The girl looked uncomfortable. Bill suspected that the reason she liked to hide was that she did not like her in-laws' company. Joe perhaps was just good enough for her, but not the rest of them.

Joe was still out, she said. He hadn’t said that Pearl would be home for tea. “Useless boy…” Bill muttered. Though really maybe Joe had only told Lottie because Bill still grumbled at anything his son uttered. He might have come to accept the new situation as reality, but that didn’t mean he had forgiven the lad.

“Cook fer me?” he asked, surprised. Did she even know how to cook? Did rich folk not have servants to do that for them? “Nah, lass, I’ve got fish and chips. Come sit ‘ere and share if ye can stand that kind of food, and we'll fetch more later. And don’t ye sir me. It’s Bill if ye won’t call me da'.” And with that Bill went back into the kitchen and looked for a bottle opener, leaving it to the girl to decide whether she would do as he told her.