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Chapters (84)
  1. All the Days of Our Lives
  2. 1945
  3. 1931-1944
  4. I
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. 1946
  28. II
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. III
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. Twenty-Nine
  37. IV
  38. Thirty
  39. Thirty-One
  40. Thirty-Two
  41. V
  42. Thirty-Three
  43. Thirty-Four
  44. Thirty-Five
  45. VI
  46. Thirty-Six
  47. Thirty-Seven
  48. 1948-1949
  49. VII
  50. Thirty-Eight
  51. Thirty-Nine
  52. Forty
  53. VIII
  54. Forty-One
  55. Forty-Two
  56. Forty-Three
  57. IX
  58. Forty-Four
  59. Forty-Five
  60. Forty-Six
  61. X
  62. Forty-Seven
  63. Forty-Eight
  64. Forty-Nine
  65. Fifty
  66. Fifty-One
  67. Fifty-Two
  68. Fifty-Three
  69. Fifty-Four
  70. XI
  71. Fifty-Five
  72. Fifty-Six
  73. XII
  74. Fifty-Seven
  75. Fifty-Eight
  76. XIII
  77. Fifty-Nine
  78. XIV
  79. Sixty
  80. XV
  81. Sixty-One
  82. Sixty-Two
  83. 1953
  84. All the Days of Our Lives

When he’d driven away, his hand just visible waving, she stood outside the house, hugging herself, not noticing the cold. Simon, she muttered. He’d asked her out with him just like that! Simon, Simon. Tomorrow!

Thirteen

Does it show, she wondered the next morning as she walked into the office. Can anyone see that I’m – well, that I can’t stop thinking about him? That a smile keeps wanting to break out all over my face? She thought of her mother, of the way Vera had described falling in love with her father. Wasn’t this how it was supposed to be?

Vera had commented on her early arrival home the night before, and Katie had told her that she had been lucky with the bus. The first of the lies. How easily it slipped out. What else could she do with a mother who wanted to control every aspect of her life? She compounded the lie by saying that she had been asked to work late the next evening, that there was a rush on. Vera looked put out, but she couldn’t argue.

Simon Collinge was not there when she arrived, which was a relief and gave Katie time to compose herself. Mrs Crosby was the only one in the room, sitting behind her typewriter, with a compact open, putting her lipstick on, a hard pink that did not make her powder-dusted face look any more approachable.

‘Morning,’ Katie said. It seemed a good idea to try and keep Mrs Crosby as sweet as possible, though it was an uphill struggle.

The other typist snapped her compact shut and gave Katie a look of unveiled dislike. ‘Morning,’ she said sarcastically. ‘Miss.’

Catty bitch, Katie thought to herself. She sat at her own desk and was looking through her notebook in the cold winter light from the long windows when Mr Graham came billowing in.

‘Morning, ladies!’

Katie’s heart, which had started turning somersaults when the door opened, steadied again.

‘Now,’ Mr Graham said, struggling out of his coat. ‘Let’s get going.’

A few minutes later the door opened again. Katie glanced up in confusion, her cheeks reddening, but Simon Collinge swept into the room in his normal way, cheerful and relaxed, rubbing his hands together.

‘Morning, everyone! Flaming cold, isn’t it?’

His smile washed over everyone. Katie smiled back, politely. Business as usual – no one must know.

But as she was about to go back to work, she saw Mrs Crosby staring at her across the room with a knowing, spiteful expression.

She met Simon Collinge as arranged, round the corner from the works. Katie was relieved to know that Lena Crosby had gone home: she had seen her go mincing out of the office before Katie left herself, without saying a word, her camel coat belted tightly round her thin waist. Katie wrinkled her nose rudely at the woman’s departing back.