Maybe she was crazy. Because this time she’d actually snuck out after everyone was asleep, knowing she might be caught but also knowing her father would never let her go walking by herself after Johnny’s visit. And Johnny had been to war. It explained his tattoo and maybe the sadness in his voice at times. Going out to an island with him meant putting her trust in him, and perhaps that was foolish. But at the same time, not going with him, not grabbing on to the only bit of excitement that had ever found its way into her life, seemed impossible. Somehow she knew that if she didn’t go with Johnny to Misty Isle tonight, she would wither and die inside. “My father says you served in Korea,” she said as he guided the canoe smoothly over the water. He nodded, looked tentative, but then met her gaze in the moonlight. “It…changed me. It made me…less than I want to be. That’s why…” He stopped, and she said, “What?”
