Ron regarded her keenly as he poured the gin into glasses and opened a bottle of tonic water. ‘You look upset,’ he murmured. ‘It’s not Danuta, is it? She hasn’t taken a turn for the worse?’

‘No, nothing like that,’ Dolly said quickly. ‘When I left she was sleeping peacefully, happy in the knowledge that Rome has been liberated and our armies are slowly advancing into France. I’m just tired after a rather fraught exchange of views with my daughter.’

She poured some of the tonic water over the gin, raised her glass in a silent toast and drank half of it down. ‘That’s better,’ she sighed, her gaze once more trawling the knot of women who were by the wireless.

‘Are you looking for someone?’ Ron asked.

She smiled and shook her head. ‘I just enjoy watching people,’ she replied smoothly. ‘How are you doing, Ron? Still no word from Rosie?’

‘Not a peep,’ he replied with a frown. ‘I simply can’t understand it, Dolly. She’s never ignored me like this before.’ He heaved a sigh. ‘Perhaps she’s teaching me a lesson on what it feels like to be taken for granted, and to be sure, ’tis to my sorrow that I fully deserve it. I’ve made meself a promise that I’ll change me ways once and for all, Dolly. Rosie deserves better than what I’ve given her over the years.’

‘Try to keep that promise, Ron, but don’t be too harsh on yourself,’ Dolly soothed. ‘I’m sure she’ll be back soon, and you can sort things out between you then.’

‘Aye, I hope so,’ he said mournfully.

Dolly made a concerted effort to cheer him up. ‘By the way, I popped in to see Stan earlier. He’s looking very well now he’s lost all that weight, but it seems that this new wife of his is a bit of a hard taskmaster.’ She giggled. ‘You should have seen his face when I caught him eating a forbidden biscuit. He thought I was Ethel spying on him.’

‘Aye, he likes to have a treat now and then, but it does him no harm, Dolly. He’s sensible enough to know he can’t risk getting so out of shape again.’

He went to help Brenda with a large round of drinks for the factory girls, and while he was serving, he watched Dolly chatting to one of the girls and wondered what her real reason was for coming in tonight. She did look tired, but there was an alertness in her, as if she was waiting for something – or someone.

‘Would you be after another of those?’ he asked her, noting her glass was empty.

‘I’d love one, but I have to drive back to Tamarisk Bay. It’s bad enough during the day, but with hooded headlights it’s positively hair-raising.’