Bye Bye Love by Patricia Burns

meant it when he had asked her to go sailing with him? Sometimes when people said things like that, they didn’t really expect you to take them up on it, but somehow she thought that when Jonathan said something, he meant it. She desperately hoped so. With Jonathan here, her new life was bearable.
    She slid out of bed to get her washing things and go to the bathroom, and noticed a folded piece of paper on the floor. It looked as if it had been pushed under the door. She picked it up, and found to her delight that it was a note from Jonathan.

    Dear Scarlett ,
    Sorry about the way things ended tonight. I hope you’re still speaking to me. If you are, would you like to go up the pier or something tomorrow? I’ll be in the kitchen at half past nine .
    Yours sincerely ,
    Jonathan
     
    He had written it last night! And he had come over to her room to deliver it in spite of that cow, his mother. Scarlett put her thumbs in her ears, waggled her fingers and stuck out her tongue in the general direction of the flat at the front of the pub. So much for her, the interfering old witch. She went to get washed.
    The bathroom was as repellent as the rest of the staff accommodation. The lino on the floor was curled and cracked, the bath and basin had brown stains on them where the taps dripped, there was green mould growing in one of the corners and there were notices taped up, all written in fierce black capitals:
    Leave this room as you would wish to find it.
Staff are allowed one bath a week. Do not waste
the toilet paper. No more than three inches of
water allowed in the bath.
     
    Scarlett flushed several lots of paper down the toilet and washed under a running hot tap.
    Once she was dressed, Scarlett thought she had better see how her father was. She tapped on his door, got no answer, knocked harder and finally opened it and put her head round. Victor was still asleep. She was just about to close the door again when he woke up with a start.
    ‘What? I didn’t…oh, Scarlett, it’s you, love. Come in. What’s the time?’
    ‘Half past eight.’
    ‘Oh—thank God. For a moment I thought…I got to be downstairs by half nine. Mustn’t be late, not for my first full day.’
    He felt for his packet of cigarettes and lit one up to help him face the morning.
    Downstairs by half past nine! Now, there was a novelty. Scarlett had enough tact not to say so out loud, though. Her father looked dreadful still.
    ‘I’ll go and make some tea while you go to the bathroom,’ she offered.
    ‘Would you, pet? That’d save my life. Oh—but what about milk?’
    ‘I know where to get that,’ Scarlett said proudly. Jonathan had pointed out the whereabouts of the corner shop yesterday. ‘I’ll be back by the time you’re dressed.’
    As good as her word, she walked into the room with the breakfast tray just as Victor was doing up his shoelaces.
    ‘You’re a treasure,’ he said.
    They sat at the rickety table, Scarlett with a bowl of cereal, Victor with his cup of tea and second cigarette of the day. Washed and shaved, he looked a bit better.
    ‘I looked in on you last night, but you were sound-o,’ he said. ‘It’s some place this, isn’t it? Bit different from the dear old Lion.’
    ‘It’s horrible,’ Scarlett said.
    Awkwardly, her father patted her shoulder.
    ‘You’ll get used to it. We both will,’ he said, though it sounded as if he was trying to convince himself just as much as Scarlett. ‘It’s just so big and…well…not exactly cosy, is it? You should see the turnover they have here! The ale I served last night! It was just nonstop from opening to closing. They come down here on the train and the charabancs and all they want is to get pie-eyed as quickly as possible. They was queuing up outside the door at six, and when the Guv’nor opened up it was like a tidal wave coming in. They was three deep at the bar before you could turn round. I never saw anything like it in my life.’
    It was no wonder he looked tired.