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Chapter 76
It was really too cool for swimming on this, the last Saturday of August, but going to the Spearfish Lake city beach seemed like the thing to do. Josh and Amy and Danny and Marsha had spend a lot of time at the beach over the course of the summer, and it seemed
like the logical way to end it.
The water was cold, and they didn't stay in long. After they got out of the water, the girls curled up in towels while sitting on the sand, with Josh and Danny on either side, mostly looking across the lake toward the dim, faint hazy line of the far shore, miles away.
"Well, we're heading back tomorrow," Amy said sadly. "I can't believe school starts Monday. It's going to seem so strange to have to get up and get dressed. Here it isn't even Labor Day yet, and school's starting. It isn't fair."
"Yeah," Danny said. "Marsha, maybe this time next year, you and I'll be heading for Athens."
"Well, you ought to know by then whether that's where you'll be going," Marsha said. "Have you heard anything more about the scholarship up at Michigan Tech?"
"Nothing," Danny said. "I don't expect to hear anything until toward the end of football season, anyway."
"Have you thought any more about going to Athens?" Amy asked Josh.
Josh hadn't gotten around to telling her -- or even his father -- about Bud's job and schooling offer made in the cab of the GP-9 a couple of weeks before. It wanted some thinking about, but even the thinking that he'd done so far had made college a lot more
nebulous. But, even now, he didn't want to tell Amy that -- not now, especially. "Not really," he said. "I thought maybe when school starts, I might write off for something about it, but between work, and football, and working with the dogs, and going out with you guys, I really
haven't had much time to spare."
"Well, it would sure be neat if you could go to Athens," Amy said. "It would be a lot of fun if we could all be there together the year after next. Maybe when I see you next summer, you'll have a better idea if you're going."
Not likely, Josh thought sadly. It was nice to think about, but it was getting less likely every day. Realistically, Athens really was pretty much a dream, anyway. "It's going to be strange, not having you two around," Josh said, trying to change the subject a little. "I sure
have enjoyed having you two around this summer. It'd have been really dull if you hadn't been here."
"Well, there's always next summer," Marsha said. "If it goes like it always does, we'll be up here right after school's out, and I guess we're on pretty much the same schedule you're on."
"I sure hope it's not next summer before we see you again," Danny said.
"It sure would be nice if you could make it up for a football game," Josh said. "It would be a lot of fun to go out afterwards, for a pizza or something."
"I don't know," Marsha said. "We might, but I kind of like to go to our football games, too. Maybe we can make it up some time when we're playing away."
"Make it up if you can, at least once," Danny said. "This is going to be the last year in the blue and gold for me, and Josh ought to be playing a bit."
"Well, you two know where Camden is," Amy said. "There's no reason you can't drive down there some time."
"I suppose," Josh said. "But then, I'm going to be pretty busy this fall, too. Mr. Ellsberg is going to have me working weekends as long as the rock traffic holds out, so I might not have much spare time for a while. But, maybe this winter Danny and I can make it
down, sometime."
"However you cut it," Marsha said, "We're not going to be seeing as much of you guys as we've seen this summer."
"Well, we're not going to be seeing as much of you, either," Danny smirked. "In the winter, you have to wear clothes."
Marsha picked up a handful of sand, and threw it playfully at Danny. "That's not what I meant, and you know it, Daniel Clark Evachevski."
It was strange, Josh thought. Now that the summer was drawing to a close, the old gang was getting a little closer again. Danny and Marsha were getting a lot closer, indeed. What had really happened in the back seat of his Chevette, a month ago? He didn't know for
sure, but he knew how he'd bet if he had to bet: he'd bet that things had gone a lot farther than he and Amy had gone. All the way farther, in fact. There was no way of telling for sure, but to look at the way that Danny and Marsha teased each other, toyed with each other, it
sure looked like the way to bet.
He leaned over to get a little closer to Amy, wrapped up in her damp towel, and Amy leaned over toward him. Not three months before, having a girl friend at all had seemed like a dream, much less a girl friend as pretty and sexy and fun to be with as Amy.
It was far too late to change things, but Josh still wondered if maybe they should have gone ahead when they'd had the chance. If that was why Danny and Marsha seemed so much closer, then it apparently paid off. But what had happened, had happened, and what
hadn't happened, hadn't happened, and for better or worse, he'd have to live with that. Perhaps it was for the best, but still he could remember the cool of the night, the warmth of Amy's bare body pressed up against his bare body, and the sound of her voice.
"Oh, well, there's always next year," he said, wrapping his arm around her.
She glanced at Marsha and Danny, who were by now sharing a hug and a kiss, then turned back to him. "Yeah," she said him; Danny and Marsha obviously weren't paying much attention. "There'll be next summer. Maybe we can make up for what we didn't do
this summer."
Could she be meaning what he thought she could be meaning? There was no good way to ask. "Yeah," he said slowly. "There's a lot of things that we could have done that we didn't get around to doing."
She smiled, and turned to kiss him. "There's always next year," she agreed. "We'll just have to wait and see. Maybe my folks won't be quite so tough on insisting on double dates."
"That'd be nice," he agreed. She had to be talking about what he thought she was talking about, and Josh thought he detected a note of envy of Danny and Marsha -- which only confirmed some suspicions. "Too late to do much about it this summer," he said, pulling
her close to him so they could kiss. "We'd have to wait, anyway."
Since they were out on the beach, in public, it couldn't be too hot of a kiss, or go on too long, but there was a lot of wistfulness in the kiss they had.
Finally, they pulled apart, and she put her head on his shoulder, just staring out across the lake again. He kept his arm around her, his left hand close enough to her breast to know that it was there, but far enough away so no one could complain, and they just held each
other for a long time. "Yeah," he said finally, "We'll have to wait. But, there's always next summer."
"Yeah," she said wistfully. "Next summer."
