Where Memories Are Made by Lynda Page Page B

and she knew next to nothing about him. He had listened to her while she had chatted away as they worked, all about her widowed mother, brother and boyfriend Keith, and happenings at the camp during the years she had worked here, both hilarious and tragic, but had never once reciprocated by telling her anything about his life outside Jolly’s. Maybe that was because he felt he had nothing of interest to tell her. Jackie felt it unlikely that she would ever discover the reason, though, as Al had only a few more days of working here before Drina and Rhonnie were due to return and then his temporary placement with Jolly’s would be over.
    She smiled at him. ‘I appreciate your staying behind tonight, Al. Make sure you put down the extra hours you’ve worked on your agency time-sheet.’ In light of the fact that he had stayed behind for her sake, she felt it only right to offer him a lift back to his lodgings on her scooter, despite the fact that she was desperate to get home herself because Keith would be waiting for her.
    She knew he’d be upset that her having to work later had scuppered their night out as he’d been looking forward to it, but was sure he’d be understanding once she told him the reason. She pictured Keith in her mind’s eye. He was four years older than Jackie at twenty-five years old, five foot ten in his stockinged feet, fair-haired, handsome in a rugged way, with an easygoing nature. He was a qualified mechanic and worked for a local garage. He had no idea who his father was as he had been born illegitimate to his then seventeen-year-old mother who had abandoned him at six months old, stealing off in the middle of the night, leaving him with her own widowed mother to raise and never being heard from since.
    Jackie’s own mother had only been fifteen and her father seventeen when they’d had to get married as a baby was on the way. They had lived from week to week as her father hadn’t earned a great deal from his job as a builder’s labourer, but regardless they had been extremely happy together, their family complete when Robby had arrived four years later. But when Jackie was only six the happy family was ripped apart by the untimely death of her father, when scaffolding that had not been properly erected had collapsed and toppled him fifteen feet on to the hard ground below. He’d lived for four days until internal injuries had killed him. Her mother, a petite, extremely pretty woman of only thirty-six now, had never looked at another man since, but devoted her life to raising her children as best she could, doing whatever menial low-paid jobs she could land, mostly cleaning. Life had eased for her once both her children were at work and contributing to the family finances. Instead of having to labour all hours, now it was eight until five-thirty in the local bedding factory, in the packing and dispatching department.
    Jackie therefore had experienced growing up without one parent and felt deep sympathy and understanding for Keith who had grown up with neither. Very importantly to Jackie, who adored her mother, Keith got on with her like a house on fire and treated Robby like his own younger brother. When she had first met him at a local pub one night while she had been out with her friends and he with his, Jackie had instantly taken a fancy to Keith and made it her business to wangle her way into conversation with him. She had asked him why someone hadn’t snapped him up before now and he’d told her that it was because he’d never met anyone he’d thought enough of to feel serious about. She was hoping that now he had. After eighteen months of going out together, she felt it was only a matter of time before he would ask her to marry him.
    Al was a very well-spoken young man and from the way he conducted himself it was obvious he’d come from a good background, so Jackie was shocked when he prodded her in the back to prompt her