‘Ain’t it just grand?’ Ivy commented one Sunday afternoon as she was getting ready to meet Jeremy.

‘It certainly is … Oh, and by the way the rent is due this week,’ Holly reminded her.

Just for an instant she saw a frown flit across Ivy’s face but then she was smiling again. ‘Of course it is but I ain’t had time to go to the bank, will you pay my half for me till I get paid on Friday?’

Holly thought this very strange. Ivy had always been very punctual at paying her half of the bills. In fact, she had even managed to save a tidy sum from her wages but she nodded anyway.

‘Of course I will. Have a good time.’

Once again she watched from the window as Ivy went off on Jeremy’s arm. She had to admit he was very handsome and she could understand why Ivy was so besotted with him. He was tall and upright with thick dark hair, and he towered over Ivy making her appear very small and dainty. A thought occurred to her. Since the day he had sent Ivy flowers there had been no more and suddenly Ivy seemed short of money, and she’d noticed that she hadn’t sent any money home to her mother for a while either. What if he was taking money from her? Ivy had told her that he still hadn’t found a job, but she was usually so sensible. I’m probably worrying about nothing, Ivy is no fool, Holly assured herself and settled down to a quiet afternoon.

The following morning when Miss May arrived at the shop, Holly thought she looked troubled and this was borne out when the woman confided over a mid-morning cup of tea, ‘My husband isn’t at all well. I almost didn’t come in this morning as I didn’t want to leave him alone.’

‘I could have managed,’ Holly told her sympathetically.

‘I’m sure you could but between you and me I’m wondering how much longer I’m going to be able to keep the shop open,’ her employer informed her. ‘I was thinking of perhaps closing for two days a week instead of one. There would still be more than enough work to keep the seamstresses employed full-time, but what about you?’

‘Oh, I could manage. I’d just do two days a week instead of one at the hospital, and I’d get paid for that so I wouldn’t be any worse off,’ Holly assured her.

‘In that case I might close on Mondays too,’ Miss May answered thoughtfully, as Holly turned to serve a customer who had just walked in.

Two weeks later Miss May put the new shop hours into operation and Holly began to work at the hospital two days a week.

‘I shan’t be any worse off,’ she told Ivy over dinner one evening. ‘And I’ll be getting a lot more nursing experience in, so all in all it’s worked out well … Did you hear what I said, Ivy?’