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“Oh, you’ll find out,” said Alexandra.

He tugged on the brim of his cap. “Well, Aircraft Woman Second Class Sumner and Izzie from London. I hope the boys and I will be seeing both of you around.”

“There’s a dance this Friday at a placed called the Assembly Hall,” Izzie blurted out. “There’ll be a band and everything. All of the girls from our unit are planning on going.”

“Will you be there too?” he asked, his eyes fixed on hers.

“Yes,” she breathed.

He nodded. “Good. I’ll see you then. Goodbye, ladies.”

“Goodbye,” said Alexandra cheerfully.

“Goodbye,” Izzie echoed quietly as he walked off.

“Well, it looks as though the American invasion has well and truly started.”

“Yes,” Izzie murmured.

Alexandra spun around, clearly delighted. “Isabelle Shelton, I have never seen you at a loss for words before.”

“I wasn’t at a loss for words,” she protested weakly.

Her friend snorted. “At least you managed to tell him about the dance.”

“He’s probably far too busy to come,” she said, hoping very much that he would prove her wrong.

“Oh, I think he’ll make a point of coming after meeting you,” said Alexandra.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said with a shake of her head.

“Izzie,” said Alexandra, slipping an arm through hers, “I think you’ll find that, on this one rare occasion, I am not the ridiculous one.”

20 April 1942

Dear Sylvia,

Do not pretend that you know the first thing about what Mum was like.

Sincerely,

Isabelle Shelton

Chapter Twenty-Two

Sylvia lifted her head. Yes, there it was again, a rapping coming from the front of the shop.

She set her pencil down on the notebook she’d been staring at for the past ten minutes and pushed away from her mother’s desk. Then she hurried to the front door. Careful, she peeled back a bit of the blackout to peer outside. On the other side of the glass, William held up a brown paper bag.

Quickly, she let him in.

“You have perfect timing,” she said as she wrestled the blackout back in place.

“Why is that?” he asked, removing his hat.

“I was just about to force myself to start something I’ve been putting off for days.”

“And now that I’m here you can put it off a little longer?” he asked.