She didn’t even look up, much less look surprised. “Would you follow me anyway if I said I minded?”
I stopped, offended. “’course not.”
“Then you can walk me home.” Her heels kept clicking on the sidewalk as she looked back at me and shrugged. “A girl has to get some kind of idea of who wants to walk her home, Private Muldoon. Soldiers are usually polite, but I’ve already met a few who don’t want to take no for an answer.”
Under my breath, I muttered, “An’ that’s why somebody oughta be walking you home,” then louder said, “Gimme a minute to get my coat?”
Her steps slowed an’ I took that as a yes. Some doll at the coat check had seen me running out, and had my coat ready for me. I gave her my best grin and slung it on as I went back out the door to catch up with Annie Macready. She wasn’t alone, not quite. There were other couples heading home, some driving, but a lot more walking like me and Annie. There were a few groups of girls all hanging together, which made good sense. The Eagles Club was close to a neighborhood, just far enough out that late dances wouldn’t make the neighbors complain too much, but it backed up to a big wild park where anything could happen. Annie led us away from the park, into the heart of the neighborhood, and girls peeled off from their groups the deeper in we got. “’If it’s anybody I know givin’ you a hard time, I’ll take care of ‘em for you.”
Her voice got syrup-sweet. “And what does that mean, Private Muldoon?”
“Means I liked it better when you were callin’ me Gary,” I muttered again, then, louder, said, “I donno. Talk to ‘em an’ knock some sense into ‘em if that don’t work?”
“At least you started with talking. I hate the idea of men getting into fights over me, even for the most noble of reasons.”
“Thought girls liked that kinda thing.”
“I suppose some of them do. They probably don’t want to be nurses. Can you imagine the ignominy of having to patch up two or three of your suitors because they were fighting over you?”
“Darlin’, I barely know what ignominy is, never mind having to feel it.”
Annie Macready gave me a sideways look that turned into a laugh. “I don’t think I believe you, Private Muldoon.”
I grinned down the street. “Believe what you want, sweetheart. Not much I can do about it.”
“You’re a very confident man, aren’t you, Private Muldoon?”
“Yeah, but I think I found a girl to give me a run for my money, Miss Macready.”
Her nose wrinkled. “I like ‘Annie’ better.”
“Then you gotta stop callin’ me Private Muldoon. It makes me feel like I oughta be standin’ up and saluting.”
“Oh, all right. I was just teasing you anyway.”
“Me too. I got a rise outta you faster, is all.” I offered my arm and she wrinkled her nose again an’ tucked her big fuzzy sleeve into the crook of my elbow. “How far we going?”
“In a hurry to get back?”
“Figuring how to make it last.”
A giggle burst outta her. I raised an eyebrow an’ she stared straight ahead, trying like the devil not to blush or laugh again. I got a grin that spread slow but wouldn’t quit. “Why, Miss Macready, I think maybe you got a little bit of a dirty mind there. And you seem like such a straight-laced girl!”
Her cheeks turned bright pink and her grin was so tight I thought it might explode right off of her face if she let it go at all. “I have two older brothers and a father who are all soldiers, Mr. Muldoon,” she said, prim as she could through fighting that smile. “Sometimes they say things a lady shouldn’t hear.”
“And then she’ll keep askin’ around until she finds out what they meant? Aw, c’mon, darlin’, don’t tell me girls don’t whisper ‘bout the same kindsa stuff we do,” I said when she gave me a cautious look. “I got a sister too, you know.”
“I didn’t.” She latched onto that, and I guessed I couldn’t blame her. “Older or younger?”
“Older, ‘bout four years older. Name’s Irene. She used to give me advice about girls. Guess she still would, if I needed it.”
“But you’re a football hero,” Annie said, which made me laugh.
“A couple seasons of college ball don’t make me a hero, doll.”
Her smile lit right up. “Don’t spoil my fun. Football hero is how I’m telling the story, and surely a football hero doesn’t need help with girls.”
I grinned down the street. “You tell me.”
“You’re doing all right.”
“Hmph. ‘All right’. I’ll take it, but next time I’m gonna do better.”
“Next time?” Annie stopped at a driveway beneath a big ol’ leafless tree. “You expect there to be a next time? This is me.”
“I sure hope so.” I looked up the drive at a plain little cozy-looking house and shook my head. “Nah, sweetheart. It might be your ma, but it ain’t you. Your house will be painted something bright, to match your soul.”
Annie Macready said, “Oh my,” and left me standing on the sidewalk and feeling like a fool.
CHAPTER NINE
I spent the whole next two days of leave trying not to fret. Me and Andy went out to see Monterey Bay, which was about the prettiest place I’d ever seen, with the calm blue water an’ all sorts of little personality-filled towns around it. It was nothing like Seattle, but I guessed nowhere was ever like home. Andy seemed okay with that. I didn’t know what he’d left behind in Alabama, just that he’d come out West before joining up, and I wondered just what all he’d left behind. It wasn’t the kinda question a fella could ask. At any rate, we didn’t have lots of time for talk anyway, ‘cause I’d thought girls liked a football player, but that wasn’t anything compared to being in uniform. But I kept thinking about Annie and forgetting to flirt, until Andy threw his hands up an’ told me to go find the girl. I said I couldn’t do that, and I thought he was gonna blow a gasket.
“I already know you’re too damned dumb to have gotten her number, but you know where she lives, don’t you?”
“Sure, but what kinda big puppy shows up on the doorstep without an invitation?”
“One who might get shipped out any day.”
That shut me up and sent me heading across town without him, back to the street where Annie lived. A nice older lady who looked a lot like her was in the front yard, tending to a flower bed, when I walked up the street. She gave me a look up and down, then brushed her hands clean on her skirt an’ got to her feet with a smile. “I guess you’re Private Muldoon.”
“I guess I am, ma’am. Are you Mrs. Macready?” I leaned across a low white fence an’ offered my hand.
She took it with a soft grip. “I am. I’m afraid Anne’s not home, though. It’s Sunday afternoon. She had to head back to Oakland for school. She stays there during the week and comes home to visit on weekends.”
I put my hands in my pockets an’ rolled back on my heels to cast a look at Heaven, wishing Andy had kicked me into motion earlier. “That’s just about the worst news I’ve had all week.”
Mrs. Macready had dimples just like her daughter’s, ‘cept thirty years older. “Maybe hearing she spent all day Saturday talking about you will take the sting out. You made an impression, Private Muldoon. I might not have believed her when she said you were very handsome, but I’ll have to apologize for that.”
“Aw, nobody who’s played as much ball as me can be all that good-looking, ma’am. Got my nose broke a couple times.”
“It lends you character. Though from what Anne said you might have plenty of that already.”
“Well, thanks.” I caught up to what she was saying and my eyebrows went together. “’bout being handsome, I mean. I ain’t sure about having so much character. Would you have a number I could call her at, Mrs. Macready? I shoulda asked her myself, but she kinda…got the upper hand somewhere along the way an’ I never got it back.”