Page 25 of The Singing Trees
A few minutes into the movie, Thomas turned to her and rested his arm over the back of the seat. When he leaned toward her, completely abandoning the story on the screen, she thought she saw her heart leap out of her chest, break the window, and go scrambling out into the night.
“If I haven’t made it clear yet,” he said, “I want you to know that I like you a lot.”
Annalisa held her nervous hands up to the portable heater plugged into the ashtray. “Is that right?”
“You make me laugh,” he said. “Even when you’re not trying to. Even when I’m back in Davenport thinking about you.”
How was she to respond? If only her mother were here to see Annalisa acting all squirmy and girlish. Celia Mancuso wouldn’t know what to do, her daughter always the one shooing boys away. Studying the warmth that seemed to coat Thomas’s face, she thought her mother would be delighted at the news.
“You’re the one girl in all of Maine I can’t wrap my head around, and I love that about you. All the girls at Weston are so...into themselves and so shallow. You are...” His sincerity couldn’t have been more evident as he paused to find the right words. “You are so complicated, in a good way, I mean. I feel like you don’t stop questioning things while so many around here are so quick to accept what they’re told.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You can say that again.”
“So where does your curiosity come from? Is it the artist in you? And your drive and passion...I wish I had something I wanted as badly. Seriously, I don’t mean to blow smoke. I look up to you, Annalisa.”
Realizing she was smoothing her hands in front of the heater with such speed that they might spontaneously burst into flame, she pulled them back and rested them on her lap. “I don’t know where it all comes from,” she finally admitted. “Maybe because I feel like I have something to prove.”
Thomas studied her eyes, as if he were searching for answers. He finally whispered, “I think you’ve proved it.”
She knew it was coming. The way he was looking at her, taking a quick peek at her lips, zeroing in on them, his head inching her way. It was the moment before jumping off Braden Rock into thelake back in Bangor, standing there looking down at the cold water, the exhilaration surging through her body like electricity, taking her breath away.
“You’re one of a kind, Annalisa,” he said softly. “One of a kind.”
His other hand went to her waist as he leaned in, and she almost jumped at his touch. Then their lips met in what was her first real kiss, and her worry inside washed away like it had never existed.
For the first time in a while, Annalisa peered through the windshield of Thomas’s VW at the movie screen. They were about ten rows back.
“Is this still the same movie?” she joked.
Thomas cracked a grin as he looked up. “Arlo’s still up there, so I think so.”
Having not stopped talking—except to meet lips—they’d missed most of the feature. Annalisa looked toward his door and at the speaker, which he’d turned down almost all the way. “Let’s just hope my grandmother doesn’t quiz me when I get home.” Annalisa wagged her finger. “Or I’m sending her after you.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t get the feeling she keeps up with the latest releases, so I think we’re safe. That being said, if she comes after me, I will run very, very quickly.”
She conceded his point with her own smile. “If it’s notGeneral HospitalorDays of Our Lives, then she’s clueless.” He was so easy to talk to, Annalisa thought, like she’d known him forever.
At the same time, she felt like she’d just hopped off a motorcycle after racing down the highway, her hair blown back, her legs quivering. What had she done? Was this okay? She almost felt guilty, wondering if she should be back home in front of her easel.
“Tell me more about this dream of yours to go to Portland,” Thomas said, twisting her way and putting his arm back over the seat.
“It’s not a dream,” she assured him. “It’s happening. The end of May.”
“Ah.” He slumped, as if she’d just broken his heart.
“What? You don’t believe me?” She heard herself take the offensive, like a tiger who’d just been challenged in the wild.
“Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t dare doubt you. I just hate the idea of adding more miles between us. What is it about Portland exactly, though? I’m just wondering.”
Annalisa told him how it had always been on her mind, but Jackie’s urging had given her the final push. “That was the day you stalked me in the museum. I’d just left her gallery.”
He looked at her the way she stared at a captivating painting.
“Are you even listening to me?” she asked, laughing. “Will you quit with the eyes?”
“I can’t help it.” He pushed a strand of hair away from her face. “I’m just wondering why you made me work so hard. You and I...we’re good together. I could talk to you forever. Why did you do everything you could to keep it from happening?”
Annalisa looked at the screen. Arlo Guthrie was behind bars, talking to a cop. She had no idea why he’d been arrested. “I guess I don’t believe in happily ever after. Or maybe even true love at all. How’s that for a reason?”
