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Canteen Dreams

By Cara C. Putman

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CHAPTER ONE
December 6, 1941

She hated attending dances alone.

The hardwood floor of the train station's hall thumped with the beat of couples jitterbugging. A record hissed and popped as it circled around a player. The slight distortion gave the swinging rhythms of the Glen Miller Band a unique sound. Audrey Stone watched the couples dance from her spot on the side of the room. She should step over and start a conversation with someone.

"Hi, Audrey."

The deep voice startled her. She spun toward it, her hand clutching her throat. As she looked up into Graham Hudlow's square face, she wanted to throttle him. "Graham, you scared me. Don't you dare sneak up on me again."

His expression fell before he set his jaw. "Audrey, would you dance with me? You know you'd rather be dancing, even if it's with me."

She considered him as she weighed the correct response. They'd grown up together since he introduced himself by pulling her pigtails in school. He'd pursued her since they were in junior high, but his bookish looks and orderly personality held no appeal to her. While she didn't want to encourage him, one little dance couldn't hurt. And it would certainly relieve the boredom of the night. She inclined her head in a slight nod. "I think I'd like that."

She placed her hand on his arm and allowed him to lead her back inside and to the dance floor. The shuffle of dozens of couples on the floor beat a rhythm in time with the strains of Chattanooga Choo-Choo. She followed Graham as he guided her into a vacant slot on the floor. Seamlessly they joined the others.

"You look beautiful tonight." He eyed her, shoulders tight as he waited.

Audrey wanted to believe his words, but knew they couldn't be true. "Graham, you say I look beautiful when I clean stalls in my grandparents' barn."

"Well, you do."

"A woman can not look beautiful in that setting and you know it. And when you say I do then, it cheapens the words now." Audrey felt his shoulder stiffen under her hand as she spoke. She slipped another six inches between them as they continued to dance.

"You are the most difficult woman I know."

"Then you need to get out more, Graham." And stop following me everywhere. As the song faded to an end, Audrey stepped away from him with a slight smile. "Thanks for the dance, Graham. I enjoyed it." Audrey fanned her warm face with her hand. The heat told her that her normally china perfect skin had flushed a bright pink.

She stepped away as Graham switched his attention from her to locating a new partner. Audrey scanned the laughing couples and looked for a friendly face to approach.

Lainie Gardner swirled past in a whirl of swinging skirts. She winked at Audrey over the corner of Roger Wilson's shoulder, and then returned her full attention to him with a coquettish laugh. Audrey grinned at her friend. Lainie, always determined to be the belle of the ball, hadn't sat since she arrived forty minutes earlier. Instead, she flitted like a firefly from dance to dance, each time with a new partner. Her exotic, dark coloring and energy attracted the men while Audrey felt like a common sparrow in contrast.

Audrey shook her head as she watched Lainie. "Why on earth did I let her talk me into this?"

Audrey smoothed the peplum of her navy gabardine dress with her fingers. She'd bought it because it made her feel beautiful despite her petite build. She'd even tried to flip her short reddish curls to look like Kate Hepburn's. And the only one who had noticed was Graham. "I might as well be mucking stalls for all the notice anyone has given me."

The scent of pine boughs filled the air and mixed with the potpourri of perfume the women wore. Overwhelmed by the smell and number of people in the room, she moved toward the door. Stepping around a couple as they entered the station, she inhaled a lungful of fresh, December air. She wrapped her arms around her waist and looked toward downtown North Platte. She smiled when she heard the familiar piercing of a train's whistle. North Platte saw more than its fair share of trains as a hub for the Union Pacific railroad.

A shiver shook her frame. "Time to get back in there and warm up."

Audrey walked through the crowd until she spotted Lainie with another young man. She struggled to release the feeling her best friend had abandoned her, but it took immense self-control. With a sigh, she accepted fate and returned to the food table. A cup of punch would quench her thirst as she waited for a dance. She picked up the delicate cut-glass cup, then startled when someone bumped her shoulder. Drops of punch sloshed over the edge of the cup and onto the white tablecloth.

"Please don't stain." She groped for a napkin and quickly patted her bodice where the red punch dotted the fabric.

"Excuse me. Is there anything I can do to help?" The tenor voice didn't belong to anyone she knew.

Heat flushed Audrey's face as she brushed the last drops off. "I'll be fine. Thank you."

"Could we start over? Would you dance with me?"

Audrey drew in a deep breath and ordered her face to mask her frustration at the spilled punch. She turned to meet the stranger's gaze. The more she looked the more he looked vaguely familiar, like someone she might have walked by downtown or at an event.

"Hello." A hint of laughter touched his brown eyes. They were flecked with a hint of gold. And he towered over her since he stood at least a head taller than her slim frame.

"Hi." Audrey tried to gather her thoughts, which seemed to have completely abandoned her.

"So may I have the honor of a dance?"

She shook her head slightly to clear it, then stopped when his smile faltered a touch. "I would enjoy that, but first you have to tell me your name." Why couldn't her voice be steady at a time like this?

"Willard Johnson at your service." He raised his eyebrows and flashed a rakish grin at her, one that would make Clark Gable proud.

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