She rushed into the bedroom and brushed her hair and reapplied her make-up. She made sure she always looked nice when he came home from work. Some of the girls on the estate were only a couple of years older than her and already looked like their mothers. She sprayed herself with Blue Grass perfume and she was ready for her husband’s return.

As she started to plate up the meal, she heard his key in the lock and she smiled happily.

Lenny shouted from the small hallway as he took off his overcoat, ‘That smells fucking handsome, Shaz. I could eat a scabby horse between two mattresses.’

She smiled. He said the same thing nearly every night, even when her food had been an absolute disaster, but she loved him for it.

He washed his hands in the bathroom and then made his way into the kitchen. The house was spotless, and the table was laid like a restaurant: napkins, the works. She was funny like that, his Sharon – she even refused to have red sauce in the house. She said it was common. He had to go along with it. The house was her domain.

The pie and mash, peas and gravy looked delicious. She was getting to be a really good cook. Even his mum was impressed, and that wasn’t an easy thing to accomplish. As his dad was often heard to say, she would have found fault at the Last Supper.

They chatted amiably and ate together in complete harmony. Sharon wasn’t a girl who forced opinions on you; she was quiet, willing to listen to her husband’s chatter. But Lenny knew there was steeliness inside her. If she thought she was in the right she would not back down. It was one of the things he loved about her.

‘Here, Len, Isaac is thinking of selling the betting office. He’s had enough, I think. He is getting on, bless him.’

Lenny stopped chewing at her words. ‘How much does he want for it?’

Sharon shrugged. ‘I dunno. Why?’

Lenny grinned. ‘Just wondered, that’s all. It’s a nice little earner.’

Sharon opened her blue eyes wide as she said, ‘It’s that, all right. I should know, I do the takings.’ She carried on eating, her lovely face intent on her food.

‘Listen, Shaz. I have a bit of business tonight. I will be out late. But it will bring in a good few quid.’

Sharon nodded. ‘Okey-doke.’

He smiled. He loved that she never questioned him. She accepted everything he said at face value. Most girls would have wanted the ins and outs of the cat’s arse. Where you going? Who with? How long will you be out?

‘I will be back as soon as possible, babe, you know that.’

She smiled again and nodded happily. ‘I know that, Len. I’m going to have a long bubble bath and an early night. I feel tired today.’