He had always thought of himself as a man of the world. But to his amazement he was still shaken by the press of her body against his, and yet it wasn’t only that. It was something much deeper.

Something he had never really felt with Amy.

It was time for Alfie to leave. ‘I’m all packed,’ he told his mother. ‘Grandad’s still asleep. I’ll give him another half hour, then I’ll go up and say my goodbyes. After that I’ll have to make tracks or I’ll miss that aeroplane tonight.’

Rosie saw the hollows under his eyes. ‘You didn’t sleep much last night, did you, son?’

‘Not really.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Thinking about Sandra and… everything.’

‘Are you keen to be going back?’

Throwing himself into the chair, he pondered on that for a minute. ‘I had hoped there might be a future with me and Molly, but I was wrong. She preferred some other bloke to me, and there’s not much I can do about that.’ But it still hurt so badly. It wasn’t so much the rejection, but the losing of Molly. She meant the world to him, and always would.

‘Mam?’ He hesitated, having tried to broach the subject several times since coming home, and each time drawing away from it.

‘Yes, son?’

‘Oh, it’s all right. Best let it be,’ he decided. ‘Old coals and all that.’

‘I think I can hear your grandad moving about up there.’ Rosie knew what Alfie wanted to ask, and she was glad of the intervention. ‘If you’re going up to him, tell him I’ll have his tray along in a few minutes.’

When he was gone, she chided herself. ‘When it came right down to it, you just couldn’t bring yourself to tell him, could you?’ Giving a great heaving sigh, she blew it out noisily. ‘Mebbe he’s right,’ she wondered. ‘Mebbe it is all best left alone… old coals, just like he said.’

Alfie loved his old grandad. ‘Get yourself better and you can come and watch my next fight,’ he told Michael. ‘I’ll send the ticket money for you and Mam both.’

Michael was frail these days, but he had the same cheeky grin and the same sense of humour. ‘Knock ’em cold, son,’ he wheezed. ‘If I were younger I’d soon show ye, so I would!’

Alfie laughed. ‘I don’t doubt that for one minute!’

He was concerned though, about the old fella’s health. ‘Look after yourself,’ he said. ‘Remember what I told you. Get yourself better and I’ll send for you. Unless you’re frightened of going up in an aeroplane?’ he teased.

The old man bristled. ‘Huh! You’ll never see the day when Michael Noonan’s frightened of anything!’

‘That’s the kind of fighting talk I like.’ He stood up, tall and strong, and the sight of him brought a tear of pride to the old man’s eye.

‘You’ll need three tickets,’ he told Alfie. ‘I’m not coming without young Molly. She’ll be company for yer mam while you and me tend to the boxing.’