Free Taking a Chance on Love by Mary Razzell

thought you’d have more of a tan.”
    â€œI’ve been working at Mrs. Hanson’s, so I haven’t had that much time … Let’s go sit under the bridge.” It was one of our favourite spots to talk when we didn’t want anyone to overhear us. I decided not to say anything to Amy about Glen.
    The day still held some light, but it was darker under the bridge, dark enough that it was hard to read Amy’s face. I usually took my clues from her. Were her eyes bored? Did she look restless? If so, I would change the subject to one I thought would please her. Usually, it was about her.
    â€œAnything new about Robert Pryce and Mrs. Ballard?” Amy asked, once we had settled ourselves comfortably. The damp air smelled of clean creek water, ferns and alder trees. A car rumbled across the bridge over our heads.
    â€œNo. Though Mrs. Ballard has been acting miserable about something. No one knows why. She looks kind of sick to me, all pale and thin.”
    â€œHas Robert Pryce been hanging around my house much?” Amy asked in an off-hand way.
    â€œI’ve been so busy working that I haven’t noticed,” I said.
    â€œWell, my dad is plenty mad about it. I don’t think he’s going to come home anymore.”
    I sat bolt-upright with shock. “You mean, ever?”
    â€œThat’s what it sounds like. He’s talking about a divorce.”
    I didn’t know any divorced people, well, except for Dad and Glen’s mother. And Dad and Mom had married long before I was born. People separated, or lived together with someone else, but they didn’t divorce. There was a stigma even about the word. Adultery had to be proved. Some men hired a woman to be caught with them in a hotel room, had someone photograph the two of them together, and that was legal grounds for divorce. That’s the way it was, even if the wife had been the unfaithful one. It was considered gentlemanly of the husband to protect his wife’s name. The whole procedure was expensive, and people on the peninsula often didn’t bother. They just went about their business quietly, and others looked the other way.
    Amy said, “Even if he doesn’t get a divorce, he is not coming back. He’ll send money home, and I’ll still live here and go to school at Gibson’s, but it means that I’ll have to go into the city if I want to see him.”
    â€œWill you mind that?”
    â€œNot really. I sleep on the couch in the living room of his apartment, and we go lots of places together. I can’t wait to show you all the new clothes he bought me … This brother of Robert’s … What’s he like? Is there something going on between the two of you?”
    â€œWhy makes you ask that?” I said.
    â€œI thought I picked up something, especially on his part. When he looks at you, he gets all tensed up, almost as if he’s mad about something.”
    â€œYeah, well, he made a pass, and I didn’t like it.”
    â€œOh. So the field’s clear then. I wouldn’t mind if he made a pass at me. God, the way he’s built.” Amy sighed deeply.
    â€œHe plays tennis. It must be because of that. Come on, let’s go. The mosquitoes are eating me up.”
    â€œAre you going to the dance tonight, Meg?” Anna Hanson said, as she came into the kitchen the next morning. I rinsed the new potatoes I’d been scraping and put them in a pot of cold water.
    â€œI was going to, but I changed my mind.”
    â€œDon’t do that,” she said. “Bruce needs a partner, and I’ve got a date with Alfred Kallio tonight. He’s an old flame, and I’ll be dancing with him all evening. I don’t plan to let him slip through my fingers again. Twenty-five and I’m an old maid.”
    Bruce had come into the room as we were talking. He poured himself a cup of coffee and looked over at me. I never knew what he thought of me.