Megan of Merseyside (11 page)

‘Working? Lynn hasn’t left school, yet.’

‘Well, she has now! Sure, it’s a fine little number she’s got herself and happy as a lark she is to be there. Saw her myself only an hour ago. Chipper as can be! A smile on that pretty face of hers and a ready answer to all the banter she gets from the customers. She makes a little cracker of a waitress and no mistake.’

‘Waitress!’

‘That she is! Working at the Copper Kettle. Hasn’t she told you?’

‘Not a word! Mam is out of her mind with worry because she didn’t come home from school at her usual time.’

‘Oh, she’s a bad one!’ His eyes twinkled. ‘I bet she wanted to make sure she liked working there before she told you. Do you know how to find it?’

‘I’m not sure. Is it the one in Slater Street?’

‘That’s right. You can’t miss it. There’s a big copper kettle in the window. Nip up Church Street, into Bold Street and it’s the first road on your right. Now, have you got all that?’

‘I think so. And thanks for all your help.’ Megan smiled gratefully.

‘Off you go, then, and remember – don’t be too hard on that little sister of yours,’ he warned. ‘Grand girl she is, to be sure.’

Megan found the Copper Kettle without any difficulty. Sure enough it was easy to spot with its shinning copper kettle in the window. Inside it
was
packed, but Megan couldn’t see Lynn anywhere.

‘I’m looking for my sister, Lynn Williams. Do you know if she’s here?’ she asked a couple of young girls about Lynn’s age who were sitting at one of the tables.

‘She was here a minute ago. That chap over there, Alan, he’s the owner so ask him,’ one of them told her. She pointed to a stocky, bearded man with curly black hair who was loading a tray with steaming cups of coffee and plates of toasted bread thick with jam that were being passed to him through a hatchway.

As she made to move towards him, the girl grabbed her by the arm. ‘Hey, kiddo, are you related to Alan?’

‘No? Why do you ask.’

‘You have the same surname and your Lynn sounds Welsh sometimes so I thought perhaps that’s how she managed to get a job here. Alan!’ The girl raised her voice to a shrill scream so that it could be heard above the general babble.

‘Coming! Have patience or else come to the counter and collect it yourself,’ he said in a good-natured reproof as he brought the loaded tray over and dumped it on the table.

‘Someone here looking for Lynn,’ the girl told him.

‘Oh? Nothing wrong is there?’ he asked, his dark eyes scanning Megan.

‘Lynn is my sister, I was told she was working here.’

‘That’s right. She started today.’

‘She never said a word about it at home. We
were
worried when she didn’t come home from school at the usual time,’ Megan explained.

‘There’s a bad one she is.’ He laughed. ‘Mind, she didn’t know herself when she left home this morning that she’d end up the day working here, though.’

‘What do you mean?’

He shrugged. ‘She walked in and asked for a job saying that since she spends so much time here she may as well get paid for it.’ He grinned, widely. ‘Short handed I was, see, so naturally when she said she could start work right away I agreed to give her a trial.’

‘Can I have a quick word with her, please?’

‘She’s finished for the night. She left about twenty minutes ago.’

Megan didn’t hurry when she left the café. She knew Lynn would be in trouble when she got home and she didn’t want to be dragged into it. There would be heated arguments between them all and she didn’t intend to take sides. It was Lynn’s future and something she had to sort out for herself, Megan decided.

She had problems of her own. Her relationship with Miles was not going smoothly. She knew she was head over heels in love with him, but she was not at all sure what his feelings were for her.

He had sworn her to secrecy about their meetings, saying that if his father found out he would sack her. That was the last thing she wanted to happen, but she found it increasingly difficult to speak to Miles in a calm, impersonal voice when he came in to the office.

He seemed to have no difficulty in remaining aloof as he handed over the bills of lading, or checked queries on the documents. He was so formal that she found it unbearable.

What hurt most of all was the way he laughed and joked with the other two in the office, yet remained off-hand with her.

She knew Mavis and Olive whispered about it behind her back and their snide remarks were beginning to make her feel very uncomfortable.

When she had plucked up the courage to mention it to Miles, pointing out that by behaving towards her as he did he only drew attention to what was going on between them, he’d been annoyed.

His blue eyes had narrowed and so too had his mouth, his lips thinning into a hard line. The next time he had come in to the office he had ignored her completely. Megan had felt so upset that she had been on the verge of tears. When Mavis asked her what was the matter, her excuse that she had a bad headache hadn’t sounded very convincing.

She had been at Walker’s for over eight months now and was confident that she was doing her job efficiently. She seemed to be well liked by both Mr Walker and Miss Pearce, so why couldn’t Miles openly acknowledge their friendship? she thought bitterly.

Megan stopped and stared unseeingly at one of the shop windows. On their very first date, she recalled, Miles had warned her that his father would object to their friendship because he didn’t believe the boss should be too friendly with
employees
. Miles wasn’t her boss … at least, not yet. He was an employee the same as she was.

If only Miles felt the same way about her as Robert Field did, she thought wistfully. Robert was for ever asking her to go out with him. She liked him well enough, but she felt he was too old, and not her type because he was much too serious.

Miles was nearer her own age and when they were on their own the repartee between them was spiced with humour. He knew how to spark off her reactions, and she found him to be a constant challenge.

When she was with Robert she felt that he was bending over backwards all the time to agree with her, as if afraid he might upset her if he voiced an opinion that differed from hers.

A brilliant shaft of lightning, followed by a clap of thunder, made her jump. As huge raindrops splashed down she dashed into a covered alleyway for shelter.

It was then she became aware that she was not alone. The uneasy feeling she’d had ever since she’d left the café that someone was dogging her footsteps was confirmed.

Trembling, she looked round at the thin, lanky young man with greasy shoulder-length hair. ‘Are you following me?’ she demanded.

‘I’ve been walking behind you since you left the Copper Kettle, if that’s what you mean.’

‘Why?’

‘Why not?’ He grinned widely. ‘I heard you tell Alan Williams that you were Lynn’s sister and I’m a mate of hers.’

‘Are you Flash?’ She looked at him suspiciously. Lynn hadn’t mentioned anything about him wearing glasses.

‘No, kiddo. I’m not Flash.’ He grinned, showing big, irregular teeth.

‘So how do you know Lynn?’

‘I’ve met up with her at the Stork Club. Right little smasher she is!’

Megan bit her lip and said nothing.

‘I’ll take you for a bevvy, if you like,’ he offered, ‘and we can get to know each other.’

‘No, thank you.’ She hoped he wouldn’t hear the squeak of fear in her voice. At the back of her mind was a prickly foreboding. She regretted having taken shelter in the alleyway; it was so deserted.

‘Let’s go for a nosh, then. They do a smashing bowl of scouse at the Sweatrag in Scottie Road. Come on, we can cut through the jowlers and be there in next to no time.’

As he grabbed hold of her arm, Megan felt petrified. She pulled away and let out a scream as her stomach knotted with fear.

‘What’s wrong? You’ll have the Scuffers on our necks carrying on like that,’ he scowled, letting go of her.

‘Don’t you touch me or I really will scream,’ she warned, breathing hard and hoping he wouldn’t notice that she was trembling.

‘Yeah, I reckon you would an’ all.’ He grinned, a note of respect creeping into his voice. He shrugged his thin shoulders. ‘Well, please yourself, kiddo. Some other time, perhaps!’

When Megan said nothing, he pulled up his
collar
against the heavy rain that was now sheeting down. ‘See you around, then. Tell that sister of yours to bring you along to the Stork sometime,’ he called over his shoulder as he loped off out of sight.

Megan waited until he had disappeared from sight then she took to her heels and didn’t pause until she reached home. As she went indoors she was shaking and her breath was catching audibly in her throat. She felt bewildered and exhausted by what had happened.

As she opened the door to the cramped little flat she thought longingly of their cosy cottage, ringed by mountains, and wished with all her heart that she was back in Beddgelert.

Chapter Twelve

‘YOU MUST COME
, Megan; it’s your birthday treat!’

Megan tried to avoid her sister’s pleading grey eyes because it seemed churlish to refuse. Yet the Stork Club, where she might again bump into that awful man who’d followed her from the Copper Kettle, was the last place she wanted to go to on her birthday.

Given the choice she would have been fulfilling her dream of having dinner somewhere with Miles Walker. That was wishful thinking, though! Miles hadn’t sent her a card or even popped into the office to wish her a happy birthday.

Since late spring, when the nights had started to lengthen, they had met less and less frequently.

‘Its too risky, someone might see us,’ he would say evasively.

He would smother her protests with passionate kisses and, as his mouth took possession of hers, and she gave herself up to the magic of the moment, her resentment and powers of reasoning dissolved. It was only later, when she was alone, that all the niggling doubts would come back.

Why was Miles still so insistent that no one must know they were seeing each other? They’d been meeting at least once a week to go to the pictures for over six months now, yet she still knew
practically
nothing about how Miles spent his leisure time when they were not together.

She thought about it constantly, but no matter how much she questioned him she never received a satisfactory answer.

‘What do you do at the weekends?’ she pressed. ‘I’m sure you don’t just sit at home!’

‘No, I’m out and about. I play cricket quite a lot.’

‘Where? Can I come and watch?’ she asked eagerly.

‘Sorry, it’s a private club.’

‘Surely you can take a guest along occasionally.’

‘Since my father is the president that’s quite out of the question because he’d recognise you!’

She sighed. ‘You must do plenty of other things,’ she persisted.

‘Yes, family dinner parties.’ He yawned widely. ‘You have no idea how incredibly boring they can be! I get fed up of listening to dry as dust opinions about how the country is going to the dogs and how things should be run.’

‘Surely that doesn’t take up the entire evening.’

He shrugged. ‘Sometimes if they leave early I go for a spin along the prom on my bike. It’s practically deserted late at night and I can put my foot down and watch the speedo clocking up. It’s terrific!’

That part she believed. It was what he did on all the other evenings that she wanted to know about.

‘Don’t you ever go dancing or any place where we could meet?’ she persisted.

‘I go to jazz clubs sometimes.’ He laughed as he saw the look of distaste on her face. ‘Don’t you like jazz?’

‘It’s OK, I suppose,’ she said evasively. ‘I’d possibly like it better if I went with the right person!’

She waited for him to suggest they went there together. When he didn’t she felt both hurt and bewildered.

Commonsense warned her that he must know plenty of girls and she began to suspect he might be two-timing her. If only he would tell her the truth, she thought unhappily.

As she sat in front of her bedroom mirror, putting on her make-up, Megan wondered if Miles really did find her attractive. Her face wasn’t too bad, she decided, turning this way and that to study it. Her nose and chin were neat, she had well defined cheekbones, good skin and her teeth were white and even.

In fact, she decided with some satisfaction as she ran a comb through her hair, when she smiled the rest of her face seemed to come alive, as though her dark brown eyes were smiling, too.

She moved back from the mirror, twisting round to study the rest of her appearance. Her figure was far better than Lynn’s! Yet Lynn was the one who had the boys flocking round her like starlings round a bird table.

She knew that if Lynn was in her shoes she would have told Miles Walker that either they met openly or she would stop seeing him. She wished she had the nerve to do the same, but she wasn’t sure their friendship meant as much to Miles as it did to her.
She
was afraid that if she took such a step it might well mean the end of their friendship altogether.

Even that might be better than the hole-and-corner way they were behaving at present, she thought miserably. It hurt terribly when he came into the office and hardly spoke to her or pretended not to see her.

As Megan and Lynn made their way to the Stork Club, they found the streets were packed with Liverpool-Irish who earlier in the day had marched through the city centre to mark Orangeman’s Day. Now, most of them were drunk and they were accosting passers-by. By the time the girls reached Queen Square, they were almost out of breath from trying to avoid the unwelcome attentions.

‘Take no notice of them, they’re only Paddies, they won’t hurt us,’ Lynn whispered, tightly clutching Megan’s arm.

‘Most of them are so drunk that they’ll be fighting each other before very long.’ Megan shuddered.

‘The police will have seen them off by the time we come home, and the doorman won’t let any strangers in the Stork,’ Lynn told her.

‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that,’ Megan warned.