A New Dream by Maggie Ford (world of reading .TXT) 📕

East End artistes with not too much to spare come to you to buy.’

‘The fact is we can’t stay here much longer,’ Julia defended before Simon could say anything. ‘The lease runs out in three weeks and the landlord won’t renew it, so we have to find somewhere else and we’ve been thinking of moving nearer to the West End theatres and starting over completely…’

Her onrush tailed off as she caught Simon’s warning stare.

Mr Isaacs looked surprised. ‘Have you then?’

There was a long pause. Their customer turned back to the counter.

‘Well, I must be going. I have to pay you.’

The transaction done, he left with a small bow of his head towards Julia, turning up his greatcoat collar against the now dwindling rain. As soon as he’d gone, Julia turned to see Simon rounding the end of the counter towards her, his lips tight, his expression alarming.

‘In business, Julia, never let a customer know we’re closing down. Word gets around. People stay away. And we need every penny we can get.’

‘I didn’t realize,’ she said, chastened. ‘I didn’t mean…’

‘I know. I should have stopped you sooner. But Maurice Isaacs is shrewd. He’d have seen through us. He’s been a regular customer ever since I opened, and been a good one when he’s in the area. I doubt he’ll desert us now.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ she began, but he stopped her by taking her in his arms and kissing her.

‘Nothing we can do about it, my love. But, getting back to business, now people knowing we’re closing down, I’m starting to worry about where we can go. I don’t want to admit defeat. We have to find somewhere.’

Julia knew she had to be cautious as his voice died away and he let go of her. ‘I think I might have found somewhere,’ she began tentatively. ‘But I’m a little worried now whether you’ll think I’ve taken too much upon myself by not consulting you first. I had no time, you see,’ she rushed on, and rapidly told him what she had been doing that morning.

He listened without speaking until she fell silent, still wondering what he thought. Would he come and see the place now? Was he upset by what she had done?

The silence seemed to last an age before he finally spoke.

Fifteen

His expression was one of confusion. ‘You say you think you might have found somewhere? When was this? And why haven’t you told me?’

She could have done that last night as soon as she heard about the place but she had needed to think before doing so.

‘Virginia only told me about it when I was going to bed. I thought you might already be asleep and I didn’t want to disturb you by bashing on the shop door at that time of night.’

It was a small fib. What she’d needed to do first was to go early this morning and look for herself before telling him and getting his hopes up. Now it seemed to have been a foolish idea.

‘I hardly slept myself for thinking about it,’ she hurried on. ‘It could have been just a flash in the pan and we would have had to wait until this morning anyway.’

He was still looking confounded. ‘But if you’d mentioned it we could have gone there together.’

‘I had to get there quickly before someone else found it first. I needed to ask if the vendor would hold it for us until I came back with you.’ That was the truth. ‘I left here at seven, well before you’d opened. I didn’t dare wait.’

Actually it hadn’t even occurred to her to bang on the shop door and wake him, though that would have caused even more delay in getting there.

Explanations tripping over her tongue, she told him everything she’d found out: how surprisingly cheap the rent was and about the vacant flats too; how the first floor would make a combined stockroom and living accommodation for him, the top flat would be suitable for her family, with her mother conveniently near; how the estate agent had promised to hold it for an hour or two until she could return with him.

As she gabbled on it seemed to her a whole day had passed and the place would surely be gone by now even though in reality only an hour and a half had elapsed. But had she waited for Simon it could have been too late.

‘I never intended to go over your head, Simon,’ she ended.

But the way he was looking at her with that strange expression, she knew he thought she had gone too far.

‘You’ve not gone over my head, as you put it, my darling,’ he said but his expression hadn’t changed. ‘Only I would have liked to have known about it, that’s all.’

‘All I intended was to take a quick peek at the place,’ she hurried on. That look of his was tearing at her heart. ‘But I was so excited. I know I shouldn’t have given the agent the impression that we wanted it, but I suppose I didn’t think. I got carried away. I’m sorry, darling. It was wrong.’

She was ready to do anything or say anything to see that expression on his face disappear. Never in her life had she grovelled to anyone in such a manner. She might give way in an argument to placate someone like her mother, but for no one else. Now, for this man whom she loved, she was willing to swallow her pride to appease him.

It was with sinking heart that she saw him look away from her as if loath to reveal what he was truly thinking. Julia bit her lip. She couldn’t bear this awful hovering, negative silence.

‘Darling, say something!’ she finally burst out.

He looked at her as she cried out the words. For a second or two he studied her, then that strange, hurt expression faded and he said quietly, ‘Well, I suppose we had best go and see this place then.’

They didn’t speak at all