Lilly gave her a quick hug and continued on towards her patients, and Cate stared after her for a moment, remembering how excited and positive they’d been when they first arrived. Those first days at sea and then walking arm in arm through the streets of Dunkirk seemed a lifetime ago now; then, she’d thought they’d spend a few months working as nurses before she was reunited with her fiancé by Christmas. How wrong she’d been. And why was it that no one was telling them what was happening? Everything they knew came in snippets from the soldiers arriving, and although she’d pieced together as much as she could, she still had no idea how long they’d be staying, or what was going on. Besides, it couldn’t really be as bad as rumors had it; she was convinced the direness of the situation was being exaggerated. Could the German army really defeat the British, French and Belgium forces combined? She picked up the bandages she’d come looking for to give her hands something to do, hoping she wasn’t being overly naïve in her thoughts.

“Nurse Cate?”

She glanced over her shoulder and saw one of the injured soldiers watching her. Cate had been nursing since the very beginning of the war, and she’d tried so hard not to form attachments to any of her patients. She’d felt pain and sadness for them often, and held more hands and tended more wounds than she could count, but it wasn’t until recently she’d been in danger of developing feelings for one of the men in her care. Before, Charlie had always been so clear in her mind, but lately, he’d started to fade, and she no longer saw his face in the soldiers who passed through her hospital every day.

Now, she could barely walk past without this particular man turning her head, and she went to great lengths to make sure Lilly didn’t see. After the news they’d received about Charlie . . . She gulped, forcing the thoughts from her mind, not wanting to remember. It only made her feel worse about her growing attraction for her patient. And sitting with him through the night as they’d traveled in the lorry hadn’t helped her feelings any, either.

“What can I do for you, Lieutenant?” she asked.

“Get me out of here?” he joked.

She sighed. “You and me both.” She wondered if he would be evacuated before the end of the day, and she selfishly hoped not. “Would you settle for a drink instead?”