Read Online The Village Show (Tales from Turnham Malpas) by Rebecca Shaw - Free Book Online Page A

of showing off an engagement ring. The thrill of walking arm in arm with a man, and it had seemed a good escape from that dreary job in the café … She was just finishing the last of her father’s handkerchiefs, when she heard Barry’s van skidding into the yard.
    Pat tried to remain unconcerned, but her heart skipped a beat and that strange feeling she’d experienced when he’d kissed her surfaced again.
    The back door shot open.
    ‘Morning, Pat. Got the kettle on? I’ve only got fifteen minutes.’ He was standing in the doorway laughing at her. Pat bent down to unplug the iron.
    ‘Not for you I haven’t, but I’m having one.’
    ‘Aw now, Pat. You promised.’
    ‘No, I didn’t. You said you were coming, I didn’t promise anything.’
    ‘Come on, Pat, do a fella a good turn. I’ve been working since just after seven, and it’s half-past ten, OK?’
    Pat grinned. ‘OK. Just this once, but don’t make a habit of it.’
    They sat at the kitchen table where Barry had already envisaged he’d be having his bowl of porridge one day. ‘Nice kitchen this. Very nice.’ He looked round appreciatively. ‘I told you this was the right spot for the table, didn’t I?’
    ‘You did.’
    ‘Pat!’
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘There’s a new theme park opened, have the kids been to it?’
    ‘No. Got no transport.’
    ‘How about it then?’
    ‘Well, I can’t go, can I? There’s no bus, and what’s more I can’t afford it.’
    ‘I mean, shall I take you all?’
    Pat took a deep breath and said, ‘I don’t know about that.’
    ‘We’d go in my car, not the old van. Yer dad can come as well. I like yer dad. He’s a skilled craftsman and I’ve a lot of time for people like him.’
    ‘So are you. He’d never come. By the time he’s done a week’s hard graft gardening up at the Big House he’s ready for his chair and the racing weekends. I’ll ask the kids, see what they say. Dean’s getting a bit old for gallivanting with his mother.’
    Barry drank the last drops of his coffee, put down his cup and said, ‘There’s a chance, then?’
    ‘Perhaps.’
    ‘Saturday, I thought. I’m a real kid at those sort of things. I have a go on everything that moves, every blessed thing there is.’
    ‘OK. We’ll see.’
    ‘I’ll call tomorrow and you can tell me what you think.’
    ‘OK.’ For the first time since he’d entered the house Pat looked directly at him. She’d never noticed how long his eyelashes were, nor how strong his hands looked, resting tensely on the table, locked tightly finger to finger. This morning there was a faint smell of aftershave. He stood up, leaned across and kissed her. He tasted of sweetness, and kindness, and security today.
    ‘Any coffee going, Pat?’ It was Dad calling from the back door, as he stopped to pull off his boots.
    ‘I’ll be off. Persuade Michelle to come. Morning, Greenwood.’
    ‘Morning, Barry. Jeremy’s looking for you. Old Fitch is on the warpath, been on the phone from London for nearly half an hour. If I were you I’d look busy and be quick about it.’
    ‘Right. Bye, Pat!’
    ‘Bye.’ Pat went to the cupboard to get a mug. ‘How’s things, Dad? You don’t usually come in for coffee.’
    ‘No, well, I saw his van, and I knew Jeremy was looking for ’im. They’re getting him a mobile then he won’t be able to sneak off. Got in the habit of calling to see ’er at Home Farm, before that the Nightingales.’
    ‘The Nightingales? God! As if she isn’t busy enough with that brood of hers.’
    Greenwood looked wise. ‘Ah, well. Yer’d better watch out, if he’s started calling here. My coffee ready? I ’aven’t got all day.’
    After Dad had gone Pat went back to the ironing. She was in two minds. Furious with herself for not knowing what Barry got up to, but at the same time captivated by him. Well, blow it. So long as he didn’t get her into bed why shouldn’t she have a fling? Someone to take her out in his car, someone to laugh with –