Battle Hymns (19 page)

Charlotte followed Natalie back to their seats,
trying to convince herself that forgetting about Will was her only
option.

***

E
ven though it was only the
first week of May, summertime arrived early the following Thursday.
Charlotte and Natalie spent that afternoon lying in the grassy
quad, soaking up the sunlight, and discussing their plans for the
summer. Their breaks would likely be similar to last year’s.
Charlotte would volunteer at the hospital, and Natalie would go
home and continue selling war bonds and writing celebrities to
endorse them.

Once the sun sank behind the tree line, they packed
up their belongings and strolled toward their dormitory. When they
rounded the corner of the building, Charlotte stopped in her
tracks.

Will Kendrick stood outside the front doors, his
hands in his pockets.

Charlotte yanked Natalie back around the corner.

Natalie pulled her arm out of Charlotte’s grasp.
“What was that about?”

“That man at the door is Will,” Charlotte
whispered.

“You really should’ve told me about him. I wouldn’t
have judged.” Natalie peeked around the corner. “What are you going
to do?”

Charlotte frowned. “I don’t know.”

Natalie took the lead. “Then let’s play it cool.
We’ll resume our conversation and continue walking. Keep your eyes
focused on me and pretend you haven’t noticed him until we reach
the front doors. Then act surprised . . . and also
introduce him to me. Come on. Let’s go before you lose your nerve.”
She tugged on Charlotte’s hand.

Playing the part Natalie described, Charlotte didn’t
look at Will again until she was much closer to him and he said,
“Charlotte.”

He looked well since he’d been discharged. He wore a
gray suit and held a matching hat. She’d never seen him in civilian
clothes before, only hospital or military attire. He was
clean-shaven and his dark hair had been trimmed. He smiled when
their eyes met.

She feigned surprise. “Will! What are you doing
here?”

“I wanted to find you. I was, um, discharged from the
hospital.”

Charlotte nodded. “I know.”

“I figured you might.” Will scratched his ear. “I
didn’t have your phone number or an address to write you. I only
knew the car picked you up in front of this building on the day of
the ceremony. I hope you don’t mind I stopped by.”

She blushed. “I don’t mind.”

Natalie coughed.

Will broke eye contact and held out his hand. “My
name’s Will Kendrick. It’s nice to meet you
Miss . . .”

Natalie took his hand. “Natalie Armstrong.”

Will grinned. “I’ve heard about you from
Charlotte.”

“I wish I could say the same,” Natalie replied.

Will ignored her barb and returned his attention to
Charlotte. “So, I wondered if you might want to go out to dinner
with me tomorrow evening.”

Charlotte hesitated. She wanted to spend time with
him, yet she also wanted to avoid the additional heartache his
eventual departure would cause. “What about the war? Aren’t you
going back to England?”

“I’m not going back.” Will stubbed the toe of his
shoe on the pavement. “I’ve been medically discharged. I’ve had to
face the fact that my leg isn’t getting any better and I’ll have
this limp for the rest of my life.”

She frowned. “I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. Listen, I do want to take you out for
dinner, but I understand if you still don’t want to. I had to give
it a shot.” He shrugged.

Before Charlotte could doubt her decision, she
nodded. “Yes. Let’s go out tomorrow.”

Twenty-Five

C
harlotte flipped through
the hangers in her wardrobe. She picked out a rose pink sheath
dress and held it in front of her body, scrutinizing her reflection
in the mirror. She scrunched her nose. She liked none of the
options so far.

Looking up from the journal she was writing in,
Natalie said, “I like that one. So, Will’s not picking you up?”

Charlotte didn’t have time to try on more outfits.
The pink dress would have to do. She slid the garment off the
hanger. “He doesn’t have a car.” She slipped into the dress and
zipped up the side. “I told him I’d meet him in front of the
restaurant at seven o’clock.”

“Doesn’t that ruin the best part of the date?”
Natalie wiggled her eyebrows. “Being alone together.”

Charlotte’s lips twitched upward. “Not on a first
date, Natalie.”

“What? It’s not like you just met him. Besides, I’m
not suggesting anything bawdy.”

Charlotte shook her head and laughed. She sat at the
vanity, touched up her makeup from earlier in the day, and styled
the top section of her hair into victory rolls. Her fingers
quivered as she pinned the delicate curls into place.

Looking forward to her date with Will created a blend
of apprehension and excitement, and she’d been a ball of nerves all
day. Years had passed since her last first date, but Natalie was
right. It wasn’t as though she’d just met Will. She knew him very
well, in fact.

She searched through her jewelry box for the
chandelier earrings that matched her dress. She found them toward
the back next to the gold ring she’d given Nick two Christmases
ago. She paused. The ring hadn’t been handled in months and was
dusty. She picked it up, wiped away the grime with her
handkerchief, and slid it onto her thumb.

She turned to Natalie. “Do you think I’m making a
mistake?”

Natalie looked up from her writing and frowned at
Nick’s ring. “Well, I’m not sure you’re ready to be dating again.
On the other hand, Will is a handsome man who carries a torch for
you, and I’m sure you’d regret it if you didn’t see him.” She
shrugged. “I think you should go, but the decision is ultimately
yours to make.”

Charlotte heaved a sigh. “I don’t know what the right
decision is. Maybe it’ll turn out all right. Maybe he’ll end up
breaking my heart all over again before it’s even completely healed
from Nick. It’s just so soon.” She glanced at the ring again. “I
don’t think I can do this.”

Natalie rolled her eyes. “You need to stop
overthinking your decision. It’s one date, and you can’t stand him
up. That would ruin any friendship you already have with him.”

Regardless of her doubt, Charlotte couldn’t bear the
thought of disappointing Will with her absence. “You’re right. I
better go.” She yanked the ring off her thumb and tossed it into
the jewelry box. She slid the earrings through her lobes and
stuffed her feet into a pair of beige pumps.

“Wish me luck.”

Natalie smiled. “Good luck.”

Charlotte was only five minutes late when she met
Will in front of the Occidental Restaurant in downtown Washington,
D.C. They weren’t at a stage in their relationship where an embrace
would’ve been an appropriate greeting, and yet a handshake felt too
impersonal. Instead, they swapped hellos and entered the
restaurant.

The maître d’ led them to a table near the front
windows, and a waiter took their drink orders.

“Have you been here before?” Will asked.

Nick had brought her to the restaurant for dinner a
few times, though she wasn’t about to mention that detail to Will.
“I have. It’s very good.”

Will nodded and perused the menu. “How was the ride
over?”

“Fine and dandy. I’m so accustomed to taking the bus
these days, I’m sure the drivers know me by name. The driver on the
Number Six bus certainly does. He drives me from Trinity College to
the AMC in the afternoons.”

Will set down the menu and folded his hands on the
table. “You did volunteer almost every day.”

Her smile broadened. “And I’m sure you kept
track.”

He laughed. “I did.”

The waiter returned with their drinks. While Will
asked him about the menu, Charlotte took a sip of her rum and
Coca-Cola. Given her level of anxiety on the bus ride over, she was
surprised how comfortable she felt now that their initial greetings
were over and they’d fallen into an easy conversation.

The waiter answered Will’s questions, and Charlotte
ordered her favorite dish, Chicken à la King. Will decided to try
the same. After the waiter left, Will sipped his martini.

Charlotte recrossed her ankles beneath her chair.
“So, Will, what have you been doing since last week? I returned to
the hospital on Friday and heard you were discharged. I was sure
you’d be long gone from here.”

“It’s been a whirlwind of a week.” He leaned back in
his chair. “I’d been expecting to be discharged for a couple weeks.
After all, they couldn’t continue boarding and feeding me forever.
But I didn’t expect the medical board to deem me permanently unfit
for service. That was a surprise.”

Charlotte nodded. “I know you wanted to return.”

Will shrugged. “I’ve done my part over there. Now I
can do it here. So I spent the week getting my affairs settled with
the Veterans Administration, finding somewhere to live, and looking
for a job.”

“You’re going to stay in D.C.?”

Will took another drink. “Well, I have no other place
to go. There’s nothing left for me in Stamford. I lived in New
Haven for a couple years but only during college. My father lives
in Manhattan now so I can’t go back there. This is my fresh
start.”

“And you found somewhere to live?”

“I’m renting a room on the top floor of a row house
in Georgetown. The family has a couple sons who are in the Navy, so
they’re letting out their rooms while they’re deployed for some
extra income. The couple is nice and the rent is inexpensive.”

“You’ll like that area of town,” Charlotte replied.
“And what about a job? I don’t even know what you did before you
joined the war. Did you tell me once?”

“I don’t remember. I waited tables for a time at one
of the clubs in Manhattan. I wore a fancy tux and learned a few
words in French.” Will folded a napkin over his arm and held it
parallel to the table. “
Champagne, mademoiselle
?”

Charlotte covered her mouth with her hand as she
laughed. “With that accent?”

Will replaced the napkin in his lap. “It wasn’t my
strong suit. The job didn’t pan out for long, so then I worked as a
photographer at Gimbels, posing couples and kids for portraits and
processing the images. I worked there for over a year. That was my
last job before I went overseas.”

“So, you’re a man of all trades.”

“I’d rather I weren’t. What I love is flying.”

“What if you became a commercial pilot? You could fly
around the world for Pan Am Airways. I can picture you now,
standing in front of a clipper plane in your pilot’s uniform and
hat. Very handsome.” Charlotte giggled. The rum had loosened her up
and she felt even more comfortable in his presence.

Will laughed. “I’ve given some thought to commercial
flying. There are some licenses I’d need to work toward first,
though. I also don’t know how my leg will affect my chances. If I’m
unfit for military service, maybe I’m unfit to be a commercial
pilot, too.

“Actually, I have a meeting next week at the air
base. They’re looking for a P-40 Warhawk mechanic. I flew the
Warhawk in the RAF, so I think I’m well qualified. Then I can
familiarize myself with the workings of other aircraft and start
working toward those licenses. Plus, the war needs mechanics,
too.”

“I’m sure they do. It sounds like you have it all
together.”

Will shrugged. “I’m figuring it out one step at a
time. What about you?”

Her eyebrows lifted. “What about me? That’s a very
open-ended question.”

“Fair enough. To be more specific, you have one more
year until you finish school, right? What are you going to do after
that?”

Charlotte’s ease disappeared. She took another sip of
her drink and gazed out the windows to the streetscape. “I don’t
know.”

“After all your work with the Red Cross, you don’t
want to become a nurse? You’re compassionate, clever, and committed
to those you’re caring for. You have a good bedside manner, better
than many who are already nurses. I would know.”

“I’m sure you would.” Charlotte set her glass on the
table and wiped her palms on the napkin in her lap.

“I love what I’m doing. When I started, though, I
never thought it would turn into anything more than a volunteer
opportunity. I was supposed to get married and start a family. I
guess that’s changed, though.” She shook her head. “I’ve tried not
to think about it, honestly.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “You’ll figure it out.”

Charlotte smiled faintly. “Thanks.”

“And if nursing doesn’t work out, you could join me
as an aircraft mechanic, now that they’re opening those jobs to
women. We’d make quite a team.” Will chuckled.

The waiter brought out their dishes, and as they
finished their meal, Charlotte was grateful they’d switched to less
personal conversation topics. Will shared a few stories about his
time in England, all of them lighthearted and humorous. Then
Charlotte described some of the places of interest in Washington,
D.C. for Will to visit. After their table was cleared and the bill
settled, they left the restaurant for the balmy evening air.

Charlotte faced Will, unsure of what to say. She
enjoyed their time together, which made her even more confused. It
wasn’t fair to Will that she couldn’t decipher her own feelings
when his were so clear.

“I had a good time,” she said, gripping her
pocketbook.

Will grinned. “I did, too. We should do this
again.”

“I like you, Will.” Charlotte gulped. “But I’m not
sure I’m ready for this. Not yet.”

Will nodded. “I know and I understand.”

“You do?”

“Charlotte, you’ve had a hell of a year. This can be
whatever you want it to be. I’d still like to stay in touch. You’re
the only person I know here, and I like you, too.”