She could remember the first time she had spoken to Joe Toye. Having spent several months as an army nurse in Aldbourne, she had gotten to know many of the men of Easy Company after they arrived in England. They came into the clinic with a typical array of broken bones, cuts, and scrapes; common mishaps that were the result of training accidents or simply of nervous soldiers with too much time on their hands. Anticipation of the inevitably approaching jump, coupled with beer and testosterone, made bad decisions commonplace.
It was a bad decision that had brought Bill Guarnere into the clinic that day, needing stitches for a gash on his shoulder that was the result of an ill-advised bet and a short-lived motorcycle race. A few of the other men from Easy - Toye, Malarkey, and Perconte, had walked over to the clinic with him, so tease him about his misfortune and the two packs of smokes he had lost in the race.
"Damn Guarnere, you'd better take it easy or you'll never make it to the jump, especially without any cigarettes," Perconte teased.
"Yeah, yeah, fellows but look here," Bill replied, "you think I come all the way over here for some stitches? Nah, I just needed to say hello to my beautiful doll, Katie here. Been too long since I seen her. Ain't that right gorgeous?" He turned his head up towards her with a grin and a wink.
She blushed slightly, gave a small smile and looked back towards the group of them, deflecting Bill's compliment. "I know those Germans won't be as happy to see you lot as I am. If you're half as much trouble as I've heard Easy company has been here so far, they're about to have a rough go."
"Damn straight sweetheart!" replied Bill, to which both Perconte and Malarky gave a chuckle. She looked up again and found Toye smiling slightly, but looking at her intensely with eyes that were so dark they were almost black. As the other men chuckled, he did not break eye contact with her, turning up one corner of his mouth and raising an eyebrow as he studied her face. He was so handsome, and so serious. She spent a moment mesmerized before she snapped out of her trance.
It felt like a jolt of electricity had run through her body as she slowly began to remember that she had to look away. She turned her eyes down to finish placing the bandage on Guarnere's shoulder and busy herself with cleaning up the aid station.
When she came over to England after finishing her trauma nurse training course, Katie had told herself that she needed to be careful around all of these soldiers. There were many, many lonely guys, but with the impending action, she had promised herself that it would be easiest to remain emotionally unattached to them. It helped her to be able to do her job, and she was careful not to let their flirtations, often just mindless chatter given that she was one of just a few girls they saw in a day, go to her head. She measured her replies to be kind and could return a witty joke easily, but she never took it too far, guarding herself against giving any one of them the wrong impression.
The truth was, there had been a man in her life back home in the states. He had broken her heart by breaking up with her after enlisting, telling her that it would be easier this way. She tried not to think about how much pain she was still in, although each day was better than the last. She became numb to thinking about romance, and instead focused her energy on her work. Still, at night, she wondered where he was. Somewhere in Italy, according to the letters she got from her hometown friends. She wondered if he was dead or alive - or on a hospital bed like the ones she spent her days walking amongst.
"Alright fellas, that'll do it. Try to stay out of trouble, please?"
"Sure doll. Hey thanks a million, knew that you'd fix me right up," Bill replied with a smile. As Perconte and Malarky echoed "thanks Katie" and turned to leave, she looked up and saw Joe's intense gaze again. "See you 'round," he said, his voice low.
"Goodbye," she said quietly.
As the men headed out the door, Malarkey turned back.
"Hey, Katie - there's a party tomorrow night, you should come," he said.
"And bring any of your nurse friends you'd like!" added Perconte, to which Malarkey nodded and Guarnere smirked.
Joe had turned back and looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed, but she couldn't read the expression he made. As she looked at them, she couldn't help feeling a bit like she did want to see him again.
"Sure -well, I'll try if you boys don't keep us so busy here in the clinic tomorrow with your feats of strength," she replied.
They smiled and waived, turning as they headed out the large double doors onto the gravel street back to base. She glanced up and watched them go. As they faded further away, she almost thought she saw Joe glance back his left shoulder at the clinic, but she wasn't sure.
She thought about him that evening when she walked back to the upstairs flat she had rented about a mile from the clinic, above a milliner's shop. Maybe she would go tomorrow night. She thought she could get Irene and a few of the other nurses to join her. Even if she went, she thought, she needed to be sensible and stop ruminating about Joe Toye. He may not even speak to her, and in any case, it was still best not to get attached. She felt a bit embarrassed when she realized that she would be terribly disappointed if he paid no attention to her at all.
That night as she drifted off to sleep, she allowed herself the luxury of thinking about him one last time. She imagined what it would feel like for him to wrap his arms around her, or for his lips to be on her mouth, her neck, her….
She woke the next morning with a start, and realized that she had dreamt of him - her heart was racing, and she was undeniably aroused. She stood up and glanced at herself in the mirror, letting the fog of the dream burn off for a bit longer.
As a car horn outside her window startled her, she sighed and turned the tap on, splashing cold water on her face. Enough she thought, as she let her mind turn instead to coffee and the busy day she would have ahead at work.