Generally the same ones who aren’t too fussy where it comes from.’
‘You might lose customers.’
‘They know the service here is worth waiting for.’ Opening the door that led to the living quarters upstairs, she ran ahead of him. As he used his crutch to clamber up awkwardly behind her, her skirt flared high around her legs. They were long, slim and elegant, like the rest of her. He hated himself for even noticing. He hadn’t as much as looked at a woman since Maud had died. But Jenny exuded a warm, seductive sensuality that disturbed him, threatening his arid, monk-like existence. Just being alone with her was enough to make him feel as though he was committing adultery, which was ridiculous considering he no longer even had a wife.
‘They’re in here.’ Apparently oblivious to the impact she was having on him, she walked along the landing and ushered him into the front bedroom. ‘This was our room. After I had the telegram I couldn’t bear to sleep in here, too many memories I suppose, so I moved into my parents’ old bedroom in the back. What do you think?’ She unlocked the door of a cumbersome, old-fashioned oak wardrobe and started lifting out coathangers.
He looked around. The bed had been dismantled. The mattress wrapped in dust sheets and propped on its side. The smell of damp, disuse and mothballs was overwhelming.
‘He was quite a dresser,’ he complimented as she peeled back the muslin protector on a suit to show him the cloth.
‘He spent a lot of his boxing prize money on clothes,’ she boasted proudly, ‘and the last couple of years before the war he earned good money in Charlie’s shop. There’s a dozen almost new shirts, braces, sock suspenders, two caps, a hat, ties, a couple of pullovers and cardigans, a sports coat, blazer and three pairs of trousers as well as three suits, and his underclothes of course, that’s if you don’t mind wearing them. Could you use them, Ronnie?’ she asked, her face darkly serious as she fought back tears evoked by the clothes.
‘I have one torn shirt, one pair of worn trousers and these -’ he put his hands in the pockets of the trousers he was wearing – ‘which as you so astutely pointed out, don’t fit. So if you really don’t mind, I could use them.’
‘What size shoes do you take?’
‘Ten.’
‘Same as Eddie. They’re all in boxes at the bottom of the wardrobe. Why don’t you try some of the things on now, then I’ll pack up what’s left this evening.’
‘You sure about this? I don’t know how I’d feel if I saw another woman wearing Maud’s clothes.’
‘If it was someone in the family who’d lost everything the way you have, you wouldn’t mind.’
‘Perhaps not.’ He lifted a shirt from a shelf in the wardrobe and fingered the fine cotton. It had been a long time since he had seen clothes laid out in this kind of domestic order. Why did everything, especially the small things, always remind him of his life with Maud? ‘Thank you, Jenny.’
‘There’s nothing to thank me for. Are you staying on in Pontypridd?’
‘I don’t see that I’ve got much option at the moment, with this -’ he held up his crutch.
‘What are you going to do? Go back to running the cafés?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘It’s difficult to make plans when it feels as though your world has come to an end.’
‘You understand that too?’
‘They need workers in the munitions factories. I start next week.’
‘What about the shop?’
‘I’ve found a girl in Leyshon Street who is prepared to run it for me. I’ve wanted to do something to help the war effort ever since Eddie got killed.’
‘I would have thought you were doing enough in managing this place.’
‘With the Germans about to invade at any minute?’
He would have liked to contradict her, but the one question on everyone’s lips at the RAF base where he had been debriefed, was ‘what are the bastards waiting for?’
‘I want to make the bullets and
‘You might lose customers.’
‘They know the service here is worth waiting for.’ Opening the door that led to the living quarters upstairs, she ran ahead of him. As he used his crutch to clamber up awkwardly behind her, her skirt flared high around her legs. They were long, slim and elegant, like the rest of her. He hated himself for even noticing. He hadn’t as much as looked at a woman since Maud had died. But Jenny exuded a warm, seductive sensuality that disturbed him, threatening his arid, monk-like existence. Just being alone with her was enough to make him feel as though he was committing adultery, which was ridiculous considering he no longer even had a wife.
‘They’re in here.’ Apparently oblivious to the impact she was having on him, she walked along the landing and ushered him into the front bedroom. ‘This was our room. After I had the telegram I couldn’t bear to sleep in here, too many memories I suppose, so I moved into my parents’ old bedroom in the back. What do you think?’ She unlocked the door of a cumbersome, old-fashioned oak wardrobe and started lifting out coathangers.
He looked around. The bed had been dismantled. The mattress wrapped in dust sheets and propped on its side. The smell of damp, disuse and mothballs was overwhelming.
‘He was quite a dresser,’ he complimented as she peeled back the muslin protector on a suit to show him the cloth.
‘He spent a lot of his boxing prize money on clothes,’ she boasted proudly, ‘and the last couple of years before the war he earned good money in Charlie’s shop. There’s a dozen almost new shirts, braces, sock suspenders, two caps, a hat, ties, a couple of pullovers and cardigans, a sports coat, blazer and three pairs of trousers as well as three suits, and his underclothes of course, that’s if you don’t mind wearing them. Could you use them, Ronnie?’ she asked, her face darkly serious as she fought back tears evoked by the clothes.
‘I have one torn shirt, one pair of worn trousers and these -’ he put his hands in the pockets of the trousers he was wearing – ‘which as you so astutely pointed out, don’t fit. So if you really don’t mind, I could use them.’
‘What size shoes do you take?’
‘Ten.’
‘Same as Eddie. They’re all in boxes at the bottom of the wardrobe. Why don’t you try some of the things on now, then I’ll pack up what’s left this evening.’
‘You sure about this? I don’t know how I’d feel if I saw another woman wearing Maud’s clothes.’
‘If it was someone in the family who’d lost everything the way you have, you wouldn’t mind.’
‘Perhaps not.’ He lifted a shirt from a shelf in the wardrobe and fingered the fine cotton. It had been a long time since he had seen clothes laid out in this kind of domestic order. Why did everything, especially the small things, always remind him of his life with Maud? ‘Thank you, Jenny.’
‘There’s nothing to thank me for. Are you staying on in Pontypridd?’
‘I don’t see that I’ve got much option at the moment, with this -’ he held up his crutch.
‘What are you going to do? Go back to running the cafés?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘It’s difficult to make plans when it feels as though your world has come to an end.’
‘You understand that too?’
‘They need workers in the munitions factories. I start next week.’
‘What about the shop?’
‘I’ve found a girl in Leyshon Street who is prepared to run it for me. I’ve wanted to do something to help the war effort ever since Eddie got killed.’
‘I would have thought you were doing enough in managing this place.’
‘With the Germans about to invade at any minute?’
He would have liked to contradict her, but the one question on everyone’s lips at the RAF base where he had been debriefed, was ‘what are the bastards waiting for?’
‘I want to make the bullets and
Similar Books
