Read Summer Loving for Free Online Page B

positive. My nan’s engagement ring is a sapphire and diamonds. Mor tried it on and said how much she liked the colour. Have you got a pen and paper to write down the size?’
    ‘Will you talk to Jimmy? Find out what’s going on?’ Jess hung the tea towel over the rail as Tom carried mugs of coffee to the low table in front of the sofa.
    It was Tuesday evening and Tom had called in after dropping Doug off at home. Setting the mugs down, he straightened.
    ‘Aw, Jess –’
    ‘I know what you’re going to say. Men don’t ask each other personal questions and anyway it’s none of your business. I know all that. But Viv’s nearly out of her mind with worry. If it’s not another woman, and I honestly can’t see it – I mean he’s at the garage all day and home to Viv in the evening. When would he ever find time? But it’s plain as day there’s something on his mind. He wasn’t himself at the Summer Fair. I know men don’t usually talk about their problems. That’s why they have heart attacks and strokes and die before they need to.’
    ‘All right, all right.’ Tom threw up his hands in surrender. ‘I’ll talk to him, OK? But if he tells me to mind my own business –’
    ‘At least you’ll have tried. I always thought of him and Viv as one of the closest couples in this village.’
    ‘Exactly,’ Tom dropped onto the sofa beside her. ‘So if he won’t tell her, why would he tell me?’
    Jess shrugged. ‘Because you’re a man and maybe it’s a man thing? What is he, forty-seven? Forty-eight? Maybe he’s having problems in bed –’
    ‘I aren’t asking him that ,’ Tom yelped.
    ‘I’m not suggesting you should,’ Jess patted his thigh. ‘I’m just saying it could be a reason. You knew them all the time I was away living in Truro. Could you ever imagine him having an affair?’
    He shook his head. ‘Him and Viv – they started going out at school. Far as I remember, neither one of them ever looked at anyone else. It was always Jimmy and Viv. All right, you’ve made your point,’ he said as Jess raised an eyebrow.
    ‘Tell him Viv came to me because she’s worried sick, and I told you because I don’t know what to do – which is the truth. I know you can’t make him talk. But maybe if you give him the opening –’
    ‘I’ll give it a go, bird. But I aren’t promising anything.’ He leaned forward and picked up his coffee. ‘What about Billy-Joe Spencer then? Found out any more have you?’
    ‘I’m getting there, though at the moment it’s mostly about his unit.’ Getting up, Jess fetched a folder from the table. Back on the sofa she tucked one foot under her as she faced him and opened the file. ‘To rehearse for D-Day, units of US troops were taken to Slapton Sands in Devon.’
    ‘Why did they have to go up there?’
    ‘The beach is long and shallow, like those in Normandy where they would be landing.’ As Tom nodded, she continued. ‘Because many of the soldiers had never been in battle, the Supreme Allied Commander, General Eisenhower, wanted them to know what it would be like landing under fire. He gave orders for a British warship to bombard the beach with live shells so the troops could experience the noise, smell, and sight of explosions. There was supposed to be a half-hour gap between the bombardment and them landing.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘To allow time for any live shells to be made safe and cleared away.’
    ‘’Course. Daft question.’
    ‘Then while the soldiers were jumping from the landing craft and running up the sand, troops hiding at the top of the beach were supposed to fire live rounds over their heads.’
    ‘ Live  –? Bleddy hell.’
    ‘You haven’t heard the worst. The timings were changed and the bombardment delayed. But the landing craft weren’t on the right radio frequency so they didn’t get the message. Soldiers running up the beach were being killed by the warship’s shells.’
    ‘Jesus,’ Tom whispered.
    ‘The next day a