Free It's Now or Never by June Francis

‘I’ll talk to our Sam. He might continue with the rental because surely he’s bound to want to watch Dorothy’s documentary when it’s eventually made.’
    Jeanette frowned. ‘You know what his attitude’s been ever since she first voiced that idea. Anyway, I wonder how long it’s all going to take before it’s ready to be shown, now she’s auditioned for this film role.’
    â€˜Let’s forget it for now,’ said Hester. ‘I’m starving!’
    Ethel came in while they were eating their dinner and switched on the wireless without saying a word. Jeanette took the old woman’s plate of food out of the oven and placed it on a tray and gave it to her.
    Several hours later Sam arrived, just as Hester and Jeanette were on their way to bed. ‘Any food?’ he asked, scrubbing his face with his fists and yawning.
    â€˜You look shattered,’ said Jeanette sympathetically.
    â€˜I’ll survive. There’s been a spate of robberies in the Old Swan and Tuebrook area. A couple of post offices and a shop have been broken into.’
    â€˜That’s bad,’ said Hester, frowning. ‘Anyone hurt?’
    â€˜Not so far,’ replied Sam, sitting down and easing off his shoes. ‘Have there been any phone calls?’
    â€˜Dorothy phoned,’ said Jeanette. ‘You probably know that if you’ve been in touch with the hotel.’
    His head lifted slowly. ‘She wasn’t at the Lynton. Apparently she’s gone to London. What did she have to say?’
    â€˜That she was sorry,’ said Jeanette, darting a glance at Hester.
    â€˜At least she phoned,’ said Hester swiftly.
    â€˜Who took the call?’ asked Sam.
    â€˜Me,’ said Jeanette.
    â€˜Then she didn’t phone until this evening.’ His voice was expressionless. ‘Did she say whether she got the part or not?’
    â€˜No, but she sounded tired. I wrote down what she had to say and left it by the phone,’ said Jeanette.
    â€˜There weren’t any messages there.’ Sam glanced at Ethel who was dozing in the chair. ‘I bet she took it and threw it on the fire. You might as well tell me what it said, Jeannie.’
    â€˜She was sorry but her agent told her that the casting director had asked specially for her to audition, so she felt that she couldn’t say no.’
    Sam was silent but his face told them what he was feeling and thinking. Hester went up to bed and Jeanette fetched his dinner and then scooted upstairs, having decided she had enough to cope with, thinking about moving into Betty’s flat if her father agreed, without worrying about Sam and Dorothy’s love life.
    The following morning Hester wasted no time: after waving Jeanette off and giving downstairs a quick tidy, she left the house. The rest of the household were in bed as her father and brother were on later shifts and Ethel never got up early these days.
    She crossed Whitefield Road and paused outside Skelly’s Printers and thought that she must visit there on her return journey and order her wedding invitation cards to be printed. Opposite the printers was Barker & Dobson’s sweet factory.
    She took a deep breath, thinking there wasn’t anything quite like the smell of chocolate and boiled sugar and mint. She remembered being told the story behind the discovery of one of the firm’s most popular sweets, the Everton toffee mint, by a boyfriend who had been a football fan. It was said that even Queen Victoria had a fondness for the striped humbug with toffee inside. It seemed incredible to think that the original toffees had first been produced in a tiny shop way back in 1753 when Everton was just a village. It just went to show that some good things last and the sweet had even provided Everton football team with its nickname, The Toffees.
    Hester headed on up Lombard Street where, once a week, she visited the dairy there. The owner