Calvin didn't have much of a problem sneaking out that night. Lights went out at 9:30. He told Nestor, Tom, and a few of the others about his plans to leave but not, of course, where he was going. They didn't ask too many questions, but he could tell their curiosities were piqued. He would have to think of a good story to tell them, a story that stretched as far from the truth as possible. They agreed to keep watch for him. In exchange, he promised them a few rewards in return—gum and cigarettes, maybe a baseball card or two.
He had to hold back from whistling as he walked through town. Only an old man and his dog spotted him; neither seemed to care. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, he turned down the dark road where he knew he'd find the Chatfield mansion. It seemed fitting that her grandmother chose a woman as vile as Mrs. Chatfield to watch over Teddi. The widow was stiff and sour, the exact opposite of his newfound friend.
Calvin stopped before the home he knew belonged to the widow and her daughter. He looked around for any sign of Teddi but could not find one. He wasn't sure if he was early or late. He didn't carry a watch of any kind. He hoped she hadn't been caught.
Then he saw her, and he froze. She stepped from beneath the shadowy cocoon of the Chatfield villa. Part of her hair was pinned back but most of it fell in loose curls over her shoulders. She wore a light-colored summer dress that matched the fashion of the day, plain perhaps on some girls, but somehow elegant on her. Her face looked apprehensive as she looked around, still oblivious to his presence. Calvin swallowed a couple of times and took a deep breath before whistling to catch her attention.
Teddi's face split into a grin as she spotted him. If Calvin hadn't been so far from her at the moment, he would have sworn he saw her blush. They walked toward each other, meeting on a knoll made of grass beneath an old poplar tree. Calvin's throat constricted. Teddi blinked slowly and smiled softly. At that moment, their judgmental world dropped away.
Teddi cleared her throat and spoke first, "Hi."
"Hi." Calvin remembered where it was they were standing, not a good place to talk in hushed whispers. Before he could say anything, he felt Teddi's hand slipping into his and pulling him toward the dark street.
"Where are we going?" Calvin asked when they'd finally gained enough distance from the Chatfields' and Teddi had let go of his hand. It still tingled from her touch.
"I'm not sure."
"What about the old lighthouse?" he suggested.
"I thought of that, but—"
"But what?"
Teddi shook her head and smiled. "Nothing. Let's go there."
They walked together in silence, hurrying across the concrete sidewalk, their bodies as close to the night's shadows as they could remain. They did not have to go into town because the lighthouse was just down the road, but they had to be safe, just in case. When they reached the small path that led to the strong thin building that sat upon a grass-filled peak, Teddi stopped.
Calvin walked a few paces up the dirt path before noticing Teddi was no longer beside him. He turned around to see her staring up at the building with an odd look on her face. "What's the matter?"
Teddi looked down, and began to laugh.
Calvin was now extremely perplexed. "What's so funny?" he asked, watching her clutch her sides and fight to remain standing.
"I just..." Teddi could not stop her giggles.
"Teddi?" He half wanted to laugh along with her, and half felt a little hurt at the fact she might just be laughing at him for choosing to bring her here.
After few drawn out seconds, Teddi finally sobered, taking a few cleansing breaths. "I'm sorry, Calvin."
"No need to be sorry. Just tell me what was so damn funny."
"You shouldn't swear like that, Calvin, really, it's—"
"Stop, right there, Miss Donovan. I don't need a lecture from you," he snapped. "I'm sorry I'm not perfect like your precious Ben."
"Ben? He's not perfect. For one, he doesn't like movies at all. He thinks they're an unrealistic waste of time," Teddi said, a smile returning to her lips.
"I know. He's a little dull." Calvin couldn't help but laugh. So she liked that about him?
Teddi laughed too. "But he's a good friend."
"To you maybe," he said.
"He's nice to you too," she insisted.
"Sorry, you're wrong there," said Calvin. Didn't she know that after he was thrown in the orphans' home people treated him differently? Of course, she did. Teddi was a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them. "And what are we doing here in the middle of the night, anyway?"
"I want to be your friend, Calvin, but my grandmother—"
"I don't want to talk about her. I want to talk about this. Us. What are we doing here, Teddi? You and I come from different worlds," said Calvin.
"I just..." Her chest heaved, and she closed her eyes. She seemed to be struggling with something.
Calvin softened his voice. "You just what?" She looked as lost and confused as he felt.
"I don't know why, Calvin. I don't know why. I just turned sixteen in May.I don't have many friends. I just get so lonely." She looked away from him, cheeks tinged pink. "And I can talk to you about silly things. Like music and movies. And you listen to me."
Calvin understood. "But is that enough?" he asked.
"It is to me."
Calvin really did understand her. He often wondered why he felt so alone with so many people around him, people whose lives were not so different than his. But then people treated him differently than they did the other orphans. Where most of the boys remained nameless, faceless to the majority of the townsfolk, Calvin served as a constant reminder of the tragedy that befell his father. On top of that, the boys at the home looked up to him as some sort of a hero for God knew what reason. Even Miss Pinchley seemed to put him on a sort of pedestal, rarely reprimanding him for staying out when he shouldn't, trusting him with her bills, business affairs, and even those rattling packages she mailed for Doc Jessup. It meant that he was special to Miss Pinchley, different than the others. Sometimes this made Calvin feel isolated and, like the girl infront of him just admitted, a little lonely.
He watched her—her head slightly bowed as she looked halfway over her shoulder, staring at nothing at all. They had more in common than movies and music and loneliness, didn't they? They had a shared past that they didn't understand. And she was his friend, maybe more than that. In that instant, Calvin was overpowered with a need to protect her, to erase her loneliness. Taking in a gulp of fresh summer air to soothe his flip-flopping stomach, Calvin slipped his hand in hers again. Teddi's breath hitched, and she looked at him. He offered her a soft, reassuring smile. His heart lifted as Teddi relaxed her hand into his. "Come on," he urged gently, "there'sa bench up top. Let's sit."
She nodded, following close behind, her hand still in his.
They sat on the bench together a few inches apart. To Calvin's disappointment, Teddi settled her hands in her lap. He rested his hands on his knees, rubbing them back and forth, trying to ignore the need to touch her again. A few moments passed as the wind danced across their skin.
"It's really beautiful out here at night," whispered Teddi. The gentle splash of the water below consumed the next few moments.
"So." Calvin paused to clear his throat. "Um, what was so funny back there?"
Teddi sighed.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Calvin shrugged, feigning nonchalance.
"Maybe I won't," Teddi taunted. Then stared out over the water with a lost look in her eyes.
"Really, it's okay, if you don't want to."
She sighed. "Thanks, Calvin."
"For what?"
"For helping me with Liza's letters and everything."
"I like doing it." The image of what he had in his pocket appeared in his mind. "I nearly forgot." He pulled out Liza's last letter. He'd received it just yesterday. Teddi accepted it with a small smile and stuffed it into her pocket. "You should see Pinchley's face when I get the letters," Calvin continued. "'Who is this Mrs. Elizabeth Binot, Calvin?" he imitated, raising his voice to sound like a haughty old woman.
Teddi giggled a bit. "I'm glad no one knows her married name or remembers that Liza isn't her full name. She even changed her handwriting a little on the envelope."
"So that's where you get it then?"
"Get what?"
"Your craftiness."
Teddi shrugged. "I wouldn't call myself crafty. Maybe just... brilliant."
"Oh, well, we are modest, aren't we?"
Teddi pinched her eyes shut and stuck out her tongue. She looked very much surprised when she looked in front of her again and found Calvin sitting more than a few inches closer than he had been before. "You know, you were right."
She swallowed. "About what?"
"It is beautiful out here," he muttered, studying her face.
***
Teddi closed her eyes just as she felt him lean forward. Was he going to kiss her? She'd never been kissed before, at least not by someone who made her feel like this. But instead of the earth-shattering kiss on the lips she expected, she felt the soft pressure of his mouth on her forehead. Warmth spread throughout her body as contact was made, and she whimpered with loss when he moved away. His warm breath tickled her skin before his lips brushed against the same spot again. He lifted his hand to her cheek, letting his thumb flick gently behind her ear. Then, ever so slowly, he placed a kiss on her cheek. His hand slipped beneath her chin as he moved his face away from hers.His eyes were closed. She could hear him taking short, shallow breaths. He looked scared.
"Calvin," she whispered.
"Yeah?" He kept his eyes closed.
She touched her lips to his. Her pulse sped up when he did not move away. She pressed herself closer to him, deepening their gentle contact, heart knocking at her chest. She lay her hand on Calvin's thin cotton shirt and found his heart was trying to escape, too. His hand moved up to cover hers, causing little waves of shock to sizzle through her body. Teddi sighed into his mouth.They parted, taking in a few sobering breaths of air.
"That was nice," Calvin whispered.
"Yeah," said Teddi, feeling heat climb up her neck and tease the back of her ears. Calvin kissed only her cheek this time, but it made her stomach flop again nonetheless. She tilted her neck to one side, hoping he'd get the hint, and he did, slightly anyway, as he placed another soft kiss behind her ear. She shivered then turned to him. "Do you like Brookhurst?" She couldn't help but think about the sleeping, judgmental minds of the citizens in the town beyond the lighthouse.
He laughed. "No, do you?"
"I love it. It's my home, but sometimes I feel like it doesn't love me back, if you know what I mean."
"Yeah, I think I do. I guess I'd rather stay here than be put on the orphan train out west. Some of the boys have gone but not many."
"The West could be a fun place," said Teddi.
"Maybe."
She sighed without meaning to. "Do you think it's possible to be born as one person and become another?" She hardly knew what she meant by the question.
Calvin's brow furrowed, and he didn't speak for a moment. He sighed. "Sometimes I think anything's possible, and sometimes I just know that nothing really is ever going to be," he continued. "But I think that there are really good things in the world, too," he said. "Like right now."
Teddi smiled as they sat close together, fingers entwined, staring out over the black waters of the warm night, speaking softly, telling stories, revealing secrets, getting to know one another, and falling in love for the first time in their young lives.
***
As Calvin walked Teddi back to the Chatfield's, his mind drifted to Old Leo. Had it been daylight, he would have shared his sanctuary with her. He told her a little bit about it, explaining that he had a place where he went to think and be alone. She smiled and nodded empathetically. It seemed that she, too, had a place like that.
He remembered the ring he'd found by the old tree, the band with its pattern twisting together, never-ending. He'd thought about pawning it several times but never did. Now he knew the reason. He'd been saving it for her.
They arrived at the Chatfield home faster than Calvin would've liked. He wasn't sure how well he'd even sleep in that stuffy dormitory, knowing it'd be more than a week before he'd see her again. "So, you never did tell me what made you laugh like that back there."
"Maybe I was laughing at your goofy looking mug," she teased, though a sadness laced through her voice. Her smiled faded away, giving way to a wistful expression. "My mother used to paint the lighthouse a lot."
"Really?"
"Yes. A few of my grandmother's friends became interested in what they called her 'Lighthouse Series' actually. Of course, my grandmother called the paintings mediocre, since she hated my mother. But she's wrong. They're beautiful." She looked away, as if remembering something that made her sad. He wished for her laughter back.
"Did she come here a lot?" Calvin asked softly.
She smiled at the question, sadness seeming to drop completely away. "All the time. I never went with her though. It was her place to be alone, like the attic is for me."
"That makes sense, but I still don't see why you were laughing."
She shrugged. "I was laughing at myself, really, because I used to think it was haunted," she said, blushing a bit. "The reason my mother loved the lighthouse was because of the old story."
"You mean the one about the lighthouse keeper and his wife?"
Teddi nodded, thinking about the paintings of the very same building that hung in her attic. She thought of the painting her uncle ruined, the one that hadn't been of the lighthouse, the one that made her want to get out of Brookhurst. She kept the pale blue canvas hidden in the corner of the attic behind a cloth. She'd never learned to paint, but she'd never been able to throw it out. She pushed thoughts of her uncle and that day out of her mind and started in on the story of the lighthouse couple. "They died during that blizzard, fell from the lighthouse tower. They'd only just been married." It hadn't happened so long ago. It was maybe about ten years before she'd been born and a few before her mother moved to Brookhurst to be with her father. But her mother had always been fascinated with the story of the woman who'd died in the storm only to have her husband, who loved her so much, die in the attempt of her rescue. "My sister told me that their ghosts were up in the tower."
"Some people think he bumped her off."
Teddi gasped. "He did not! He loved her."
Calvin laughed, holding up his hands. "Okay. Okay."
"My mother always called them the modern day Romeo and Juliet."
"Well, I know one thing, Teddi, that lighthouse is not haunted. I've been to the tower at least ten times."
"I know it's not." She snorted, rolling her eyes. "But I used to think so. I started laughing because I'd almost forgotten that I didn't believe it anymore."
Calvin grinned, his eyes sparkling, as he looked down at her. "Are you sure you don't believe anymore?"
"I'm sure," she said softly, before moving slightly up on her tip-toes to kiss him for the second time that night.
"Don't worry about looking out for Liza's letters anymore. I'll send her a reply when I, um." She swallowed and looked down. "Well, in a couple of weeks."
Calvin knew just what she meant, and exactly why she did not want to speak the words aloud. She was leaving for school. He lifted her chin, and they grinned at one another. "Good night," he said, dropping his hand.
She gave him another peck, this time, to Calvin's slight disappointment, on the cheek. "See you at the jamboree next Sunday."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Before he could say another word, she scurried up the Chatfield's expansive lawn and in no time had left his sight.
They'd agreed to meet at the annual jamboree a week from Sunday, which would take place on the same lawn the church picnics were held. It was the event that marked the summer's closing and was typically jam-packed. Teddi assured him that her grandparents rarely left their spot under the minister'stent, where they would sit socializing for hours. They would meet behind the hedges again.
Sighing, Calvin looked up at the old house and could have sworn he saw a curtain swish from the top floor. He studied it more closely. It looked as still as the rest of the old sea-side home. His eyes were obviously playing tricks on him.