Turning up his coat collar – for once out of the shelter of the doorway he was conscious of a nippy little wind – he thought back over his evening. He was still not sure why he felt as he did about Tess, because she was neither strikingly pretty nor brilliantly clever, though she ran an exceedingly successful little business. Because he helped Gran with the books he knew just how successful that business was, and admired her for that. But you didn’t suggest marriage to a girl because she had a pet shop, or because she was bright and intelligent. You suggested marriage, or he thought you did, when someone lit a fire of wanting within you, a fire so hot that it could not be ignored. He had known that feeling years ago, when he had first taken Marilyn out, and even now, whenever she happened to cross his path, he was aware of what, to himself, he referred to as a ‘slow burn’. But when he had discussed it with his friends at university, they had laughed the idea that this might be true love to scorn. ‘It’s lust, old feller, just plain wicked old lust,’ his pal Marlowe had said. ‘I’ve met your Tess; she’s the sort of girl who gets under your skin, and not because of her looks. If I were you I’d grab her and stop thinking about busty blondes, fiery redheads or sultry brunettes.’

Snowy admired Marlowe, who had his pick of girls, and had decided to take his advice, telling himself that if there had been no ploughboy – there was nothing to stop him thinking ploughboy in his head, was there? – then he would never have doubted Tess’s affection. And now he knew that Jonty had a girlfriend of his own he must stop worrying and start looking forward to the next two years, because though he had got his degree, and when he came out of the forces would be able to apply for maths teaching posts, such work seemed very dull when compared with Tess’s life in the pet shop. She had plunged wholeheartedly into the business and now knew most of her suppliers personally, and all her regular customers. He had suggested that in a couple of years she might open another shop, but though she had considered the idea she had decided against it in the end. ‘Because I’d not trust a manager to go to the lengths Gran and I do,’ she had explained. ‘I’ve heard that there are some pet shops where money and a quick turnover are all that matters. If I imagined someone was not treating my birds and animals right I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.’

Now, however, walking briskly along the icy pavement so that the sound of his footsteps echoed off the surrounding buildings, Snowy thought that one of these days he would persuade Tess to turn her undoubted business talents into something rather smarter than a pet shop. He was not sure yet exactly how, but in the fullness of time he and she together might set the town on fire . . . Perhaps a bar? Or that ice cream parlour she had once talked about?