Home Front Girls

about ten times in as many days, ‘only that he’s very interested and wants to talk to me. But Robert will tell me more when he comes to visit me on Thursday.’ She stopped to admire a leather handbag in a shop window. ‘I don’t know what he’s going to think of my poky little flat though,’ she confided anxiously. ‘Last time I went to London he took me to see his flat and I think his lounge alone is bigger than the whole top floor of the house where I live. And it’s so beautifully furnished. It’s full of antiques that his mother collected over the years. I imagine they’d be worth a king’s ransom, as she had impeccable taste. He might be selling it soon though,’ she burbled on. ‘He says it’s too big for him, but I have a sneaky feeling he might be getting a place with Laura.’ The thought of it made her throat tighten.
    The girls had also heard all this before too and they grinned at each other behind Dotty’s back. They didn’t say anything though; it was nice to hear her so excited about the possibility of her book being published and they hoped that it would be.
    ‘So what are you doing tonight then?’ Annabelle asked them when they had managed to drag Dotty away from the shop window.
    ‘Nothing much. I might wash my hair and have an early night,’ Lucy answered. She hardly ever went anywhere any more except to work, but she was looking forward to a week off early in July when she was planning on visiting Mary in Folkestone. The kindly lady who was looking after the child had invited Lucy to stay for a few days if she wished, and the thought of seeing the little girl again was just about all that was keeping Lucy’s spirits up at the moment. She wrote to her regularly and her kindly carer, Mrs Manners, assured her that she read the letters to Mary, not that the child would understand them, but the act obviously made Lucy feel a little better.
    ‘And what about you?’ Annabelle now looked Missquestioningly at Dotty.
    ‘I’m meeting Miss Timms after work for tea and so she can have a quick look at my book, then I shall be going home to carry on working on it. I want to try and get it finished for when Robert comes. But don’t worry – I haven’t forgotten that we’re going to the pictures later this week.’
    Annabelle sighed dramatically. ‘You two are just no fun at all,’ she drawled. ‘So I dare say I shall have to stay in as well.’ She checked the line she had drawn up the back of her leg with an eyebrow pencil then to make sure that it hadn’t rubbed off.
    ‘I really don’t know how you manage to get those lines so straight,’ Dotty commented. ‘When I tried to do it, the lines were all over the place. And your legs are such a lovely colour!’
    ‘I wash them in cold tea,’ Annabelle told her. ‘I get Mum to save the tea leaves now but it’s a terrible palaver to get them this colour, I don’t mind admitting. It was so much easier when you could just take a new pair of stockings out of the drawer.’
    The girls then hurried back to work and the rest of the day passed uneventfully.
    When they parted outside Owen Owen that evening, Dotty went back into the city centre where she had agreed to meet Miss Timms. The woman’s face lit up as Dotty came towards her and she asked, ‘How about we go into that little restaurant over there for tea? I’ve looked at the menu while I was waiting for you, and some of the meals seem quite nice. My treat, of course.’
    Dotty felt embarrassed. She would much sooner have paid for her own meal, but not wishing to hurt the kindly woman’s feelings or appear ungrateful she said, ‘That would be lovely.’
    Once inside they settled themselves at a table and ordered their food, which didn’t take long as there wasn’t a huge variety of dishes to choose from. While they were waiting for their sardines on toast to be served, Dotty took her manuscript out of her bag and handed it to Miss Timms to look at.
    Miss Timms began to read, and was soon so enthralled that she almost forgot that Dotty was there.
    ‘Miss Timms,’ Dotty whispered after a time, ‘our food is here.’
    The woman shuffled the pages back together, looking flustered. ‘I’m so sorry, my dear. I got quite carried away there and didn’t want to stop. This is really excellent.’
    Dotty blushed at the praise. She put a lot of store on what Miss Timms thought. They ate their sardines and then finished the meal off with home-made apple pie and custard, which