Tea-Shop Twinkle

"Oh, me? Well, I have got used to the loneliness of being a serviceman's wife over the years. The children are pretty independent now, although Sylvia is a worry. Victoria has a way of taking over your life, so I hope ..." Valerie paused for sometime, looking out the window, while Harry finished his last mouthful of cold tea-cake. "Sylvia told me over the weekend that she's pregnant, just three months ... Sam never knew, of course, he died before she could tell him."

"She's got Sam's parents nearby, hasn't she?" Harry checked.

"Yes, she's visiting them this morning to give them the news."

"Will you be coming down nearer the birth or is Sylvia going up to you?"

"I'll probably come down, Sylvia would probably lose too much selling the house in the current market," she smiled, "There's plenty of time to decide later."

On Tuesday there was no sign of Valerie. On Wednesday, Harry popped into the library first, he had books due back and didn't want any fines. There was a queue, so he was ten minutes late getting into the tea-shop. Valerie and Victoria were sitting in the window, well wrapped up, it was wickedly cold and icy today.

Harry fetched his pot of tea and walked towards the table, both girls smiled at him in welcome, so he sat down.

"Hello," he said to Valerie and turned to the little girl, munching a mouthful with her mouth open and swinging her white-socked legs back and forth, "Hello, Victoria, are you enjoying your tea-cake?"

"Mmmmm."

Twinkle and Harry both laughed.

"Sylvia's shopping, so I'm the designated childminder this morning," Valerie said. "We can't stay long, we've all got appointments at the hairdressers."

"I must get mine clipped too, they have a special price on Thursday afternoons at Barry's, for pensioners and ... people like me."

"Well, I'll pop in and say goodbye tomorrow then, before you change your appearance too much," she grinned, her eyes soft and moist, thought Harry, but he may have read too much into that. He was observant but he wasn't a mindreader.

After little Victoria was cleaned up and the bib protecting her white fur trim on her coat removed, Harry sat and shook her formally by the little girl's hand to say goodbye for the last time. He was rather taken aback when she pushed her head into his chest and tried to put her little arms around him. He put his arms around the little girl and kissed her tenderly on the top of her head, which he did automatically. He was shocked actually, how emotional he felt, he was never emotional and he never, never ever kissed little girls.

The next day Harry was sitting contemplating whether the pot had brewed sufficiently to venture a sample pour to see if the colour indicated the infusion was ready, when Twinkle arrived. They exchanged smiles as Valerie dropped off her coat and bag on the chair opposite Harry. It was unseasonably bright and sunny this morning and the overnight frost had evaporated as steam from the roofs of the shops opposite. It felt hot in the window seats and most other patrons had retreated deeper into the shop.

Coffee with froth and sprinkled with cocoa powder was Twinkle's choice today, with a dark and white chocolate chip cookie. Harry noticed she didn't appear to have a favourite drink but flitted about the menu choice with a wild abandon that would never occur to Harry, the ultimate creature of habit. Routine is what got him through the day.

Harry handed her a card envelope when she sat down. It was a card wishing her well on moving house, signed "H from the tea-shop."

Valerie smiled her thanks and delved into her cavernous bag and drew out a smartly-wrapped present and handed it to him.

"You caught me out, I didn't get you a gift-"

"Your card is lovely. Go on, open it!"

Harry grinned and tore open the package, it was a hardback book by his favourite author. It must've been a recent issue, he didn't recognise the title.

"I noticed you've had a couple of books on the table by that author, and it was only published last month, so hoped you hadn't read it yet."

"No, I haven't, it seems to take a few months for the new ones to work their way through the system at the local library. Thank you, Valerie, I'll enjoy this."

Harry consumed the last of his tea-cake and swigged the dregs of his tea. Valerie consumed her cookie and her coffee, wiping the froth from her lips with a brush of a serviette. They chattered about Victoria, and her new garden and what she planned for it, her husband's new job and Sylvia. All on her side and very little about his, although he did mention his little greenhouse for tomatoes and cucumbers. Then they got up together, put on their coats and emerged into brilliant early winter sunshine.

"Well, I'll say goodbye here," said Harry, "I'm going to browse in the library for my books for the weekend."

"I'm going down to the station to meet Eric, he's going to drive us up to Newcastle, I hate driving long distances."

"OK, then," Harry leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek and she gave him a squeeze.

"Goodbye Harry," Valerie said softly, pulling away from him and walking down the hill.

"Goodbye, Valerie."

He stood outside the tea-shop, transfixed, watching as she descended the hill. She looked back and waved when she saw he was still watching, Harry waved back. As she reached the mall, which you needed to pass through to get to the station, she glanced back one last time before disappearing from Harry's view for the very last time.

Harry still goes to the same tea-shop every weekday, Monday to Friday, about 11 to 11.30 for his pot of breakfast tea for one. He has a toasted tea-cake when it is chilly and a cheese scone when it is warm. He was a creature of habit and always will be. He often thinks of Twinkle and the last image he sees when he falls asleep at night and the first when he wakes is always of Valerie wearing both that twinkly top and her beautiful smile.

And he always re-reads the same hardback book every November, sitting in the window seat in that tea-shop.

The end.