eyes to listen more intently as machine-gun fire rattled the airwaves, trying to picture what was going on as she kept praying.
All of a sudden, another explosion and the sound of a plane careering to the ground. Then Lizzie felt sheer relief as his voice cut in.
‘Okay, that was a close one, Red Two, but we got him,’ and all at once she was able to let out the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. Thank God he was all right. She knew how often they lost pilots, and sometimes only one in five returned, but not today, not Jack.
Later on in the day as she was finishing work she saw him on her own base. He had obviously been sent over and was talking to another pilot. She raced across the square to intercept him. His eyes lit up as he spotted her.
‘Lizzie! From the theatre! This is a nice surprise,’ he started, greeting her with a kiss on the cheek, so unruffled without a hair out of place. ‘I thought I wouldn’t see you again till the dance on Saturday.’
She was shocked at how blasé he was being.
‘I realized it was you in the sky today. And my God, it was very close, Jack. I was listening in,’ she spluttered out, not wasting time on pleasantries.
He turned to face her, a curious expression crossing his face. ‘You were worried about me?’
‘Of course, it is very dangerous up there.’
‘How sweet to know someone is thinking about me in that way.’
‘I was praying,’ she confessed, not even trying to play it cool.
He studied her face intently as if taking in all of it and then raising his hand, he brushed away a stray curl that danced across her cheek.
‘My very own angel on earth keeping me safe in the sky,’ he whispered. He looked deep into her eyes and for a minute she thought he might kiss her as he drew his head close to hers and his gaze wandered to her lips. Then apparently realizing that it would have been inappropriate with them both on duty in uniform and in view of everyone else on the airfield, he pulled away reluctantly and drew in a long slow breath. ‘It all sounds much more dramatic than it really is,’ he stated hoarsely, trying to remain casual.
And Lizzie felt tongue-tied by the intensity of their exchange. It was only their second ever meeting but it felt like his heart was already heading in the same direction as her own, and as concerned as she was about his close call today, her heart soared with that knowledge.
He quickly changed the subject.
‘Would you like to go for a drink? Alan and some of the other lads are going to the pub; it may be a little raucous but I would love it if you could join us.’
Lizzie smiled and nodded, noticing how quickly she slipped into feeling comfortable around him and with the prospect of doing things together. It was a strange dance in her heart between the warmth of the friendship that was building between them and the stirring emotion she felt coursing through her body just being close to him. But as they walked to the lift he had arranged, the unease of the early event hadn’t entirely left her.
‘How do you do it, Jack? How do you go into the sky time after time and be okay? Aren’t you afraid?’
He seemed thoughtful for a minute, and stopped walking. Looking down at the ground he seemed to concentrate on her words.
‘Honestly, Lizzie, I don’t think about it. If I did, I probably would be afraid. But fear is a luxury we cannot afford. We are making split-second decisions, any of which could be our last. Shooting from the hip, going on instinct, and if you were to dwell on that fact you would be frozen, unable to do your job. So, I go up, and I do what I need to do to win this war. Every one of us does, and it’s really tough when we lose pilots and friends. But that’s what sends us into the air again and again. We see the faces of all the men we have lost and want to make their deaths mean something, make sure that their sacrifice was not in vain.’
She nodded, understanding, and purposely she threaded her fingers through his. He gladly accepted her reassurance and acknowledged that by lifting her hand to his lips and brushing her knuckles with