Read Online Seasons of Her Life by Fern Michaels - Free Book Online Page A

was wonderful. Anything, Ruby decided, was wonderful if you were sharing it with friends. Later she couldn’t remember what she ate.
    She sucked in her breath and squeezed Nola’s arm when Marlon Brando pranced onto the screen. A definite hunk. She loved it when he yelled, “Hey, Stella” and laughed aloud. But what she liked even more was Calvin’s arm around her shoulder, just as Alex’s arm was around Nola. Both girls sighed happily.
    Outside the movie house they split up, Nola and Alex taking the trolley, she and Calvin walking.
    She wants to be alone with me, Calvin thought.
    My feet hurt, Ruby thought, but she couldn’t in good conscience let him spend any more money on her. She noticed that he’d left the tip for the waitress, even though Alex paid for their food. Somewhere along the way they must have come to an understanding, because there was no quibbling in regard to the bill or the gratuity. Calvin wasn’t a cheapskate. She felt pleased with the thought. Oh, she had so much to write to her grandmother about.
    On the corner of F and Ninth streets, Ruby came to a halt under a streetlamp. “I think I should go the rest of the way alone. In case my sister is waiting in the lobby ... she’s ... sometimes she doesn’t care where she is when she says something. I had a swell time tonight, Calvin. Did you?”
    The night was soft and dark, the lamplight dim and intimate. A dog woofed softly in the darkness. “Don’t the stars look like a giant blanket?” Ruby whispered.
    â€œYes,” Calvin whispered back. “Will you go out with me again?”
    â€œSure. I’ve been wanting to go to the zoo ever since I got here. I could make us a picnic lunch. Saturday or Sunday?”
    â€œBoth,” Calvin said, drawing in his breath, as if in anticipation of her answer. He looked as if he wanted to kiss her, but then panic came into his eyes, and he stepped back and jammed his hands into his pockets.
    â€œOkay,” Ruby said cheerfully. “I’ll see you Saturday at the entrance to the zoo. Is noon okay?”
    â€œNoon is fine. Good night, Ruby. I had a great time.”
    â€œ ’Night, Calvin,” Ruby said, striding off.
    Â 
    When Ruby was out of sight, Calvin looked around to get his bearings. He decided to walk for a while. He wanted to think about Ruby.
    Yes, sir, he told himself, he’d had a great day. Ruby was his girl. She was. He whistled the melody of “Oh, You Beautiful Doll,” and his feet picked up speed. He wanted to get back to the base and into bed so he could think about Ruby and what it would be like to kiss her ... and ... other things.
    By the time Calvin reached the base he had himself convinced he was a “real” American. If he were otherwise, a girl like Ruby Connors wouldn’t give him the time of day. Today was the closest he’d come to being one of the people he’d so envied all his life. Ruby’s friends had acted as if he were one of them, and Ruby hadn’t blinked when he confessed to being Filipino. Decades back in his ancestry was Samoan blood; the result was his height. He didn’t look one bit like those pipsqueak, subservient little people who served as meticulous waiters and kitchen help to the military.
    He had a girl now, a real live, walking, talking, smiling girl who liked to hold his hand, a girl who smiled with her eyes, a girl who understood him.
    His girl.
    Â 
    Ruby walked into the Y with shining eyes. She stopped in her tracks, and her jaw dropped when she saw her sister sitting on one of the orange chairs under the window with Andrew Blue next to her. Amber was smiling and so was Andrew. Ruby’s guts churned. When Amber put her mind to it, she could charm the feathers off a duck.
    â€œAre you waiting for me?” Ruby asked coolly.
    â€œAndrew’s been waiting for you since noon,” Amber said just as coolly before Andrew could open his