Always And Forever by Betty Neels Page B

so many other things to discuss. The time flew by and they got up to go reluctantly.
    Tiger and Cyril, nicely replete with the morsels they had been offered from time to time, climbed into the car, went to sleep and didn’t wake until they were back in York. The doctor parked the car at his hotel, led the dogs away to his room and left Amabel to tidy herself. It was no easy task, and she hardly felt at her best, but it was still early evening and the restaurant was almost empty.
    They dined off chicken à la king and lemon tart which was swimming in cream, and the doctor talked comfortably of this and that. Amabel wished that the evening would go on for ever.
    It didn’t of course. It was not quite nine o’clock when they left the hotel to walk back to the shop. The girl who worked in the patisserie was still there, getting ready to leave. She waved as they passed and then stood watching them. She liked Amabel, who seemed to lead a very dull and lonely life, and now this handsome giant of a man had turned up…
    The doctor took the key from Amabel, opened the shop door and then gave it back to her.
    â€˜Thank you for a lovely afternoon— Oliver. I feel full of fresh air and lovely food.’
    He smiled down at her earnest face. ‘Good. We must do it again, some time. When she looked uncertain, he added, ‘I’m going back to London tonight, Amabel. But I’ll be back.’
    He opened the door and pushed her inside, but not before he had given her a quick kiss. The girl in the patisserie saw that, and smiled. Amabel didn’t smile, but she glowed from the top of her head to the soles of her feet.
    He had said that he would come back…
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    Dolores was in a friendly mood in the morning; she wanted to know where Amabel had gone, if she had had a good dinner, and was her friend coming to see her again?
    Amabel, surprised at the friendliness, saw no reason to be secretive. She gave a cheerful account of her afternoon, and when Dolores observed casually, ‘I dare say he’ll be back again?’ Amabel assured her readily enough that he would.
    Any niggardly doubts Dolores might have had about Miriam’s scheme were doused by the girl in the patisserie who served her coffee.
    â€˜Nice to see Amabel with a man,’ she observed chattily. ‘Quite gone on her, I shouldn’t doubt. Kissed her goodbye and all. Stood outside the shop for ages, making sure she was safely inside. He’ll be back, mark my words! Funny, isn’t it? She’s such a plain little thing, too…’
    This was something Miriam had to know, so Dolores sent Amabel to the post office to collect a parcel and picked up the phone.
    She had expected rage, perhaps tears from Miriam, but not silence. After a moment she said, ’Miriam?’
    Miriam was thinking fast; the girl must be got rid of,and quickly. Any doubts Dolores had about that must be quashed at once. She said in a small broken voice, ’Dolores, you must help me. I’m sure it’s just a passing infatuation—only a few days ago we spent the evening together.’ That there wasn’t an atom of truth in that didn’t worry her; she had to keep Dolores’s sympathy.
    She managed a sob. ‘If he goes back to see her and she’s gone he can’t do anything about it. I know he’s got commitments at the hospital he can’t miss.’ Another convincing lie. ‘Please tell him that she’s got another job but you don’t know where? Or that she’s got a boyfriend? Better still tell him that she said she would join her aunt in Italy. He wouldn’t worry about her then. In fact that’s what she will probably do…’
    â€˜That cat and dog of hers—’ began Dolores.
    â€˜Didn’t you tell me that there was a kind of handyman who does odd jobs for the aunt? They’ll go to him.’
    Put like that, it sounded a reasonable solution. ‘You think she