She dawdled over the shopping, even though it was cold, glad to be out and about. Thank goodness she could escape for a bit tonight! The afternoon passed, slow and dull.

When at last it was time to go, she sneaked down the stairs. It wasn’t that she wasn’t allowed out, but she didn’t want to have to explain to either of the Lesters where she was going. But as she reached the hall, Jane Lester appeared out of the back sitting room.

‘Oh, are you off out?’ she asked, suspiciously.

‘Yes,’ Molly said breezily. ‘I’m just meeting my friend Liza – we’ll have a cup of cocoa and a chat. I shan’t be late.’

Jane smiled, looking relieved. ‘Good. Well, you have a nice time, dear.’

Liza, a solid, black-haired girl, who had surprised Molly when they first met by telling her that she had been a Land Girl, was already waiting outside the pub when Molly arrived.

‘I didn’t think I wanted to go in without yer,’ she said, standing with her coat pulled tightly around her. ‘You know what it’s like – you only get a lot of old-fashioned looks!’

Molly laughed. ‘Oh, you don’t want to take any notice! Come on, love – let’s go and get settled in.’

As soon as the two of them walked in, a host of male eyes fixed on them. Molly, who had already drunk quite a bit before she came out, could feel herself acting up, giving pert looks and swinging her hips as she and Liza crossed the room with their drinks: whisky for Molly, half of mild for Liza. It was as if all her old habits, which she’d fought to drive out of herself in the later years in the army, were all coming back. They found a corner and sat chatting, but didn’t remain unpestered for long.

‘How’re your Holy Joes?’ Liza asked, offering Molly a cigarette. Both of them lit up. ‘Still singing all your hymns, are yer?’

‘Not when there’s no one staying,’ Molly said. ‘It’s all a bit quiet.’

‘Ours too. I’m lucky to have a job. Hey, you know what I’m gonna do? If it all dries up, I’ll go back up London, but come the spring I’ll be back. I like it down ’ere, out of the smoke, and I thought I’d go and get a job at the camp – at Butlin’s. They need tons of people there!’

Molly was about to reply when two lads approached them and squeezed in next to them, whether they were wanted or not. One was tall and thin with a cheeky expression, the other stockier with strong, dark brows.

‘’Ello, girls!’ the stocky one said. ‘All alone, are we?’

‘How d’yer mean, alone?’ Liza quipped. She was prickly towards men, or at least the pushy ones. ‘Can’t yer count, then? There’s two of us, so how can we be on our own?’

‘Ha bloody ha,’ the skinny one said. ‘What’s your name?’ he asked Molly.