Peggy folded the letter and sat quietly for a moment to think about what Ruby had revealed. She might have professed to being all right, but it sounded as if she was lonely and homesick, and feeling very much out of place – and what a place, stuck in the middle of nowhere with only her mother-in-law for company.

‘Oh, Ruby,’ she sighed. ‘I do hope you come to settle there more happily. I hate the thought of you feeling so isolated.’

‘Talking to yourself again, Peggy?’

She looked up, startled, and smiled at Jack. ‘At least I can have a sensible conversation that way.’ Her smile faded as she realised Jack wasn’t smiling back. In fact, his face was quite ashen, and his eyes were troubled. ‘Whatever’s the matter? Has something happened?’

He sat down heavily at the kitchen table. ‘You could say that, Peg. Peter got notice this morning that he and Rita will be leaving on the fifth of September.’

Peggy closed her eyes momentarily, sharing his anguish, and then gripped his arm. ‘You knew this day would come, Jack – we both did.’

‘It doesn’t make it any easier, Peg,’ he said, his voice breaking with emotion.

‘Sit there and I’ll get us both a drop of gin. There’s some left over from the other night, and I reckon we both need a pick-me-up.’

She went to the larder for the gin and a bottle of tonic water and then hunted out a couple of tumblers. Her hand wasn’t quite steady as she sloshed the gin into the glasses, and she realised that she was as cut up as Jack about Rita leaving them.

‘Cheers,’ she said, tapping her glass against his. ‘Here’s to making sure Rita and Peter have the very best six days with us.’

Jack swallowed his drink straight down and helped himself to another. ‘I’m going to miss her, Peg,’ he managed, his eyes bright with unshed tears. ‘She’s been my little girl for over twenty years. How am I going to get along without her?’

‘We’re all going to miss her, Jack,’ soothed Peggy softly. ‘But she’s no longer a little girl – she’s a woman and a wife, and we have to let her go no matter how painful it is.’

Jack nodded and once again drained his glass. ‘I know all that, Peg, but the thought of her going so far away …’ He topped up his glass again and added just a splash of tonic water.

‘Drowning your sorrows won’t help,’ said Peggy, removing the bottle. ‘And if you’re planning on going back to work this afternoon, you’ll need to have your wits about you. The last thing Rita needs is for you to have an accident.’

Jack took a deep breath, stretched his neck and eased his shoulders before he concentrated on rolling a smoke. ‘I’m sorry to make a fuss, Peg,’ he said gruffly. ‘You have your own worries, and it wasn’t fair of me to come crying to you.’