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sweetheart and as good as gold.’
    Annabelle frowned as she took a packet of Players and a box of Swan Vesta matches from her bag. ‘Don’t you feel resentful of the fact that you have to care for her? After all, at your age you should be out dancing, going to the cinema and enjoying yourself.’
    ‘Not at all,’ Lucy said evenly. ‘Family is family at the end of the day and you do what you have to do.’
    ‘Well, rather you than me,’ Annabelle retorted, lighting her cigarette. ‘I don’t think I shall ever want children.’
    ‘Really?’ Dotty gazed at her in amazement. Surely every girl dreamed of getting married and starting a family? Not that she thought there was much chance of that happening to her. She had never even had a boyfriend and doubted that she ever would. But now, sensing the tense atmosphere, she hastily changed the subject, telling them: ‘I’ve been in the fabric department.’ Her eyes were shining and she looked really pleased. ‘Ooh, you should just see some of the material they have in there,’ she went on. ‘It’s really beautiful. They’ve got such a selection too. There’s raw silk in all the colours of the rainbow and satin as well as lace and the more everyday materials. It almost makes me wish I could sew, but I’ve never been very good with a needle. I prefer to write myself.’
    ‘What sort of things do you write?’ Lucy asked with kindly interest.
    Dotty flushed. ‘Oh, just stories and poems really,’ she said self-consciously. ‘And I’m not that good at it . . . I just enjoy it.’
    Again, Annabelle raised her eyebrows. It seemed that anything that didn’t involve going out and having a good time was of no interest to her.
    ‘I shall have to get you to show me some of your stories sometime,’ Lucy said. ‘I love to read when I get a spare minute. I often go to the library.’
    ‘Oh? What sort of books do you like?’
    Lucy shrugged. ‘Anything I can get my hands on really, although I do love a good soppy love story and of course the classics – Jane Austen, Mrs Gaskell, Dickens – any of those. In fact, I’ve read The Olde Curiosity Shop three times. That’s one of my very favourites.’
    ‘Mine too,’ Dotty admitted, but their conversation was stopped from going any further when Annabelle butted in with, ‘Well, give me a trip to the cinema any time. I’m going to the Gaumont tonight as it so happens to see that new Clark Gable film with my friend Jessica. Don’t you think Clark Gable is just the handsomest man you’ve ever seen? Now find me a fellow with his looks and a fat wallet and I shall be happy.’
    Both Lucy and Dotty giggled.
    ‘So will the man you marry have to be rich then?’ Dotty asked innocently.
    ‘Oh absolutely.’ Annabelle tossed her head. ‘You’ll never find me in some grotty back street surrounded by a herd of kids. I want to enjoy myself and see the world.’
    ‘In that case I wish you luck, but this perfect man might prove difficult to find with most of our chaps away fighting the war,’ Lucy said as she took a sip of her tea.
    ‘But the war can’t last forever, can it?’ Annabelle stubbed out her cigarette and rose from the table. ‘Right – I’ll see you both at lunchtime,’ she said. ‘Bye for now.’ And with that she stalked off to the ladies, her smartly clad rear wiggling provocatively.
    Lucy chuckled. ‘She’s a bit of a one, isn’t she? But you know, I like her for all that and I hope she manages to meet her ideal man. I can’t see Annabelle settling for anything less. But come on, we’d better get a shufty on otherwise we’ll be late. See you later, Dotty.’ And with that she hurried off to the lift with Dotty close at her heels.
    *
     
    It was as they were all leaving the store that night that Lucy turned to Dotty and offered, ‘Would you like to come home with me for a bit of tea and to meet Mary?’ She sensed a deep loneliness in the girl and had taken to her, which was unusual, as Lucy