Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection

‘Don’t be so daft, man!’ Don snapped. ‘I wouldn’t know the first thing about robbing a bank. That’s right out of my league. Besides, the last thing I need is to get thrown back inside. I’ve had enough of gaol to last me a lifetime.’

‘D’yer want me to keep my eyes and ears open?’ Roy was eager to make amends. ‘They sometimes take folk on at building sites with no questions asked. I’ll mek a few enquiries if yer like?’

‘Thanks all the same, but I don’t fancy working outdoors …’ Don chuckled. ‘Being in the nick seems to have spoiled me. Still, I’m not destitute yet,’ he claimed. ‘I do a bit here and there – buying and selling and such – but it won’t last for ever. And lately it hasn’t brought in the money, so I will need to get permanent work. I know that.’

Thinking about gaol, Roy asked, ‘Do you still visit Arnold Stratton?’

‘Course I do!’ Don answered angrily. ‘I’m not one to abandon a mate in trouble.’

Ready to change the subject, he regarded Roy with a degree of curiosity. ‘Talking about Hammonds – as we kind of were – you seem to be settling down really well there.’

‘Aye, an’ I’m doing all right,’ Roy revealed. ‘I reckon if I stay on the straight and narrow, I might even be up for supervisor afore too long.’

Don laughed. ‘Bugger me! You really are knuckling down.’ He wagged a finger. ‘There’s got to be a girl involved somewhere,’ he declared with a grin. ‘That’s it! You’ve got tangled up with some girl and gone all broody.’

Blushing to the roots of his hair, Roy said, ‘All right, don’t get too clever.’ His face creased in a smile. ‘Her name’s Daisy and she’s a good sort.’

‘Daisy, eh?’ Don made an expression of approval. ‘And do you intend settling down with this Daisy? Is that the reason for your sudden enthusiasm in working for a living?’

‘And what if it is?’ Roy asked sharply.

The other man apologised. ‘Don’t tek it so serious,’ he said kindly. ‘I were only joshing. Matter o’ fact, I’m interested in a certain woman meself. Smart as a tack and twice as handsome.’ His grin widened. ‘The name’s Helen …’ he laughed again, ‘… or so she says, but I’ve a feeling she’s lying, for whatever reason.’

‘What! You mean you don’t know her real name?’

‘It’s not her name I’m interested in,’ Don replied with a wink. ‘Besides, it’s not a serious thing … not like you and this Daisy. We’re just having a bit o’ fun, if you know what I mean?’

From his friend’s manner and the way he was looking at him, Roy sensed there was more. ‘Have I met her?’

‘Nope.’

‘Am I going to?’

‘Not if I can help it, no.’

Roy began to understand. ‘She’s wed, isn’t she?’

‘She hasn’t said, and I’m not asking,’ came the reply. ‘All we want is a good time. Like I said, we’re not looking to settle down. It makes no difference to me one way or the other. She arrives, we play around, and then she goes. And that’s the way I like it.’

Roy was curious. ‘Can I ask you summat?’

‘You might as well. You’ve done nowt else since you got here. So, what else do you want to know?’

Roy took a deep breath. ‘D’you know a young woman by the name of Amy Atkinson?’ He had been curious ever since Daisy told him that Carson was Amy’s ex-fiancé.

There was a long, unsettling pause, during which Roy thought he should never have mentioned it, because now the other man was staring at the floor as if he’d gone into some sort of trance.

Eventually Don looked up, his expression surprisingly soft. ‘Yes,’ he nodded. ‘Amy and me were once engaged to be wed. How do you know her?’ he asked sharply. And before Roy could answer he added quietly, ‘You’re not messing with her, are you?’

‘No, I’m not messing with her, as you put it,’ Roy was quick to explain. ‘And neither is Jack.’

Carson was suddenly alert. ‘And who might Jack be?’

Roy thought he might have touched on a jealous streak. ‘Jack and Amy are seeing each other,’ he said. ‘I don’t know how serious it is, but I have to say, they do seem to have hit it off together.’

There was another moment of silence, before the other man remarked softly, ‘As long as he looks after her, it’s none of my business.’ Looking Roy straight in the eyes, he explained, ‘Like I say, we were engaged to be wed. In fact, we got as far as booking the church and all that stuff.’

‘I see. And what happened then? Why did you never get wed?’

‘I hadn’t told her I’d been in prison, and it got as I couldn’t tell her. I was trying so hard to go straight when I met Amy, and she was part of that – something good to aim for and live up to. But I set my sights too high. I got to realising I could never keep it up, and one day my grubby little past would all come out, or I’d let her down and fall into my bad old ways. I’ll allus be a drinker and a two-timer and a ruffian – I know that now. I liked her mam and dad too. I couldn’t hurt them all. I kept putting off mekking the break. Then suddenly the wedding was just a few days away and I had to do it before it was too late.

‘Luckily they all work long hours so I know they’re not around Blackburn much during the week, but I’ve been very careful to avoid anywhere I might bump into them.’

‘Crikey!’ Roy thought it must have taken some guts to back out of a wedding as close as that. ‘And have you no regrets?’

‘Well, of course I have! Amy’s a lovely person, as good and kind as the day’s long. I hurt her bad by trying to avoid hurting her even worse.’ He took a minute to remember. ‘That’s what I regret most.’

Suddenly he was on his feet, and demanding in a harsh voice, ‘So what’s this Jack like?’

‘He’s all right,’ Roy told him. ‘He won’t hurt her. You’ve no need to worry on that score.’

Roy’s answer seemed to calm him. ‘How did they meet?’

‘Me and Jack were out on the town when we just sorta met up with Amy and Daisy. Then another time, we met up again.’ He wisely made no mention of his own shameful part in that first meeting. ‘Me and Daisy get on like a house on fire. In fact, we’re even talking about getting wed.’

Don laughed at that. ‘You didn’t mention me to Amy, did you?’ he asked then.

‘Nope.’

‘Don’t!’

‘Why not?’

‘Because there’s no point. When I left her in the lurch it was a cruel thing. I’m not proud of what I did. What’s done is done and can’t be undone, so keep your mouth shut.’

‘Don’t worry, my lips are sealed.’ And he meant it.

Carson glanced at the clock. ‘You’d best soon make tracks,’ he said. ‘I need to get washed and changed.’

Roy understood. ‘Got a woman coming, have yer?’

‘I might have,’ Carson admitted, ‘so you can bugger off and make yourself scarce.’

‘Helen, is it?’ Roy licked his lips teasingly. ‘I might like to introduce myself.’

Carson laughed. ‘I thought you were already gone, on your new girlfriend?’

‘I am. I’ve met the one I want, and she’s more than enough.’