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Jonathan a little longer to realize the same. Shellywas pretty sure she knew when it was, though. About five months later, they were in his garage. Jonathan was under his car, an old Jeep Cherokee, trying to prove his manliness by changing the oil. Shelly had come over to collect a CD he had borrowed from her. She walked into his garage wearing a dress because her family was leaving in a few minutes for Meredith’s flute recital. Jonathan asked her to hand him a socket wrench. She made a random choice of the tools before her and slapped it into his grease-streaked hand.
    An instant later, Jonathan rolled out and said, “Hey! You got it right this …” The words stopped, but his mouth stayed open. He stared at Shelly.
    “What’s wrong with you?” she teased. The dress was nothing like her eighth-grade graduation outfit, but it was blue and it was short. Her hair was out of its usual ponytail, and the curls on the ends calmly rested just below her shoulders. She had put on makeup and borrowed some of Megan’s earrings.
    “So?” Shelly prodded Jonathan. “Are you going to give me my CD or not?”
    “I … I’ll bring it over later,” he fumbled. “Where are you going?”
    “Out,” Shelly answered, deciding to make the most of the moment.
    “With who?”
    “With
whom
, silly. Wouldn’t you like to know,” she teased. Turning on her heels, she called over her shoulder, “Make sure you bring that CD back by tomorrow at the very latest. You can send it on the zip if it’s not raining, but I want it by tomorrow.”
    Late bloomers, Shelly thought as Meri returned to the living room, apologizing for taking so long on the phone. That’s what Jonathan and I were. Late bloomers. All our friends were dating and going together, but I was seventeen before I gave up my tomboy ways. Jonathan held on to his naiveté longer thanany guy I knew. He was too kind-hearted for his own good.
    Meri sat down, and the phone rang again. “I can’t believe this. I’ll be right back.” She disappeared into the bedroom again, and Shelly returned to her daydream.
    Within five minutes after her family had returned from Meri’s flute recital that evening, the doorbell rang. It was nine-fifteen on a school night. There stood Jonathan, showered, with his hair combed back, and wearing clean clothes. He held out the CD to Shelly and said, “Here you go.”
    “Thanks,” she answered.
    “Are you doing anything?”
    Shelly remembered the way he looked. Nervousness was not a trait she had seen in him before. It only made her fall more in love with him.
    They went for a walk around the block. In her heels, Shelly matched his height. Jonathan was wearing aftershave. The February night was chilly. Their hands found each other easily, and instantly Shelly felt warm inside and out. Neither of them spoke. There was no need for words, not when they already knew each other by heart. Shelly had never felt happier.
    After they walked around the block, Jonathan delivered Shelly back to her door and said, “Would you like to go out Friday night?”
    She nodded and gave him her radiant smile. “To the movies?” she asked. It was their common Friday-night activity already.
    “No, I’d like to take you out to dinner. Someplace nice.”
    Meredith bustled through the trail of boxes and back to the couch. “I’m sorry. Let’s get back to what you were saying.” She looked at Shelly’s face and said, “You look a little better. Are you okay?”
    Shelly nodded. She knew a trace of a smile was on her lips. She couldn’t help it. Falling in love for the first time—the onlytime—brought up sweet emotions. If she could only stop the memory there, she would be fine. It was what followed that ruined everything.
    “You were saying you two couldn’t really have been in love at eighteen.” Meredith tucked her legs under her and looked at Shelly.
    “Is that what I was saying? I forgot.”
    “Well, try to remember,” Meri urged. “I think this