By the time she dragged herself through the front door, it was almost 8:30 p.m. She made herself supper out of a can of baked beans and a ration of bacon she’d waited in line several hours to get.

She’d just finished washing her dish in the sink when the phone rang. Her heart skipped a beat. Please be you, my love. She picked up the receiver. “Hello?”

“Collect call from Mrs. Roosevelt,” the operator intoned. It was the signal they’d agreed on.

“I’ll accept the charges, operator,” Nora said.

“Hi,” Mary whispered breathlessly on the other end after the operator had clicked off the line. “I miss you.”

Nora held the receiver closer to her ear in order to hear. “I miss you too.”

“My mother finally went to bed, but I don’t think I should stay on long.”

“How’s it going?”

“Eh. My mother is still mad at me for telling Sam to pound salt. My father is almost fully healed but still not himself, and I miss a certain someone so much I think I’m going to combust.”

“That certain someone feels the same way. Come home, Mary.”

“I want to, more than you can imagine. My father goes back to work next week. I think that’s the perfect time to tell them I’m going back to Tennessee.”

“What do you think your mother will say?”

“I think she’ll pitch a fit, but in the end, she’ll have to let me go.”

“Do you still have the other half of your train ticket?”

“Are you kidding me? I carry it in my bra.”

Nora laughed. “Excellent hiding place.”

“There’s a problem, though.”

“What’s that?”

“I heard from the housemother that they rented out my dorm room and put my stuff in storage. I don’t have a place to live anymore.”

Nora had been afraid of that. With hundreds of people being hired every day now, living space was even more at a premium than ever. She bit her lip. “I may have a solution for that.”

“What’s that?”

“You could come live with me.”

“Nora Lindstrom! Not that that wouldn’t make me the happiest girl in the world, but how in the world do you think you’re going to pull that off?”

“You leave it to me. Just promise you’ll come back to me when your father goes back to work.”

“I cross my heart and swear to God.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

“Uh-oh. I think I hear my mother. I’ve got to go.”

“Okay. I’ll take care of everything on this end. You just get here.”

“I will. Soon. ’Bye.”

“’Bye.” Nora held onto the receiver long after the line went dead. A plan took shape in her head. With any luck, it might even work.