Page 62 of The Winter Bride

Marie looked relieved. ‘Oh, I am so glad you are not upset. I would ’ave liked nothing more than for you and Simon to become a couple but it was clearly not meant to be. I shall ’ave to ’old some more dinner parties and invite some more eligible men. Who knows, one of them might take your fancy.’

Annie grinned. ‘I don’t want to meet any eligible men; I’m quite happy as I am, thank you very much, so you can forget your matchmaking. I have Adam and Nancy and that’s all I need.’

‘Ah, but Nancy is walking out with a young man now, and Adam will grow up and make his own way in the world one day. They will not be with you forever,’ Marie pointed out. ‘And everybody needs someone special in their life.’

‘I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,’ Annie answered as a picture of Alex flashed in front of her eyes. ‘But now let’s go and have a cup of tea, shall we? I’m parched.’ And side by side the two friends headed for the kitchen.

Chapter Thirty-One

Annie followed Marie’s advice about stocking hats and accessories to go with the dresses, and they were selling like hot cakes. She could only wonder why she hadn’t thought of doing it herself. As a result, over the next couple of weeks Annie was kept so busy that she wouldn’t have had time to go out with Simon even if he had asked her, which, she noted, he hadn’t. It hadn’t stopped him popping into the shop on a regular basis, though, and while he was there Annie had discreetly watched how he and Ruth interacted. It was more than obvious that they were drawn to each other.

One day Simon finally drew her to one side and suggested, ‘How about we go out for a meal one evening this week? We haven’t been out together since you got back off your holiday.’

She flashed him a disarming smile. ‘Ah, that’s really kind of you, Simon. The trouble is, it’s not so easy for me now. Nancy goes out with Jamie, her young man, most evenings, so I’d have no one to watch Adam. It’s a shame for you to miss out though. Why don’t you ask Ruth if she’d like to go with you? It’s not much fun going out on your own, is it?’

He looked slightly taken aback. ‘You mean you wouldn’t mind?’

‘Why should I?’ she answered nonchalantly. ‘We’re all friends here, aren’t we?’

‘Well . . . yes but I—’

‘Go on, go and ask her,’ Annie encouraged. ‘She doesn’t get out very often and I’m sure she’d enjoy it. And while you ask her, I’ll go and put the kettle on and make us all a nice hot drink, shall I?’ And with that she sailed away to the kitchen. She’d opened the door for them so it was up to them now.

When she returned with a tray of tea she found Ruth looking flustered and somewhat embarrassed, although she didn’t immediately say anything. It was only when Simon had left and there was a lull in customers that she mentioned awkwardly, ‘Er . . . Simon has asked me if I’d like to go out for a meal with him this evening. He said you wouldn’t mind?’

Annie raised her eyebrow. ‘Why should I mind? Simon and I aren’t a couple. We’re just good friends and both free to go out with whoever we choose. No, you go and enjoy yourself. And how about a nice new dress for the event?’

Ruth shook her head. ‘I don’t think I could run to one of these. They’re a bit out of my price range.’

‘Hmm, well I happen to know that you have a birthday coming up in the next couple of days so choose one as my gift to you.’

Ruth gasped and blushed. ‘Oh no, I couldn’t do that.’

‘Why not?’ Annie smiled. ‘You might as well have something you like rather than me go out and buy you something you don’t really need. Go on, I insist. Try a few on while we’re quiet. What about that pale-lemon one you liked when we were unpacking the stock the other day.’ She crossed to the rail and took it down before handing it to Ruth. ‘Go on, try it on.’

Ruth went into the changing room, and when she came out, she was beaming like a Cheshire cat. The dress fitted as if it had been made for her and she looked stunning. It had a cream underskirt and a floaty overskirt with a handkerchief hem, and angel sleeves, and it showed her figure off to perfection.

‘You look beautiful,’ Annie told her truthfully. ‘And after work we’ll experiment with a few different styles for your hair.’

‘Are you quite sure?’ Ruth was positively glowing.

Annie nodded. ‘Quite sure. You couldn’t have chosen better.’

A customer entered then and Ruth hurried away to take the dress off while Annie served her.

The next day Ruth almost floated into the shop when she arrived for work and Annie could see that her evening with Simon had gone well.

‘Did you have a good night?’ she asked rather unnecessarily.

Ruth sighed. ‘Oh yes, it was wonderful but . . .’ She glanced at Annie guiltily. ‘Are you quite sure that you don’t mind me going out with Simon? I mean, if you were romantically inclined towards him, I wouldn’t dream of—’

‘Stop right there!’ Annie laughed as she held her hand up. ‘Like I told you, Simon and I are friends and nothing more. So, if anything should come of you seeing each other, you’d have my blessing.’

There was no time to say more for the phone rang and she hurried away to answer it. When the operator had put the caller through and Annie heard Levi on the other end of the phone she smiled.

‘Hello, Levi, it’s nice to hear from you. Is everything all right?’ It was usually her that rang him and Peggy, so she was quite surprised to hear from him.

‘Actually, pet, no it ain’t.’