"Swell. I'll be there around ten, okay?"

They sat in pleasant silence, Doug calling for strudel all around. "And coffee. You kids are sure restful. It feels good to be still."

"Yes."

"I hope you're more sociable than Erika, or it must be mighty silent around your place. She's the most shut-mouthed gal I know.”

"We like it quiet."

"How'd you girls get together? You're not a teacher, are you?"

"We just met, the way people do." Erika closed her fingers on two of the three checks. "Kate and I are working girls. We pick up our own tab. And we do have to be going."

"See you tomorrow, then."

He held Kate's old tweed, Erika's loden coat. They went out into the quiet evening street. It was a misty evening, too warm for snow. Kate shivered. She put her hand in Erika's pocket. "I've seen him, but I don't know where."

"In the mirror. He looks a little bit like you."

"Oh, no!"

"Well, maybe not much," Erika conceded, "but his face is shaped like yours and his hair is the same color, a little lighter maybe. He could be your brother."

Kate stopped still. Erika looked at her. "What's the matter? Are you sick?"

"I'm all right."

"Doug's all right. The kids like him, too." Erika took her arm. "Look, darling, we can't shut other people out of our lives completely. Nobody can. We have to see people."

Kate remembered the woman at the employment agency, the curious stares that had followed the two girls in the cafeteria, the shamed purple blush on Mrs. Brownlee's fat face. "It makes me feel as if we ought to be ashamed, or something. Why can't they let us alone?"

"Are you ashamed?"

"No."

They went into the house holding hands. "The last time," Erika said quietly. Already the two bedrooms looked stripped and forlorn, Kate's bed covered with folded clothes, cardboard boxes and wire hangers scattered around. Erika's board and brick shelves were empty. Kate shivered. "I wish we were already settled in the new place."

"We'll be happy," Erika promised her. "Don't always be thinking about the future, it may never come. Be happy right now."

CHAPTER 16

"Time to get up."

"In a minute." Kate sat up and stretched, yawning widely. It was a sunny day. "It would be a good day for a picnic," she said lazily, turning over and pulling the covers up around her shoulders. "With a bonfire."

"I hate to waste a whole day moving. We could go riding if we had some horses." Erika rolled over. Kate could feel the whole firm smooth length of her. "Even indoors I can think of things to do."

"You're not trying to give me ideas, are you?"

The corners of Erika's mouth curled into laughter. "None that you don't already have. Why do you have such a pretty chest?"

Her lips were soft and warm, then hot and greedy. Kate wriggled with pleasure. "Put your hand here."