Betsy Colter stared out the train window, refusing to imagine her ex-fiancé Lloyd’s face reflected in the glass. Night fell, leaving the world outside in darkness except for lamps illuminating the train platform. Oh, she shouldn’t be so melancholy. She’d discovered weeks ago that her heart wasn’t as broken as she’d originally believed. Lloyd never did make her pulse race or mouth go dry. He was just…Lloyd, the boy who’d always been there.
She sighed. Well, no more. Now, he belonged to another, and Betsy sat on a Santa Fe railroad train heading from Kansas City, Kansas, to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Or at least she would be once the train started moving again.
Why not venture out and see what the country might have to offer? Her parents were gone. Father had died five years ago from an accident at the mill and her mother only a few months ago from a car accident. As an only child, Betsy had no one to talk to about the path her future should take. She made her own choices, following God’s lead the best she could, and tried to keep loneliness at bay. And now, in her purse sat a contract. She was going to be a Harvey Girl.
With the war in full swing, the Harvey Company had warned her she’d work to the point of exhaustion every day, serving food to thousands of military men each week not only on the arriving trains, but also from nearby Camp Carson. Perfect. Busyness would keep the pain of rejection away. She’d further serve in some other capacity come her day off each week. Whatever it took to make her feel needed again.
Blinking away tears, she rubbed the condensation from her breath off the window and gazed out at the large group of men in army uniforms who congregated on the platform. Several of the men whistled and waved. She smiled and gave a small wave in return. They weren’t the first group she’d shared a car with, but they were definitely the largest. She glanced around the train car at the few women onboard. They’d be overrun for sure.
Before she was able to get up, she found herself boxed in by three rowdy young enlisted men.
“Someone beautiful to pass the time with.” A private with hair so blond as to be almost white sat across from her.
Next to him sat an olive-skinned young man. The third man plopped next to her, laying his arm casually across the back of the seat and dropping a harmonica into his front pocket.
Betsy straightened and moved as close to the window as possible. Despite not knowing the soldiers, she didn’t feel unsafe or uncomfortable, just squished. After all, these would be the type of men she’d serve meals to each day. She could use the train ride to practice her skills at being friendly, yet able to keep the men at arm’s length.
“I’m Private First Class Gregory,” the man next to her said. “I’m a doctor. You can call me Spencer.”
Betsy looked up into eyes the color of a summer sky. His oak-brown hair, even cut as short as was required by the army, gleamed with health. A chiseled jaw and well-defined lips completed the picture. Betsy smiled.
Here was the diversion she needed. Private Gregory’s good looks were as far from Lloyd’s red hair and freckles as they could possibly be. She held out her hand. “Betsy Colter, Harvey Girl.”
“Pleased to meet you. These gentlemen are Private Shuman and Private Perez. We’re on the last leg of our journey until we go overseas. Medics, all three of us, reporting to Camp Carson for a few days before heading for France.” He flashed her a dimpled grin. “Off to save the world.”
“How commendable.” The opportunity to enjoy a handsome man’s company, knowing she would never see him again, gave Betsy a freedom she didn’t think possible. No commitments, no promises to be broken, nothing but good conversation and a few laughs. One of Lloyd’s excuses for betraying her was his assertion that all army men were scoundrels—and he hadn’t been able to resist the charms of a particular beauty. Betsy’s eyes were now wide open. She wouldn’t get too attached to any military man, but she didn’t mind the attention now and again, same as any other girl.
As the train pulled away from the depot, a waitress in a starched white dress and apron wheeled a cart down the aisle and handed out brown meal boxes.
Private Shuman frowned. “Boxed meals?” He peered after the waitress. “Someone told me the Harvey Company was a classy joint. She looks like a nurse.”
“The war has changed a lot of things, Private. This is better fare than the norm, I guarantee you.” Betsy opened her box. A fresh turkey sandwich nestled at the bottom with fried potatoes and an apple. Sufficient, even if it wasn’t the glamorous meal once served by Harvey Girls on the trains. She did look like a nurse. Would Betsy serve on the train or in one of the Fred Harvey restaurants?
After a quick prayer of thanksgiving, she bit into her sandwich. The Harvey Girls ministered with smiles and good food rather than medicine. Maybe Betsy had found her place to be needed, and wanted, after all.
“I’m going fishing with those other dames. This gal’s already rationed by Gregory.” Private Shuman closed his box. “Come on, Perez. If we’re quick, we’ll beat those guys to the other pretty girls.”
Hmmm. Betsy concentrated on her food. The anonymity of being in a crowd was lost now that the intense gaze of Private First Class Gregory focused on her. Why, the man hardly blinked. Whatever could be going on inside his head?