“Hi, Mary.” Sam stood. “You look very nice today.”

“What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at work?”

“Mary, where are your manners? Samuel came all the way over here to see you.”

Mary continued to stare at Sam. Of course, her mother was right; she was being unreasonably curt. Still…

His gaze flitted back and forth between Mary and her mother. “I missed you. I thought maybe we could go for a walk or something.”

“I have homework to do.”

“That can wait until after dinner. You two run along.”

Mary opened her mouth to protest. Her mother, the one who constantly nagged her to get her homework done from the moment she walked through the door after school, wanted her to fritter away an hour or more with Sam.

There was nothing for it. If she continued to resist, she’d catch heck from her mother later. “Give me a minute to freshen up. I’ll be right down.”

She fixed her makeup, checked her breath, combed her hair, and was back downstairs within five minutes. “I’m ready.”

Sam beamed at her. “You look fetching.”

“Thank you. I’ll be back in time for dinner,” she called over her shoulder to her mother.

“Don’t rush. Samuel is welcome to join us.”

“Sam has better things to do.” She fairly shoved him out the door in front of her. When they turned the corner and Mary was sure her mother could no longer spy on them from the living room window, she stopped short and rounded on him.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“What are you talking about? Can’t a guy miss his girl?”

Mary sighed. “You know I’m working my tail feathers off to pass this English test. I can’t be gallivanting around with you when I should be studying.” She resumed walking, adjusting her pace to match his uneven gait, a remnant of his bout with polio as a child.

“Come on. You know deep down you’re happy to see me.”

“I know deep down that if I don’t pass this test, I don’t graduate.” She kicked a stone on the path. “So, why aren’t you at work?”

“I got off early. Old man Bailey said some sprockets we needed to fix Mrs. Hadley’s watch hadn’t come in yet, so I didn’t have anything to do.”

They walked along in silence for a time, and when Sam interlaced his fingers with hers, she allowed it.

“Your mom says you’re going to start a full-time job at Meyer’s after graduation. Do you know what your hours are going to be?”

Mary groaned. “I don’t want to talk about it. That whole thing depresses me.”