by Judy Nickles
“Money’s always the problem, isn’t it?” Paula said. “But at least we have jobs. I can remember when they were hard to come by.”
Veda nodded. “My dad was out of work for over a year. We barely got by. I always said I was going to marry money.”
“I just want someone to love me.” The words slipped out of Celeste’s mouth before she realized she’d spoken her thoughts aloud.
“Don’t we all?” Paula leaned back in the booth. “But rich wouldn’t hurt.”
****
The room the girls shared in the boarding house, once the fine home of one of San Angelo’s first residents, was neat and clean but small, as Veda had warned. “Bathroom’s down the hall,” she told Celeste. “And there’s a shortage of hot water sometimes. Why don’t you go first?”
Paula eyed the dress box. “I’m dying to see what you have.”
When Celeste untied the string and lifted out the blue velvet dress, the other girls gasped.
“Oh, my stars!” Paula said. “It’s gorgeous! It’s the one in Cox’s window, right?”
“I’ve been paying on it since the first of November, and I wouldn’t have it out now except I worked for a lady from my church when she gave a party, and then she recommended me to someone else for the same thing. That’s how I got enough to finish paying for it last week.”
“Oh, it’s fabulous.” Veda stroked the fabric. “Honey, you’re going to take the eye of every man there. Paula and I might as well stay home.”
Celeste turned her face away so they wouldn’t see her tears, even though they were tears of happiness at being with friends. In school, even though she couldn’t invite the other girls to her own home, she’d never lacked invitations to sleepovers. Over the last couple of years she had missed the camaraderie and chatter and the inevitable experiments with hairstyles and makeup.
As if she’d read Celeste’s mind, Paula offered to do her hair and makeup tonight. “You don’t need much. Just a little powder on your nose and some of your light lipstick. I wear Tangee, too. Looks more natural.” She brushed Celeste’s hair and pulled it to the side, fastening it with the rhinestone clip so that it fell over her left shoulder. “Do you ever curl your hair?”
“I’ve tried, but it just goes straight again.”
“I saw these,” Veda said, fingering the pin and earrings when Celeste came back from the bathroom and took them out of their box. “They don’t look like some of the cheaper stuff we have.”
“That’s why I bought them,” Celeste said. “I saw something similar at Hemphill-Wells but couldn’t afford them. They gave me an idea of what to look for, though.” She let Paula put on her pin while she screwed on her earrings.
“You don’t have to have a lot of money to dress well,” Paula said. “I learned that from some of the magazines I’ve read. Like you said, you just have to know what to look for.”
“She made me over,” Veda said, laughing. “I had some of the gosh-awfullest things you ever saw, when I first came.”
“They weren’t that bad.” Paula readjusted the neckline on her roommate’s dress. “That’s better.”
“See, she’s still doing it.”
The girls walked arm in arm to the hotel, laughing at nothing and everything. “I couldn’t have done this on my own,” Celeste admitted as they crossed the lobby. She stopped to stare at the shaggy buffalo head on the wall.
“Him we don’t want to meet upstairs,” Paula laughed, urging her toward the elevator. “Next stop, paradise,” she said as they stepped inside.
Celeste caught her breath and held to the brass rail as the car moved upward. “It’s almost magic,” she murmured.
Veda patted her arm. “Got your dollar admission ready? Or like magic you’ll be on your way back down.”
The lights dancing across the polished wood floor almost took Celeste’s breath away. “In warm weather, the casement windows are open,” Paula told her. “And through those French doors is the garden area.”
Celeste pressed her nose to the glass and drank in the tiled roof. “I’ll bet you can see the whole town from up here,” she said.
“Well, part of it, anyway,” Veda replied. “It’s beautiful in the spring with all the plants set around the parapet.”
Celeste chose a chair near a window and forced herself to keep her eyes down, though she wanted to search the room for her prince, the reason she’d come. She’d dreamed about him again last night. Though he looked like Kent, who wouldn’t be there, she knew she’d recognize her real dream prince.
Folding her hands in her lap and crossing her ankles the way Coralee had taught her, she felt inexplicably afraid. Maybe I shouldn’t have come, but please, let him be here. Please.
****
The familiar voice descending from somewhere high above sent a thrill through her. Her stomach knotted as she lifted her face.
“May I have this dance?”
Kent stood there smiling at her.
“It’s you.”
“Just got in this afternoon. Pretty lucky, huh?”
Celeste felt the warmth in her cheeks. “I guess so.”
“I see you got the dress in time.”
“I earned some extra money helping out with some holiday parties,” she said, lifting her chin.
“Hey, you don’t have to explain it to me. Some things are just meant to be, and that dress was meant for you.”
She dropped her eyes. “Thank you.”
“So, do you want to dance?”
She rose, feeling the skirt swirl around her. “Yes, thank you very much,” she said.
He was clean-shaven and smelled of shaving soap, but the hair curling around his ears announced his need for a haircut. “I’m headed home for Christmas tomorrow. It’s been two weeks.”
“Your mother will be glad to see you.”
“She’ll kill the fatted calf—or maybe my brother, if he doesn’t clean up our room.”
Celeste giggled. “That’s nice.”
“Have you ever been here before?”
“No.”
“I’m glad you’re here tonight. You look very pretty.”
“Thank you.”
When the music ended, he returned her to her chair and lingered as if he were waiting for an invitation to sit down. She swept aside her skirt from where it touched the next chair. “Would you like to sit down?”
“I’d like that very much.” He crossed his long legs with the grace of a cat. “You dance very well. Did you do a lot of dancing in high school?”
“In college, too.”
He grinned. “When I was in high school, a visiting evangelist came through and told us we were all going to hell in a hand basket if we went to dances.”
“So did you go?”
“Just as soon as he left town.”
Celeste laughed. “I don’t see anything wrong with it.”
“I don’t either. So, what do you do at Woolworth, if you don’t mind me asking.”
“I keep books upstairs.”
“Do you like it?”
“I always liked making numbers do what they’re supposed to. I have good hours and a good boss.”
“Not me. The numbers, I mean. I can do it all in my head, but I always got into trouble for not putting everything down on paper.”
“Really? I’m kind of like that, but I use an adding machine, just to be sure.”
“Do you think you’ll ever finish college with a degree?”
“Probably not.”
“My brother Neil is a junior. He’d like to work in a museum somewhere, but he’ll probably end up teaching history.”
“A lady started a museum here a few years ago. It’s small, but it’s a start.”
“Well, everything has to have a start.”
“What about you? If you could go to college, what kind of a lawyer would you be?”
“A good one.” He laughed. “And a rich one.”
“Well, of course.”
“Maybe I’l
l go someday. Right now, I have responsibilities.”
Icy fingers skimmed the base of her neck. Was he married?
He seemed to read her mind. “Oh, I’m not married, if that’s what you’re thinking. Never have been. I meant I have responsibilities to my mother and brother. See, my dad died ten years ago, when I was fourteen, and Neil, my brother, was just ten. I think I told you before that Mother takes in sewing, but it doesn’t pay the bills, not all of them anyway. That’s the real reason I didn’t go on to college.”
“What did you do before you started traveling?”
“Delivered groceries, swept up at the market, had a paper route, mowed lawns. You name it, I did it. Then I went with the CCC for a couple of years. It was the right thing for me at the right time. Then I got this job. It’s a good one, but it keeps me away from home a lot.”
“You’re close to your family then.”
“My brother and I are close. Always were. Best friends, you might say.”
Celeste didn’t miss that he left out his mother. “I have a sister, Coralee. She’s still my best friend, even though she’s married and lives out of town.”
“Where does she live?”
“In Sterling City, about forty miles from here. I spend holidays with her.”
“But you’re happy here. You like your job.”
She ignored the first part of his question. “Sometimes I miss working downstairs with the other girls. I came tonight with two of them. But being in the office pays better than being on the floor.”
“Well, that’s important. Money’s still tight, but I think things are getting better. Do you still live at home?”
Celeste hesitated. “It’s just my father and me. My mother died when I was five.”
He frowned. “That’s tough. Girls need a mother.”
“Boys need a father.”
They danced twice more, and then Kent asked if she’d like a soft drink. “I’ll go down and get them,” he said. “It probably wouldn’t look right, the two of us leaving in the middle of things.”
He brought back two paper cups from the soda fountain downstairs. “I drink too many of these,” he said. “On the road, that is. At home, Mother makes the best lemonade you’ve ever tasted. She’s a good cook, too. I get pretty tired of eating out, even if the company pays for it.”
“My sister took over the cooking when our mother got sick, and she taught me while she was still at home. I’m pretty good.”
“Well, you know what they say—the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
She blushed.
“I like that. The way you blush, I mean.”
“I wish I didn’t. All the boys in high school used to tease me to make me blush. In a nice way, of course, but I still didn’t like it.”
“I’m not trying to embarrass you, but how old are you?”
“Nineteen. Twenty next April.”
“You’re dancing with an old man then. I’ve got five years on you.”
“That doesn’t matter, does it?”
“Not to me. You’re young and sweet. Too many girls these days are older than they should be, if you know what I mean.”
“Maybe it’s because of the hard times they’ve been through. My friend Veda grew up in a small town and had to leave home to find the job here. She’s been on her own since she was barely seventeen.”
“Then she’s mature. There’s a difference.”
“But my friend Marilyn still lives at home with her parents. She has a boyfriend in college. They’ll probably get married when he graduates.”
“You said you had a boyfriend when you were in high school.”
“Pete. We were friends, that’s all. We enjoyed going around together, but we knew we were too different to think anything could come from it. He got a football scholarship to the University. He’s going to be some sort of engineer.”
“So you don’t have a boyfriend or a broken heart?”
Celeste felt herself blushing again. “Neither one.”
The silence that felt between them wasn’t totally uncomfortable. “They call this the Roof Garden,” Kent said after a few minutes. “But where’s the garden?”
“Through those doors.”
“Have you seen it?”
“I haven’t been out there. It’s too cold.”
“I think I’ll brave it for a few minutes. I’ve heard a lot about it.” He stood up, but he didn’t move away.
Celeste hesitated for only a few seconds. “All right. Just a quick look.”
They stood by the wall that came just above her knees. Celeste pointed out the buildings she recognized. When she shivered, Kent guided her back inside. “Thanks for the tour.”
She didn’t look at him. “I’ve lived in San Angelo all my life, but it looks different from up here.”
“You don’t see the lights the same way from the street.”
“I guess not. It’s…”
“Magic?” he finished for her.
“Why did you say that?”
He winked. “I read your mind. Would you like to dance again? Stardust is one of my favorites.”
****
Veda and Paula didn’t lack for dance partners, but they stayed away from Celeste after they saw her with Kent. She caught up with them in the powder room when the band took a break. “He’s pretty dreamy,” Veda said.
“He’s very nice. His name is Kent. He travels.”
“Listen, you be careful with a traveling man,” Paula said, giving Celeste her best mother-hen look.
“He’s very polite.” Celeste removed a small tube of lipstick from her purse and applied some, then rubbed her lips together. “Actually, I’ve met him before.”
“Where?” Veda asked.
Celeste recounted the Sunday in front of Cox-Rushing-Greer, leaving out the earlier apple incident. “I probably shouldn’t have gone to lunch with him.”
“Why not?” Paula readjusted a strand of Celeste’s hair that had come loose from the rhinestone clip.
“I don’t know. It was like he picked me up or something.”
“Of course he didn’t,” Veda said. “It was just one of those chance encounters. That’s how romances get started.” She winked at Paula.
“It’s not a romance,” Celeste protested. “He’s just nice. And he’s a good dancer.”
“Does he keep his hands where they should be?” Paula asked. She took a small blue bottle of Evening in Paris out of her purse and dabbed some behind her ears and then Celeste’s.
“Yes, of course he does.”
“Just asking.”
****
The lights came up as the strains of the last song died away. “Where are your friends?” Kent asked.
Celeste looked around. “Over there.”
“You’re leaving together.” It wasn’t a question.
“No, they share a room over on Harris Street. I’m not spending the night, because their room is too small for guests.”
“Is it a long way? There’s no bus this time of night.”
Celeste realized she hadn’t thought far enough when she planned the evening. “I’ll walk. It’s safe enough, I guess.”
He frowned. “Look, I have a car the company gave me after I’d been with them a year. I’ll drive all of you home—you first, then your friends. That way everything will be proper.”
“Proper?”
“I mean you’ll all chaperone each other.”
Celeste blinked. “Oh…oh, yes, that’s a good idea.” She waved at Veda and Paula, who were saying goodnight to the two young men they’d danced with most of the evening.
“Kent says he’ll take us all home,” Celeste said.
“I’ll take Celeste first, then the two of you. That way things will be on the up and up.”
Suspicion clouded Paula’s face. “Up and up?”
“Traveling salesmen aren’t to be trusted, are they?” Kent winked at her.
Paula flushed. “You’ll do.”
Celeste gave directions to her house. As Kent pulled up to the curb, he said, “Are you going to church in the morning?”
Celeste nodded.
“Would it be all right if I met you there? I missed last Sunday, and my mother always asks if I went.”
“I’m sure that would be fine,” Celeste replied. “Ten-fifty.” She glanced over her shoulder at the others in the back. “Do you mind bringing my things to the store on Monday, or should I get them tomorrow?”
“We’ll bring them,” Veda said.
“Thank you very much for the ride.” Celeste slid out of the car before Kent could open his door. “It’s all right. I can get in by myself.”
Kent frowned. “It was just plain too far to walk at this hour of the night. I’d feel real bad if you didn’t get home all right.” He looked around at the other girls. “If all of you didn’t get home all right.”
“Well, thank you again.” Celeste closed the door softly and started for the house, hoping that her father wouldn’t hear her come in.
Chapter Four
Celeste didn’t see Kent when she arrived at church the next morning and decided against waiting outside for him. It would be uncomfortable to explain if someone asked what she was doing. But relief flooded her when he slid into the pew beside her a few minutes later. “I’m glad you came,” she whispered.
“I’m glad I came, too,” he whispered back. He wore the same suit from the night before, but she noticed he had on a fresh white shirt and a different tie.
“Your mother will ask.”
“That’s right.”
“Do you go every Sunday?”
“I try.”
Kent’s strong deep voice made Celeste feel as small as his height did. He found the pages in the hymnal and shared it with her for each song. She noticed he didn’t take communion, but she’d heard that Baptists didn’t do that every Sunday.
As they sang the benediction, “God Be With You,” he picked up her coat and held it for her. Threading his way behind her up the narrow aisle, he said, “It’s a nice day for this time of year. Picnic weather almost.”
“There’s the park behind the fire station, but the wind off the river would make it too chilly to sit outside.”
“Maybe I’ll drive down there and just sit in the car then.”
“Alone?”
