Free That'll Be the Day (2007) by Freda Lightfoot

natural friendliness. She hated his casual attitude towards matrimony, his cheerful bonhomie which he claimed to be perfectly innocent. Not for a moment did she believe the tale.
    Perhaps she would cry off the Lytham trip and find something more interesting to do with her time. Revenge could be so sweet.
     
    In the opposite corner of the bar, Betty was treating Jake and Lynda to their Saturday treat of steak and kidney pudding and chips, the basket of violets beside her on the bench seat, when she put forward her suggestion for a trip the following day. ‘I thought happen we could go to Belle Vue, or else take the train to Blackpool or Morecambe. We haven’t done that in years. It would be a real treat, and do us a world of good to get a bit of sun before winter sets in.’ Jake looked as if she’d suggested he swing from a tree like a monkey.
    ‘Why would I want to go to Belle Vue?’ he scoffed, his handsome face twisting into an expression of absolutely incredulity. ‘That’s for school kids and old folk like you.’
    ‘Oh, ta very much.’
    ‘You know what I mean. It’s Dullsville.’
    ‘You used to like the boats on the lake, and the elephant rides.’
    ‘When I were a kid,’ Jake scorned. ‘Not now I’m a grown man.’
    And growing more and more like your father every day, Betty thought, a tremor of disquiet touching her like a breath of cold air. Not only did he have the same high-bridged bony nose, long face and hollow cheeks but he was every bit as pugnacious, as difficult and as awkward. She half glanced around, anxious suddenly that Ewan might be close by, watching them, waiting to pounce.
    Jake pulled out a comb and began to groom his dark brown hair as he often did when upset, sweeping it back from his scowling brows. But he was still protesting, his voice high with outrage. ‘Do you think I’m soft in the head, a goof or summat? If my mates saw me on an elephant I’d be the laughing stock of Manchester. You two do as you like, but count me out.’
    ‘Put that greasy comb away, it’s unhygienic at the table and eat your dinner, for God’s sake, before it goes cold.’
    Jake happily obliged, piling pudding, chips and mushy peas into his mouth all at once so that Betty had to avert her eyes. Where did he get his manners from?
    ‘So where will you be tomorrow?’ she persisted, wanting to be sure.
    ‘Out!’
    ‘That’s good.’ She was tempted to say more, to insist he stay out all day but that would only arouse his suspicions. Betty consoled herself with the thought that her son never had come home early in his life. Why would he change a life-time’s habit tomorrow?
    ‘What about you, Lynda love? We could go to Southport if you prefer. Some of the shops around Lord Street might well be open, even on a Sunday, since it’s a holiday town. We could buy ourselves something nice and have a slap-up meal.’ Loving clothes as she did, Lynda had never refused a day’s shopping in her life. Look at her now, pretty as a picture in a striped shirtwaist dress, winkle-picker shoes, and her lovely hair caught up in a pony-tail.
    ‘Sounds great, Mam, but I’ve arranged to see Terry. He’s taking me for a spin on his motor bike tomorrow afternoon, so I’ve invited him to share Sunday lunch with us first, before we go, if that’s all right.’
    ‘What?’ Betty couldn’t believe her ears. Everything was going wrong for her at the moment. ‘You can’t do that!’
    ‘Why can’t I? It’s all arranged. You’ve never minded me bringing friends home before. Anyway, it seemed only fair. He’s providing the petrol, so I provide the food.’
    ‘I think you mean I provide the food, don’t you?’
    Lynda smiled, ‘Sorry. You know what I mean.’
    ‘No, actually, I don’t. I don’t care to be taken advantage of. I’ve made other plans for tomorrow so you can unarrange it,’ Betty almost shouted, desperation in her voice.

 
    Chapter Nine
    ‘By heck,’ Winnie Holmes remarked, coming upon the