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friends
were.
    Ruby passed by Nick’s table and saw his chair was empty. The woman he was with had gone too. She looked around, but couldn’t see him. Had he forgotten her existence already?
    ‘Did you get home all right?’ Debbie asked on Monday morning. ‘The buses from our road to Poplar don’t run very often on Sundays.’
    ‘Yes, one came eventually.’
    ‘Who was that woman you were with on Saturday night?’ Debbie asked pointedly as she swept the parlour floor.
    ‘I told you, I met her in the Powder Room. She was very nice and made me feel welcome,’ Ruby replied, hoping Debbie was in a better mood. ‘Thank you for taking me. It was a
great night out.’
    ‘Even though we didn’t spend much time together,’ Debbie couldn’t resist adding.
    Ruby was relieved when Larry and Stuart walked in the parlour door. ‘Girls, girls! We have some interesting news!’ Larry waddled over, his plump skin smelling of something fresh and
spicy as he greeted them.
    ‘You’re giving us a rise,’ Debbie said hopefully.
    ‘Sadly not yet,’ Stuart chuckled. ‘But you’ll have an increase as soon as the parlour makes it big.’
    ‘One day in the not too distant future,’ Larry sniffed, darting a glance at Stuart. ‘Now, girls, as I was saying, we’ve got a surprise in store.’
    Ruby looked down on Larry’s bald pate surrounded by a thatch of black wiry hair. He gazed at her through his thick, horn-rimmed lenses. He was barely her height but dressed immaculately in
his hand-tailored suits. He looked up to Stuart who was Latin in looks and taller by a foot. They made an odd, but happy couple and Ruby felt deep affection for her boss who had shown her such
kindness when she’d started the job just after Pete’s death.
    ‘Ruby, you and Debbie and your young men are invited to a party,’ Larry told them. ‘This coming Saturday at eight. Chez Larry and Stuart.’ He batted his short eyelashes.
‘No excuses – you’re coming.’
    ‘What’s the party for?’ Debbie asked, obviously feeling left out.
    ‘We’ve moved!’ Stuart informed her before Larry could reply. ‘And, darlings, our new pad is delicious!’
    ‘But you had a nice flat in Hackney,’ Debbie protested.
    ‘Hackney is old news, pet. Soho is the place to be.’
    ‘Soho!’ Ruby and Debbie exclaimed together.
    Larry crinkled his eyes. ‘Aren’t we the lucky ones? Now, all you have to do is turn up looking spectacular as always.’
    ‘Can’t wait, Larry,’ Debbie responded eagerly. ‘My Rog will find it wherever it is.’
    ‘We’re just off Dean Street. What about you, Ruby? How will you get to us?’ Larry asked.
    ‘We’ll call for Ruby,’ Debbie cut in, eager to seal the arrangement. ‘Poplar is on our way.’
    ’I’m sorry, but I’m going out with Kath, my roommate, that evening,’ she said apologetically. ‘I can’t let her down.’
    ‘Then bring the lovely Kath too, my darling,’ Larry insisted. ‘The more the merrier. I should be most upset if you weren’t to be there,’ Larry told her. ‘We
have a delicious buffet. And plenty of these arty types for you to meet. Soho is so bohemian.’
    ‘What does that mean?’ Debbie said with a frown.
    ‘Quite out of the ordinary,’ Stuart explained. ‘You’ll adore it.’
    ‘So, all settled.’ Larry patted his ample stomach under his Jermyn Street shirt. ‘Now, girls, it’s down to business. What fortune have we taken today?’ He drew Ruby
to the till.
    She listened as her boss counted the takings while describing the food, entertainment and booze he intended to provide for his party guests.
    But she wasn’t listening. She had only been to Soho once before and that was with Pete. She couldn’t wait to go again.

Chapter Five
    Ruby watched squeamishly as Kath served the fried food from the greasy blackened pan. Kath tried her best, but healthy food wasn’t Kath’s scene. Not that Ruby
refused anything served up to her. She was always hungry and had the