Read Such Sweet Sorrow for Free Online Page B

shouted as he took the stairs two at a time.
    Ten minutes later, hair slicked back with a fingerful of Charlie’s pomade and smelling of a cologne that was too astringent for his taste, he hared out of the shop and down Taff Street. He felt even more confused as he went over the conversation he’d had with Tina the night before. Why would any girl want to get married but not engaged? It simply didn’t make sense. No sense at all.
    ‘You’ve finished early, even for a Thursday,’ Gina, Tina’s younger sister greeted him as he walked into the café.
    ‘The boss gave me time off for good behaviour. Tina around?’
    ‘In the kitchen. Angelo’s been burning toast, so she offered to show him how to make it.’
    ‘Is it safe to go in there?’
    ‘When is it ever safe to go near Tina?’ Tony shouted from the back room where he was clearing dirty plates.
    William lifted the counter flap and pushed the swing door to the kitchen. Tina wasn’t showing Angelo anything. She was sitting immersed in a women’s magazine at the preparation table, a cup of tea and a doughnut in front of her.
    ‘I wondered if you’d like to go the pictures? Alma said they’re showing It Happened One Night in the Palladium.’
    ‘Seen it,’ she answered briefly.
    ‘I thought we could talk. We didn’t really settle anything last night.’
    She looked at him over the rim of her cup, her eyes dark, reflective pools that gave no insight into her thoughts. ‘No, we didn’t, did we?’
    ‘Tina …’ he looked over to the corner next to the back door. Angelo was sitting on a stool, smoking a filched cigarette and smirking at every word they were saying.
    ‘Tell you what, why don’t we go to Cardiff?’
    ‘Cardiff!’
    ‘There’s a film on in the Capitol that I want to see. We can talk on the bus.’
    ‘All right,’ he agreed hastily, afraid to object in case she changed her mind. ‘Cardiff it is. Do you want to go home and change first?’
    ‘I’m not good enough for you and Cardiff?’ She was wearing a new, dark blue woollen dress that clung to her curves and highlighted a bluish tint in her black hair.
    ‘You’re good enough to go anywhere,’ he complimented, managing to forget Angelo’s presence for a moment. ‘Will Tony be able to spare you?’
    ‘After what he and Angelo did yesterday they have no choice. You should have heard Papa last night. Heaven only knows how we’re going to run the cafés without them. Useless as they are,’ she shouted, making sure that Angelo could hear her, ‘they do represent two extra pairs of hands.’ She picked up her teacup. ‘Give me five minutes to drink this and brush my hair and I’ll be with you.’
    ‘I’ll wait for you in the café.’
    ‘Tea?’ Tony asked as William lifted the flap and pulled a stool close to the counter.
    ‘Yes please.’ William debated whether to mention Diana’s revelation and decided against it. He had enough problems of his own without delving into his sister’s and Tony’s affairs. Besides, Diana might see sense yet and tell Tony she was too young to get married.
    ‘Tina said it would be all right for me to take her to Cardiff.’
    ‘She did, did she?’
    ‘Is it?’ He pulled out a packet of cigarettes and offered Tony one.
    ‘I suppose so.’
    ‘You in the dog-house over yesterday?’ William eyed him carefully, wondering if Tony was being offhand because Tina had told him that he had asked her to marry him.
    ‘Papa shouted a lot, but then he always does when we do anything that upsets his neat, orderly world. Sometimes I think he’d prefer it if we were made of dough so he could mould us how he wants, and then stand us in a row ready to do his bidding.’
    ‘It won’t be easy for the girls to run this place without you and Angelo.’
    ‘Don’t you start. What about you?’
    ‘Neither Uncle Evan nor Diana were over the moon at the thought of me in uniform, but then it’s my life.’
    ‘That’s what Angelo and I tried to tell Papa