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“Absolutely.”
Once Mason arrived and we’d departed the fairgrounds, we grabbed a meal at a nearby diner before reaching the hotel for the night. We checked in, Eva and Annie sharing a room and me next door to them. Annie ran into the room, but Eva lingered at the door.
“I’m too nervous to sleep,” she said. Her chin tipped up and her eyes sparkled in the dim hallway. “Would you want to go for a walk around town?”
I tried not to sound too eager. “Of course.”
She told Annie to lock the door and stay in the room no matter what, and then we left the hotel to walk down the long stretch of the main street, which felt a bit reminiscent of Baker with brick buildings and a variety of shops and diners. Coca-Cola signs flashed above the tavern across from the Cent-Wise Drugstore. Lights glimmered now that the sun had set, though most businesses had closed for the night and few cars puttered down the street.
She put her hands in her pockets, and her gaze seemed to absorb everything as we strolled by.
“You don’t sleep much, do you?” I asked. Whenever I left the ranch in the evenings, she would still be working or doing chores, and she was always there when I showed up right at dawn.
“I hate sleeping.”
Hated sunsets, hated sleeping.
“You have nightmares.”
She nodded, keeping her gaze straight ahead.
“The war?”
“It’s been most of my life—some things from my childhood that I’d rather not discuss.” She flashed a sad smile. “Tragedies are tiresome.”
There was nothing tiresome about this woman. I wanted to learn more, dig deeper.
“Gramps hated it,” she said. “I would sneak out of the house at night and play in the barn.”
“I snuck out at night, but for different reasons,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows.
“That doesn’t surprise me. I’m guessing you like to break the rules.”
“Only the dumb ones.”
We swerved around a small bench on the sidewalk, each taking a different side and then coming back together, her hand brushing mine ever so slightly. We ended up a bit closer than when we’d started.
“When did you join the Army?” she asked.
“After Pearl Harbor,” I responded.
“Same.” She smiled. “And how did you adapt to military life? You, the rule breaker?”
“It seemed to just click somehow. I hadn’t been close to my brother growing up, but I found a connection with my fellow soldiers right away.”
“I heard you broke a few regulations once you were in Europe.” The bemused smile she flashed in my direction made my heart stumble all over itself.
“You heard about that, huh?”
The streetlights buzzed on around us, and the amber glow caressed her face.
“The boys couldn’t stop talking about the 42nd’s antics in Kötzting.”
“Well, they’re a gossipy bunch,” I said.
“Is it true that you charged a sniper nest all by yourself?”
“That wouldn’t have been proper protocol.”
