California A Young Adult Romance

It’s June of 1960. Marline is sixteen. She’s been working hard, taking the most challenging college prep courses in high school in order to graduate early. She’s always been a good student and a good girl, but she has a plan. She wants to enroll at Stanford in the Fall and live in the dorm so she can get away from her controlling, annoying mother (Reda).

But “Mom” has a different idea. “You’re too young to leave home, Marline. Stay here with me for another year. Take classes at the local Sacramento State College. You have everything you need right here.”

Marline can’t believe what she’s hearing. If her mother has her way, Marline will be stuck at the house for another year. Not only that, but Marline has just learned her best friend (Fae) isn’t going to be in town this summer. She’s been sent her off to the East Coast to stay with family.

Marline flees to her room to think. She has a brand-new car (a graduation present from Dad), a gas card, and just under one hundred dollars. She can buy a map at the local gas station and figure out the best route to drive the 3,000 miles to New Jersey. She’ll spend little on food. She’ll sleep in the car. She figures she can make it in about five days. And, most importantly, she won’t tell a soul what she’s doing.

When Marline’s father realizes his daughter is missing, he secretly pays a private investigator to find her. Then he hires an off-duty police officer to follow her across the country. He understands Marline’s need to get away from her mother and just have a good summer. He was unhappily married to Reda for years.

At a get-together at Fae’s house, Marline meets nineteen-year-old (Nick) who is intrigued by “the girl who drove herself all the way across the country to meet me.” Nick is a serious-minded college student, in the pre-med program at NYU. With money he’s earned, he bought a car (his 1940 Ford he calls “Betsy”) and he’s already paid the upcoming year’s tuition. When he meets Marline, he is surprised to find a quiet, intelligent young lady who’s never even had a boyfriend.

Marline and Nick become inseparable. They and their friends pile into Betsy, going boating, swimming, dancing — everything Marline could have dreamed of doing her last summer before college.

Nick introduces Marline to his mother (Ginny), who is an alcoholic and who has abused her three children. It’s important to Nick that he find someone who can deal with his past. Marline accepts everything unquestioningly; she just wants to be with him.

When Marline’s father learns Marline has a boyfriend, he contacts the Jersey police and arranges a person-to-person phone call with the young man. “I’m expecting you to protect her with your life, but show her a good time, too.” Nick, who’s never been in trouble with the law, assures Marline’s father he will be on his best behavior.

When July is about to come to an end, Marline tells Nick she promised her mother she’d be back in Sacramento in August to take a placement test for college. “I believe in keeping my promises,” she says. But, she adds, “I’ll be back soon.”
To her shock, Nick says, “No. Don’t come back, Marline. I’m not worth travelling 3,000 miles for. Guys like me are a dime a dozen. You’ll meet some nice guy and forget all about me.”
On their last day together, Nick gives Marline a sweet kiss and says good-bye. “Don’t write. Don’t call. Forget about me.” Marline suddenly realizes Nick means what he’s saying and that little kiss may have to last her a lifetime.

Marline returns to Sacramento and enrolls at Sac State, but she’s extremely unhappy. She tries to make the best of the situation by pretending she and Nick are somehow together, going to college — just on opposite sides of the continent.
The first day of the new semester, she meets a young man who is in her science class.

“This is what Nick meant,” she thinks to herself. “I’m doing what Nick said. I’m meeting someone.

“But Nick’s wrong about one thing. I’ll never forget him. That would be impossible.”