Page 63 of The Girls of Pearl Harbor
He grinned and stepped forward, his blue-green eyes full of sincerity. ‘I’m Peter, by the way.’
She took the hand he held out and smiled as he gently shook it. ‘Grace.’
‘Well, Grace, how about you meet me on Saturday night? It’ll be my last night of leave.’
She nodded. ‘Where?’
‘There’s a place we all go, a place on the edge of the Arab quarter with a green sign out in front. There’s plenty of British and US soldiers there every night.’
‘I guess I’ll see you then.’
When he let go of her hand, the other men grabbed at him, and Peter took off as they chased, darting through the ocean and sending water flying. Grace watched him for a while, then turned back to April.
‘What?’ she asked.
Her sister looked unhappy. ‘It doesn’t feel right, Grace. You don’t even know the man.’
‘He’s a soldier; we’re all fighting on the same side,’ she said, shrugging. ‘What’s to know? And I’m not exactly going somewhere isolated with him—there’ll be plenty of people around.’
‘I just feel nervous about it; that’s all.’
Grace met April’s gaze and bumped shoulders with her, standing close as they both looked out at the water.
‘Remember how you said you weren’t going to mother me?’ Grace asked gently.
April sighed. Loudly. ‘I know. But I can’t help worrying about you.’
‘I promise I won’t intervene if the doctor asks you out.’
‘Grace!’ April glowered at her. ‘Can you please stop with the doctor talk?’
Her flushed cheeks were a giveaway; Grace knew how much her sister liked the man. ‘Fine. I just wish Poppy were here with us. She’d be teasing you mercilessly, and she’d be the first to encourage my date with the gorgeous soldier.’
April groaned. ‘She would have. It’d be me against two of you if she was here.’
‘She’d be setting me up on dates at every opportunity. Did you know she tried to set me up with one of her patients just before the bombing? The one we played cards with?’
April laughed. ‘No, I didn’t. Typical, though; Poppy was always trying to matchmake everyone.’
Talking about Poppy made Grace think of Teddy. They’d been so happy together; Poppy was always hanging on to his arm and gazing up at him, and Teddy was smitten with her right back. She hated that she’d been so in love with him herself, her infatuation with him never disappearing no matter how much she’d tried, and now that Poppy was gone, even thinking about it made her feel guilty. And ever since his letter, those old feelings had flared up again. If they’d ever gone. She needed this, a night out with a gorgeous foreign soldier, because being there for Teddy was one thing; falling still more for him was something else altogether.
‘Are you two done squabbling?’ Eva asked.
Grace turned and saw Eva by the water, waiting for them.
‘For now,’ she replied, winking at April, who only groaned at her in response.
Less than four hours later, Grace was smoothing out wrinkles in her uniform in their tent as the other two waited for her. She hastily applied some lipstick and opened her bag to find some chewing gum to give the family they were visiting.
‘What are you two taking?’ she asked.
April held up gum as well, and Eva produced some chocolate from her pocket. ‘I figured they’d like some American things. This will be enough, won’t it?’
Grace shrugged. ‘I hope so. Let’s go.’
They walked back down the hill toward town again, the heat still stifling despite it being early evening, and Grace swatted at bugs that continued to land on her skin. She loved the thrill of being stationed overseas, but the flies and biting bugs she could do without.
‘There he is,’ April said, gesturing toward a man waiting for them. He nodded and beckoned for them to follow him, and they walked behind him to a modest house that seemed more like a hut to Grace. She plucked at her jacket and wondered why they’d decided to wear their hot class A uniforms. Most of them lamented frequently about the suitability of their clothes; the thick, buttoned-up jackets were hardly appropriate for somewhere as hot and dry as a desert!
