The Necklace - The Dusky Club, June 1962 - Linda S Rice (books to read fiction txt) 📗

and innocent looking. And that dress she’s wearing; very prim and proper. She must have stood out in the club.”

“Yeah, she did. Ian noticed her right off and pointed her out to me. It was odd. One minute she wasn’t there, and then all of a sudden, she was. Almost like she appeared out of nowhere.”

“Well, I guess if she was in the club, she must be at least eighteen, but it concerns me with you and your way with the girls. The ones you and the boys hang around with have all been around the block; you know what I’m saying? This one looks untouched.”

“Yeah, she rather does.” James remembered his conversation with her out in the alley at the practice, where she all but admitted that she was a virgin.

“So where in America is she from? Are her parents with her?”

“She’s from California, and no, her parents aren’t with her. Her dad passed away when she was eight. She’s a college student here on a history tour with a group of other students. The others, though, are delayed in getting here.”

“So, she’s here all alone?” Mel sounded shocked.

“That’s what she tells me. I’m volunteering to protect her until the others arrive.”

“You protect her?!! She needs to be protected from you!”

“Now, Dad, I can behave if I want to.”

“Well, that’s the question then; do you want to?”

Just then, they heard Susan coming down the stairs.

Mel turned to James, lowering his voice, and said, “She seems a good girl, Jimmie. Don’t be misbehaving with her, okay.”

“Sure thing, Dad.”

Susan picked up her purse, thinking about James’s dad. She liked him. She hoped they’d be able to come back sometime during the week and see him again. Playing the piano was fun. She wondered if she could play “Fur Elise.”

“We’re off then, Dad,” said James. “Thanks for entertaining my girl.”

She looked at him. He’d called her “my girl” twice now. It was just getting downright ridiculous! She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

Susan and James left and got back into his car.

“So, where exactly are we going,” she asked.

“I thought we’d drive down to the pier, kinda near where you and Sandra were today. There’s a couple of clubs down there with other bands that sing later than we do, some of them all night. A lot of the sailors from the ships come in and join in the singing. Anyone who’s there can jump up and sing.”

“Oh, like karaoke?” she asked.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, something they do in America where people go up and sing in bars.”

She thought, “There I go again, blurting out something from the future that makes no sense to him.”

James parked the car down by the pier, and they walked up and down a few streets, past a few clubs and bars with the sound of music drifting out the doors. They went into the next one they came upon, where James was greeted by a few friends he knew. He introduced Susan to them, and they all sat together at a small table near the back. James’s friends were looking at him a little oddly. Susan thought it was likely because he’d lost his usual scruffy look, and they were finding it amusing. It was also, no doubt, due to the way she was dressed. She didn’t see any other girls in the room dressed like June Cleaver.

Various people were taking the stage to sing at the front of the bar, none of them very accomplished singers, but the music wasn’t so bad. James’s friends urged him to go up and sing, but he refused, not wanting to leave Susan alone with strangers. After about a half-hour and drinking a mug of beer, Susan looked at her watch and said, “Oh gee! It’s after 2:30 already! I should be getting back. You keep me up too late!”

They said goodbye to James’s friends and left the bar, James holding Susan’s hand. It felt so good to her, but she knew she was heading into dangerous territory with him. It gave her chill bumps.

When they were in the car, James asked, “So can I see you tomorrow? I mean, today, that is...I thought maybe we could go on a picnic.”

“A picnic sounds nice,” she immediately answered. “But where is there around here to go on a picnic? I assume you have parks?”

“I thought we could drive out to my Auntie Annabelle’s cottage. I used to spend time there when I was a lad. I don’t visit her as much anymore, but I have many nice memories of the place. It’s about twenty miles north of here...up in the countryside, you know...there’s a hill overlooking a pond my brother, Chad, and I used to swim in. The hill has a big tree we used to climb up. We could picnic under the tree.”

“Hmmmm...” Susan thought. “Out in the country...sitting under a tree on a blanket...having a picnic...” It sounded incredibly romantic, but at the same time very risky for her and her virtue. She almost laughed at that. How much “virtue” did a sixty-two-year-old woman who’s been married for forty-four years have left anyway? Aside from inhabiting the seventeen-year-old body, that is. But then again, she figured if Auntie Annabelle were there, she’d be safe enough.

“Something funny?” James asked, turning to look at her.

“No, nothing at all. I just thought I haven’t been on a picnic in a long time. It sounds like fun. I could have the hotel pack up a basket for us.”

“I have a hamper at home; I could throw some things in.”

“Okay, then let’s surprise each other. You pack a basket, and I’ll have the hotel pack us a basket.”

“There’s also a shop on the way out of town that has fresh-baked bread and homemade cheeses if you have an interest.”

“Oh, yes! That sounds wonderful! I’m getting hungry right now thinking about it.”

“You want to get something to eat now then?”

“No, no...I’m not all that hungry...I was just thinking of fresh-baked bread. There’s nothing like it! I make it all the time at home in my bread machine.”

“Bread machine? What’s a bread machine?”

“Oh...it’s something we have in America like a little oven is all,” she responded, wanting to slap herself again at her careless words.

“You like to cook then?”

“I love it! I cook and bake a lot! I like inventing new recipes.”

He looked at her with his eyebrows raised. “You’re the first girl I’ve ever met who said she loves to cook, let alone knows how to do it well enough to invent new recipes.”

“Really? How odd...” she thought, “I figured most girls in this era would be taught to cook. Best change the subject before I start talking about microwaves and slow cookers.”

“So...what time do we want to leave for the picnic?” she asked.

“How about I pick you up at 10:00?’

“You sure you don’t want to sleep in longer?”

“I’m sure.”

As they pulled up to the hotel, Susan said, “You can just drop me at the curb,” but when she started to open the door, James put his hand on her arm and said, “No, I’m walking you in, and you wait right there while I come around and open the door for you. Wouldn’t be very gentleman-like just to let you hop out on your own.”

“It’s what we do in America.”

“Well, it’s not what I do. When you’re with me, you wait for me to open the door for you. It’s gentlemanly, you know. Remember, okay?”

He turned off the car and slipped the keys into his pocket.

“Stay right there.”

He came around to the other side of the car and opened the door for her, then held out his hand to help her out.”

“I’m impressed, Sir James,” she said, smiling, “but you’re only walking me to the lobby, you know.”

He opened the lobby door for her but, before she could protest, pulled her across the foyer to the elevator, where he pushed the “up” button. The doors immediately opened, and he tugged her in.

“What floor?” he asked.

“Four,” she responded with a quiver in her voice. The words of the song he had sung to her beat in her head...“Make it happen for us tonight...” Oh, no, no, no...!

Her hormones were leaping with joy. She did her best to ignore them.

Neither of them said anything until they reached the fourth floor and stepped out. Susan didn’t move from where she’d come out of the elevator.

“I can find my way from here.”

“What room number?”

“You don’t need to know that.”

“But I’m picking you up for our picnic in just a few hours.”

“You’re picking me up in the lobby. Besides, I heard your dad tell you I was a good girl and that you should behave yourself,” she added.

“I am behaving myself.”

He started to walk one way down the hallway.

“No, this way,” she said, turning the other direction. “Room 4027.”

They arrived at her door. She made no move to get the key out of her purse. He looked at her with his eyebrows raised.

“You’re not coming in if that’s what you’re thinking,” she said. Then she suddenly thought of something else. “You didn’t make another wager, did you?”

“No, no!” he assured her, raising both hands in the air. “I didn’t want any part of it.”

“Well, you’re still not coming in my room…”

“Then how can I properly kiss you goodnight?” he asked.

“Right here in the hallway will be just fine.”

“But it’s so public a place.”

“Not very public at 3:00 in the morning.” She looked up at him, suddenly feeling shy. Her heart was beating wildly.

“And what makes you think I want you to kiss me goodnight? You know…you just about knocked my legs out from under me with that hand-kissing last night...”

“Did I?” he asked with a rueful grin on his face. His eyes were twinkling with amusement. “Then I think you rather do want me to kiss you goodnight…a real kiss…”

“So...he knew...he knew how it affected me,” she thought, heat flooding her face.

As the memory of that kiss rolled through her head again, he brought one of her hands to his lips, turned it over, and gently kissed her palm just as he had the night before. And, just like the night before, shivers raced down her entire body all the way to her toes.

His eyes never left hers as he slowly and gently kissed the inside of her wrist, followed by a trail of gentle kisses up her arm to the inside of her elbow. His eyes had become dark, and the amber highlights in them were like tiny flames as his pupils enlarged. His lips were so very warm and soft. She had a momentary thought of them kissing her all over. Her eyes closed as a deep sigh escaped her. Oh my God, it was as if he was starting to make love to her in the hallway! Her purse strap slipped off her shoulder, and her purse thudded on the carpeted floor.

He tilted up her chin with one finger, and she opened her eyes. He could see the passion burning in them, knowing how close he was to having her surrender.

In ordinary circumstances with other girls, it would have been mere moments before they’d be in bed together. But for some reason, he stopped himself from pursuing that avenue, waiting for her to make the suggestion. He wanted her to want him as much as he wanted