Try a Little Tenderness (49 page)

This set Janet thinking. ‘How can yer be old for yer age? I mean, like, if I’m fifteen then I’m fifteen, I can’t be any older. Same as if I was twenty, I couldn’t say I was fifteen.’

‘Yer could say yer were young for yer age.’ John thought she was hilarious. She reminded him of his mam, but whereas his mam knew she was funny and made the most of it, Janet didn’t. ‘One of my mates in work is twenty, and he’s young for his age.’

‘Then he’s telling fibs, isn’t he?’ Janet poked a finger in his chest, her face really serious. ‘You should tell him it’s a sin to tell lies.’

John took her finger and kissed it. ‘D’yer know, Janet, I don’t know half the time whether ye’re having us on or not. But whatever, yer look very pretty when ye’re doing it.’

Jenny giggled. Her friend hadn’t stayed grown-up very long. But John was right, she did look very pretty. ‘When ye’re ready, will one of yer teach me how to dance.’

Mick was by her side in a trice. He picked up her hands, put one on his shoulder and gripped the other. ‘Here I am, Jenny – ready, willing and able. Auntie Lizzie can watch and give us points on our performance.’

‘Ooh, er,’ said Janet, ‘yer better dance good, John, so
we
get some points. Don’t be relying on me ’cos I’m only a learner.’

Lizzie smiled. Janet might be a learner when it came to dancing, but she had her head screwed on the right way. Although John didn’t know it, he was being wooed. Would he succumb, or would his heart stay with Jenny?

Mick sang ‘Girl of My Dreams’ as he took Jenny slowly through the steps. He thought the song was very appropriate because she was, and always would be, the girl of his dreams. To John, the dance was more fun than anything. Every time he looked at Janet’s face he doubled up and missed a step. She looked so serious, with her tongue peeping out of the side of her mouth. And when he did miss a step, she’d say, ‘Never you mind, John, even I make a mistake sometimes.’

Lizzie awarded the girls ten points each. In her head, Jenny’s points were for her ability to learn quickly, and Janet’s for her novel way of catching a boy without him knowing.

‘I’m all on edge, Mam – me tummy’s doing somersaults.’ Jenny was pushing a potato around her plate. Her appetite had deserted her tonight, she was far too excited to eat. After all, going to her first dance was a big event in a girl’s life. ‘I hope me dress doesn’t look out of place.’

‘Of course it won’t, sunshine, yer’ll be fine,’ Mary assured her. ‘Yer’ll be with Janet, and her dress is no nicer than yours, is it?’

Laura glanced sideways at her sister. ‘It’s not a proper dance, yer know.’ There was no malice or sarcasm in her voice, as Mary was quick to note – perhaps just a trace of impatience. ‘They won’t be all dolled up.’

‘It’s still a dance, though, isn’t it?’ Jenny said firmly. She wasn’t going to let anybody dampen her expectations. ‘I mean, it’s no use taking our dancing shoes if we’re going to spend the night sitting down.’

‘It’s only a fourpenny hop,’ Laura said. ‘There won’t be a band there, yer dance to gramophone records. It’s where beginners go to learn, before they go on to the big dance halls.’

‘Oh well, we’ll be in good company, won’t we? If I fall flat on me face there’ll probably be half-a-dozen people stretched out beside me.’

Stan chuckled. ‘I learned to dance at a church hop, but it was only tuppence in those days. I can laugh now when I look back, but we didn’t half enjoy ourselves. Me and me mate, Ginger Lunt, we really thought we were the bees-knees.
We used to swagger down the street with our dance shoes tucked under our arm, without a care in the world. We were seventeen when we went on to the Grafton, and I can tell yer that what we learned at that tuppenny hop stood us in good stead; we could hold our own with anyone.’

Both girls listened with interest. Their dad had never told them he went dancing, and they’d never heard of Ginger Lunt. ‘Go on, tell us some more, Dad,’ Jenny asked eagerly. ‘What happened to yer mate, Ginger?’

‘The same as happened to me, love. We were eighteen when we went to the Grafton one night, and I saw this blonde girl dancing with some feller. And could she dance? I’ll say she could. It was an “excuse me” quickstep, so I did no more than pinch her off her partner. But she got her own back on me, ’cos she pinched something of mine.’ Stan stretched his hand to cover his wife’s smaller one. ‘Her name was Mary Steadman and she stole my heart.’

Jenny’s eyes were bright. ‘Oh Dad, that’s a lovely story. So romantic! But what happened to Ginger?’

Laura didn’t speak, but she was feeling emotional. Gary was eighteen, and she knew he’d fallen for her, like she’d fallen hook, line and sinker for him. Why couldn’t they be like her mam and dad? The answer to that was easy: her name was Celia.

‘Ginger met a girl the same night; she was called Nancy. We went out as a foursome for a couple of weeks, then we started courting seriously. I wanted yer mam all to meself, yer see, ’cos I loved her so much, and still do.’

Jenny’s eyes were moist with tears. ‘I hope I find someone who loves me as much as you love me mam.’ She turned to her mother and was surprised to see she looked sad. ‘What’s the matter, Mam, are yer not feeling well? I’ve noticed yer’ve not been yerself for a few days. Are yer sickening for something?’

Laura pricked her ears, remembering Gary saying the bubble had burst for Celia, and her family could be involved.
There’d been no hint of trouble, but her mam had been quiet and that wasn’t like her. She was always happy and joking.

‘I’m all right, sunshine – a touch of the blues, that’s all. It’ll wear off in a day or two, you’ll see.’ Mary looked at the clock and raised her brows. ‘Hadn’t yer better start getting yerself ready? It’s a special night tonight, yer want to look yer best.’

When Jenny had hot-footed it from the room, Laura said, ‘I’m not going out, so I’ll wash the dishes for yer. You sit down and rest, Mam, if ye’re feeling off-colour.’

‘Thanks, sunshine, I’ll do that.’ Mary hadn’t slept well for the last three nights. Even when she did manage to drop off for half an hour, she tossed and turned restlessly. Her father’s news had devastated her and she couldn’t see her life ever being normal again.

Mick and John looked so happy walking down the street with Jenny between them, anyone would believe they’d come up on the pools. They didn’t do the pools, mind, but if they did, and they’d won, they couldn’t have looked happier. John carried her dancing shoes so she could link them, and you’d have thought he was carrying the crown jewels.

‘Yer look nice, Jenny, and yer smell lovely,’ Mick said. ‘Yer smell like a rose garden.’

‘Yeah, yer do, Jenny, but I think the smell is more like sweet-peas.’

‘It’s Evening In Paris perfume, I’ll have you know.’ Jenny tossed her head, sending her blonde hair swishing around her cheeks. ‘I put a dab behind each ear, and a tiny little dab on me throat. It’s only a little bottle and I don’t want to use it up too quick, ’cos one of the women in the office said it’s quite expensve.’

‘We thought about that, didn’t we, Mick?’ asked John, whose head the thought had never entered. But Bill Porter wasn’t going to go one better than them, even if he did
seem to be out of the scene just now. ‘Didn’t I say “Shall we buy her Evening In Paris?”.’

‘Yer certainly did, pal! And we were in two minds about it, as well. But after much consideration, we decided Jenny would rather have the dance shoes.’

‘You are two of the biggest fibbers in the world.’ Jenny giggled and squeezed their arms. ‘But if I’d been asked, I would have chosen the shoes.’

Martha Porter answered their knock and her eyes went to the heavens as she said, ‘Yer’d better come in, there’s been a slight mishap.’

‘Is Janet all right?’ Jenny asked, mounting the steps. ‘She’s not done anything silly like catching a cold, has she?’

The smell that met them as they crowded into the hallway was sickly and overpowering. They sniffed up and looked at each other, but no one liked to comment for fear of upsetting Mrs Porter. Janet’s mother, however, was forthcoming. ‘That smell ye’re all afraid to mention is half a bleedin’ bottle of Evening In Paris, if yer don’t mind. The silly cow doused herself in it and it’s stinking the ruddy house down. She couldn’t go out like that, they’d smell her a mile away.’

John tried his hardest but he couldn’t keep the laughter back. Mick joined him, and then Martha began to see the funny side. Only Jenny managed to keep a straight face. She wasn’t going to have a laugh at her best friend’s expense.

‘Can’t she just wash it off, Mrs Porter? The smell would go away then.’

‘Where did yer put yours, Jenny?’ Martha asked with an amused expression on her face. ‘A dab behind the ears, was it?’

Thinking she was helping her friend, Jenny said, ‘And a dab on me neck, Mrs Porter. I bet Jan’s been a bit heavy with it, that’s all.’

‘Ah, but my daughter didn’t put it on her skin, girl, she put it on her dress. Half a bottle of the bleedin’ stuff. She’s upstairs now changing her clothes so people won’t be
fainting all around her. Honest to God, she ponged to high heaven. I had to open the kitchen door to let some fresh air in.’

They all looked up when they heard footsteps on the stairs. And down came Janet, looking so woebegone they all felt sorry for her. ‘My mam did the same thing once, curly top,’ John said, in an effort to put a smile back on her face. ‘Only she couldn’t afford an expensive scent so she used Essence of Violets. And yer know me mam, she wouldn’t wash it off for anyone. She said she wasn’t pouring good money down the plug-hole, and if me dad didn’t like it, he could go and sit in Annie Baxter’s for a few hours. Well, me dad preferred the smell to sitting in Annie Baxter’s.’

‘I was stupid,’ Janet said, ‘and ye’re all late now because of me.’

‘Who cares?’ John asked, while his head was asking him why she always appealed to his soft side. ‘We’ll be there before the interval.’

‘Come on, Jan,’ Jenny said, ‘yer’ll have forgotten all about it once yer get on the dance floor. Yer’ll be too busy trying to stop these two from standing all over yer feet.’

‘Yeah, come on.’ Mick thought the words would choke him, but he managed to get them out. ‘I bags the first dance with yer.’

When John said, ‘I bags the second,’ Janet cheered up considerably and donned her coat. What was the use of worrying about a bottle of scent anyway? She could always get round their Bill to buy her another.

The boys had agreed beforehand to swap partners for every dance. That was the fairest way and would save any arguments. So although it broke his heart, Mick gave way to John when he asked Jenny to dance. And while he was steering Janet around the dance floor, his eyes spent more time watching what John was up to, than they did watching Janet’s feet. It was only when the dance was over it struck
him that she hadn’t done badly at all. ‘Yer did well, there, Janet, I’m proud of yer.’

The girl preened. ‘Thank you, Mick, and you did well, too.’

Mick looked at her closely to see if she was having him on, but her face was that of an innocent baby. He was an experienced dancer, but she’d managed to reduce him to the status of a beginner. And she’d done it in such a way you couldn’t fall out with her.

When the other couple came off the floor, John had his arm across Jenny’s shoulder and they were laughing up at each other. This was enough to send Mick’s temperature shooting up to boiling point. Just wait, John Hanley, he said to himself, from now on it’s no holds barred. Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost.

After turning the record over and winding up the gramophone, the MC announced a slow waltz. Mick was highly delighted. ‘This is you and me, Jenny, and as ye’re pretty good at waltzing, we can dance proper.’ With a cheeky grin at his friend, he led Jenny on to the dance floor and put his arm around her waist. If this wasn’t heaven, it was the nearest he’d ever been to it. ‘Just relax, Jenny, and yer’ll follow me easy.’

‘Ye’re not half holding me tight, Mick. I can’t see a thing only your chest.’

‘If you concentrate on the dancing, I’ll give yer a running commentary.’ Mick looked down at the top of her blonde head and had to stop himself from planting a kiss on it. He knew she’d clock him one if he did, and besides his mother’s words were ringing in his ears. ‘Don’t yer forget, me darlin’, the girl’s only fifteen and you’re nearly nineteen.’ He sighed, wondering how long he was supposed to wait. Hadn’t he been wishing his life away for the last ten years?

Jenny pulled herself back and stared up at him. ‘I don’t think much of yer commentary, Mick Moynihan, yer haven’t opened yer mouth yet. There must be something
going on, or has everyone gone home?’

Mick grinned and pulled her towards him. ‘Well, let’s see. John has got hold of Janet’s hand and is walking her on to the dance floor. Yes, he’s holding her properly and I don’t see her complaining. Ay, hang on a minute! He’s just kissed her, right in the middle of the floor. Well, that’s cheek for yer.’

Jenny jerked herself away and gazed around the dancing couples until she spotted her friend. ‘Ye’re a lying hound, Mick Moynihan. I’ve a good mind to tell them.’

‘It was wishful thinking, Jenny. Yer know me and John do everything together, and I thought if he’d kissed Janet it was only natural for me to kiss you.’

‘You just try it, Mick Moynihan, and yer’ll be sorry yer signed.’ Jenny went back to staring at his chest so he wouldn’t see her eyes dancing with merriment. ‘The very idea, indeed.’

‘Well, are yer at least prepared to discuss our relationship? That wouldn’t do yer no harm, just talking.’

‘Our relationship? Well, we’re good mates, aren’t we?’

‘That’s what I’m getting at, Jenny.’ By this time Mick had given up trying to dance and was walking Jenny around the floor. Still holding her close, though. ‘Yer told Auntie Lizzie that yer were looking for a boyfriend, and as I haven’t got a girlfriend I thought yer might like to team up with me.’

‘Are yer asking me for a date, Mick?’

Mick sighed with relief. After going all around the world, and nearly having a heart attack, Jenny had said the words for him. ‘Yes, Jenny, I’m asking yer for a date. Will yer come out with me one night?’