While We're Apart Read Online Free PDF Page B

weather played havoc with her arthritis, but she remained cheerful and bright and keenly interested in what all the girls got up to. She had lived at Beach View for many years now and had become very dear to all of them, but her increasing deafness and her rather cavalier attitude to using her hearing aid caused a great many moments of hilarity as well as frustration – and it sometimes meant that conversations took very strange turns indeed.
    As for Harvey! She eyed the large brindled lurcher with affection, despite the fact he was a ruddy nuisance at times. His latest escapade had been to impregnate a pedigree whippet whose owner had dumped the resulting puppy at Beach View. The pup, Monty, was now happily ensconced at the Anchor pub with the landlady, Rosie Braithwaite, and although Peggy was relieved not to have him under her feet all day, she still rather missed him.
    Peggy stubbed out her cigarette as Harvey opened his eyes and yawned luxuriously. He was always blotting his copybook, but he was a faithful dog, and an intelligent one too: he’d become quite famous in the town for sniffing out people trapped in their bombed buildings. He and Ron were as scruffy and wayward as each other, but Peggy knew that the house simply wouldn’t be the same without either of them.
    Harvey pricked up his ears as a gust of cold wind blew in from the hall and the front door slammed.
    Peggy headed for the kettle as Suzy and Fran shed their sodden nursing cloaks and shoes. ‘You look soaked through,’ she said fretfully. ‘Go and dry off, or you’ll catch your deaths.’
    â€˜To be sure, Aunt Peggy, ’tis filthy weather out there,’ Fran told her, as she unpinned the soggy white cap and shook out her damp tumble of russet curls.
    â€˜The wind makes it worse,’ said Suzy as she undid the button on her starched collar and stripped off her apron. ‘It drives the rain right through you.’
    â€˜I’ll make a pot of tea,’ said Peggy. ‘Go and change.’
    As the girls ran up the stairs, Daisy decided she’d had enough of her bricks and began to clamber over the recumbent Harvey, who lay and suffered in silence. Peggy placed the kettle on the hob and, carefully stepping over the scattered bricks, rescued the dog from Daisy’s clutching fingers. ‘Can you tidy up these toys before someone breaks their neck tripping over them, Ron?’
    Cordelia woke from her doze. ‘What boys?’ she asked in confusion. ‘Are Bob and Charlie here?’ She looked expectantly round the kitchen.
    Peggy experienced a sudden pang of sadness. ‘No, Cordelia,’ she said clearly. ‘Daisy’s toys are in the way, that’s all.’
    Cordelia eyed her over her half-moon spectacles and frowned. ‘I do wish you wouldn’t shout, dear,’ she said with a cluck of annoyance. ‘I’m not deaf, you know.’
    Ron dumped the bricks and toys into the playpen before turning to her with a mischievous smile that made his blue eyes sparkle beneath the wayward brows. ‘To be sure, Cordelia, you have a fine way of ignoring the truth,’ he said.
    Cordelia tried to be cross with him and failed. She could never resist his smile. ‘Get away with you, you old scallywag,’ she retorted. ‘You wouldn’t know the truth if it bit you.’
    Peggy listened to this exchange while she settled Daisy in her high chair and made the tea. They had both hit the nail on the head, for Cordelia wouldn’t accept the level of her deafness and, when it suited him, Ron had only a distant and rather vague acquaintance with the truth. But they enjoyed their little spats, and there was no harm done.
    Cordelia struggled out of the armchair and began to lay the table for tea. ‘Is everyone home tonight?’
    Peggy placed the teapot and cups on the table. ‘Everyone but Rita,’ she replied. ‘She’s going to the pictures with her nice