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He reached up to touch a lock of her light brown hair and then let his hand drop to his side. “I’m just saying exactly what I see.”

“I’m glad you came,” she said.

“You weren’t worried I wouldn’t show up, were you?” he asked with a sweet smile.

The truth was, yes. Despite their evening of dancing and all of his letters telling her how much he wanted to see her, a part of her hadn’t quite believed that he was really real.

She’d driven Alexandra and the other girls of her unit crazy asking, “What if he changed his mind?” and, “What if Friday comes and he’s forgotten all about me?”

Each time, someone would put their arm around her and reassure her that Jack would be there, just as he’d promised, and now here he was.

He tapped the bag that hung off his shoulder. “I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of rustling up some provisions for us. Shall we?”

She took his offered arm and they set off together, a breeze lifting her hair.

“Tell me, how is life in the balloon unit?” he asked.

“Much the same as it always is. We take the balloon out, we put it up, we bring it down, we repair it,” she said.

“Why do I suspect there’s more to it than that?” he asked with a laugh.

“You’re right,” she admitted. “We trained for weeks before we were transferred here. I now know more about meteorology than I ever thought I would.”

“ ‘We’ is all of the girls I met at the dance?” he asked.

“And a woman named Nancy. She was a little… preoccupied.”

“What’s the name of this preoccupation?” he asked.

“Flying Officer Charles Gardner,” she said.

“Lucky man,” he said with a grin.

“They’re both smitten, although Nancy’s not one to admit it. She’s a bit stuffy, but she’s one of us, so we put up with it,” she said with affection for her fellow balloon girl.

“And what about you, Isabelle Shelton? Has anyone caught your eye?” he teased.

She slid a look over to him. “Maybe.”

He gave her arm a gentle tug. “Maybe? Sounds like that ‘maybe’ will have to try a lot harder. I hope you don’t mind walking a bit.”

“Not at all.”

They turned off the road and onto a public footpath through the trees. Izzie had never realized how wooded Norfolk could be until she arrived at RAF Horsham St Faith, but she and Molly had taken several walks among the trees not far from base, two London girls marveling at how green and peaceful everything was.

Up ahead, the dirt path opened out into a clearing of trees and ferns, leaves padding the forest floor.

Jack took off his cap, and rubbed the back of his neck. “It isn’t much, but I found this spot the other day and thought it would be the perfect place to have a picnic with a pretty girl.”

She looked around, charmed by the idea. However, when she didn’t respond immediately, he hurried to say, “This was a silly idea. You don’t want to sit on the ground and eat. You probably want to go to a restaurant or go dancing or—”

“Jack, it’s perfect.”

His easy smile slid back onto his face. “All right then.”

He spread a blanket she suspected was regulation and began to unpack his bag as she arranged herself on it. Her eyes went wide as he pulled out all manner of things.

When he caught her stare, he said, “My mother doesn’t trust that the USAAF will feed me properly, so she sent me a care package stuffed to the brim.”