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The firmness of his words thrilled her, and she had to look away. “You may not be a—a jive bender,” she told him. “But you are certainly no dead hoofer.”
“When it comes to the box step, no,” he agreed. “My mother taught me when I was young.”
Lily could picture it—the wireless playing a waltz, an elegant woman with upswept hair, dark like Matthew’s, leading him around a little sitting room, a gentle look on her face.
“She’d be proud to see you now,” she said.
Something flashed across his face, like a lightning streak of pain. Jolted, Lily felt as if she’d said something clumsy or wrong, and she started to stammer an uncertain apology, only to be cut off by Matthew’s quiet voice.
“I hope she would be,” he said, and then the music ended, and he was leading her back to the table, and Lily felt as if she’d spoiled it—if there had even been anything to spoil.
Tom had bought a bottle of wine—no more lettuce for champagne, it seemed—Lily saw as she took her seat, but at least Sophie wasn’t on his lap anymore.
She glanced at her watch and saw it was after nine; their parents expected them home by ten, although Lily suspected her sister would not come willingly, as most of The Berkeley’s patrons would be dancing half the night away.
“So, what do you Yanks do for fun?” Sophie asked as she lit yet another cigarette.
“Whatever we can,” Tom returned. “You’ll have to come to Rainbow Corner with us and see what it’s all about.”
Lily had seen Rainbow Corner—the club for GIs run by the American Red Cross on Shaftesbury Avenue that offered a slice of American life to homesick servicemen. She’d also seen the queues of her countrymen outside, snaking around the corner, desperate to get inside and sample its delights.
“Oh, will you take us there?” Sophie asked. “Wouldn’t I have to have my name on a list?”
“I think I can manage it.”
Lily wondered if he could. Tom Reese seemed full of swagger and brash talk, and his wallet was certainly bulging with money, but he was only a second lieutenant, after all, and he couldn’t be much older than Matthew’s twenty-three, if that. Yet her sister had clearly decided to cast her lot with him; she’d shown more affection to Lieutenant Tom Reese than any other man Lily had seen her with before, and she couldn’t help but let it worry her. Where would it lead?
The music was still thumping and Lily’s head ached. Her mouth tasted stale from the alcohol she’d drunk, and the room had become stuffy with the smell of sweat and cigarettes. She realized just how badly she wanted to go home.
She sank back into her chair as Sophie led Tom back onto the dance floor. It felt as if the evening would never end.
“I’m sorry you’re not enjoying yourself
,” Matthew remarked as he glanced at her. He hadn’t drunk anything, Lily noticed, and he looked as coolly unflappable as always.
She made a grimace of apology. “I’m sorry. I have enjoyed myself, it’s just it’s getting late and I’m tired. I’m afraid I’ve never been much of one for parties.”
“Nor have I.”
“Did you go to many, in New York?” Her only image of the city was what she’d seen on a newsreel, but she pictured fancy cars and movie stars, endless parties and dances.
“No.” He paused. “I only moved to New York in 1939, when I was eighteen. I’m not from there.”
“Oh? Where are you from, then?”
Another pause, this one longer and more considering. “A small town. You wouldn’t have heard of it.”
Lily sensed something repressed about his tone, and decided not to ask anything more.
Matthew seemed content to be silent, and Lily realized she didn’t mind. It was enough simply to sit at the same table, watching the dancers blur by, knowing they were in agreement about much of the evening.
Eventually, Sophie and Tom came stumbling back to the table, and then drank more wine, and flirted outrageously, before, finally, at nearly eleven, Lily was at last able to pry her sister away.
Outside, the air was sharp and cold, and an icy fog lay over the darkened city. Despite the late hour, there were plenty of people about, cabs gliding through the dark streets like predatory shadows, and people linking arms as they made their stumbling way to the Tube station, singing drunkenly. “I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places that this heart of mine embraces…”
There was a feeling of bonhomie that Lily couldn’t help but enjoy, despite the awkwardness of the occasion. Sophie and Tom had their arms wrapped around one another, her head leaning against his shoulder. Meanwhile, Matthew walked a sensible two feet away from Lily, and both of their heads were tucked low. She dreaded the inevitably awkward moment of farewell, and when it came, it was just as she’d feared.
At the steps down to the station, Sophie turned to Tom and twined her arms around him. While a few GIs nearby whistled and catcalled, the pair kissed, and Matthew and Lily stood mutely and waited, neither of them looking at the embracing pair, or each other.
