“Wes? Maybe. I don’t know.” I have no idea. At the fundraiser he told me he’s been spying on me, and considering how he surprised me at Camp Hero last night that’s probably still true. I can’t picture him showing up to a dance, but the thought of seeing him again makes my heart start to race.
“He’s so drooly, Lyd,” Mary gushes.
“Lydia has a fella?” Susie bends to apply her own lipstick in the mirror.
“She does, and he is …” Mary is uncharacteristically at a loss for words, and I don’t blame her—Wes is certainly hard to describe.
“He’s … nice,” I say, for lack of a better word. Nice really isn’t how I picture Wes, but somehow intense doesn’t seem very romantic.
“And the way he looks at Lydia.” Mary sighs, and mock fans herself. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Not even from my Mick looking at me?” Susie pouts into the mirror.
Mary scoffs. “Oh, you know Mick thinks you hung the moon, and it shows all over his face. But Wes … I thought he’d set Lydia on fire with just his eyes.”
“That’s not true.” I look down, embarrassed.
“It is too true. That boy would swallow you whole, if he could.”
“So he’s nice, good-looking, and he loves you.” Susie looks at me in the mirror, still holding the lipstick in her hand. “Sounds like a good thing to me. Maybe you’ll be engaged soon too.”
“I want to be a bridesmaid,” Mary cuts in. “And I want to wear pink. Maybe we can have a double wedding, you and Wes, me and Lucas.”
I shake my head at her and she laughs. But her words make me pause. I have feelings for Wes, but it still feels so hopeless. We’re from such different worlds. We’re even from different time periods.
Wes chased me into the past against every order he’s ever had. I think he’s starting to feel something for me now, but I can’t be sure. He was raised in a cold place, with no love and no warmth. Does he even know what loving someone means? Could we ever care about each other in the same way?
Mary nudges me and I turn to her. “Here.” She holds out a tube of lipstick.
I point to my lips. “I already have some.”
“I know, silly! But this is for later, when you go to the powder room. You don’t want a pale mouth.”
“Where am I supposed to put that? I don’t have a purse.”
“You can put it in mine.” Susie holds up a tiny beaded clutch. “Though I might not have room.”
“Just stick it in your bra,” Mary says.
“What?”
She rolls her eyes, holding out the tube. “Your bra! Put it in.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Everyone does it.” I gawk at her. “Fine, I’ll do it for you. Come here.” She lunges at me, lipstick in hand.
“Get away from me!” We both fall back onto the bed, a tangle of red taffeta. I roll over, shrieking with laughter.
“Okay, okay!” I push her away. “Give me the tube.”
Still laughing, she shoves the curls out of her face and hands it over. I stick it down my cleavage, tucking it into my bra.
“Happy?”
“Very.” Mary gets up from the bed, smoothing down her dress.
“Oh no,” Susie gasps. “Don’t look.”
“What, what it is?” Mary asks. She lifts the hem of her dress. “Drat!” Some of the leg makeup must have rubbed off on the skirt, which now has a slight tannish smear near the bottom. “What am I going to do?”
“We’ll put cold water on it.” Susie steers Mary toward the bedroom door. “Let’s get a washcloth from the bathroom.”
The two girls disappear. I reach for the blue dress that’s hanging near Mary’s closet. I step into it, struggling to zip up the back by myself, then turn to examine myself in the mirror.
My dress is a shiny, sapphire blue that falls around my body like liquid. The dress has princess shoulders with long sleeves, a scooped neck, and a slinky skirt. The color is bright against my pale skin and makes my eyes look even greener. I slip on the short white beaded gloves that Mary left out for me, and step into low black heels. I twirl around, watching the skirt flare out around me.
Since I’ve been in the past, I’ve been consumed by thoughts of Dean and the Montauk Project. Tomorrow I have to tell Dean what’s going to happen to him. I have to confront the new future I’m trying to create.
But tonight I want to put those thoughts aside. Tonight I want to drink punch and dance and laugh with Mary and her friends, knowing that tomorrow everything could change forever.
I hope that Wes is spying on me, because right now I don’t care if we’ve been doomed from the start. I want, for just one night, to close the distance that always seems to separate us.
CHAPTER 16
Mary, Susie, and I sit in the backseat of Dr. Bentley’s car, our skirts a waterfall of red, black, and blue. It’s a short drive to the Tennis Auditorium, a large Tudor clubhouse not far from Montauk Manor. In my time it’s a playhouse and a community center, but in 1944 it’s another building occupied by the navy.
The road around us is dotted with parked cars, army trucks, and navy jeeps. We pass a group of girls, their heels sinking into the dirt. Dr. Bentley drives slowly, stopping when we’re near the entrance. Toward the side of the building, I can see glowing lights and bodies moving through the shadows in between them.
“Thanks for driving us.” Mary climbs out of the car. Susie and I follow her. We walk through the dark, weaving around parked cars as we make our way toward the bright spot on the lawn. I hear music, the blare of a trumpet, the low moan of a saxophone.
“Jimmy, no. We can’t!” A girl’s voice giggles from behind one of the cars, and I see the shape of a couple embracing, his head in her
