Lost and Found in Lavender Bay (The Lavender Bay Chronicles #2)

23. Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

A month later, Laura had just parked her car in parking lot of Cheever Aviation when she spotted Diana getting out of the passenger side of the car in front of hers. The driver was a short woman, no more than five feet tall, with thick, dark curly hair and dark eyebrows. Although Laura didn’t know her, she’d seen her around the plant. She got out of her car and made sure it was locked.

Diana threw her hand up in a wave and smiled. “Hi, Laura!”

“Hi!” she said, joining the two women.

“This is my friend Joy Ruggiero,” Diana said. “And Joy, this is Laura Knickerbocker, the woman I was telling you about.”

“Right.” Joy nodded, appraising Laura with her lively dark brown eyes. “I heard you warned her off Creepy Les.”

“All women coming into the plant need to be warned,” Laura said evenly.

“That’s for sure.” With a nod toward Laura’s car, Joy asked, “Do you drive alone? ”

“I do,” Laura said. “I couldn’t find anyone to carpool with.”

“Where do you live?”

“Lavender Bay.”

Diana grinned. “I live in Lavender Bay too.”

Laura’s eyebrows lifted. She’d never seen her around Lavender Bay, and it wasn’t that big a place.

“I’m over on Peony,” Diana explained. “We just moved there two years ago. Came up from Pennsylvania. My mother inherited the house from her aunt.”

“That’s not far from me at all. I’m on Bluebell Lane,” Laura said.

Joy chimed in. “I pick up Diana on my way in and it’d be no problem to pick you up as well. I mean, if you want to carpool with us.”

“I meet Joy at the Gibson’s Grape Jelly factory,” Diana explained. “Mr. Gibson lets those of us who carpool to the Cheever plant park there.”

Laura couldn’t believe her luck. “That’d be great! I could even pick you up and we could meet Joy at the factory.”

The three of them spoke for a few more minutes before heading inside. Laura thought they must have looked quite the trio, one very tall—because Diana was close to five ten—Joy petite, with Laura in between. But the three of them really seemed to click.

They all worked swing shift together, and for their first week carpooling, they were assigned the night shift. Joy worked in a department soldering cables for the planes, and Diana worked with the buffers. Laura didn’t like working nights. She had no problem staying awake but no matter how much sleep she got, she never felt rested .

On their first drive to Cheever, the three of them were quite chatty.

“I got a letter from my Sam today,” Joy said as she drove along the highway. She sat on several cushions to see over the steering wheel. “I thought when he went away, the letters would be all romance.”

“And they’re not?” Diana asked, surprised.

“Nope. Today’s letter reminded me to get the oil changed on the car. Then he waxed poetic about my lasagna and my eggplant parmigiana saying he couldn’t decide what he’d eat first when he came home.”

Laura sat in the back seat and almost laughed when she spotted the look on Diana’s face. Diana was younger than the two of them and was in the beginning stages of a romance with a sailor fighting in the Pacific, who was still writing letters about his undying love and devotion.

The time passed quickly, and before they knew it, they were pulling into the entrance for the plant. Joy rolled the car through the gate, and the guard, old enough to be their grandfather but pretty spry, came out of the security hut. He motioned for Joy to roll down the window. “Badges, girls.”

As soon as the three of them clocked in, their conversation ceased, and they headed off to their respective jobs.

The ride home in the morning was nothing like the ride in. Gone was the nonstop chatter. The main goal was to stay awake, Laura thought, and more importantly, to make sure Joy didn’t fall asleep at the wheel. Once Joy started yawning, Laura followed suit, but she kept an eagle eye on her. Meanwhile, Diana had climbed into the backseat and was out cold as soon as the car pulled out of the gate.

One down , Laura thought, glancing over her shoulder at the sleeping Diana. The younger woman reminded her of the film star Veronica Lake.

Laura spoke to Joy to prevent either of them from drifting off. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not crazy about nights.”

Joy tilted her head, not taking her eyes off the road. “I know, I feel like something the cat dragged home.” She let out a big yawn. “At least it’s not permanent.”

They were to rotate between all three shifts, six days a week.

As they neared Lavender Bay, Laura began to nod off but shifted in her seat several times in an effort to remain alert. Her eyes burned. She felt slightly queasy, and she couldn’t determine if it was because of hunger or fatigue or both.

As Joy pulled into the vast parking lot of Gibson’s Grape Jelly, she perked up. She pulled up behind Laura’s car, looked over her shoulder, and said, “Diana, wake up, we’re here.”

“Huh.” Diana bounced up, her hair smashed against one side of her head.

Laura and Joy laughed.

As Laura and Diana got out of the car, Laura said to Joy, “We can take turns driving to Cheever so it doesn’t all fall on you.”

Joy nodded, yawning. “Sure thing, kid.”

“And you have my phone number if you need to reach me.”

“Yes. Lavender Bay 4362,” Joy rattled off .

“See you tonight.” Laura smiled and closed the door.

With a tired smile and a wave, Joy drove off.

Diana lived over on Peony Lane, which wasn’t far from Bluebell Lane. It was only after Laura dropped her off at her house that she became super sleepy and had to fight to keep her eyes open for the two-block ride home.

The house was quiet; she’d almost forgotten that the girls were over at Lenore’s. Her parents were in the dining room, eating breakfast. Both looked up when she entered, and both spoke at once.

Her father beamed. “There’s our working girl.”

“Laura, you look exhausted,” her mother said.

“How did it go?” her father asked. As she’d been at the job for three months, she guessed her father was impressed that she’d lasted that long. Admittedly, so was she.

“Fine.” She said with a nod, and looked at the breakfast spread out on the table. Her stomach growled.

“Why don’t you have something to eat,” her mother suggested.

She slid into the chair. “I think I will.” A yawn escaped as she piled scrambled eggs onto her plate.

“How do you manage to stay awake all night?” Leo Wainwright asked.

“I was so busy I didn’t have time to think.” That was true. Plus, she was so afraid of making a mistake that she paid close attention. The men fighting the war depended on high-quality goods, and she was resolved to do the best job she could.

“You’ll go to bed for a little while?” Eleanor asked.

“I will. Did Lenore say what time she’d bring the girls home?”

“Sometime after lunch. ”

Thank you, Lenore. That would give her a good chunk of time to sleep. She ate quickly, scraping her fork against the plate as she gathered the little bits of scrambled egg and put them into her mouth. She washed it all down with a glass of orange juice, which she drank in one gulp.

“Laura!” Eleanor said.

Leo butted in. “Mother, leave her be. She’s a working girl now, and she no longer has time for a leisurely breakfast.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Laura said. “I’m sorry, Mother, I’m in a hurry. I want to get to bed.” She piled her silverware on her empty plate, stood, and pushed her chair in. “I’ll see you later.”

In her bedroom, she peeled off her clothes and threw on the bathrobe that hung on the back of the bedroom door. She used the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. Looking in the mirror, she winced. The bandanna had done no favors for her hair. It was flattened against her head. Not caring, she padded back to her room, shut the door, closed the drapes, and crawled into bed. By the time her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep.

The sound of the girls shrieking woke her with a start. She rolled onto her side, blinking, and looked at the bedside clock, which ticked quietly next to her. It was almost two in the afternoon. She’d slept for five hours but felt as if she could sleep another five.

As the volume of her daughters’ voices rose higher, Laura sighed and rolled over. She pulled herself up to a sitting position and swung her legs over the side of the bed and yawned. A cup of tea and a sandwich would be nice. Slowly, she got out of bed, made her way to the bathroom, and got dressed .

As soon as she appeared downstairs, the girls rushed her. She crouched down and held her arms open for them, enveloping them in a hug. They were warm and smelled of fresh air. They were adjusting to their mother being gone long hours. Going to Lenore’s helped tremendously because the girls loved it over there.

“Were you good for Auntie Lenore?” she asked, eyeing them.

Immediately, they went quiet and nodded. She lifted an eyebrow at Edna, who put her finger against her teeth.

“Are we going to Auntie Lenore’s tonight?” Edna asked.

“Yes. Mommy has to go to work again,” she explained.

“That’s okay,” Edith said. “Hilda gave us molasses cookies last night.” Hilda had once worked for the Wainwrights but had now been keeping house for Lenore for many years.

“That was nice.”

Edna concurred. “They were yummy.”