19
Johore, May 1950
Since Betty had told Howard about the job offer in Sydney, there’d been an unspoken tension between them. Life here without her was a grim prospect, but something made him reluctant to raise the subject. He had the clear impression Betty was hoping he would suggest marriage but Howard didn’t feel certain enough to take that step. After all, they’d known each other less than six months. It felt wrong to discourage her from pursuing what was clearly a tempting job offer, but equally wrong to be catapulted into marriage with undue haste. Why did she want to rush things? Yet Howard knew it was unreasonable to encourage her to turn the job down if there was a possibility he wouldn’t eventually propose.
He lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling fan, retreading the same
