The Evacuee War by Katie King

Author:Katie King [Katie, King]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2021-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

The next month or so passed in a bit of a blur for most of those at Tall Trees.

Peggy had a couple of letters from Bill, neither of which she opened, instead putting a line through the address of Tall Trees and then boldly scrawling ‘RETURN TO SENDER’ on the envelope’s front before crossly shoving them back into the postbox.

At least Bill wasn’t making the plaintive telephone calls that he had earlier in the year, and she didn’t for a moment think he’d be writing to say he was sorry for all that had happened and that he was happy if they divorce, so she thought she was doing the right thing reminding her husband she wasn’t, and nor was she going to be, a pushover.

To take her mind off Bill and how annoying she found him – and the way she would almost always immediately contrast this with the memory of the innocent freshness and her hopeful excitement that still surged through her body when she thought of James, even though inevitably this was followed by the crushing disappointment that they were no longer speaking – Peggy did some long shifts at June’s café. She felt she needed to make up to her friend for her four days’ absence, but meanwhile Holly’s walking improved with every day, and it was clear to anybody who cared to look that she was growing into a very independently minded toddler. This meant that Holly made it increasingly clear that she was b-o-r-e-d with the playpen at June’s.

Peggy knew she had to do something about this, but she wasn’t sure what, a state of affairs she found disheartening.

It proved hard to hold on to the optimistic mood with which she had returned to Tall Trees when she’d enjoyed wearing her ‘special occasion only’ bright red lipstick, and over the next few weeks Peggy realised what a lot of time she had been devoting previously to thinking about James (and wondering if he would think her crimson lips alluring or too much, not that she’d ever find out, of course), and what a void in her life his absence was now making. She was missing James very much, but she felt too proud to attempt to see him again, her last try having been so bruising to her ego.

One afternoon, as she was buttoning Holly’s coat, a hand-me-down a customer had given Peggy, to get them ready to walk back to Tall Trees from the café, Peggy glanced up and, to her surprise, there was James walking along on the opposite pavement.

Peggy stopped what she was doing and stood up straight to look at him better, as her heart flip-flopped around and her mouth felt suddenly dry.

James was every bit as enticing, and handsome, and strong-looking as she remembered, and it made Peggy feel quite undone as the hairs on her arms rose and she thrilled in every part of her body.

It seemed that while her mind knew that what they had shared was over, her body certainly didn’t.

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