Ed shoved his hands in his pants pockets; his face looked like a thunderhead. “For godsakes, Eleanor. Ain’t thirty-five years enough time to carry a torch for a man who’s never looked twice at you? You been after him since first grade, for Pete’s sake.”

Eleanor regained her footing, and stomped down from the stool. “I have not!”

“He’s engaged,” Ed said. “To a real hot potato. I saw her when they came in.”

Eleanor turned pale.

“Excuse me?” Nick interrupted. He had been thinking, thinking, Maybe, if I could just catch her alone, right when she gets off the train, I could at least ask her. If she’s coming right here, and I’m here already, what’s to stop me, even if I am a plum fool? Maybe she never cared for me, but maybe she did. I can at least ask her. The ring felt heavy in his pocket, and he could see her pretty blue eyes, the curve of her smile.

Eleanor and Ed both looked at him, annoyed.

“What time does the red-eye get in from Minneapolis?”

Ed’s eyes narrowed with distrust. “5:05 A.M.,” he said. “Why?”

Nick just smiled. 5:05 A.M. He would still have nearly four hours to spare. “Thanks,” he said, and took another bite of his burger.

Chapter 50

ON THE RED-EYE TO PINE RAPIDS
Thursday, November 22, 1945

When Elissa awoke, the sailor was gone, and she was leaning on the shoulder of the soldier seated next to her. “Oh,” she said, quickly sitting up, straightening her beret. “I’m so sorry.”

“That’s all right,” said the soldier. “I didn’t mind.”

She was too embarrassed to look at him. “Can you tell me where we are?”

“Next stop’s Pine Rapids.”

“Thank goodness,” Elissa said. “Thank goodness I woke up in time.”

The soldier didn’t say anything, but he gave her a melancholy smile when the train finally slowed and she stood.

“I’m sorry again,” she told him, finally taking a look at him. He was tall and gangly, with a long face and small eyes.

He shrugged. “Happy Thanksgiving,” he told her.

“Same to you,” she said, and, with some difficulty, negotiated her way past his knobby knees. Fortunately, the aisle had cleared out, and it was not hard to slip past those few men dozing on their feet.

She rushed down the steps of the car and out into the clear blackness of the very early morning, inhaling the pine scent of home, the smell from the cheese factories, the brackish odor of the train heaving on the track behind her. The thin layer of snow on the platform reflected the lights that shone from the depot and the bright light of the moon.