Barry wondered who else had been there with Carol, apart from Iris and Jerry and the children. Terence Wand perhaps or one of those others Maureen had mentioned. Carol didn’t even want to talk about Christmas, she said she’d work right through the holiday, she hadn’t anything to celebrate. What was the good of saying they’d have Tanya and Ryan home when most of the time she wouldn’t even be there? If his own job had been a bit more secure, he might have been able to persuade her not to put in so many hours for Kostas. But he wouldn’t have liked to bet on his having a job at all this time next year. Ken Thompson hadn’t any more work lined up once the Finchley job was over. And it almost was over. They were dragging their feet really, Barry knew, because after that, unless someone came in with an order in the next couple of days, there’d be nothing. Ordinarily, of course, Ken couldn’t get rid of him, couldn’t sack him without very good cause, but it would be another thing if he could prove there wasn’t the work about to justify employing him.
