Free There’s Always Tomorrow by Pam Weaver

couldn’t embarrass him in front of Billy.
    Picking up her skirts, Dottie ran further into the water. Billy followed and the two of them splashed about a bit.
    ‘Fancy a quick look around Woolworths?’ Mary suggested when Dottie and Billy came back. Reg was already back in his deckchair.
    ‘Ye-ah,’ said Billy.
    ‘What about the kids?’ asked Dottie.
    ‘I’ll stay and keep an eye on them,’ said Peaches.
    ‘The men can look after them for five minutes, can’t they?’ said Mary.
    ‘Reg?’ Dottie asked.
    ‘I’m reading the paper.’
    ‘Can I come?’ said Billy.
    Tom and Jack waved them away. ‘Go on, get on with you and enjoy yourselves.’
    ‘And me?’ Billy tried again.
    ‘You heard your mother,’ said Tom. ‘Us men’ll have to look after the kids. About time you took our Christopher over to the toilets, isn’t it?’
    ‘Aw, Dad!’
    The three friends set off for the town. As they walked along the promenade, Peaches fluffed out her blonde hair with her fingers. Dottie linked her arms through theirs and they began an impromptu dance until Mary slipped and trod on some man’s toe.
    ‘Oi!’ he shouted.
    ‘Sorry,’ Mary called as they all dissolved into laughter.
    ‘He’ll have a flat foot now,’ said Peaches. ‘Step – flip, step – flop …’
    It was all very silly but Dottie laughed until she held her sides. ‘I haven’t had a laugh like this for ages.’
    They stopped off to look at the exhibits in the big marquee on the green.
    ‘I’ll tell you what,’ said Mary, holding a prize-winning jar of lemon curd up to the light, ‘your preserves are every bit as good as these, Dottie.’
    Dottie blushed happily.
    ‘And I tell you what,’ said Peaches. ‘I’m busting for the toilet again. Let’s head towards the town.’
    The friends linked arms once more and set off to find the public conveniences. Outside again Peaches said, ‘I’ll be glad when this one comes and I can have some fun again. Fancy coming to Brighton with me once I get my figure back? I can’t wait to get some new things.’
    ‘Let me make you something,’ said Dottie.
    ‘Be nice if we could all go shopping though, wouldn’t it?’ Peaches remarked.
    ‘Count me in,’ said Mary.
    ‘You’re on,’ said Dottie with a smile.
    ‘How come you haven’t got any kids, Dottie?’ asked Mary. ‘Doesn’t Reg want any?’
    Dottie felt her face colour. ‘It just never happened,’ she faltered.
    ‘Oh darlin’, I’m sorry,’ said Mary. ‘Me and my big mouth.’
    ‘It’s all right,’ Dottie quickly reassured her.
    ‘My cousin Nelly was like that,’ said Peaches. ‘In the end she went to the doctor and he said she and her husband wasn’t doing it right.’
    ‘What the ’ell were they doing then?’ said Mary, agog.
    ‘Just touching navels.’
    There was a moment of silence then Mary said, ‘Was that all?’
    They all burst out laughing.
    ‘Perhaps your Reg needs some coaching,’ said Mary, giving Dottie a hefty nudge.
    ‘You volunteering?’ grinned Dottie and they all laughed a third time.
    ‘What about cousin Nelly?’ Mary asked.
    ‘Whatever the doc said to them worked,’ said Peaches. ‘They’ve got three kids now.’
    ‘All the spitting image of the doctor,’ roared Mary. Peaches enjoyed the joke, laughing heartily. Thank goodness they didn’t know about Doctor Fitzgerald, thought Dottie as she joined in. Thankfully the subject of babies, and the lack of them, didn’t come up again.
    ‘Here we are,’ said Mary as they found the shops.
    They wandered around Woolworths and Peaches bought herself a bottle of Lily of the Valley. Mary got each of her brood and Gary a 3D stick of rock with ‘Littlehampton’ printed through it to take home. ‘Clever how they do that,’ she remarked.
    Dottie bought a new comb for Reg.
     
     
    Reg flipped through the pages of the Littlehampton Gazette . Nothing much there. He was just about to fold it up when Connie tottered towards him, a long