Right Here Waiting by K.E. Belledonne

Author:K.E. Belledonne [Belledonne, K.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Interlude Press
Published: 2015-02-09T17:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Dear P—

Congratulations on your promotion! I’m so proud of you. I know how proud you must be, of yourself and of your crew. They sound like a swell group of guys.

I have your portrait framed on my desk, so I can look at you as much as I want—maybe I’ll carry it from room to room, just to have you with me. Will they take a new one with your captain’s bars?

Bets and I are still volunteering at the canteen, having a wonderful time and meeting all sorts of wonderful people. Mainly, we’re just chatting with soldiers, making sure they have enough to eat and that they’re having a good time. Bets says she’s hoping to “bag a colonel” and I shudder to think of all that that might imply.

Not much else has changed. It’s cold here now, and everyone’s having the hems rolled on their last season’s winter coats, trying to make do without a new one. And so I’m up to my ears in woolens, but at least it keeps me busy.

Bets has just come in and read over my shoulder. She wants me to inform you in no uncertain terms that she is not attempting to wheedle or finagle any colonel into a marriage proposal or otherwise long-term indecent proposal of any sort. In any case, she keeps muttering something about the highest-ranking officer she’s met there is a major. I take it to mean she thinks marrying a major won’t suffice.

She’s a menace and a handful and a riot, all in one. I adore her. But, you already knew that.

I’m sorry for being silly tonight. I’m feeling light as a feather and flippantly silly. We’ve had so much fun this evening, she and I.

I wish you were here. I miss you so.

All my love, always.

Me.

* * *

Ben was in the stockroom, loading a tray with soda pop when Mikey came barreling down the staircase.

“Ben! Get your bony ass upstairs!”

“What’s wrong?”

“The singer is caught in traffic. The crowd’s chomping at the bit, the band’s ready, but the bandleader insists they need a singer, so I told them you sing, and they’re waiting for you.”

“You… what? What?” Ben started to set the tray down.

“Give me the tray, dummy. You go sing.” Mikey nudged him roughly toward the stairs.

Mikey had discovered Ben’s singing ability one Saturday morning while Ben was taking inventory in the stockroom. Ben had thought he was alone and was singing loudly. He was completely surprised and embarrassed when Mikey began applauding after a particularly raucous rendition of “Why Don’t You Do Right?”

Ben stumbled up the stairs and made his way across the crowded dance floor toward the stage. He tripped walking up the steps. The bandleader eyed him critically and snapped, “‘Tuxedo Junction,’ in A. Now.”

Ben went on autopilot. He did love to perform. He knew this song by heart. He wasn’t quite as comfortable a showman as Pete, but he did have a certain something special of his own.

The crowd went wild at the end of the song.

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