I scrabbled in my suitcase for a clean set of clothes and a comb, rushed to the ladies’ and had to stand in a queue of other girls. None of them were getting off in Roanoke, though, and so they let me go ahead of them, no doubt seeing what a state I was in and how badly my hair needed fixing.

In the cubicle I changed as quickly as I could, splashed water on my face and hair and ran a comb through the worst of the tangles. Had I really kissed Jim? What was I thinking? Shame made my eyes ache. I hurried out, my dirty clothes crushed in my hand, and back at the seat I used a compact to finish tidying my hair and apply lipstick with a shaking hand.

‘Here,’ Mary said, taking the tube from me, passing me a tissue. ‘Wipe it off and we’ll start again.’ She pushed the tube against the contour of my lips, her hand steady, her breath smelling of coffee and pastry. I could see the blonde hairs on her upper lip, the raised mole beside her ear.

‘Hold still!’

She finished and leaned back to appraise me. ‘He’ll think you look gorgeous. What’s his name?’

‘Roy.’

Saying it brought tears to my eyes.

‘Don’t you dare,’ Mary scolded. ‘You’ll mess it all up!’

‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘It’s just…I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m so homesick and I’m not even there yet. I hardly know him.’

‘Oh dear. We all feel the same. But we’re here now, we’ve got to make the best of it.’

We were pulling into the station, and I could see the platform, a low building of red brick, a clock reading ten past ten, a few scattered clusters of people.

‘Brave face. Chin up. That’s a girl. And don’t forget your book.’

Jim’s book! I’d forgotten to give it back to him. It was too late now. He would think me crazy for throwing myself at him on the viewing platform. At least I would never see him again. At least I could pretend it never happened. I put The Grapes of Wrath in my overnight bag. I’d post it to him, without a note, once I was settled in.

The Red Cross ladies came to fetch me from my seat. I was the only war bride getting off at Roanoke, though I could see from my window other passengers disembarking.

‘Goodbye, Mary, thank you.’

‘Good luck,’ she said, looking up from her knitting. I couldn’t meet her eyes.