He tossed a paper napkin over the plate. “Sorry.”
She giggled. “They’re good though. Go ahead and eat.”
“Have you really been all right, Celeste? You look, well, thinner.”
“We’ve been busy getting the Canteen up and running. And before I forget, the rule is, no girl leaves here with a serviceman.”
“What about seeing one on the outside?”
“That’s all right.”
“Good, because I plan to see a lot of you.”
“Do you?”
“I sure do.”
“How are your mother and brother?”
“Neil’s taking extra classes to finish college early.”
“So he can enlist?”
“No, he’s 4-F. He was born with a club foot the doctor didn’t correct right off the bat, and he still has a limp. I’m glad he’s not going.”
“Did you enlist or get drafted?”
“I didn’t want to wait around, so I just went down and signed up. It was only a matter of time anyway. Mother will get my allotment. She says they’ll manage all right, and when Neil finishes school, he’ll get a job.”
“What made you decide on bombardier training?”
“I wanted to fly, but they said I’d be better at dropping bombs. I guess it’s all the same, pushing the button or flying the plane. People are going to get killed.”
“Well, we’re at war.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better about killing people.”
“I didn’t mean that it should. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, I know you didn’t mean it that way. I’m just touchy about it. I hear after you’ve been at it awhile, it’ll get to be routine.”
“How long will you be here?”
“Probably until December. We’re the first class to go through, so I guess we can expect a few hitches. Are you still working at Woolworth?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you go dancing anymore?”
She shrugged. “I just didn’t want to.”
“Because of me?”
She didn’t look at him. “Maybe.”
“I’d have hated it if some other Romeo had carried you off.”
“Romeo wasn’t a very steady fellow, killing himself and all. I always imagined a handsome prince would come along one day and carry me off.”
“How about a handsome airman?”
She felt her cheeks grow warm. “That would be all right.”
“After I took you home, your friends did a lot of talking about you. They made sure I knew you were a nice girl, and they wouldn’t appreciate it if I didn’t treat you right. I promised them I would, except I never got the chance.”
“It’s all right.”
“I thought about you a lot, Celeste. I really did. I always pictured you in that blue velvet dress. You looked real pretty.”
“Thank you.”
“I knew you were somebody special.”
“Did you?”
“Yes, I did. Remember how I said you were young and sweet and not old before your time? I did say something like that, didn’t I?”
“I remember.”
“Do you really, or did you just forget about me?”
She knew he was teasing her again. “I thought about you a lot, too, Kent. I…I even dreamed about you sometimes.”
“Does that mean I’m the man of your dreams?”
She felt herself blushing.
“There you go blushing again. Hey, doesn’t every girl need a man of her dreams?”
“I suppose.”
He touched her hair with the tips of his fingers, then let his hand fall away. “Do you look like your mother?”
“Coralee, my sister, says so. She says maybe that’s why my father…”
“Why your father what?”
Celeste shook her head.
Kent covered her hand with his. “Come on, you told me about him, remember?”
“It’s not important.”
“It is to me.”
She took a deep breath and looked away. “Nothing’s changed, and it never will. I had a chance to move out and didn’t take it.”
“Why?”
“I have a nice room at home. When it came right down to it, I couldn’t give up all the things I grew up with.”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
“Coralee said I should have gone, but I didn’t, so that’s that.”
His fingers tightened around hers. “I’m sorry, Celeste.”
“Let’s don’t talk about it, Kent.”
“Kent Goddard. I remember we didn’t exchange last names. Jonathan Kent Goddard, Jr.”
“Celeste Riley.”
“Celeste…celestial…heavenly. Are you an angel?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What do people call you?”
“My sister and some of my friends call me Cece.”
“Then I’ll have to come up with something else.”
“Why?”
“So it’ll be special between you and me.”
“You still have responsibilities, don’t you?”
“They’re not quite the same anymore. When you put on a uniform, you get the idea that life isn’t forever.”
“Oh, don’t say that. Don’t even think it.” Her eyes filled with tears again.
“It’s true. Sure, I want to come back, and I want something to come back to. I want a reason to come home.” He put one finger under her chin and made her look at him. “I wasn’t sure just what that reason was until I saw you again.”
“I’ll be here,” she said so softly he could barely hear her. “I’ll always be here.”
****
He left ahead of her and waited at the corner. “I have to get my ride back to the base,” he said. “I wish I could walk you home.”
“I understand.”
He took her hand and moved her from the streetlight into the shadows. “I’ll come to church tomorrow if I can get into town.”
“You know where to find me.”
“Left front, sixth pew from the back.”
“Yes.” She felt his arms slip around her and knew what was coming.
“I’m glad you’re still here,” he murmured, brushing her lips with his. “Really glad.”
Mrs. Lowe calling, “Celeste? Are you out here?” interrupted the second long kiss.
“I’m here, Mrs. Lowe,” she said, moving into the light again.
“I’ll drive you home. It’s too late for you to walk by yourself.”
Kent came out, too. “I agree.”
“You met Kent when he came to church with me,” Celeste said.
Mrs. Lowe studied his face. “You look familiar.”
“It was a long time ago, but I’ll be around a lot now,” Kent said, grinning.
“Did Celeste tell you the rules?”
“Yes, ma’am, she sure did.”
“They’re not negotiable.”
“No, ma’am.” Kent winked at Celeste. “See you tomorrow, I hope.”
Later, in her room, she threw herself on the bed and relived the moment his lips had fastened on hers and how she wished he hadn’t had to let her go.
Chapter Seven
The next morning they met in front of the church. Kent took her arm as they walked up the steps and through the center doors. As he’d done before, he held the hymnal for her, but he didn’t take communion even though she whispered to him that it was “open.”
They were almost up the aisle when Celeste saw Mrs. Lowe edging her way toward them. “I see you got here, young man,” she said. Her voice was pleasant, but her eyes held a question. “We haven’t really been introduced.”
“This is Kent Goddard from Brownwood, Mrs. Lowe. We met a couple of years ago at a dance at the St. Angelus. I was surprised to see him at the Canteen last night.”
“I was traveling then, and my route was changed, so I never got back. I was sure glad to see Celeste last night.”
“I’m sure she was glad to see you, too.”
Celeste felt the color rising in her cheeks. “Yes, ma’am.”
Kent took her arm. “I’ll only be here until I graduate, but it makes me feel better to know you’ll be keeping an eye on Celeste for me. Making sure nobody gets fresh or anything like that.”
“You can be sure of that, young man. I’ve known her all her life. Most of it anyway.”
“She was my Sunday School teacher,” Celeste murmured.
“It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Lowe,” Kent said. “The Canteen is terrific. All the guys said so on the way back to base last night.”
“We worked hard on it. Well, you two run along. I expect you have plans.”
“We’re taking a picnic to the park,” Celeste said. “I left the basket in the Sunday School superintendent’s office. We were just going to get it.”
“Well, you don’t need to walk all that way carrying a basket. Mr. Lowe and I will run you over there.”
Celeste glanced at Kent who nodded. “Thank you, Mrs. Lowe. We really appreciate it.”
****
“She’s the one I worked for to get money to pay on my dress,” Celeste explained after they’d thanked the Lowes for the lift and waved goodbye.
Kent set the basket on a table. “I’m starving to death.”
“Don’t they feed you well out there?”
“It’s not Mother’s home cooking, that’s for sure.”
“I’ve got fried chicken and hot rolls. Well, they were hot when I took them out of the oven this morning.”
“You got up early to do all this?”
“Yes.”
“What about your father?”
“I left a plate for him. He doesn’t get up until noon anyway, and he’s never hungry. He’s got to sober up for work tomorrow.”
“What does he do?”
“He’s a banker.”
“Why does he drink?”
“I don’t know. Neither does Coralee.”
I do know, but I’m not going to tell you.
“Can’t have been easy for you.”
“I got used to it. I do the cooking and general housekeeping.”
“For room and board, so to speak.”
She shrugged. “That’s money in the bank for me.”
“A banker should be able to hire someone to keep house and take care of his meals.”
“I guess he could. Maybe he would if I moved out, but I’m not ready to do that.”
“Just because of your room?” He helped himself to a piece of chicken. “Is that the only reason?”
“It’s the only one I can come up with for now.”
“Are you scared of being on your own?”
“I’ve been on my own for a long time.”
“Not like you’d be if you moved out. I’m not trying to convince you, Celeste, just give you something to think about.”
She passed him a paper napkin. “You like the chicken?”
“It’s got a spice to it that I don’t recognize.”
“It’s my secret ingredient. I made a lemon pound cake, too.”
“So you really do believe that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
“I might.”
After lunch, they took a walk by the river and sat on the bank. “I used to fish with my dad before he died,” Kent said. “We had some good times.”
“I don’t remember my mother very much. I wish I did.”
“You said your sister says you look like her.”
“That’s what she says.”
“She was pretty, then.”
Celeste didn’t reply.
“I’ve been thinking about something to call you.”
“Why do you have to call me anything except my name?”
“I told you, I want something special that’s just between you and me.”
“Did you think of something?”
“Maybe. I’ll let you know when I’m sure. I bet you had a lot of boyfriends in school.”
“A few. I dated one boy pretty steady through high school, the one I told you about, Pete. He went to school all last summer so he could finish college early, before the draft got him.”
“Did it?”
“No, he graduated and then enlisted in the army. I ran into him when he was home before he left for basic training. He said the same thing you did, that it was just a matter of time, so he might as well go on. But I’m glad he got to finish school anyway.”
“You said he was going to be some sort of engineer.”
“Electrical, I think. What about you? Didn’t you ever have a special girl?”
“Not really. Couldn’t afford one. Didn’t have the time or the money.” He turned to look at her. “Still can’t, but I think I’ve got one now.”
“We barely know each other.”
“We’ll get acquainted.”
“I hope so.”
Later, he carried the empty picnic basket in one hand and held her hand with the other while he walked her home.
****
Kent came to the Canteen every Saturday night, and almost every Sunday he managed to hitch a ride into town to meet her for church. When the weather turned colder, they gave up picnics in favor of a small café where they went dutch.
Sometimes they went to a movie at the Texas Theatre or just window-shopped downtown. They furnished their dream house from Shepperson’s and discussed the features they liked best in the fine houses along Twohig Street.
There were fewer dances at the Roof Garden these days, so sometimes they snuck through the lobby of the St. Angelus and sat on the empty dance floor, talking, holding hands, and sharing a few brief kisses.
“I’ll be gone before Christmas,” Kent told her at the end of November. “If I’m lucky, I’ll get a pass home. Maybe you’d come with me.”
“I always spend Christmas with Coralee and her family. I don’t get any extra days off.”
“I really want you to meet my brother.”
“How about your mother? You never mention her, not really.”
He sighed. “Her, too, but…”
“But?”
“To tell you the truth, she never liked anyone I dated in high school.”
“Why not?”
“Well, I was the oldest, and she depended on me after Dad died.” He sighed again. “I don’t know…she’s a little, well, possessive, I guess you’d say. When she said she was going to talk to one of Dad’s friends on the draft board about getting me exempted, I just went down and enlisted.”
“She didn’t like that much, I bet.”
“She didn’t like it at all.”
“Then this might not be the time for me to meet her.”
He pushed back the hair that fell over her face despite the barrette holding it and brushed her cheek with the tips of his fingers. “She’s going to have to meet you sometime, because I like you a lot, more than I ever liked anyone else.”
For a moment, the pit of Celeste’s stomach burned, and her knees felt like jelly. “I like you, too, Kent.”
“I wish there was some place we could be by ourselves and have some real privacy,” he said. “Besides the dance floor at the hotel. I’m always looking over my shoulder for some hotel employee who might have seen us come up here.”
“I know a place.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, guilt kicked in.
“Where?”
“I have a key to the store. Mr. Thomas told me to keep it after we had the going-away party for Paula in the employee lounge. He said somebody ought to be able to get in if there was an emergency, and he was out of town or something.”