‘Bye for now,’ Scarlet said, seeing Ellie sitting not far away in the grass, head tipped back in laughter, amused at something James had said to her.
She took a deep breath and propelled her feet forwards. She wasn’t going to stare at James’s thick dark hair, or the fit of his uniform, or the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled. Because she loved Thomas. Anything she was feeling for this handsome soldier was probably just to do with missing her fiancé, nothing more. Thomas was dependable, safe and secure, and this man . . . he might sound like other men she knew, but that wasn’t enough to make her trust him.
Scarlet cleared her throat with a little cough and Ellie waved.
‘Hi there!’
Scarlet smiled and crossed the grass, turning to give a final quick wave to their bath saviour.
‘I can see why so many of the girls have been coming over here,’ Scarlet said, eyes trained on Ellie so she didn’t have to look at James. ‘He’s so kind to invite us in like that.’
‘He was a real sweetheart,’ Ellie agreed. ‘Scarlet, have some of this fruit. James, let her have some of that apple.’
‘Oh no, I’m fine.’
‘Hey, I don’t bite,’ he said with a grin when she was forced to turn to him. ‘Try it.’ He was holding out the apple, and she didn’t want to seem rude.
‘Thank you.’ Scarlet moved closer, taking it from his outstretched hand. She tried to bite delicately; it was so good, and the last fruit she’d had was what she’d brought from home and eaten on the train. She didn’t even care about the brown spots all over it.
‘I’d better escort you both back. Your matron looks particularly terrifying.’
Scarlet took another bite then passed the apple back to him, careful not to let their skin touch. She was feeling all kinds of jumpy, a bundle of nerves. ‘We’ll be fine. Thanks anyway.’
‘Don’t be silly, we’d love you to walk us,’ Ellie interrupted. ‘It’s not every day a handsome soldier has time to escort nurses back to their quarters.’
James’s grin was all kinds of mischievous, and Scarlet pushed away jealous thoughts about the way Ellie giggled at him. Ellie had Spencer, didn’t she? Surely she didn’t need to have James, too. She dug her nails into her palm, scolding herself. Only an hour earlier she’d been angry with Ellie for pushing her towards the man, and now she was acting like he was hers!
‘Penny for them?’
Scarlet forced a smile and took the arm James offered. ‘Oh – my fiancé. I was thinking about my fiancé,’ she said, hating that she’d told a lie.
He laughed. ‘Look what he has to come home to! If I was engaged to you, I’d be fighting off every damn German that came my way to get back home.’
Scarlet went to pull her hand from his arm, beyond embarrassed at his candid words. ‘I, I, well.’
‘Scarlet,’ James said gently, hand over hers, locking it in place. ‘If we can’t joke about anything, we may as well all give in to the Nazis now. Come on, I’m nothing if not a gentleman. I’m just saying your fiancé is a lucky man.’
Scarlet held his arm, avoided Ellie’s stare, and wished the ground would simply open up and swallow her.
‘Scarlet, James told me they’re going to announce a film screening tomorrow night. For everyone to attend. And the nurses will all be on army rations now, so we’ll be getting bigger meals.’
‘A film night?’
‘It’ll be amazing. I’m going to ask Spencer to come, too.’
Scarlet nodded. ‘Of course. It’ll be lovely.’
‘So we can double date then?’ Ellie asked.
Scarlet suppressed a groan at the same time as James tapped her arm with his hand. What part of ‘engaged’ did Ellie not understand? Or did she want two men to choose from and the whole thing was about her?
‘I’d be honoured,’ James said. ‘Although I’m certain we’ll be segregated.’
‘Of course,’ Scarlet mumbled.
Inside, her stomach was doing somersaults and her mind was buzzing. She should have said no. She should have made up an excuse. But it was war. There was so little to look forward to, and so much sadness surrounding them. Was it so wrong to anticipate a night of fun? She didn’t have to do anything improper, after all.
‘Why are they giving us a film night?’ Scarlet asked, suddenly curious about why the army would decide to put on something like that now, when there had been no displays of any generosity before.
‘Because soon we’ll all be gone,’ James said, his voice sombre now. ‘One morning you’ll wake up and we’ll have been deployed – disappeared in the middle of the night.’
‘One of the nurses said that when she was based in Scotland, they were looking forward to a dance and the boys left in the middle of the night before. Just poof, gone!’ Ellie shared. ‘Like they’d never even been there in the first place.’
Scarlet gulped. Surely things wouldn’t happen like that here.
‘I’d love to go to the film tomorrow night,’ she announced, leaning in to James and smiling across at Ellie. No more moping or feeling guilty for being happy. She needed to enjoy the fact that she was alive and surrounded by other young people. ‘It had better be something decent, because it’s about time they did something fun for us.’
By the end of the week they could be gone, all of them, and they deserved something to smile about, even if it was just for one night.
CHAPTER SIX
Ellie
‘You like him.’
Ellie leaned in and put her arm around Scarlet as they sat in their tiny tent. She shouldn’t have kept teasing her, but it was so obvious, and she had to say something.
‘Of course I like him. He was a perfectly pleasant young man,’ Scarlet replied, sounding exasperated.
‘No, you like him,’ Ellie said, laughing as she fell back on to her bed.
They’d made their beds as comfortable as they could, although it wasn’t exactly easy given what was available to them. But Ellie wasn’t about to complain, not when she knew her brothers would have it so much worse; she was terrified every day that she’d receive word one of them hadn’t made it.
‘Ellie, stop it!’ Scarlet scolded. ‘Honestly, I don’t know why you’re making such a fuss about him.’
‘Because he’s gorgeous, for starters,’ Ellie said. ‘He’s also charming and friendly, and I could tell he likes you.’
‘He’d probably like any nurse under the age of thirty!’
‘Calm down, lovely, I was only teasing.’ Scarlet sighed beside her and Ellie held out a hand. ‘You know, if you did like him you’d have nothing to feel guilty about.’
‘But I do,’ Scarlet whispered, bursting into tears. ‘I have a fiancé. I made a promise to marry Thomas. I’m not one of those shallow girls who flit from one boyfriend to the next, and now I feel so guilty because I do like him.’