This Lovely City by Louise Hare

This Lovely City by Louise Hare

Author:Louise Hare [Hare, Louise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008332587
Google: 90WeDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Published: 2020-03-12T00:00:00+00:00


1948

The Armstrongs lived in a prefab house just off Clapham Common, one of a row of identical houses that looked as though they’d come straight off a toy factory conveyor belt. They’d been thrown up in a hurry to house those who’d been bombed out of their homes and had a temporary appearance, lacking in sturdiness; the sort of house the least lucky of the three pigs might have lived in before the wolf came calling. They were far from the usual English terraced homes that Lawrie was having to get used to. Those long rows lacked privacy but their bricks and mortar made him feel safe; they had survived not only the passage of decades, but a long and costly war.

Lawrie double-checked the house number she’d scribbled down for him the day before and knocked on the door, gently, as if he were afraid of putting his fist through the cheap wood. The net curtain at the window twitched as Rose peered out, smiling.

‘Come in!’ She opened the door with a flourish, beckoning for him to come inside quickly.

Perhaps she was worried about what her neighbours would think. He wondered if anyone had seen her let Lawrie in, and if they would say anything to her husband. Did he care if they did? It was amusing to imagine the look on Frank Armstrong’s face upon finding out that his wife had invited a nigger into his own home. For a bath, no less. Frank would have to bathe knowing that the dark skin of a Jamaican man had sat in the same place, his buttocks resting in the precise spot where Lawrie’s own had. He should make sure to wipe his arse along the bottom of that tub.

‘What are you smiling at?’ Rose laughed.

‘Nothing.’ He snapped the grin off his face. ‘Just happy at the thought of being clean.’ He followed her into the kitchen. ‘I suppose there are the public baths but I can’t afford to go down there every day.’

Rose shuddered. ‘I never feel clean, using public facilities. You never know who’s used them before you. I even had a bath after I got home from the lido the other day. Would you like a drink? Tea? Water?’

‘Water, please.’

She took his bag from him and shook out the creased shirt and trousers, draping them over the back of a chair, ready for laundering. He’d called one of Aston’s contacts and fixed an interview for the following morning. Right after that he’d arranged to go round and meet Mrs Ryan, Evie’s next-door neighbour. The room was tiny, Evie had warned, but it would be clean. And close to Evie. They’d gone to the pictures the evening before, just the two of them, and been able to talk freely for the first time. He’d never really talked to a girl like that before. A girl who made him feel at ease whilst simultaneously exciting him more that any person he’d known before. He paid attention to every word she said, storing away fragments of information.



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