Albert Payne returned to his shop with the comfortable feeling of one who has helped someone else and been properly appreciated. He decided that Tess Williams was a nice little girl and hoped, since she lived so near, that she would pop into the shop from time to time, as he had suggested. She could tell him how she was getting on at school and whether she had managed to get a job to help with her grandmother’s shaky finances. He wished he could have given her work himself, but his slender profits would not allow him to employ anyone besides Mr Clarke in the tobacconist’s shop, though if he did start another business in the empty premises up the road that would be a different story. Although he had not entirely abandoned the idea of opening a tea room, lately he had been reading in an American magazine, which the local newsagent had acquired for him, how ice cream parlours were sweeping the States. He knew – none better – that no one in his area had even considered such a new and foreign idea, but he truly thought that such a place would go down well with local youngsters. Liverpool was being rebuilt as fast as the authorities could afford it, and by the time his ice cream parlour was up and running – if he did start one – he would be sure of a great many customers, for it would be summer, a time when ice creams and fizzy drinks were eagerly sought and sales of tea and coffee, he imagined, slumped.

Albert reached his shop and unlocked the door, slipping inside and making sure the Yale lock clicked home when he pulled it closed behind him. He checked that all was well, then made for the stockroom and the flight of stairs which led up to his flat. As he crossed the small square hall and entered the kitchen, he was suddenly aware of a feeling he thought he had conquered. It was loneliness. His wife Louisa had died before the outbreak of war, and though he had grieved deeply Janine had been a schoolgirl, living at home, so he had been far too busy to be lonely. When war had broken out Janine was fifteen, pretty and lively, and eager to help in the war effort, taking a job making parachutes at a local factory. She and Albert had muddled along all right. They had both adored Louisa and missed her dreadfully, but the dangers and hard work which the war brought meant that every minute of every day seemed to be filled to capacity. In fact, when America entered the war and her soldiers and air force personnel began to flood into Britain, Albert was the last person to realise that Janine, who spent her spare time working in the American PX club, was dating Staff Sergeant Da Silva and was serious about him. She had brought him into the shop a couple of times, had invited him to share their Sunday dinner on at least one occasion, and now Albert thought ruefully that in his secret heart he must have known that sooner or later his pretty daughter would marry and move out of the flat.