“A name that my friends and family call me. My real name is Osbourne. Most of the fellas in the army call me by my last name, Philips.”
“Osbourne.” She rolled it around in her mouth. “I like that better.”
“Are you working tonight?”
“No, it’s my night off. But I can still get you a cocktail.”
Ozzie had come with the thought that he wouldn’t drink, but the moment she offered, he got thirsty. Once the song ended, Jelka led him to two high chairs at the bar.
“Two shots of Jägermeister,” she said to the girl tending bar.
Ozzie raised his glass to her and then downed it. She did the same. The music sped back up.
“Will you teach me how to do that dance?” Jelka tilted her chin.
“You want to learn the Lindy Hop?”
She nodded.
Ozzie was a good dancer, and after another shot, he spun Jelka to her feet and showed her the step. When she didn’t seem to get it, he grabbed her around the waist and moved her hips.
“Like this?” She smiled.
“You got it.”
As the night wore on, Ozzie had waved off other girls as Jelka produced more drinks and they burned holes in the dance floor. The bartender shouted, “Last call,” and Jelka leaned into Ozzie. “Osbourne, will you walk me home?”
Ozzie felt a warm sensation in his cheeks. He liked the way she said his name, and he dipped his head so she couldn’t see him blush. “Of course.”
He motioned to Satchel that he was going. Satchel pointed to him, signaling the universalYou the man.Ozzie waved him off and held the door open for Jelka. The night air refreshed him as they strolled down the street.
“Do you like the moon?” she asked.
“How do you know?”
“You keep looking at it.”
“When I was a kid, I thought the moon was my protector,” Ozzie confessed, remembering long nights at his bedroom window watching it while he waited for his father to come home.
“I like the moon too. I pray to the moon.”
“I don’t pray.”
“You should.”
A gush of wind caught the collar of his drab coat, and Jelka stepped closer to him. Her trench was thin and didn’t seem adequate.
“You warm enough?” he asked her.
“No.”
“How can I get you warm?” He put his arm around her shoulders, and caressing her caused a familiar ache in his groin.
“Will you stay with me tonight?” She asked so directly that Ozzie stumbled, unaware that he had been lonely for a woman’s comfort until she asked. Her delicate voice, her small fingers on his back, and her heady scent soothed him. Ozzie was hungrier for affection than he had realized, and Jelka’s invitation turned a light on inside him. He didn’t trust himself to speak, so he reached for the back of her head, brought her face to his, and kissed her slowly, threading his tongue into her warm mouth.
“Come with me.” She grabbed his hand and led him down one street after another. They finally reached a large three-story house at the end of the road with a candle burning in the window.
Leading him up the front stairs, she knocked lightly until a thick woman with her hair tied in a scarf appeared. Ozzie watched as they exchanged words in German.
