Free Lying Together by Gaynor Arnold

I’d got and perhaps, this time, he would tell me something about his real self. From seven o’clock on I had my eyes trained on the dining room entrance, and nearly ran into Mavis three times. ‘What’s the matter, Elsie?’ she said. ‘You’re a real clodhopper tonight!’ But nine o’clock came, the dining room emptied, and Jack hadn’t come.
    â€˜How long is Mr Thompson staying?’ I asked Mr Reeves casually when we were laying up for the next day’s breakfast. Mr Reeves said only the one night, booked from London by telephone he believed, and could I be a dear and take some cocoa up to twenty-one as Mavis was washing up and the new girl had gone home with a sick headache. ‘I wouldn’t normally ask you to do room service, but I know I can rely on you when the chips are down.’
    â€˜Of course,’ I said. ‘Anything to help the war effort, Mr Reeves.’
    In fact, I made two cups of cocoa and after taking the first to twenty-one, I knocked on the adjoining door. Jack opened it. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, his arms all golden and smooth. He must have been reading again, as his book was open on the bed. I could see the dent on the coverlet where he’d been lying. ‘Your cocoa, Mr Thompson,’ I said.
    He frowned. ‘You’ve made a mistake, I think,’ he said.
    â€˜No, it’s for you. I made it specially. Only you mustn’t let it go cold like you usually do.’
    â€˜I beg your pardon?’
    I felt embarrassed now. He clearly didn’t remember and I was near to making a fool of myself. But it was worth one more go.
    â€˜We’ve met before. Three years ago. You gave me a shilling tip and I didn’t want to take it.’
    He laughed. ‘Good lord! When I came down for that PPU meeting! I’m so sorry – I didn’t recognize you. You were a lot younger, I think. Well, obviously you were, but I mean – not so elegant and grown-up.’ I blushed, glad I had put my hair up before dinner and dabbed on a little lipstick. He surveyed me as I stood in the doorway, cup in hand, and I wondered whether he was considering if I was now more worthy of his notice. But he only said, ‘I’m afraid I can’t give you any kind of tip this time. I’ve only got a ten shilling note.’
    â€˜Take it anyway,’ I said, holding out the cocoa. ‘Or I’ll have to pour it down the sink, and that would be a waste of rations.’
    â€˜Well, we can’t have that.’ He took the cup, then paused. ‘Are you allowed to come in while I drink it? I could do with some company. Or is that against the rules?’
    My heart thudded in my chest. ‘I’m off duty now,’ I lied. ‘So I can do as I please.’
    â€˜ Will you come in then?’
    And so I found myself stepping into Jack’s bedroom with Jack there in his shirt sleeves and his book on the bed, and the bedside lamp glowing just as dimly as the one on the corner table three years before. I didn’t care if Mr Reeves saw me. I didn’t care if I got the sack. I was alone with Jack. It was like the night before battle when men and women do all kinds of foolish things.
    â€˜Do sit down.’ He removed his jacket from the back of the rickety bedroom chair, moved his book onto the chest of drawers and sat on the edge of the bed. He lifted the cup to his lips. I didn’t look at his fingers, just concentrated on the burnished shine of his forearms in the lamplight. I could feel myself trembling. I had no idea what was going to happen.
    We sat in silence for a bit while he drank. He didn’t seem to mind the silence but I felt so wound up that I had to speak. ‘What is it you’re reading?’ I said, nodding at the book. I almost bit back the words as I said them, because I hated it when people said the same thing to me. Mr Reeves and Mavis were always asking me that question, though