As Time Goes By (The Californians 2) (3 page)

"I'd like that, Jeff. Thank you for asking me." "Sure."

"Is there anything I can bring?" Jeff, becoming more relaxed by the second, bit into another cookie before he answered.

"No, I don't think, so. Oh, I'll be picking you up early. You see, we're going to have a picnic and some games, then everyone else will come at 4:00 and we'll all go boating."

"That sounds fine. If you find out I need to bring something, just let me know."

"Okay." Jeff stood on that word and reached for an other cookie. "These are really very good."

"I'm glad you think so. I was a little worried because you only ate seven of them."

Jeff's head whipped back as he was walking away from her. She was actually teasing him! Her eyes sparkled with mirth and a small smile played around the corners of her mouth.

If Jeff had taken the time to really look, he would have noticed the beautiful green color of Bobbie's eyes and how given her pretty mouth was to smiling.

Jeff's own mouth raised in a small smile and he thanked Bobbie for the cider and cookies.

"I'll see you Sunday," Bobbie called to him as he rode out of the yard. Jeff waved and Bobbie walked back into the kitchen and plopped into a chair.

"Jeffrey Taylor just invited me out." Bobbie hoped it would seem more real to her if she heard the words aloud, but it didn't. She continued to sit almost in a daze. Troy came in and finished eating the pan of cookies Jeff started, but she didn't notice.

Bobbie was thinking back two years in time, to the fall and the first day of school. They had not attended the same church as the Taylors in those days, and so Bobbie had not seen Jeff over the summer.

She couldn't believe how tall he had grown over the summer months, and neither could most of the other girls. He became the object of so much attention in the first few weeks that he began to change. He had never been mean or vicious, but suddenly he went from open and friendly to aloof and unapproachable.

The
old
Jeff had shown kindness to Bobbie on more than one occasion, even defending her when she was teased about her eyesight. Now he stayed quiet if the older kids made unkind remarks, or he just behaved as though she didn'texist. Any little infatuations Bobbie

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had for Jeff had been slowly crushed beneath the heels of his indifference.

And now he had just come over and asked her to the boat outing. Bobbie was thrilled. Her open, honest ap proach to life made her somewhat naive to the under handed ways and thought processes of some people. It never even occurred to her that Jeff had asked her for any other reason than the fact he wanted to spend the day with her.

"Roberta!" Maryanne Bradford's outraged voice broke through Bobbie's dream world. "You're burning the cookies!"

"'Oh no, I'm sorry, Mom." The women reached simul taneously for the oven pad to rescue the burning pan but Maryanne ended up doing the work.

"Honestly, Bobbie, it wasn't as if you weren't sitting right here," her mother said in some exasperation.

"I know and I'm sorry, but Mom, the most wonderful thing just happened. Jeff Taylor came by and asked me to the boat outing on Sunday!"

"He did?" Maryanne said with a smile.

"I can go, can't I? I know I'm not 15 yet, but Daddy will say yes, won't he?" Maryanne looked into her daughter's eyes, so full of hopeful entreaty, and smiled.

"Jeff is a nice young man. Of course he'll say yes." "Oh thanks, Mom, thanks!" Bobbie threw her arms around her mother and squeezed her tight. Then she broke away suddenly, her face showing her horror.

"Mother! What will I wear?" Maryanne watched her daughter flap her hands in a state of panic and then charge for the stairs. She was back down before she had gone five steps.

'ngie[ I've got to tell Angie!" This time she watched Bobbie fly out the front door running as fast as she could.

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"What's her problem?" Troy asked his mother, who

was standing at the door still watching her daughter run. "Bobble needs to tell Angie something. No problem really."

"Well, whatever it was, it made her burn the cookies. I can smell 'em out here." Troy made no effort to masquer ade his disgust.

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it, dear, since you've never let singed edges stop you before."

"No, I guess I haven't." Troy slipped past his mother and into the house. Maryanne followed a few minutes later, joining Troy in the kitchen. She emptied the con tents of her purse onto the table and began to count, praying as she did that she would have enough for a surprise for her daughter.

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Maryanne Bradford went a little out of her way as she walked home the next day after work. She had left that morning feeling regretful over not having enough money to buy fabric for a new dress for Bobbie. She wished they had had more notice; then she could have put a little aside over a few weeks.

But then Mrs. Walcott, the lady for whom she cleaned two mornings a week, had asked her to do a few additional things, and Maryanne had been paid extra. It was still going to make things a little tight until next week, but they would get by; they always did.

Maryanne walked into Riggs Mercantile and headed straight to the fabric counter. She had priced and finred

several bolts when someone spoke behind her. "Hello, Maryanne."

"Hi, May, I didn't even see you."

"I was upstairs talking with Rigg. Are you looking for fabric?"

"Yes, I'm sure you know that Jeff asked our Bobbie to the lagoon outing, and I want to surprise her with a newdeSS."

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May smiled. "I almost asked how you could have it done in time, and then I remembered I was talking with Maryanne Bradford."

Maryanne beamed over the compliment and asked May what she thought of a certain piece of cotton. The background was a jade green with a pattern of tiny white flowers.

"Bobbie's eyes are green, aren't they?"

"Yes."

"Oh, this will be perfect."

"I emptied my purse last night to see if we could afford this, and then had to ask the Lord to help me accept the fact that we couldn't. Then today I got paid a little extra. If we're careful until next week, Bobbie should have her dress. I usually cut my own dresses down for her and she never complains, but I can't wait to see her face when she finds out she'll have a dress from
new
cloth."

"There's something inside us, isn't there, Maryanne, that yearns for our children to have all they need and a little more?"

"Isn't that the truth! Don't get me wrong, May, I'm not hearing wedding bells or anything, but you wouldn't have believed the look on Bobbie's face when she told me Jeff asked her. It was a mixture of excitement and fear all rolled into one."

"I know they'll have a good time." May touched Marynne's arm and then said she had to be on her way. Maryanne took the fabric to the front and started home again in a few moments.

Bobbie had started supper and was up to her elbows in a flour mixture for fried chicken. Maryanne made her wash her hands and sit at the table.

"But, Mom, I'll just get them all messy again when I pick up the chicken."

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'q know, but for the moment you need clean hands. Now close your eyes." Bobbie's brows lowered for a moment, but then she did as she was told.

Maryanne popped into the living room to retrieve a small parcel wrapped in plain brown paper. Her husband, Jake, came in the front door at that instant and Maryanne signaled him over.

'll right, now you can open your eyes and the package." Mother and Father stood silently by as their daughter tore the paper back to reveal the most beautiful fabric she said she had ever seen.

"It's for youmfor a new dress to wear on Sunday afternoon."

"Oh Morn, Dad!" Bobbie breathed as she smoothed the wonderful material with her hands. She missed the meaningful glance exchanged between the adults.

"I'll explain later," Maryanne whispered softly as Jake put his arm around his wife. They had discussed it the night before and Jake had been as regretful as Maryanne over Bobbie not having a new dress.

The women went to work right after supper and Bob-hie was so excited she could barely hold still. The dress was finished by lunch the next day and all she could do was stand in front of the mirror in her parents' room and look at herself.

Bobbie thought her mother had to be the most clever seamstress in all the world. The dress bloused out at the waist, which gave hint to a fuller chest than there actually was. The sleeves were short and puffed and the neckline was high. The fullness at the waist also made Bobbie's hips more attractive for a change and not just skinny.

"I take it you're pleased."

"Oh Daddy, didn't she do a wonderful job?"

"She always does."

"Do you think Jeff will like it?"

"How could he not?" Her father said with a smile, and Bobbie turned back to the mirror with her eyes shining.

'How could he not?' She repeated to herself. 'How could he not?'

Jeff and his date were the last to arrive at the lagoon. Bobbie noticed the change in Jeff from the wagon ride over, where he had been fairly talkative, to when they joined the other young people and he had grown very quiet. She didn't understand it or question him, though she wanted to.

"Hi, Jeff; hi, Bobbie." Pastor Keller's wife greeted them as they came toward the blankets spread with a picnic lunch. The day was beautiful, with a slight breeze, and there was plenty of shade under the huge willow trees.

Bobbie and Jeff ended up next to Angie and Deacon on the edge of the blanket. The girls immediately began to visit, and within seconds Deacon joined them. It didn't immediately register with any of them that Jeff was playing with a blade of grass, not looking or talking to anyone.

He perked up a bit when they ate, but the fact that Richard and Sylvia were right across from him was almost more than he could take. He told himself not to look at Sylvia, but he did, again and again. Each time her eyes challenged him in a way that should have made him angry but instead just made him want to be with her all the more. Jeff also found it very satisfying that Richard himself noticed how often Sylvia looked across the blanket.

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After lunch they played a few games. The Kellers had more planned but nearly everyone said they wanted to sit and talk. Couples sat together at a distance or small groups visited and laughed in the sun.

Jeff and Bobbie ended up back by the picnic lunch, where Bobbie watched Jeff watching Sylvia. She was more confused than hurt. If Jeff had wanted to ask Sylvia, why didn't he? Bobbie didn't believe that he had asked and been turned down, not with the way she had been looking back all afternoon.

"Would you rather we joined one of the other couples, Jeff?" Bobbie asked solicitously. Everyone else was in sight and Bobbie so much wanted to enjoy the day. But if Jeff kept this up it was going to be miserable.

"No, I like it here under the trees." Jeff had finally looked at Bobbie when she spoke to him, and for the first time he caught a very vulnerable look on her face. He told himself he was being unfair to her, so he turned his whole body to face her, also making it impossible to see Richard and Sylvia.

''i like it under the trees too."

"Is this a new dress?" Jeff was hoping it was, since he had never paid any attention to what Bobbie was wearing before. He wouldn't have known if she had worn it once or a hundred times.

"Yes. My mother made it for me."

''It's nice."

"Thanks. Do you want a carrot stick?" The basket was lying near and Bobbie offered it to Jeff after taking a stick for herself.

"No, thanks." Jeff's mind was wandering again. He wasn't looking at Sylvia but he wasn't talking to Bobbie either.

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"I'm glad Troy isn't here."

"Why's that?" Jeff asked, thinking he really didn't care.

"He always puts carrot sticks up his nose."

"Well, kids will do that," Jeff answered noncommittally without even looking at Bobbie.

"Of course it isn't any wonder. My mother does it all the time."

Jeff looked sharply at the small girl beside him to see she was barely containing her laughter. His mouth dropped open when she spoke next because her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Very good, Jeffrey. You were actually listening." Bobie grinned at him and Jeff found himself laughing hard.

"You," he said as he shook a finger at Bobble, "are incredibly sassy."

"So I've been told," Bobbie admitted without apology. "But at least I don't put carrots in my nose."

"You know," Jeff said thoughtfully, feeling fully relaxed for the first time, "it might be kind of fun." He raised a carrot stick toward his face and Bobbie laughingly snatched it away from him.