The Baker's Daughter Read Online Free PDF

thought coffee sounded more sophisticated.
    â€˜Not tonight,’ she said quickly. ‘I’d better be getting back.’
    â€˜Maybe you’d like to come out with me next week?’
    â€˜The pictures again?’ said Neela,
    â€˜If you like?’
    â€˜Or,’ she said, ‘we could go out for dinner.’
    â€˜Yes,’ he said, hesitating.
    â€˜Of course,’ she added, ‘if you don’t want to ...’
    â€˜Oh, but I do.’ Doug leaned forward. ‘I think you’re the most attractive girl I’ve met in a long time.’
    â€˜Really?’ She looked at him from under her eyelashes.
    â€˜Yes, really.’
    â€˜You’re such a nice boy.’ She patted his hand, and he tried to grasp hers, but she quickly withdrew it.
    He didn’t really want to be a nice boy—after all, at 23, he was old enough to marry, old enough to be a proper mechanic, to be on the way to owning his own business.
    â€˜I’ll walk you home,’ he offered.
    â€˜No,’ she said quickly. ‘You can walk me to the end of the street. You know how people gossip.’
    At the end of the street, she turned to him and kissed him on the cheek. ‘You really are nice, Doug, quite the nicest boy I’ve met for years.’
    Doug walked home in a daze. Aunt Lizzie was sleeping in an armchair, Father was listening to the wireless, and Rona was tidying up in the kitchen.
    â€˜Have a good evening?’ she asked.
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜Ooh, out with your pals, were you?’
    Doug said nothing.
    â€˜Was it a good film?’
    Doug nodded.
    â€˜Did she enjoy it?’
    â€˜I didn’t say I’d been with a girl.’
    â€˜You didn’t need to. You’ve got lipstick on your cheek.’ Rona got up and yawned. ‘I’m away to my bed. Some of us have to be up early.’
    She turned towards the stairs.
    Doug glared after her. Why couldn’t his family mind their own business?
    *        *        *
    Rona was serving a customer with potato scones when she heard a tap on the window and saw Callum making faces at her. She tried hard not to giggle, and did her best to concentrate on the customer.
    â€˜Will that be all?’
    The woman hesitated, and looked at the cakes. ‘I’m not sure. What are your cream cookies like?’
    Oh, do hurry up
, said Rona, though she said it to herself. At this rate Callum was going to give up and go away.
    â€˜I’ll take two,’ said the woman.
    Oh, how slow she was! But at last she paid for the scones and cookies and stowed them in her basket. Rona saw she was inclined to talk. ‘A fine breezy day,’ she began.
    â€˜Thank you very much,’ she said briskly ‘I hope you enjoy the scones—freshly baked.’
    She smiled at the woman, trying not to let her exasperation show, and finally the woman left the shop.
    â€˜I thought she’d never go,’ said Rona as Callum pushed the door open.
    He grinned at her. ‘I’ve been waiting for you a good quarter-of-an-hour. Didn’t you see me waving at you through the window?’
    â€˜You’ll get me the sack,’ she said solemnly.
    â€˜Well, anyway. Are you doing anything this evening? We could go to the pictures or maybe for a cup of coffee—there’s that new coffee bar.’
    â€˜Oh, yes.’ Rona had heard about the coffee bar. It was popular with the young folk of the town—there was a jukebox and they’d recently installed a television set.
    *        *        *
    â€˜Come on then.’ He took her hand a little while later, and she wished she had been wearing elegant suede gloves instead of her old grey woollen gloves with a darn in the thumb. But it was still wintry and her old gloves and thick grey coat would have to do.
    In the café, he fetched the cups of coffee from the