‘Yes, and I love it. I’m on a children’s ward at the moment,’ she said, seeming to study his face again. ‘One young lad was in a house fire, and will have facial scarring like you.’

‘Poor kid,’ George murmured.

‘You seem to have learned to live with your disfigurement, and plastic surgery has come a long way.’

‘When you’ve got a mug like mine, you ain’t got a lot of choice,’ George said, though he kept his voice cheery.

‘Oh, it’s not so bad,’ Julie said, smiling coquettishly up at him.

Her smile looked flirtatious, but as that was highly unlikely, George decided he was misreading her expression and said, ‘Nice of you to say that, but I know I ain’t pretty.’

‘You’ll do,’ Julie said softly.

‘It sounds like my niece is smitten with you, George. There’s a dance at the Town Hall next week. You should ask her if she’d like to go with you,’ Kath said bluntly, with one of her familiar winks.

‘Aunty Kath!’ said Julie, her face flushing.

‘There’s no need to be coy. You’d go, wouldn’t you?’

‘Well, yes, if George would like to take me,’ Julie answered, and looked shyly at George.

‘Go on then, George, ask her,’ Kath demanded.

George couldn’t believe this was happening – that this lovely young woman would want to go out with him. ‘Er, well … would you—’

‘Yes, I’d love to,’ Julie interrupted.

‘Right then, that’s sorted,’ Kath said. ‘I’ll leave you two to make the arrangements while I go to that stall over there to buy myself a new wooden spoon. It might come in handy for any more stirring I have to do,’ she laughed.

George still felt a bit bemused, almost bamboozled into asking Julie for a date, but when she smiled at him again, he was glad that he was taking her out, pushed into it or not.

Chapter 48

November drew in. One day, at closing time, Sarah was about to lock up the shop when the bell over the door chimed. She felt a little irritated, but plastered a smile on her face, one that dropped as soon as she saw that the customer was Mo, looking sheepish. ‘Get out,’ she snapped. ‘I’ve got nothing to say to you.’

‘Sarah, please, hear me out. I’m so sorry for what I did. I’ll never forgive myself for being such a terrible friend.’

‘I’ll never forgive you either, and you was never my friend. Real friends don’t do what you did. Just bugger off. I want nothing to do with you.’

‘Please, Sarah, I wouldn’t have come but I’m desperate,’ Mo pleaded, looking on the verge of tears.