The Best in Blountmere Street (The Blountmere Street Series Book 2) by Barbara Arnold

while you were getting a couple of errands for me in the High Street, and now we just happen to have run into Bill again here at the market.?  Mum ignores Bill, who appears to be studying the bridal outfits in a shop window.  She speaks directly to me.
    ‘That’s exactly how it was, Lily.’  Bill turns to face Mum.  ‘Paula told me about the youngsters who live in the flat above yours being put in an orphanage.  She said she’d love to see Tony, that’s his name isn’t it, but the orphanage is a bit of a way off.  Since Paula told me, I’ve actually been thinking about it, so our chance meeting here couldn’t have come at a better time.’  I think Bill sounds convincing, but Mum sniffs one of her “I don’t believe you” sniffs.
    Bill continues, ‘I haven’t got anything arranged for Saturday.  I’ve got the van, and I’d be more than happy to take you both to see him.  I know it’s winter, but it would make a nice day out.’
    ‘You must be mad.’  Mum glances from my eager face to Bill’s non-committal one.
    ‘Please, Mum.  We’d never make it by train.  It’s such a long way out in the country, and Tony sounds so unhappy.  Fancy them not even allowing him to send a letter to Mrs Addington.’
    ‘Now look here … ’
    ‘We could leave Dad’s lunch for him, like we do when we go shopping for the day.  That’s probably where he’ll think we’ve gone.’  I widen my eyes and tilt my head to one side in order to look innocent.
    ‘I’ve never yet deceived your father and I’m not about to now,’ Mum replies at the same time staring at Bill.
    ‘What do you think, Lil?  It would be good for the lad to see someone he knows.  It must be pretty tough on the boy.’
    ‘How many times do I have to say “No”?’
    ‘Where’s the harm in it?  From what I hear you’d make a lonely kid happy and give yourselves a day out into the bargain.’
    ‘Much as I feel sorry for the boy, we’re not gallivanting all over the place to see him.’
    Bill eyes Mum like a bird wondering whether it should peck at a crumb. ‘I hear Paula sat her Eleven Plus recently.  It’d be a nice treat for her, especially as I hear she tried really hard.’
    He’s done it!  He’s pecked at just the right crumb!
    ‘I suppose it would be a bit of a reward for her,’ Mum concedes.
    ‘It would indeed, Lil.’
    ‘I don’t know.  I really don’t.’
    ‘Go on, Mum, go on.’
    ‘It’s against my better judgment but … I suppose we could go.’
    Bill winks at me and fleetingly touches the inside pocket of his jacket.  I guess that’s where the letter I’d written him is hidden.
    The orphanage isn’t the dungeon I’d imagined it to be.  It’s a posh red brick building.  There aren’t any bars at the windows or barbed wire on top of the walls.  Instead, it’s covered in red ivy and cradled in woodland.
    ‘It says “Reception” over there.’  Mum’s best navy blue shoes make sharp sounds on the gravel as she hurries in the direction of the arrow.  Bill catches up with her and takes her arm.  ‘It’s a pity it isn’t spring, Lily, or you’d be able to walk among the bluebells and blend in wonderfully.  You look a treat in that coat.’
    ‘Get on with you.’ Mum’s face is straight, but I can tell she’s happy with the compliment.  It’s the first coat I’ve known Mum to buy for herself.  It’s what the Woman’s Weekly is describing as a “swagger” .  In my opinion, Mum looks far more beautiful wearing it than any of the women in the Woman’s Weekly.  She’s grown her hair so that it no longer sticks to her collar, but spirals softly towards her shoulders.   Just the same, she’d been irritable with me this morning when I said how lovely she looked. 
    “There’s no need to draw your father’s attention to what I’m wearing,” she’d whispered.  Mum had given Dad the impression we were going shopping for the day.  She’d made a big fuss about writing a