Holding On To Goodbye

Chapter 1

I know I say this for every one that you've made, but I absolutely LOVE the book cover! I actually think it's one of my favorites ^^ So thank you!!

"Donnie, hurry up and take the picture," I said, giggling. Kitty and I were swishing in our new a-line dresses, feeling the fabric brush against our relaxed arms. We had just gotten them the day before--my father had given us each $10.00 to spend for graduating high school. We were so happy to finally be rid of education and get on with our future.

"Just hold on a darn second," Donnie said frustrated, trying to get his camera to cooperate. It was a Leica M-3 and he carried it with him everywhere we went. It was farely new, but there were a few times where he couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. Sometimes the film would get jammed or the click wouldn't take and he had to hit the camera against the palm of his hand a couple of times before it worked again. I always thought it was so cute when his face was turned down, his golden blonde hair shining in the sunlight, and his hands furiously worked to find the problem with his toy.

"Here, maybe I can help," I said, taking the few steps it took to walk up to him. I listened to my saddle shoes pad against the sidewalk's pavement. I reached for his camera and flirtatiously bumped Donnie's side with my hip. I rolled the camera in my hands from side to side and back to front, it looked alright to me. I took the camera and held it up to my eye, pushing down on the button and hearing the camera click, taking a picture of my sweet Donnie. I gave him a prideful smirk and pushed the camera back into his grip.

"Hey, how'd you..." He didn't even finish his sentence, just lifted the camera to his face and tried it out for himself.

I walked back to where Kitty was standing with a hand on her curvaceous hip. "Must just take a woman's touch to get it going again," she said teasingly in Donnie's direction. She was a bit of a feminist, I have to say--always feeling like women could do anything a man could, and in a better and more efficient way. We both started giggling at her comment and talked amongst ourselves in whispers, mostly just to make Donnie squirm.

"Hush up, you two," he said. He walked over to the both of us and took my waist in his hands, giving me a kiss on the lips.

Donnie was 23 years old. He worked at the same mill that my father had, before he retired. I was fifteen when my dad brought Donnie home for supper the first time. My daddy originally wanted Donnie to meet my older sister, Edna, but she ended up running off with a fellow from Texas--she didn't even finish school--just married him and had a baby with him a year later.

The moment I saw Donnie sitting at our dining room table, I knew I was in love. During supper he would always look at me from across the dinner table and wink or he'd tell a joke and look at me when he said the punch line. I was tickled pink, at the time, to have the attention of a 21 year old, and my father could see that Donnie and I were becoming friends fairly quick. It wasn't until I turned seventeen though that my father finally gave Donnie permission to court me. Until then we just made it a habit to spend time together, just as friends. My daddy's blessing was as important to Donnie as my powder and lipstick was to me--he wouldn't be able to go on without it. But ever since my father told us we could date, we'd been inseparable.

I had always been so thankful that Kit never felt jealous or like a third wheel, because I loved spending time with her as much as I loved spending time with Donnie. I had told her many times that she could invite a man to come out with the three of us when we went places, but she never did. "I don't need a man to have a good time," she'd say. But I always knew that she was just too shy to ask Billy, who was working at the soda shop--she'd had a crush on him ever since he was her lab partner in science, during seventh grade.

I pulled away from the lovely kiss that Donnie and I had been sharing. "You still haven't taken that picture of us," I told him. "And if you don't hurry up we're going to have to wait in long lines to buy our tickets to the fair." I grabbed Kit and pulled her in front of the floral shop that we had been standing close to. "This will be a beautiful background," I said, referring to the flower stand sitting in front of the shop. I wrapped my arms around Kitty and gave her middle a tight squeeze. She laughed, squealed and tried to push me off, but soon she gave in to my grip and wrapped her arms around me too.

Donnie laughed at the sight of us. "Should I be jealous, Ellen?" he asked me playfully. "You and Kit seem a little too close."

"Just take the picture, Donald," Kitty said quickly. He hated it when she called him by his full name, and she knew it--she could be quite spiteful when she wanted to be.

Donnie rolled his eyes and brought the camera to his face. "One, two, three." Click. "That was cute," he said after taking his eye away from the lens.

"Okay, enough chit chat," I said, ambling for Donnie's black 1949 Cadillac convertible. "It's time to head on out to the fair!" I couldn't wait, I'd never ridden on a Ferris wheel before and Donnie said he'd take the two of us. I was afraid of heights, but I knew that if Donnie was there, I'd be okay. All I had to do was hold his hand and I knew I'd be safe. Donnie could take my teddy bear's place any day of the week--I absolutely adored him. I let Kit get into the backseat first and then jumped into the Cadillac as lady-like as I possibly could. My manners usually escaped me when I got overly excited about something, but no one ever pestered me about it, except for my mother, but my mother hadn't been there to see me act improper this time around.

Donnie moved into the driver's seat and turned his head to me, smiling his crooked smile--it made me melt every time I saw it plastered on his face. Kiss me, I inwardly called to him while he stuck the keys into the ignition, but he took my hand instead, holding it tightly with his strong palm and fingers. The vehicle roared to life and Kitty and I both squealed--it was our tradition--we always squealed and screamed each time Donnie turned on his car, it always made us feel so much more alive to be two girls driven around in a car as beautiful and majestic as this one...and with a man so charming and dashing as Donnie.

"Next stop," Donnie said loudly. "The California State Fair!"