in love with Ben. I think I always have been.”
A million different thoughts ran through June’s head. She stayed silent until she could decipher one of them. Finally, she said, “I understand.”
Chloe’s eyes widened. “You do?”
Reaching down, June indicated the broach she was wearing. “Did you know that your grandfather gave me this?” The pin was shaped like a tiny flower. It was a gorgeous enamel, done in purples, blues and greens. “He gave it to me a few days before we got married. And to be honest, I didn’t know if I should even accept it.”
“Why?” Chloe breathed.
“Because I was having doubts.”
Chloe walked over to the couch. Hesitant, she took a seat. “You’ve said that. You asked your mom to send you to a nunnery.”
June squirmed. “That story isn’t exactly true. I made that up because . . .” She thought back to that one terrible night with Eugene. To this day, it still filled her with regret. “Because the real story . . . Well, it hurts my feelings, to be perfectly honest.” Swallowing hard, she said, “One night, your grandfather and I made the foolish mistake of having a heart-to-heart, just a few nights before the wedding. And he told me . . .” She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, as though she had the power to stop the words. The memory came anyway, as clear as day. “He told me that he was afraid he wasn’t in love with me.”
Chloe’s mouth dropped open. “He said that?”
June fussed with the afghan, then finally set it aside. “I’m afraid so. Your grandfather and I got engaged because of the war, you see. His number came up and we decided to just do it. But because of that one stupid night, when we said all the things that we shouldn’t, I spent the first few years of my marriage not knowing if my husband was really in love with me.” She shook her head. “Boy, we were so young. What did we know?”
Chloe wrinkled her eyebrow and looked out toward the window. Sleet was pelting the windows in a steady, rhythmic crunch. “What are you trying to say to me?”
“I don’t want to meddle,” June emphasized, “but I know what you’re going through right now. You’re jumping into a marriage and you’re worried that it might not work out. But love is a funny thing, Chloe. It has a way of working itself out.”
Chloe fiddled with a beaded bracelet on her wrist. “You still haven’t said a word about Ben. I said I could be in love with him and you just ignored me. Tell me.” Her granddaughter’s face was troubled. “Why don’t you like him?”
Oh, for heaven’s sake. If the girl was going to drag it out of her . . .
“I don’t like Ben,” June said, “because in all of those years of friendship, he has never bothered to see you as something more. You’re an amazing woman, Chloe. And it hurts me that he can’t see it.”
Chloe stared, her hands folded tightly in her lap. “That’s the only reason you didn’t like him?”
“Isn’t that enough?” June sniffed. “Honestly. You were standing right in front of him for how many years? How could he possibly be dumb enough not to see it?”
“I think I’m going to go,” Chloe said, getting to her feet. The poor thing looked dazed. Exhausted, really. “This day has been a little too much for me.”
June also got to her feet, her muscles aching. The tension of the day had been too much for her, as well. “Alright.” Finding her purse, she unearthed a twenty. “Take a cab. Tell him to drive slow. The roads are slick.” She looked at the window, trying to fight back the fear in her heart. “Considering your mother is out there, most likely freezing to death, I want to know that at least one of you made it home alive.”
Chloe walked over to June and collapsed in her arms. As they held each other, June kissed the top of her granddaughter’s head. “Everything will be just fine,” she whispered. “Everything’s going to be alright.”
The words echoed in her ear as June stood at the front window, watching as her granddaughter hailed a cab, but June wasn’t certain she believed them. The moment the taillights faded into the night, she walked over to the phone and dialed up Charley. He was at his house, waiting for her night with the girls to come to an end.
“Come on over,”