How Far Would You Go For Your Country

How Far Would You Go For Your Country? – Chapter 4

The next morning, on her mother's orders, Lily found herself working in the bakery from early in the morning. So much for this being a holiday back home.

"Put jam on those sponges!" Her mother shouted through from the back room.

"Of course, Mother," She called back, rolling her eyes and muttering to herself. "And I'll clean the counters, wipe the windows, serve the customers…"

The bell above the door jingled as someone entered the shop. Looking up, she saw Bill standing there. He scrubbed up well in the light of day, handsome in his uniform.

She saw him looking longingly at the cakes in the display case.

"You came down here for that free cream cake, didn't you?" She sniggered, setting down the jar of jam.

"Actually, I came here to give you this," He tutted at her in offence, holding up her lighter from the night before. "But, yes, since I'm here I will take that cake."

"I was looking for that," She said, taking it from him and slipping it in her apron pocket. She indicated to the display. "Very well. Choose your weapon."

"What's good?"

"That one,"

"Mmm, I don't really go for nuts," He screwed up his face. He changed the subject as he perused. "Y'know, I think you left your lighter with me so I'd have to find you and give it back to you."

She burst out laughing. He was so cocky! "Highly unlikely!"

"Hmm, I'm not so sure," He smirked, pretending to put a lot of thought into his cake decision. "What's this one? Apple in a cream cake? That can't be right."

"We normally use strawberries, but they're scarce what with the rationing and all," She replied, dryly. "And perhaps you didn't give me it back on purpose so that you could see me again."

"Hell, maybe," He chuckled warmly, giving her a flirty look. She raised her eyes in shock. How suggestive. He tried to change the subject. "So…did you make up with your friend?"

"Not yet," She said, looking away.

"Well don't worry," He said positively, sensing he'd touched a nerve. "Why don't you come for a drink tomorrow with me and my buddies? I still owe you one for the darts accident and I have the whole day off."

"No thank you," She said almost instantly, remembering the night before and what she'd been warned.

Besides, she thought to herself, as she saw Ellen walk past the window, I have to make sure things are running smoothly at home. She turned to Bill. "Excuse me."

"Is that Bill Guarnere I hear?" Her mother's voice came from the back.

Lily didn't have time to reply, however, as she rushed from the shop in pursuit of Ellen, eventually catching up to her and grabbing her arm. "Ellen!"

"Oh, hi," Ellen said awkwardly, staring down at her feet.

"Listen, what are you doing tomorrow?" she asked.

"Working at the farm. Why?" Ellen responded.

"If I could arrange the time off for you, would you spend the day with me?" She asked, eagerly.

"What do you mean?" Ellen asked, restlessly. "Look, I'm very busy and…"

"Please," Lily repeated, begging. "Spend the day with me. You and I…we have some things to work out."

Ellen looked at her watch, grimacing at the time. "Yes, alright. Fine. I'll see you tomorrow."

Lily watched her scuttle down the street before making her way back to the bakery. How in the hell was she going to arrange it? She bumped back into Bill at the door, holding his freebie in a brown paper bag.

"What one'd you choose?" She asked, trying to peer into the bag.

"The apple," He said, sheepishly. "Your Ma' let me try some."

"Apple in a cream cake? That can't be right," She repeated his words, teasingly.

"Yeah, well I can admit when I'm wrong, okay?" He said, shaking his head at her. "So, are you sure I can't tempt you with that drink?"

"No thanks, Sergeant," She smiled politely, feeling a little sad to say the words. He was so handsome. "But thank you very much for the offer."

Nodding his head in defeat, he took off. She watched him leave. It's not the she didn't want to. Quite the contrary because, despite how cocky he was, she did. But that was the exact problem. She'd been warned about creating emotional ties before leaving. She needed a level-head. Besides, from the ones she'd met at the air base, she'd gotten the impression a military man's affections neither extended only to one girl nor did it last very long. She decided it would be best if she avoided the handsome sergeant.

Still though, pity, she thought as she walked back inside.

…………………..

A few hours later, she managed to escape the bakery by doing some deliveries for her mother. Grateful for the fresh air, she set off down one of the quieter back roads to the Old Folks Home, where the residents were expecting a dozen jam tarts.

She sauntered down the road, humming to herself. Suddenly a roaring noise filled the air. She turned round to see a motorbike at breakneck speeding bombing down the road. Freezing for a moment, it whizzed by her and she screamed and jumped onto the side of the road and into the hedgerow. Breathing deeply and shocked, she lay on her back in the position she'd fell into. She heard two American voices growing closer to her.

"Jesus, Malark! I thought you said you could drive the thing!"

"She came outta nowhere!"

"I did not come out of nowhere," She cried out from the ground. "You couldn't have missed me!"

"It's Lily!" One of them said. She looked up as the approached, into the face of Bill Guarnere. Apologising profusely, he bent down to help her up. "I'm so sorry!"

"Can I just ask?" She began, on her feet again and wiping the grass off of her dress. "Are you and your fellow soldiers actually trying to kill me because I have to say I'm getting that impression!"

"Of course we're not trying to kill you," He replied, amused.

"It's my fault, Miss," The other one, a redhead with freckles, piped. "I borrowed that bike from our base and Sergeant Guarnere here wanted a test drive."

"Are you okay?" Bill asked, looking at her, concerned.

"I'm fine," She said, defensively, before her face softened. "Just a tumble, that's all."

"I think you'll agree to me buying you that drink now," He said, cockily. "I think I owe you, now."

She tutted at his cockiness, but thought for a moment. A thought forming in her head. Suddenly she burst into a smile. "Alright, Sergeant. I'll let you make it up to me."

"Excellent," Bill smiled, rubbing his hands together. "Tomorrow night, then? At the pub?"

"Oh no, tomorrow morning. Let's say 8 a.m sharp," She suggested, smiling warmly.

"8 a.m.?!" He repeated, shocked. "Little early isn't it?"

"Of course it's not," She reassured him.

"Okay then," He said, looking back at his friend and shrugging in confusion.

"Oh, and you should bring the other soldier in your platoon. The one that almost hit me with the dart," She said, clicking her fingers as though the idea had just struck her. "I think he needs to make it up to me to."

"Sure, sure," He said, seemingly just wanting to agree with her. He pointed to the sidecar of the motorbike. "Can I give you a ride somewhere? Where were you headed?"

"The Old Folks Home on Wise Street," She said.

"Hop in then," He said, leading her to the bike.

"What about your friend?" She asked, pointing back to the other soldier.

"Oh, it's okay," Bill said, helping her into the sidecar. "Malarkey can walk."

"Malarkey can…what?!" The soldier cried.

"Well you're clearly not a very good driver, and it would be uh…irresponsible of me to let you drive this again," Bill replied, trying to justify himself as he joked with his friend.

"Son of a Bitch," Malarkey chuckled, watching them speed of, marvelling at what a girl could make Bill Guarnere do.

………………….

The next morning, bright and early, she walked to the pub to meet Bill and his fellow soldier. She saw them standing side-by-side outside, looking very smart.

"Good morning," She chirped.

"Good Morning," Bill replied, pointing to the man next to him. "This is George Luz, as ordered."

"Morning," He said, reaching out to shake her hand. "Early drinkers, you Limeys. I like it. Is this place even open yet?"

"I don't know" She replied, playing dumb. "Doesn't matter, though. We're not going in there."

"We're not?" Bill asked, confused.

"No gentlemen," She laughed. "Follow me."

…………..

Bill and George began to get suspicious as Lily led them away from the main town centre and up a dirt track off the beaten, leading up to a farm. It was, in fact, the Wilkins Farm, where a lot of the Land Girls in the area were working.

"Where are we goin'?" George asked, nervously smoking a cigarette.

"You'll see," She turned round, winking at him.

They walked through the farm gates, where they saw Ellen waiting on them dressed in her best.

"Ellen, this is Sergeants Bill Guarnere and George Luz," Lily smiled. "…your replacements."

"I'm sorry. Her what?" Bill asked. "Say that again."

"I have to say," Ellen smiled gratefully. "It was so nice of you to offer to cover me today so that I could have a day off to go to Ramsbury with Lily. It's been so long since I had a day off."

"Uh…," Bill began. Lily smiled at him pleadingly and he understood. He sighed. "It's fine. No problem, really."

"Follow me," Ellen said, leading them up the hill. "I'll show you where everything is."

Bill leaned closer to Lily as they walked up the hill, whispering into her ear. "Do I look like the kinda guy who knows anything about farming?"

"Well," She whispered back, joking. "You didn't understand what the Land Girls did and how hard they worked. Now here's a chance to find out."

"Just so you know, this is war," He said, smiling evilly at her.

"Well, the whole world knows this is war," She shot back sarcastically, winking at him.

"I mean a you and me kinda war. Don't think I won't get you back for this," He promised.

"But I thought you owed me?" She laughed.

"Lady, I think my debt is repaid and then some!" He said, rolling his eyes.

At this point Luz, who'd been trailing at the back, walked up closer to them. "Bill, buddy. I aint happy. You said there'd be drinking, darts…and that she'd be bringing her friends! I didn't figure on this."

"Don't worry, George," She reassured him. "The farm is full of girls who haven't been around men in a good long while."

He broke out into a grin as a spring developed in his step. "Enter George Luz."

………………………

Lily and Ellen sat opposite each other at the café in Ramsbury, sharing a Cream Tea. The atmosphere along the way had been awkward, with neither knowing how to start a proper conversation after the other night. Lily wanted to wait until they could sit down properly face-to-face before they began to really talk.

"Ellen, what you said the other night…," She began.

"I'm sorry," Ellen said. "I was out of order. It was utterly wrong of me to suggest…"

"I think you may have been right, though," Lily admitted, looking down. "I haven't been there for you over the past few years…for any of you, really. It's just…when you're in the military bases, you really get caught up in the war and you feel guilty when you're not there, when you take a holiday. It's as though people may die because you decided to take time off. Even though that's not true, you still feel it."

"I understand," Ellen nodded. "I was out of order the other night. We all understand how difficult your job is, even though you can't talk about it."

"And about Henry…," Lily began.

Ellen held up her hand. "Don't worry about that. I know you would have been here if you could. I was just feeling some self-pity. I suppose I can take comfort in the fact that you might have been responsible in helping take down some of the bastar….buggers that shot down my Henry."

Lily smiled, sympathetically. "We can only hope. Just so you know, if I survive…I promise I'll visit home more often. As often as I can."

"Why wouldn't survive?" Ellen asked, cocking her head to one side.

"No reason. I'm just being dramatic," she replied, lying. "But I will visit home more often."

"I'd like that,"

Both girls smiled at each other, reaching an understanding.

"I'm glad we had this chat," Lily smiled, reaching out and squeezing Ellen's hand. "I couldn't go away without things being right between us. I just couldn't."

…………………….

A few hours later, both girls wandered giddily back up the track to the farm.

"How do you suppose they handled it?" Ellen asked, laughing.

"I'd say they'll be asleep against some bales of hay," Lily guessed.

"Poor chaps,"

Quite the opposite, they found, as Bill and George leaned against the stone farmhouse, refreshed and…showered?

"Okay," Lily declared. "Either you two did no work or you've had a shower."

"Hey," George said firmly. "I'll have you know we worked hard today. So hard that I'm going straight to bed when I get back to barracks."

"Yes, the farmer let us have a bath in his tub," Bill said, nonchalantly looking around with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "I told him I had to be clean for a pressing social engagement."

"Which is…?" Lily asked.

"Never mind," He said, smirking and offering her his arm. "Shall I walk you home beforehand?"

"If you like," She replied, taking it and turning back to George. "Are you coming?"

"Nah, you two go on ahead," He said, indicating for them to leave. "I'm waiting to walk one of the ladies home."

"Oh," She said, amused. "Good luck."

……………………

As they walked back to hers, she disentangled her arm from his, not wanting to suggest anything. They walked along in peaceful silence, until one of them had to break it.

"So, did you two make up?" He asked.

She nodded. "Everything is sorted, thank you."

"Glad I could help," He said, smirking. "Even if I didn't have a choice."

"You had a choice," she joked. "my choice."

"Oh is that right?" He asked, pretending to be offended. "Well, I think at least you'll let me buy you that drink now…surely?"

"Nope," She laughed, swiftly changing the subject. "So is this war between us still on, Sergeant Guarnere? Are you still going to get me back, as you put it?"

"Oh definitely," He nodded confidently. "Sooner than you think."

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"You'll see," He smiled at her.

She wrinkled her brow in confusion as they got to her gate. Instead of saying goodbye to her there, he walked her all the way to the front door.

"What are you doing? Offering the full service?" She asked, laughing.

He didn't respond, instead simply leaning forward and knocking three times on the door.

"What are you doing?" She asked, confused. He straightened out his uniform, then plastered a big grin over his face.

Her mother opened the door. "There you two are."

"Mrs Stone," He smiled, kissing her on the cheek. "Sorry to be a little late."

"Not to worry," She smiled, standing aside to let them past. "I was just about to serve anyway."

"What's going on?" Lily asked, looking at both of them.

"Oh!" Bill stated, enjoying making a show of being surprised. "Did your mother not tell you she invited me for dinner?"

He winked and smiled at her, before walking past her and into the house.