A Daughter's Return by Josephine Cox

Author:Josephine Cox [Cox, Josephine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2021-01-18T17:00:00+00:00

The first Saturday in November and it was pouring with rain in Blackburn. Judy had the heavy old-fashioned radiators blasting out heat in Ruby Slipper.

‘No use being mean with the heating,’ she said to Lucy. ‘Our ladies won’t be in a spending mood if they’re sitting there shivering. We want it to be nice and cosy.’

‘I’m shivering a bit myself, can’t think why,’ said Lucy. ‘It’s warm enough in here but I sort of feel cold right through.’

‘I’ll make us a brew while you sort those boxes, Lucy. You’ll be right as rain with a cuppa inside you.’ Judy laughed and grimaced as she glanced out of the window. ‘Rain being the operative word.’

They both looked through the shop window at the rain teeming down, splashing up high on the pavement to wet everyone’s feet twice.

‘I reckon those galoshes will be flying out today,’ Judy said, busy in the little kitchen area in the stockroom. ‘I’m expecting the first of the Christmas stock on Monday, don’t forget. We can get that sorted when you arrive in the afternoon. So much to look forward to,’ she grinned. ‘Oh, come on, Lucy, love, you’ve a face like the weather. What’s the matter?’

‘I just feel a bit grim,’ said Lucy in a small voice. ‘Like my head’s lagging behind my body.’

‘Oh dear, I wonder if you’re coming down with summat. There’s a lot of colds going round – of course – and you do look a bit peaky. See if this cuppa sets you right. And mebbe take a couple of aspirins with it.’ She opened up a basic first-aid box and handed Lucy a bottle of aspirin. ‘Now, you sit there with your tea and I’ll sort those boxes.’

The doorbell announced a customer.

‘Too late! I’ll leave the boxes and see to the customer; you just sit tight until those aspirins take effect.’

Judy bustled off to greet her customer by name, leaving Lucy slumped on a chair in the stockroom.

She hadn’t felt well when she’d got up this morning, but thought she’d rally when she got to the shop and that Judy’s cheerfulness would revive her flagging spirits.

Mebbe I’m just suffering from an overdose of Denis’s mother, she thought.

Mrs Walden had been round at Lucy and Denis’s house a lot lately. In fact, some weeks she spent more time there than at her own home, or so it seemed to Lucy. Since that awful evening when Frank Stanville had turned up, Mrs Walden had been, on the surface, accepting of Lucy’s tiredness after work, but Lucy was still wondering why Denis had given his mother a key to the house. Several times, Lucy had returned from work to find her mother-in-law sitting in the armchair. She’d perhaps make Lucy a cup of tea then, and sometimes helped by peeling some vegetables, but she never took the initiative to do anything until Lucy arrived home. Then she ate the food Lucy had cooked and sat around until it was time for Denis to take her home.

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