Eliza leaned back on the bed, falling into the pillows and staring up at the ceiling, wishing she could go over to his house, just up the road, and join in the birthday celebration. Oh, how she longed to see him again! “Yet what I feel for him can never be,” she whispered.

SATURDAY, JULY 24, 1948

That Saturday at market, Eliza happened upon Eb by sheer coincidence. Just seeing him made her heart leap up as he caught her eye and smiled. Then, just as quickly, he turned back to unload more produce for the man who was presumably his father or uncle.

She returned her attention to her aunt’s shopping list, delighted to have seen Eb again, even from afar. Then, heading to the fudge market stand, she wondered if purchasing some for Great-aunt Joanna might sweeten her up a bit. Wouldn’t that be something?

Eliza chided herself. Maybe Aunt Joanna can’t help being crochety. Eliza’s mother had written something to this effect in her recent letter. Growing old takes courage, Mamma had penned, as though encouraging Eliza to continue to show kindness.

It’s easy to be kind and caring when a person appreciates it, Eliza thought, choosing a box of fudge and paying for it with part of the monthly allowance her father sent her. It’s the sour attitude that’s hard to bear, she decided.

She was glad for the grocery cart, which was filling up so quickly she knew she’d have to call a taxicab to get back to Great-aunt Joanna’s. She made her way outdoors to the pay phone around the side of the building where the farm market was held and placed her emergency coins in the slots.

The phone began to ring just as she heard a knock on the glass door of the phone booth. Turning, she saw Eb silently waving his hands to get her attention.

She hung up the phone and cracked open the folding door. “What’re ya doin’?”

“I’ve got my Dat’s buggy if ya need a ride,” he said quietly.

“Won’t we be seen?”

“Not if ya sit in the back seat and I close both doors.”

“It’ll be hot in there, won’t it?”

He frowned. “Do ya want a lift or not?”

She nodded, suppressing her laugh.

“Go behind this building to the third buggy parked on the right, and get in,” he told her. “I’ll meet ya there in five minutes.”

“Denki,” she said, dumbfounded that he was willing to take this risk.

Eliza felt like a fugitive all slumped down in the second bench seat, directly behind Eb in the driver’s seat. But that didn’t keep the two of them from talking a blue streak. Eb said he’d found her birthday card and thanked her, saying it was the “topping on his cake,” and she admitted that she’d wanted it to be special.