Read Online The Mill Girls of Albion Lane by Jenny Holmes - Free Book Online Page B

he left off work and strolled towards them.
    â€˜Chatting with the girls as usual, eh, Harry?’ Billy began. He was in his shirtsleeves and without a scarf despite the November chill, his corduroy trousers held up by both belt and braces. Lean and wiry, with an outdoor complexion and a naturally cheerful expression, he seemed to bring a breath of fresh air wherever he went.
    â€˜Since when did the pot start calling the kettle black?’ Harry replied with unshakeable good humour.
    â€˜Is this gentleman bothering you, girls?’ Billy said with a wink. ‘Would you like me to move him on for you?’
    â€˜You and whose army, Billy?’ Harry laughed.
    â€˜No – we want Harry to give us a ride home in his car,’ Lily joked. She and Evie knew Billy almost as well as they knew Harry, having grown up together since the Robertshaws had moved into a house at the bottom end of Albion Lane when Lily was six. The two lads were firm friends and it was Harry who had tipped Billy the wink when the gardening job at Moor House fell vacant a year earlier, allowing Billy to move on from a lowly street-cleaning job with the town council. ‘We want a taste of luxury after the hard week we’ve had,’ Lily insisted.
    â€˜And pigs might fly,’ a voice said.
    Lily turned to see that Margie had sneaked up on them on her way home from Kingsley’s and she greeted her sister with a sympathetic smile. ‘You look done in,’ she said.
    â€˜I am,’ Margie admitted, shoulders sagging, her new haircut the worse for wear after a hot, grimy morning in the spinning shed. Then she noticed Billy standing behind the car and she stiffened.
    â€˜Well, ta-ta, I must be getting along,’ she told Lily and Evie, turning on her heel.
    â€˜Wait for us,’ Evie called after her.
    â€˜Was it something I said?’ Billy quipped, leaning against the car and lighting up a cigarette, watching Margie closely as she ignored Evie’s appeal and hurried off.
    â€˜Anyway, Billy – I’ve got a message for you from Mr Calvert.’ Harry got around to his reason for being there. ‘He wants you up at the big house this afternoon, working on the borders.’
    â€˜But it’s Saturday.’ Billy frowned. ‘I’m ready to knock off.’
    â€˜Ours is not to reason why,’ Harry commiserated.
    Billy looked and sounded seriously put out. ‘Why can’t his bloody borders wait until Monday?’
    â€˜Because they can’t.’ Turning on the ignition, Harry listened proudly to the purr of the car’s engine. ‘Hear that? Sweet as a nut.’
    Lily took the hint. ‘Better let you go then, Harry.’
    â€˜We’ll still see you later?’ Harry checked with Billy. ‘Six o’clock at the Cross?’
    â€˜I’ll be there,’ Billy confirmed, puffing moodily on his cigarette.
    â€˜How about you, Lily?’ Harry wanted to know. ‘What are you girls up to tonight?’
    â€˜We’re going to the flicks,’ she said a touch too quickly, feeling herself blush under Harry’s questioning gaze.
    Pushing his advantage, he teased her a little more. ‘Not teaching me to quickstep to “Goodnight, Sweetheart”?’
    â€˜â€œGoodnight, Sweetheart” is a waltz,’ Lily reminded him. ‘Anyway, Harry, I’m sorry but not tonight.’
    â€˜Ah well, there’s always next week.’ He grinned. Then he wound up his window and eased away from the kerb, glancing at Lily in his overhead mirror as he left.
    â€˜And pigs might fly,’ Billy repeated Margie’s mocking phrase. ‘Harry Bainbridge doing the quickstep – now that I’d like to see!’
    A long week, but satisfactory. Lily thought in school report terms as she and Evie walked home together. She was still buoyed up by her recent promotion and willing to learn from her mistakes, and although she only carried in