Page 25 of The London Girls
‘So, tell me about your training. How did it go? When do you start work?’ Flo asked.
‘We start Monday, and the hours sound horrific,’ Ava said. ‘By the way, can you sew?’
‘Sew? Why?’ Flo asked.
‘Our uniforms are terrible,’ Olivia told her. ‘I’ve already done some work on mine, butsomeonedoesn’t know how to sew. I haven’t had time to do hers yet.’
‘I’m all right at it, but my grandmother is the best, she’ll help you. She made all my dresses for me as a child, and she even made my mother’s wedding dress.’ Florence’s voice faded as she looked away, and Olivia spoke up, not sure what had made Flo go so quiet but wanting to take the focus off her.
‘So this one here,’ she said, dipping her head towards Ava. ‘She’s lucky to even be riding next week. She’s managed to find herself on the wrong side of our captain. You know, the man who helped you when you fell off the motorcycle?’
As Ava protested loudly, Flo covered her face with her hand. ‘Don’t remind me about that day!’
‘Come on, Ava, you must know how much you’ve infuriated him. I thought he was going to fire you before you even began!’
Flo giggled as Ava rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Someone has to keep him on his toes. And as far as him getting upset that I’m not doing my own mechanical work, I just don’t see what the problem is! If I can talk someone else into doing something for me, why would I bother doing it myself?’
Olivia looked over at Florence in despair, which only made Flo laugh all the more as Ava continued to appear the picture of innocence.
‘You know what?’ Ava said, grinning as she expertly changed the subject. ‘If you’re going to name your ambulance, Flo, I’m going to do something to my bike. What do you think about a pink ribbon around one of the handlebars? Something to mark it as mine?’
‘I think George will have something to say about that,’ Olivia said. ‘I wouldn’t poke the bear any more than you already have if I were you.’
‘Well, luckily you’renotme, and honestly, George is the least of my worries right now,’ Ava said with a sigh. ‘My father told me he’d kick me out if I insisted on becoming a dispatch rider, and I don’t particularly want to call his bluff. I’m not going to tell him, but the hours are going to make keeping it a secret a little bit difficult.’
‘Do you want me to let you know if I hear of anyone with a spare room closer to headquarters? I can’t say my parents are very happy about it all either, but it helps that they’re not in the city. What they don’t know won’t hurt them, right?’ Olivia said. ‘To be honest, I don’t think my father would care all that much if he didn’t have to console my mother so often. She was hysterical when I told her what I was doing!’
‘How about you, Flo?’ Ava asked. ‘What do your parents think about you driving an ambulance? You never did say.’
Flo went deathly pale again and Olivia cringed, wishing Ava had read the situation better. She clearly hadn’t noticed the wayFlo had frozen before when she’d spoken about her mother and grandmother.
‘Ah, well ...’ Olivia watched as Flo took a sip of her champagne, her hand shaking as she lifted it to her lips.
‘Don’t tell me, they’re the complete opposite of mine and think it’s fabulous!’ Ava grinned and held up her glass to clink them all together again. ‘Argh, you lucky thing.’
But Olivia kept her glass close to her body instead of joining in, watching the way Flo’s shoulders inclined slightly, the tremble of her bottom lip as she looked up at Ava.
‘I actually lost my parents earlier this year,’ Flo said quietly.
Ava’s smile dropped from her lips as Olivia glanced at her and then scooted around the table to be closer to Flo, reaching for her hand.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Olivia said. ‘If I’d known I would never have talked about my own family so frivolously, I—’
‘Don’t be silly,’ Flo said, dabbing at the corner of her eye with her free hand, her glass now set on the table. ‘I don’t ever want you to stop talking about your families because of me. I love hearing all the banter, it’s what I miss the most about not having them.’
‘What happened?’ Ava asked, her voice softer than Olivia had ever heard it before.
‘A bomb hit just near our house,’ Flo said, as Olivia squeezed her fingers. ‘We lived near a railway line that was targeted by the Luftwaffe, but they missed their target and hit the homes in our neighbourhood instead. I honestly don’t remember much of it, other than hearing the sirens go off and hurrying to reach our shelter. And then I was waking up in a hospital with my head bandaged, and being told that my family ...’ Florence paused, and Olivia listened to her take a deep, shuddering breath. ‘That my mother, father and sister had all perished. Somehow, I’d been dragged to safety, but none of them had made it.’
Olivia blinked away the tears in her eyes as she saw the pain in Florence’s face. ‘I’m so sorry. I don’t even know what to say.’
‘So you don’t haveanyone?’ Ava asked, her voice cracking as she too wiped at her eyes.
‘My grandma,’ Florence said, a faint smile touching her lips. ‘She’s everything to me. I moved to her house here in London as soon as I left hospital, and she’s just amazing. Despite everything she refuses to wallow in grief, and I honestly don’t know how I would have survived all this without her.’
Olivia and Ava looked at one another. What did you say to someone who’d lost everything? Olivia smiled at Florence, reaching for her hand again, holding her fingers tight.
‘Flo, I wish I had the words, but ...’ Olivia sighed, hating that her eyes were filling with fresh tears when she was trying so hard to be strong. It was Flo who should be crying, not her, but somehow it was Florence who was maintaining her composure.
