as she ran her gaze over the questions, hardly daring to hope. “Is this everything?”
“There’s still the physical, but the medical officer will take care of that. And the loyalty oath that needs to be signed. And the form for getting paid, and then another for requisition of supplies—”
She held up her hand to stem the flow of information. Goodness, the army had a lot of forms! “But for the moment, this is all you need?”
“Yes, miss. Name, date of birth, address, religion, any schooling, current occupation, and next of kin. Oh, and I’ll need to see your passport.”
“It’s in my suitcase. May I bring it by later?” She smiled sweetly to disguise the lie.
He swallowed, his face turning pink. “Uh, sure. Just don’t forget. The army can’t send you overseas until we see it.”
“Deal.” She set the paper on his desk and quickly completed the form, trying not to overly worry about his warning. There was still time for her to ask Wyatt, or even Sue—who didn’t want to be caught short a dancer—the best way to remedy the situation. With only a small pinch of trepidation she added her signature at the bottom, affirming that all the information given was verified and true.
As lies went, signing the form wasn’t that big. The only false information on the form was her new name. She had also decided to list Sal as her next of kin, which still didn’t feel quite right. On the other hand, as long as she sent her next missive home from overseas, maybe her family would guess they should contact the USO with any questions?
“There.” She glanced up. The young man’s gaze was glassy—dazed, even. Too late she realized she had given him a really swell view down the front of her blouse. For Lily the display was rather tame, but for her new persona? Staying in character, she clutched her collar together as she straightened, as if embarrassed. The soldier flushed a dark, guilty red.
Hastily, she handed him the form. As if she’d just given him a live hand grenade, he leaped out of his chair and vanished into the room behind him. The metal clacking of a machine mystified her for a moment, but then he reappeared with a thin metal-ball chain and two dog tags. With fumbling fingers, he managed to thread the tags and fasten the clasp of the chain.
“Here you go.” He held the tags out, his gaze not quite meeting hers. “You’re all official now.”
As she took the tags, all her amusement faded. The warm metal in her palm burned with the enormity of what she was doing. There was no going back now. In for a penny, in for a pound, her grandmother always said. Unfortunately, she suspected she was in for a lot more than a pound.
Another soldier waited outside the office to escort her back to the quartermaster’s. This one, a slightly older private with black hair cut so short it looked blue, wasn’t quite as awestruck by her as the previous fellow. And, as luck would have it, he was also particularly chatty and well able to maintain the conversation all by himself.
Nodding pleasantly, as if following the discussion, she instead reflected on what had happened in the office moments ago. Would Virginia have flirted with the fellow? Was she giving herself away through unconscious behaviors like leaning over without thought to her cleavage?
The answers were likely no and yes, which meant she had to do a better job of staying in character or risk being kicked out of the USO before she even got signed up. It was so frustrating, really. Projecting an air of innocence around women was relatively easy, but around men? Not so much. For some reason, the Y chromosome always brought out the siren in her.
She was literally going to be her own worst enemy if she didn’t get her act together.
By the end of the day, however, Vi was worried less about maintaining her disguise than not having a nervous breakdown. At every turn the army seemed determined to erase any hope of privacy. There were official photographs taken for army records. Fingerprints inked on numerous official-looking cards. A very thorough physical that had her, of all people, blushing with embarrassment, and a whole plethora of vaccinations that left her feeling like she’d been accosted by a rabid porcupine.
The ultimate trial, though, was having to sit through the mandatory lecture on avoiding venereal diseases. The doctor, an older man