He was convinced she preferred Jones to him. ‘You’ve no reason to say that,’ she fumed. ‘Only the evidence of me ’eart,’ insisted Shiner, laying his hand on the affected organ. Usually Red backed down quickly enough when he was angry with her, but this time she was as stubborn as a rock. The argument ended with Stella slamming the door and rushing off downstairs. ‘Now see where she runs,’ hissed Sunshine, in a broad Bolton accent. He waited up for her for half the night, but at two in the morning when she wasn’t back, he pulled on his coat. ‘It’s over. Me and her’s finished,’ he insisted, and left, broken-hearted, to find solace elsewhere. But Stella did come back, an hour or so after he’d gone. She slept in the big room instead of keeping his bed warm as she usually did. Next morning he was back in the house before eight o’clock.
