Tess laughed. Snowy had finally settled on Liverpool University – or rather, Tess suspected, he had intended to take up a place there all along – and contrived to spend a good deal of time in the city with his friends. To Tess’s surprise he was fascinated by the pet shop, and when she and Gran had been searching for backers who might lend them money to start up he had contributed quite a respectable sum. Tess had been delighted at the time but could not help secretly wondering now whether she would be as pleased once the shop opened, for Snowy was full of ideas, some of them very wild, and when she had laughed him to scorn he had reminded her that he was a shareholder and ought to be treated with respect. But now she considered his question seriously. ‘Any news? What sort of news were you thinking of?’ she asked. ‘This is my last day working as a waitress because the first of the animals will be arriving on Monday and I’ll have my work cut out to get them all caged, penned or boxed by the time we open. From then on I’ll be rushed off my feet even if we don’t have a single customer, because animals aren’t like packets of cigarettes or bottles of beer; they need feeding and cleaning, giving fresh water . . . oh, no end of things. Albert will be back in his shop full time, and though Gran will take the money and give change she can’t do much else because the hospital have told her she must take it easy for another couple of months.’ She did not add, as she might have done, that Gran’s consultant had warned Tess that her grandmother might never have the full use of her left hand again.

‘She’s a very gallant lady, and I know she’ll do the exercises I have given her, but that will merely keep the limb supple. Already, though she never complains to you, she’s suffering from arthritis in her wrist and shoulder, so don’t let her push herself.’ He was a tall man, grey-haired and humorous, and he had smiled down at Tess. ‘Give her little jobs which she can do one-handed. She won’t be able to peel potatoes for a long time, but there are other tasks which will be well within her capabilities . . . oh, you will know much better than I what she can and can’t do after she’s been home for a few days.’

But now Snowy took her hand and smiled affectionately down at her. ‘Well, I can see that once the animals arrive your life won’t be your own, so how about coming to the Grafton for a spot of the light fantastic tomorrow? I expect there’ll be a special dance over Easter, but by then you’ll be too exhausted to quickstep or foxtrot and will want to loll in a seat at the cinema watching some rubbishy picture, whereas I’ve been sitting in a lecture theatre all week and am simply longing to dance the night away.’