Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection

‘Hmm! You’re a brassy bugger and no mistake!’ He had fallen for Daisy hook, line and sinker.

They drank their drinks and danced until their feet ached. When the last waltz was over, they made their way outside.

‘Which way are you headed?’ Jack asked Amy.

‘Let’s just walk.’ Heading off in the direction of the marketplace, Amy wasn’t altogether happy about telling them where she lived. Since Don Carson had let her down she’d got out of the habit of trusting men. ‘Me and Daisy will soon have to make our way home,’ she warned amicably.

As they walked they chatted, and the more they chatted the more they found friendship.

‘What kind of work are you two in?’ Jack asked the girls.

Amy hesitated while Daisy answered in a rush, ‘Amy runs Atkinsons’ Corner Shop with her mam, and I work at Tooley’s Café.’ Puffing out her chest, she added proudly, ‘I’m in charge most of the time, on account of Ma Tooley’s forever gadding about. She likes the men, y’see? Goes off for days on end and leaves me to it. Mind you, I like being on my own. That way I don’t get nagged at every five minutes. Besides, when she’s not there, I get to use the old chip pan an’ grill.’

‘Use the old chip pan and grill, eh?’ Roy laughed out loud. ‘I can’t think of anything more exciting.’

‘Hey! Who asked you?’ Daisy gave him a sharp dig in the ribs for his cheek.

Jack smiled down on Amy. ‘So? You run a corner shop with your mam, eh?’

Amy wished Daisy hadn’t told them, but now there was no use denying it. ‘That’s right,’ she said.

‘What about you two?’ Giving Roy another nudge in the ribs, Daisy asked, ‘What work do you do?’

‘We both work at Hammonds, only I’m a mechanic and he’s the foreman, lucky bugger! And if yer don’t mind, I’d like you to keep yer elbows to yerself. I’ll be black and blue all over if you keep digging me in the ribs!’

‘I’m not a “lucky bugger”, as you put it,’ Jack protested half-heartedly. ‘I’ve worked hard for what I’ve got, and anyway, you’ve only been there for a year, while I’ve been there ever since I left school. All you have to do is knuckle down and your time will come.’

‘Hmm! Like hell it will.’ Roy had no self-worth.

Because of Roy’s complete lack of confidence in his future, Jack confided a snippet of information. ‘You’re already in the manager’s good books. I know for a fact he’s had a word with Mr Hammond on your behalf.’

Roy’s face lit up. ‘You’re kidding, aren’t yer?’

‘No,’ Jack answered, ‘you’ve been noticed. So from now on, you’d best watch your p’s and q’s.’

Having now arrived at the meat-pie stall alongside the marketplace, Roy dug his hand in his pocket and drew out a cache of coins. ‘Right! Meat pies all round, is it?’

Amy and Daisy declined politely, exchanging secret looks of horror at the idea of more food.

A few minutes later, they were all seated on one of the empty stalls, swinging their legs, the two men chewing on their meat pies with Roy slavering all the way.

‘Ugh! You mucky pup!’ Daisy gave Roy a playful push. ‘You’ve dripped gravy all down your front!’ The gravy ran from his chin to his shirt and over part of his lapel.

Wiping his hand over it and making matters worse, Roy turned to Jack. ‘Has he really had a word with Hammond?’

Jack nodded. ‘I’ve already told you. I heard him saying what a good worker you’d turned out to be. According to him, it wouldn’t be too long before you were moved up a notch or two.’ He wagged a finger. ‘But you don’t know anything about it, all right? I never told you.’

As a rule he would never have divulged such privileged information, but he had long suspected that Roy was ready to pack the work in and look for something else, and he needed encouragement to carry on. ‘Keep on the way you’re going, and there’s a future for you at Hammonds, that’s all I know.’

Roy grinned like a Cheshire cat. ‘Right, matey! Enough said.’

Daisy put paid to his grinning. ‘Look at that, you sloppy devil!’ Pointing to his shirt, she groaned, ‘Now, there’s a lump o’ meat stuck to your collar.’

He slid an arm round her. ‘So, I’m a sloppy devil. Does that mean you don’t love me any more?’

‘Gerroff!’ But this time she didn’t push him away, so he kept his arm round her shoulders, delighted when she didn’t complain.

Daisy too was secretly delighted. We’re two of a kind, she thought, and was happier than she’d been in ages.

‘I can’t believe you both work at Hammonds,’ Amy told them. ‘My dad works there, driving wagons. He travels so far, he doesn’t usually come home during the week.’

‘Well, I never! That’s what I want to do,’ Roy informed her. ‘I’d really like to drive the wagons. I’ve asked for training, but I’m last in the line, seeing as I was last into the factory.’ Plucking the lump of meat pie from his collar he popped it into his mouth. ‘I thought I didn’t stand a cat in hell’s chance, but after what Jack just told me, I’m over the moon. What’s more I wouldn’t care if I was out all week.’

Daisy didn’t think much to that. ‘What about your sweetheart?’ she asked. ‘How do you think she’d feel about that, eh?’

‘I’ve not got a sweetheart,’ he said cunningly, ‘so it won’t matter, will it?’

Searching for some reassurance as to her own standing, Daisy was reluctant to let the matter go. ‘You might not have a sweetheart now, but what about in the future?’

‘I don’t expect I’ll have one in the future,’ he winked, ‘unless o’ course, you’re offering to be my sweetheart?’

Daisy’s eyes shone. ‘We’ll have to see, won’t we?’

‘Looks like those two were made for each other,’ Jack whispered in Amy’s ear.

Amy agreed. ‘They got off to a shocking start,’ she said, ‘but you’re right. They do seem to be getting on really well.’

She had believed Roy to be a bad lot, but now, she wondered if maybe Daisy had been honest when she said how that first evening had ended was as much her fault as Roy’s. Even so, she told herself now, that wasn’t to say he was an angel.

Recalling the previous conversation between herself and Amy, Daisy saw the chance to get an opinion from Roy. ‘What d’you think of Luke Hammond?’ she asked.

‘He’s all right,’ Roy said casually. ‘Mind you, we don’t see much of him on the shop floor. He tends to get on with other things, though he does walk through the factory every day, talking to the foreman and managers and such. He’s not one o’ them bosses who leave others to do his work. He likes to know what’s going on … keeps his finger on the pulse, as they say.’

‘That’s right,’ Jack readily agreed. ‘And if there’s ever any trouble he soon sorts it out, when nobody else can.’ He lowered his voice in respect. ‘If you ask me, he’s got more than his fair share o’ troubles at home. I expect you’ve heard how his wife got beat up and now she’s got some sort of brain damage … has these weird moods …’

‘Aye, that’s right,’ Roy chipped in. ‘Once she came round the factory, looking for him, asking questions and causing trouble. Stunning-looking woman, though. You’d never think she were round the bend.’

Choosing to change the subject, Amy asked, ‘So you think Luke Hammond is a nice bloke?’

‘The best boss I’ve ever worked under,’ Roy said. ‘He keeps the factory rolling and keeps his workforce informed as to what’s happening. I expect your dad’s told you how we all thought we were for the high jump some time back, but it was exactly the opposite. When work got tight, Hammond went out and snatched a contract from under the noses of the big boys; enough to keep all of us in work for the foreseeable future. He gets my vote, I can tell you that!’

Curious about Amy’s father, Roy asked, ‘What did you say your Dad’s name is? Atkinson?’

‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ Amy thought it was one thing them knowing where she and Daisy worked, but it was another thing discussing her father.

Sensing a deal of hostility, Roy realised he had not yet redeemed himself in Amy’s eyes. ‘Just curious, that’s all.’

Feeling uneasy, Amy turned to Jack. ‘I’ll have to say good night,’ she said. ‘It’s time me and Daisy were headed home.’