. He called me later and asked me to go to a movie with him. Then you called and invited me to dinner, and I was so excited I forgot I'd already agreed to meet Brett at the movies, so as soon as I remembered, I called his Mom and told her to tell him I couldn't meet him at the movie 'cause something came up."
Andy looked startled for a minute, then laughed. "Well, I do have to say I'm flattered."
"I didn't mean to hurt him." Jamie stared at her hands in her lap.
"I know you didn't, sweetie. Things like this just happen sometimes. You didn't do anything wrong. At least you called to cancel out, instead of just not showing up."
"I hadn't thought of it that way before."
"You're a nice girl, Jamie. I'm really glad I met you."
"I'm glad I met you, too."
He walked her to the front door. "Thanks for going out with me, Jamie. I had a lovely time."
"So did I." She glanced down, suddenly feeling shy. She felt his fingers lifting her chin, and a moment later, he kissed her lips.