‘Ah.’ Her eyes glimmered at the admission that I was up to something rascally. ‘What might those motives be?’
My long-anticipated plan was to invite her on a proper date, and if she was agreeable, begin a courtship. I had even rehearsed a heartfelt speech, but I needed to choose a more romantic moment to deliver it than during laundry chores. I stalled by teasing her. ‘Is this yours?’ I bent over and lifted up a silk slip from the laundry basket.
Chidori blushed, snatched the undergarment from me and then pressed her palms against my arms to playfully shove me away. ‘It’s my grandmother’s. Don’t be such a Nosey Ned.’
‘Nosey Ned? Is there even such a thing?’
‘Just keep your peepers and your mitts to yourself.’ She transferred the undergarments to the line behind the sheets to hide them. ‘You haven’t answered the question. What are your ulterior motives for helping your mother at the fair?’
I pressed my index finger to my lips, then whispered, ‘It’s top secret.’
She shook her head at my evasiveness, but the fact I wasn’t myself seemed to amuse her more than annoy her. ‘You’re acting peculiar, Hayden. If you and Joey are planning some sort of prank, leave me out of it.’
I shot her an impish wink, which made her chuckle.
‘I want no part of whatever mischief you two are scheming to get yourself into.’
‘Hopefully you’ll change your mind once you hear what it is.’
‘Doubtful.’ She smiled to herself before she spun away to peg the corner of another sheet on the line. ‘I had assumed after we graduated that you and Joey would outgrow your schoolboy shenanigans.’
‘Wishful thinking.’
Chidori stopped what she was doing, mused for an extra heartbeat, and then gently shoved my arm to shoo me. ‘I have chores to finish, Mr Monkey Business. And I don’t want to make you late. You should get on and go help your mother. And stay out of trouble.’
‘I won’t be late if I hitch a ride with you and your brothers. Then, after I help my mother, I was thinking you and I could spend some time together. Maybe eat some caramel apples or enter the three-legged race or partake in some other charming country-fair pastime.’
‘Oh.’ She hesitated with a pause that I feared was almost wistful, as it perhaps crossed her mind what my ulterior motive was. Fortunately, after the momentary contemplation, her mood became jovial again. ‘Defending our title in the three-legged race would be fun, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to enjoy the fair. I have to tend to our vegetable stand at the farmers’ market.’
‘One of your brothers could take over for a while.’
‘They can’t. There’s work to do back here in the greenhouses. I’ll be by myself at the market until they pick me up. Besides, won’t you have to help with the fish sales once the boat arrives at the dock?’
I leaned my shoulder against the clothesline post and crossed my arms, watching her peg trousers and trying to come up with a way to convince her that we could balance work and play. ‘This will likely be the last fall fair until the war is over. It might be our last chance for a long time to enjoy the festivities. Maybe if you sell out of your produce quickly, we could at least hang out at the dance with Joey and Donna Mae for a spell.’
When she didn’t immediately respond, I began to worry that my increasing adoration for her was not mutual and would not be reciprocated. Sweat beaded along my hairline and rolled down the side of my neck as I braced for rejection. Eventually she shot me a flicker of a grin. ‘If I sell out early, I’ll find you.’
‘Thank you.’ My fingers curled to tuck a loose wisp of her hair behind her ear.
Chidori’s eyelids lowered and her brow knitted curiously as she watched me withdraw my hand. Perhaps she was taken off-guard by the affectionate gesture of me touching her hair. Or, she noticed how mesmerized I was by the way the silkiness of the strands danced across my skin. Instead of addressing the intimacy, she said, ‘I should probably focus and get this done properly, Hayden.’ She bent to pull a light green dress out of the laundry basket.
Since I had no intention of leaving without her, I helped with the laundry.
With adept speed, she finished hanging everything in the first basket. As I clumsily pegged a pair of trousers cockeyed to the line, her eyes narrowed in mock scorn. ‘The seam of your shirt is torn. How did you manage that?’
‘I caught it on a rivet when I fixed the hay baler yesterday.’ I tugged at the fabric to examine the hole. ‘No matter. Nobody will notice.’
‘Yes, they will. I’ll quickly mend it for you.’ Chidori reached both her hands up to push my suspenders over my shoulders and let them drop to hang at my hip. The fingers of her left hand untucked the bottom hem of my shirt from the waist of my trousers while the fingers of her right hand unfastened the neck button. It wasn’t likely her intention to cause such an effect in me, but my breath caught in my throat as she slowly made her way down, undoing one button at a time until my shirt hung open. Her hands ran over the fabric of my undershirt and then she eased the top shirt down my arms. Whether she meant for it to or not, it made my heart race and goose bumps spread across the surface of my skin.
‘Stay put. I’ll be right back.’ With a perky spin she disappeared between the sheets, leaving me wondering if she was simply being helpful or reciprocating the affection.
I hung the rest of the laundry with a giant grin on my face, hopeful that Chidori’s feelings had also deepened beyond the level of friendship, and that she might accept an invitation to accompany me on a date.
When she returned a few minutes later, she held my shirt by the shoulders so I could slip into it.
‘I appreciate it.’ I chuckled at the thought that she wouldn’t likely be as accommodating if I asked her to mend the missing button on my grey trousers, too. Thankfully, she couldn’t read my mind, but she did seem to sense that whatever I was thinking was cheeky, since she shot me a slightly maternal eyebrow-raise as she guided me by the elbow towards her father’s black stake truck. It was already loaded with wood crates overflowing with a rainbow of vegetables for the farmers’ market. I opened the passenger side door for her, and she climbed in as her brothers emerged from the greenhouse.
‘Not fishing today, Hayden?’ her brother Tosh asked.
‘The fall fair is only one day a year and who knows when we’ll have another one. The fish will still be there tomorrow.’
‘True. Hop on.’ He pointed to the back and slid into the driver’s seat. Chidori’s other brother Kenji and I both jumped up onto the flatbed to sit on the crates.
Toshiro was twenty-one years old and the eldest. Everyone called him Tosh. He was home for the summer after completing an undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia. He planned to take a year off from studies and then enter law school. Tosh and Chidori were a lot alike. Kenji, on the other hand, was more like me. He was two years older than Chidori and me. He had been a good athlete and student in high school but, like me, didn’t apply to university. Kenji was also an accomplished pianist, but didn’t care much for music, so didn’t accept the offer to play for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra – much to his mother’s chagrin. Baseball was his only real love – baseball and his sweetheart named Michiko. For the two years after he graduated high school, he lived with Tosh near the university campus in Vancouver and played two seasons with the Asahi championship baseball team. Kenji moved back home to Mayne Island at the beginning of summer when Tosh did, because he had injured his shoulder and couldn’t play baseball any more. He still hadn’t quite gotten over that disappointment and was extra-glum for a while because he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do as his career. But his mood improved when he took a job as an accountant’s assistant and he and Michiko started to go steady.
We drove out onto the dirt road