‘While you boys go back to your dorms for prayers and Bible study of an evening, I suppose,’ Bobby said, glaring at him.
‘It’s different for men.’
‘Why? Because you have to fight?’
He shrugged. ‘Partly.’
Bobby shook her head. ‘You think you’re so bloodynoble, don’t you? Dealing with this great weighty conflict while we’re typing and swooning over you, to be patted on the head like good little girls or sneered at like tarts, depending on whether we meet your approval. Just playing at war, aren’t we? Secretaries and cooks and surrogate mothers, and surrogate wives when that’s what you need, sanctioned in best blues.’
Ernie blinked at her. ‘That was a hell of a speech.’
‘I just don’t see what right men have to look down on us because we can’t fly. Could you win this without us? Could you?’
‘I never said what you girls were doing didn’t matter, did I?’
‘Then why so holier-than-thou about how we choose to let off steam when we’re off duty?’
‘This is why disease is rife in the services. Women who were probably nice girls in civilian life, acting fast just because they can. Men taking God knows what back home to infect their poor wives with. It’s disgusting.’
‘It takes two people to do that, doesn’t it?’ Bobby countered. ‘I know what men get up to when they’re away from home, and airmen the worst of the lot. “Running After Fluff”, right? Isn’tthat the joke? Is it so surprising that women want to live in the moment just as men do, when times are so uncertain?’
‘Well, perhaps not, but—’
‘Or do you think that because you’re risking your lives, you’re entitled to treat us as a perk of the job?’ she went on. ‘I’ve heard the crude things people call us in the WAAF. Airmen’s comforts. Pilots’ cockpits. Men who think airwomen and their bodies are no more than playthings to amuse them between ops. I thought you, at least, might have the gallantry to show us a little respect.’
His scowl lifted, and he smiled at her. ‘You know, I’ve missed you telling me off.’
Bobby folded her arms. ‘I never met anyone who deserved it as much as you do.’
‘It’s only for being friends with you that I’ve come to realise what a massive hypocrite I am.’ He nudged her. ‘Truce? Come on, we were having a nice time before.’
Still Bobby frowned, however.
‘If you knew the first damn thing about those women’s lives, you’d have more respect for them,’ she said. ‘All you know is that they’re enjoying themselves at a party after two weeks of being locked in, and you condemn them for it. Why should it be for you to judge? Oh, sorry. Why should it be for you to judge,sir?’
‘It shouldn’t,’ he said quietly. ‘You’re right and I’m wrong. I was boorish and rude and I consider myself duly chastened. Forgive me and let’s go dance.’
Bobby shook her head. ‘Not tonight. I’m not in a dancing mood.’
‘But you do forgive me?’
She sighed, her anger disappearing as quickly as it had arisen. ‘There’s nothing to forgive, I suppose. I know you and I will never agree about these things.’
‘And you’ll dance with me to prove we’re still friends?’
‘I’d rather not, Ernie.’ She pressed her fingers to her temples. ‘I’m getting a headache. I ought to go to bed.’
‘Come on. Just one, to prove I’m really forgiven, then I’ll walk you back to your hut.’
‘Well… all right. But only this one.’
She stood up and let him lead her to the dance floor.
Bobby had danced with Ernie King many times, but there was something about this dance that made her uncomfortable. She wasn’t sure why. She had always felt a little guilty about being in Ernie’s arms even though it had felt impolite to refuse, knowing Charlie might be jealous, but as the aching in her chest and the lightness of her wedding finger reminded her, there was no longer any reason to feel guilt. And there had been no reappearance of what she now thought of as ‘the look’. Bobby was almost convinced she had imagined the whole occurrence. Ernie had been kind to her tonight when he’d seen she was upset, and eager to have her company so they could talk over old times, but there had been nothing lover-like in his behaviour.
So why did she feel unsettled? As he wrapped one arm around her waist, took her hand and drew her closer while the sweet, husky notes of Marlene Dietrich singing ‘Falling in Love Again’ played over the gramophone, she felt her body stiffen.
Of course, Ernie noticed this immediately. He was a devil for noticing things, that man.
