“Dot. Talk to me.”
She bit her lower lip, wishing she could disappear.
“Hey.” His fingers touched her chin. “Look at me, Dot. It’s just me.”
So she did, feeling sick with guilt. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
“I kissed you back.”
The intensity of his expression was too much. She turned away. “This is wrong. It feels wrong. I can’t. I’m sorry I started it.”
“Are you?”
“I am.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. What if it isn’t what you think it is? What if it doesn’t work out and I lose your friendship as a result? I can’t do that, Gus. I need you too much.”
“You’d never lose me, no matter what,” he assured her. “You’re stuck with me.”
“I will never forget what you did, taking me to see Dad tonight, and I know how much it meant to you as well. So thank you, Gus. Thank you for doing that for me. But I need you to stop thinking about… us. I kissed you because I was excited, I was grateful, and I was emotional. I shouldn’t have. I regret it.”
“You regret it?” His eyes narrowed slightly. She recognized a flicker of anger in them. “I’m disappointed, Dot. I thought you never lied.”
He drove the rest of the way to the camp without saying a word, and she flushed with shame. Of course he knew how she felt deep down. He could read her so well. Saying she regretted what had happened was far from the truth, and they both knew it. But if lying about how she felt was the only way to make sure it never happened again, she was glad she’d done it.
At camp, he brought her safely to her room, barely even looking at her, and she’d slipped inside without speaking. When he was gone, she curled up on her bed, feeling miserable. She couldn’t do anything right. By kissing Gus, she’d struck out on a new path without a map, following an impulse she should have ignored. By letting him go, she felt lost. Now she didn’t know which way to turn. Somehow she’d ended up more alone than ever.
fortyDASH— Halifax, Nova Scotia —
The train ride to Halifax took two days of little sleep, but when Dash finally walked into the misty Nova Scotia fog, anticipation whirled around her. She tightened her scarf and inhaled the unfamiliar smell of seaweed and salt water. That’s when it hit her that she was truly leaving, not just Ontario, butCanada, and she was about to sail across the ocean on the famousQueen Mary. For heaven’s sake, Bob Hope had been on that ship! She could only imagine what Mary and Ginny would have to say about that. If only they were with her. She’d write them all about it, and they’d gasp and giggle over every detail.
Even from the train station, she could see the massive ship looming over the harbour, its three big steam funnels on top. Her father had taken a similar journey almost thirty years before, though she didn’t think he’d ever sailed on theQueen Mary. Her mother had been so envious when Dash told her she’d be on this particular ship. She’d write to her, too.
Good thing she had a lot of stationery. The only person Dash was not going to write to was Dot.
Following a line of fellow travelers, Dash hauled her suitcase across the street toward the Halifax pier, then hesitated, unsure where to go for her ticket. The crowds of men around her were a little intimidating, butshe worked up the nerve to approach a couple of redheaded men speaking to each other.
“Excuse me. I wonder if you can help me,” she said.
They turned to face her, and she did a double take. One wore a navy uniform, and the other was dressed in civilian clothing, but there was no mistaking that they were twins. The only difference she could see was a rather dramatic scar across the face of the one not in uniform.
“Of course we can,” said the one in uniform. “What do you need?”
She glanced between them, wondering if she should tell them she was a twin as well. “I’m… I’m not from here, and I’m wondering where to go for a ticket.”
“Normally Pier 21,” he replied, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder.
“But there was a fire a while back,” said the brother with the scar. “Second storey is gone. There’s a detour that way.”
She squinted and spotted a wooden sign where they indicated. “Pickford and Black’s Wharf?”
“It’s a temporary departure site.”
She couldn’t stop looking at the men. “I’m so sorry. It’s just that—”
“Let me guess. You’ve never seen twins before,” said the first.
