“Yes, I—I think so. He doesn’t talk about it.”

JJ didn’t answer.

After a moment, slowing her scrubbing, Dolly spoke again. “Do you ever talk about what happened to you?”

“No,” he said.

She heard his footsteps again. She turned just in time to see his back framed in the door as he left the room.

She could have kicked herself.

Some time later, as the kitchen started to show its true colors, she was getting her hopes up about the house again, though she still felt bad for having upset JJ. Suddenly, she heard his voice behind her. “I’m going downtown,” he said.

He had given her quite a start, and her heart took off again. Then she thought, What if he says something to someone?

When she turned to look at him, he was smiling, just as though nothing had happened between them, just as though she had never stuck her foot squarely in her mouth. But he smelled even worse than before.

“Don’t wait for me, all right?” he said.

“Oh,” she said, her mind racing. “All right. Um, JJ?”

“What?”

“Could you do me a favor and not mention to anyone in town that I’m working for your dad? My husband—he—well, actually, he doesn’t know. I thought it might hurt his pride, you know? It was just—I wanted to buy him an extra special Christmas present this year, using my own money.” When that came out of her mouth, Dolly was actually impressed with her improvisational skills.

JJ winked, and nodded. “I see,” he said. “No problem, Dolly.” He made no move to go, just stood there looking at her.

She decided to take the opportunity—he was seeming so friendly. “Say, JJ?”

“Yes?”

“If you’re not staying—do you think your family would ever considering selling this house?”

A shadow crossed his face; he ran his hand over his hair. “My dad would be the one to ask about that. I don’t know anything about it.”

“Oh,” she sighed. “Yes, I suppose. I’m sorry. It just—it seems sad, left alone like this.”

He quirked his mouth, but all he said was, “Well, see you tomorrow?”

“It’s Saturday tomorrow,” she said. Real housekeepers didn’t work on weekends, she was sure.

“Monday, then?”

“Yes, all right.”

Chapter 41

Pine Rapids
August 1943

Ty had been gone since June, at Basic Training, and Elissa had spent most of the summer volunteering for the Red Cross: rolling bandages, knitting, fund-raising with her mother. They wanted to do their part; plus, they kept busy to keep their minds off things. JJ was somewhere in the Pacific. According to his latest letter, his unit was busy getting ready, though for what he could not say, if he even knew. Elissa wrote to her brother every week, to Ty every day.