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“Really? You know all this from past experience?” Grace questioned, tossing him a dubious look as the waitress returned with their slices of pie.
Levi realized he’d said too much. Now he’d have to tell her about Laurie, and he didn’t want to. However, the topic would eventually arise if they continued dating, so he might as well get it out in the open now.
“I was engaged before I enlisted. A girl from Meridian named Laurie. We dated almost a year before I proposed, then I enlisted and went off to Vietnam. I’d only been at boot camp a week when she broke things off in a letter. Two months later, she married a guy she’d only known a few days and moved to Twin Falls to open a travel agency with him, or so her father told mine.” Levi jabbed his fork into the warm pie. “And that was that.”
Grace reached across the table and placed her hand on Levi’s wrist. He looked over at her, expecting to see pity or sympathy, but her face was filled with concern while sparks of anger flickered in her eyes.
“I’m sorry she did that to you, Levi. That was a crummy thing to do, especially when you needed to focus on training and preparing for what awaited you over there.”
There was no doubt in his mind that Grace would never break off an engagement in a short, terse note and then fail to return an expensive diamond engagement ring.
“I think I knew well before I enlisted that she was going to break up with me, but I didn’t want to face it. Her letter just made it all final.” Levi took a bite of the pie topped with melting vanilla ice cream, wondering if talking about the girl he’d once planned to marry on his first date qualified him as a first-class dummy.
“Well, I still think it was a lousy thing to do to you. Women like that are a menace.”
Levi could have kissed Grace right then for saying what he’d thought the past few years. He wanted nothing more than to lean across the table and press his lips to hers, but he somehow held back from following the impulse.
“What about you?” he asked and forked another bite of pie.
“Was I engaged to a girl named Laurie?” Grace asked with a mischievous grin that melted Levi’s heart.
“No,” he shook his head, loving that she felt relaxed enough around him to tease. “I just wondered if you’d been engaged or had a special someone in your past.”
Grace shook her head. “Nope. Never engaged or even close to engaged. Cindy was, though.”
He listened as she talked about her friend’s fiancé, a boy they’d both known in high school, his death in Vietnam, and the romance between Cindy and Grace’s brother that was blossoming right beneath her nose.
“When did you say your brother will return home?”
“Last I heard, he should return around the first of August. I pray every day he’ll soon be back in Holiday where he belongs. Although, if he and Cindy really do have a future together, I could see him moving here.”
“Does he have training or a degree in a particular area?” Levi asked, then took a long swig of his milk, draining most of the liquid from the glass.
“He did two years of vocational school and is a certified auto mechanic. He can fix anything that has an engine in it. It shouldn’t be hard for him to find work.”
“I would think he’d have several job opportunities no matter where he chooses to live.” Levi could even ask his dad if he knew anyone in need of a trained mechanic. They could always use someone on the farm with solid mechanic skills. Levi and his dad were both decent mechanics, but on a farm the size of theirs, they often needed extra hands to keep the equipment running.
“Mmm. This pie is so good. Do you want a taste?” Grace held out a bite on her fork for him.
Levi didn’t care for lemon, but it was less about the pie and more about Grace being willing to share with him that made him smile and accept the bite.
“Not bad for lemon,” he said with a grin, then offered her a sample of the peach.
“Not bad for peach,” she said, mimicking him after she’d accepted a taste.
They both laughed and finished their dessert.
Twenty minutes later, Grace held onto his arm as he walked her into her apartment building and up the stairs. They lingered at her door, neither of them ready to call it an evening, but both knowing it was time to end their date.
“I had a great time, Levi. Thank you for dinner and the movie and dessert.”
“Thanks for asking me,” he said, grinning at her. “It’s not every day a beautiful woman invites me out for a fun evening.”
She gave him a studying glance. “I bet you get asked out all the time.”
“If all the time is the same as never, then sure.”
She laughed softly. “Then all the women you know are blind and dumb.”
