Swansea Summer by Catrin Collier Page B

you’ll be on the doorstep until five.’
    ‘You know how to keep a man in his place,’ Sam quipped.
    Ignoring Sam, Brian leaned forward and kissed Judy’s cheek before following the others down the steps and into the basement. Martin had already set the kettle on to boil and Sam produced a box of biscuits. Lily stacked her bags in the passage ready to take them upstairs and Katie, who liked to make herself useful every time she visited her brothers, pulled out the mending basket.
    ‘So, we all going to the Pier tonight?’ Helping himself to a biscuit, Brian sat next to Lily.
    ‘Where else?’ she asked.
    ‘Can I have a dance, or do you save them all for Martin now?’
    Lily glanced at Martin, who averted his eyes. ‘Martin and I are just friends, Brian.’
    ‘So were Jack and Helen. It’s weird to think they’re married. I wonder who’ll be next.’
    ‘Not you and Judy if your arguments are anything to go by.’ Sam retrieved the biscuit box from Brian and passed it round.
    ‘That’s all you know. The best marriages are the lively ones,’ Brian pronounced decisively.
    ‘I’d say fierce was a more suitable word than lively to describe Judy’s attitude towards you.’
    ‘That’s because you don’t understand women. They only insult men they are crazy about.’ Brian looked at Katie. ‘You’re quiet.’
    ‘It’s been a long day.’ She kept her head down as she concentrated on weaving strands of wool over the mushroom she’d placed under a hole in the heel of one of Martin’s socks.
    ‘But you are going to the Pier tonight.’
    ‘I’m not sure.’
    ‘Come on, Katie,’ Lily cajoled. ‘We can have a lie-in tomorrow. You can catch up on your sleep then.’
    ‘Besides, I need someone to teach me to dance.’ Sam stretched his long legs in Katie’s direction and drummed his heels on the floor.
    ‘I don’t know how.’
    ‘You can’t fool me. I saw you jiving with Jack’s friend from the building site last Saturday night. Say you’ll come. Please, for me.’ Sam bent his head, peering up at her with such a peculiar, pleading expression that Katie smiled despite the pain that gnawed inside her.
    ‘I’ll think about it,’ she hedged.
    ‘You’ll feel more like going out after we’ve put our feet up for an hour.’ Lily kicked off her new shoes and wriggled her toes. She hadn’t realised how much they pinched until she’d taken them off.
    ‘All I’ve done today is keep Jack calm, hand over a ring and make a speech, but I feel as though I’ve climbed Mount Everest twice over.’ Martin poured the tea.
    ‘Weddings take it out of you.’
    ‘You sound as though you’ve had a dozen, Brian.’
    ‘My family’s pretty big. I’ve been to plenty and they’re all the same after the bride and groom leave for the honeymoon. Flat.’
    ‘Perhaps it’s envy.’ Lily blushed as Brian and Sam burst out laughing. ‘I mean Jack and Helen going to London,’ she amended hastily, as she realised how her comment could be misconstrued. ‘Seeing the sights, going to theatres, eating in restaurants …’
    ‘Lucky them, two whole weeks with nothing to do but have fun,’ Brian moaned.
    ‘You live in London.’ Martin pulled up a chair and joined them at the table.
    ‘I saw more sights on one weekend leave when I was doing National Service than in the month I’ve lived there.’
    ‘And whose fault is that?’ Martin asked.
    ‘You try working shifts and see how much time it leaves you during normal opening hours. And even when I get an afternoon or evening off, Judy’s usually working and it’s no fun seeing sights by yourself.’
    ‘She said she was fed up,’ Lily concurred.
    ‘She did?’ The biscuit Brian had been dunking in his tea dissolved, bloating out on the surface like a mushroom.
    Too late Lily remembered Judy’s warning that she hadn’t told Brian how she felt about living in London. ‘It was only something she mentioned in passing.’
    ‘Exactly what did she say?’