Beth pursed her lips and set about unpacking her things.
“Oh, I’ve offended you,” said Ruth, getting up to catch Beth’s line of sight.
“You haven’t offended me,” said Beth. “I’m just happy I’ll be of some use.”
“Yes, well, we all have to be useful, don’t we?” snorted Ruth as she reached into a drawer and pulled out a crumpled packet of cigarettes and a match.
“Please don’t smoke in here,” said Beth, a little sharper than she’d meant.
Ruth looked up, the cigarette hanging from her mouth. “The mouse has a bite.”
“I’m not a mouse. And I would appreciate it if you would not smoke in this room.”
“Why not?” Ruth challenged.
“Because my aunt Mildred smokes, and I never could stand it.” Beth turned around fully to face her roommate, her arms crossed over her chest. “We don’t have to like each other, but we do need to bump along together. It would be easier if we agreed upon that from the beginning.”
Silence stretched between them. Not having had much practice, Beth’d never been very good at gauging this sort of interaction. Maybe she’d gone too far. She didn’t want to make an enemy out of her roommate within the first few hours of meeting her. But then Ruth took the cigarette from her lips and slowly slid it back into the packet.
“I’m sorry. I can be a horrible child when I don’t get my way, and these last months, nothing seems to have gone my way,” said Ruth.
“You mean being a land girl?” Beth asked.
Ruth laughed. “You’re not just a pretty face, are you, Bethy?”
“Don’t call me Bethy. It sounds horrid.”
“I hate it here, Beth. I hate the work, and the early hours, and that there’s not a damned thing to do for fun. I hate that I hate it because Mr. and Mrs. Penworthy have been nothing but kind and patient with me, and I’ve been utterly beastly.”
“Why don’t you apply for a transfer? Or become a Wren or a WAAF,” said Beth, even more convinced than ever that the navy or the Royal Air Force’s women’s auxiliaries would suit Ruth far better.
Ruth flopped back onto her bed again. “The Wrens won’t have me because I was kicked out of the ATS.”
Beth couldn’t help it when her eyes flicked to Ruth’s stomach. “Kicked out?”
“Not because I was pregnant or anything like that, you goose,” Ruth laughed. “I drank on base and stole an officer’s car. Thought I’d be able to toddle off down the road and find some fun, but I crashed it into the gate instead. Silly of me, really. After that, none of the auxiliary branches would take me. Becoming a land girl was my very best option out of a lot of rubbish. Conscription waits for no woman.”
“And now you’re stuck here,” said Beth.
“Until I can find someone to marry me, although not even that’s enough. I’ll need to get pregnant, too, before they’ll let me go.”
“It doesn’t sound like the quickest plan,” Beth said.
“What about you? Do you have a beau?” Ruth asked.
“Actually, I do.” How odd that sounded.
Ruth flipped over on her stomach and grinned. “Oh, do tell.”
Beth drew in a breath. “His name is Colin. He grew up on the next farm over from my parents. When I moved to Dorking, we began writing to each other. It was silly, really—we were only ten—but eight years later, we’re still writing.”
Still writing and somehow… sweethearts? She wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened. One day, just after Christmas as Beth was waiting for her instructions from the Women’s Land Army, Colin had rung her at her aunt’s house.
“I’ve been thinking. We like each other, don’t we?” he’d asked.
“Of course we do. We’ve been friends for ages,” she said with a laugh.
“Will you be my girl?”
She’d bobbled the telephone receiver, barely catching it before it crashed to the floor. “What?”
“Think about it. You’re off to your training soon. I’m being sent to Italy in just a few days. Wouldn’t it be better if we both had someone waiting for us?” he asked.
“But, Colin, we barely see each other.”
“But we write. We speak on the telephone sometimes,” he said.
“But do you actually love me?” she asked.
“More than any other girl I’ve ever met,” he said. “Besides, who would love a farmer’s son like me except the girl I’ve known all my life?”