Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection. Josephine Cox

wrong.’ He sounded sincere. ‘Like you, I saw what was happening and needed to put a stop to it. When I got between you it wasn’t to help Roy, believe me. It was your friend I was trying to help.’

      ‘If that’s the case, I’m sorry for what I did,’ she admitted reluctantly. She’d felt embarrassed about it long enough. It was time to make amends.

      He gave a wry little laugh. ‘You’re a dangerous woman, though.’ He observed her slight build, the mop of brown hair and those bright blue eyes, and his heart turned over. ‘I would never have guessed you could throw like that,’ he said admiringly.

      Amy smiled, aware that he was teasing her. ‘Neither did I.’ Under his intense scrutiny she felt neither embarrassed nor angry, but curiously warm inside.

      ‘You managed to put me out of action for three days,’ he told her, exaggerating so she knew he was laughing with her. ‘What’s more, I had to lie to my boss. If I’d told him what really happened, the men would have taunted me mercilessly.’

      As he talked and smiled and looked back with amusement at what she’d done, Amy began to see a different, pleasant side to him. ‘I might have been a bit too quick in throwing that brick,’ she confessed. ‘But I really thought you were as bad as your friend.’

      His smile was all-embracing. ‘You don’t think that now, do you?’

      Amy shook her head. ‘I’ll admit, I’m beginning to see you in a different light.’

      ‘Is that good or bad?’

      ‘Good … I think.’ In fact she had thought about that night often, and each time she was increasingly certain she’d got it wrong where he was concerned.

      ‘So, will you dance with me?’ he asked, and Amy agreed.

      In spite of Amy’s earlier worries, the whole evening was surprisingly enjoyable, and by the time they were preparing to leave, their relationship was developing fast.

      As for Daisy, her attraction for Roy was strong as ever. ‘I’m as much to blame for what happened,’ she told Amy in the toilets. ‘I must have given him the idea that I wanted it every bit as much as he did.’

      ‘That’s no excuse for coming on like he did.’ Amy wasn’t happy that Daisy had forgiven him so easily. ‘If you ask me, there’s a darker side to him than meets the eye. I know I can’t tell you what to do, but I’m asking you to stay on your guard. Will you do that for me?’

      Daisy groaned but promised all the same. ‘All right, mother hen,’ she quipped cheekily, ‘I’ll stay on my guard.’

      Then she laughed her impulsive, hearty laugh, and Amy couldn’t help but laugh with her. ‘You’re incorrigible!’ Amy said, and Daisy told her she didn’t even know what the word meant.

      When they returned to their table, Jack was at the bar getting more drinks, while Roy was impatiently pacing the floor. ‘At last!’ He threw out his arms in frustration. ‘Whatever it is you women do when you go to the toilets together, it seems to take you one hell of a long time! What do you do, anyway?’

      ‘That’s for us to know and you to find out!’ Daisy retorted.

      ‘Hmm! You’re a brassy bugger and no mistake!’ He had fallen for Daisy hook, line and sinker.

      They drank their drinks and danced until their feet ached. When the last waltz was over, they made their way outside.

      ‘Which way are you headed?’ Jack asked Amy.

      ‘Let’s just walk.’ Heading off in the direction of the marketplace, Amy wasn’t altogether happy about telling them where she lived. Since Don Carson had let her down she’d got out of the habit of trusting men. ‘Me and Daisy will soon have to make our way home,’ she warned amicably.

      As they walked they chatted, and the more they chatted the more they found friendship.

      ‘What kind of work are you two in?’ Jack asked the girls.

      Amy hesitated while Daisy answered in a rush, ‘Amy runs Atkinsons’ Corner Shop with her mam, and I work at Tooley’s Café.’ Puffing out her chest, she added proudly, ‘I’m in charge most of the time, on account of Ma Tooley’s forever gadding about. She likes the men, y’see? Goes off for days on end and leaves me to it. Mind you, I like being on my own. That way I don’t get nagged at every five minutes. Besides, when she’s not there, I get to use the old chip pan an’ grill.’

      ‘Use the old chip pan and grill, eh?’ Roy laughed out loud. ‘I can’t think of anything more exciting.’

      ‘Hey! Who asked you?’ Daisy gave him a sharp dig in the ribs for his cheek.

      Jack smiled down on Amy. ‘So? You run a corner shop with your mam, eh?’

      Amy wished Daisy hadn’t told them, but now there was no use denying it. ‘That’s right,’ she said.

      ‘What about you two?’ Giving Roy another nudge in the ribs, Daisy asked, ‘What work do you do?’

      ‘We both work at Hammonds, only I’m a mechanic and he’s the foreman, lucky bugger! And if yer don’t mind, I’d like you to keep yer elbows to yerself. I’ll be black and blue all over if you keep digging me in the ribs!’

      ‘I’m not a “lucky bugger”, as you put it,’ Jack protested half-heartedly. ‘I’ve worked hard for what I’ve got, and anyway, you’ve only been there for a year, while I’ve been there ever since I left school. All you have to do is knuckle down and your time will come.’

      ‘Hmm! Like hell it will.’ Roy had no self-worth.

      Because of Roy’s complete lack of confidence in his future, Jack confided a snippet of information. ‘You’re already in the manager’s good books. I know for a fact he’s had a word with Mr Hammond on your behalf.’

      Roy’s face lit up. ‘You’re kidding, aren’t yer?’

      ‘No,’ Jack answered, ‘you’ve been noticed. So from now on, you’d best watch your p’s and q’s.’

      Having now arrived at the meat-pie stall alongside the marketplace, Roy dug his hand in his pocket and drew out a cache of coins. ‘Right! Meat pies all round, is it?’

      Amy and Daisy declined politely, exchanging secret looks of horror at the idea of more food.

      A few minutes later, they were all seated on one of the empty stalls, swinging their legs, the two men chewing on their meat pies with Roy slavering all the way.

      ‘Ugh! You mucky pup!’ Daisy gave Roy a playful push. ‘You’ve dripped gravy all down your front!’ The gravy ran from his chin to his shirt and over part of his lapel.

      Wiping his hand over it and making matters worse, Roy turned to Jack. ‘Has he really had a word with Hammond?’

      Jack nodded. ‘I’ve already told you. I heard him saying what a good worker you’d turned out to be. According to him, it wouldn’t be too long before you were moved up a notch or two.’ He wagged a finger. ‘But you don’t know anything about it, all right? I never told you.’

      As a rule he would never have divulged such privileged information, but he had long suspected that Roy was ready to pack the work in and look for something else, and he needed encouragement to carry on. ‘Keep on the way you’re going, and there’s a future for you at Hammonds, that’s all I know.’

      Roy grinned like a Cheshire cat. ‘Right, matey! Enough said.’

      Daisy put paid to his grinning. ‘Look at that, you sloppy devil!’ Pointing to his shirt, she groaned, ‘Now, there’s a lump o’ meat stuck to your collar.’

      He slid an arm round her. ‘So, I’m a sloppy devil. Does that mean you don’t love me any more?’

      ‘Gerroff!’