Free Taking a Chance on Love by Mary Razzell Page B

doorstep, even if that doorstep was two flights of stairs up from the bottom of their property.
    â€œToo bad you can’t drive,” Bruce said partway through the route. “We could change jobs halfway through.”
    â€œI can drive. My brother, Sam, taught me.”
    â€œNext time.”
    â€œYou’re all dressed up,” said Mom. “Are you going to the dance again?” I was wearing my new red, short-sleeved sweater and white cotton skirt patterned with crimson roses.
    â€œYes, and Bruce Hanson is giving me a ride home … It’s not like it’s a date or anything,” I hurried to explain as I saw a look of disapproval begin to cloud her eyes. “It’s his sister Anna. She wants him to go to the dance. She’s got a date, and she wants to spend all her time with him. She told me that Bruce won’t dance with the summer girls there because he doesn’t know them, and he doesn’t want to get to know them.”
    â€œBruce is that way. Always a bit standoffish. It’s been worse since the woman he was engaged to in Halifax dumped him. She broke off their engagement soon after his ship was torpedoed.” Mom grimaced. “Burns all over,” she said, running her hands down the front of her body to indicate the extent. Then she clapped her hands to both ears. “Even inside his ears. He wasn’t expected to live, let alone live any kind of normal life. Mrs. Hanson was beside herself. The whole thing was just too bad. Some don’t blame the young woman for not wanting to marry him — the shape he was in — but he took it hard. Very hard. I’m surprised he’s dancing again. Of course, when his sister Anna makes up her mind about anything, it gets done. So if Anna has decided that Bruce is going to get back to some sort of social life, then it’s going to happen.”
    â€œI didn’t know all this.”
    â€œWe don’t tell you children everything … Don’t stay out too late. You’re working in the morning.”
    The dance floor was almost full when Bruce and I arrived. Amy and Glen were dancing in the corner of the room, heads bent towards each other like two birds. I spotted Anna and her date, a tall man in a soldier’s uniform. He was holding her tightly, and she had a dreamy smile on her face.
    Once we started to dance, I forgot all about everyone except Bruce. To be moving with the music in the soft summer night, his hand firm on my back, was my idea of heaven. They were playing Benny Goodman’s “Taking a Chance on Love.” Yes, I thought, you take a chance when you fall in love.
    The set finished about twenty minutes later, and Bruce and I stood there waiting for the next one to begin. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Amy leave Glen and head straight for us.
    â€œMeg, I’d like to be introduced to your partner,” Amy said. “And you can dance with Glen.” Amy stepped in closer to Bruce and smiled up at him.
    Bruce stepped back. The music started. Without even a glance of acknowledgement to Amy, Bruce took my hand, and we were out on the floor dancing before I had a chance to really register what had happened.
    I watched Amy turn and head back in Glen’s direction. Her spine was rigid. She held her shoulders so high they almost reached her ears.
    She was too late for Glen. He was already up and dancing with a summer girl, an older girl about eighteen. Her family came up to the Landing every summer in their yacht. I won’t have to worry about Amy again tonight, I thought. She’ll be too intent on getting Glen back.
    Just then, Robert Pryce came in the door with his wife and Glen’s mother and stepfather. They all began to dance. Dr. Barras, a big man, was surprising graceful.
    Without warning, the loud sounds of a man’s shouting came up the path and in the open doorway. Everyone looked over that way to see Sylvia Ballard’s husband stumble