Steve’s Year

Chapter 5

New Year

Revision 17 

Contents

Happy New Year                                                                                                                                 3

New People, New Places                                                                                                                  8

First Friday at St Lukes                                                                                                                    53

Three Up Two Down                                                                                                                        55

Frost at the Briers                                                                                                                             79

One Way to Recover                                                                                                                        91

Geneviève’s Exam                                                                                                                          133

Steve’s Dinner Party                                                                                                                      167

Brave and Adventurous                                                                                                                182

THE END                                                                                                                                            207

Happy New Year

Thursday January 1^st

But it wasn’t long before the New Year introduced its first dilemma for Daniella. She was torn. Holly and Geneviève would be going out again tonight and no doubt having more fun with the same boys as last night. She was sure she would be welcome to stay and join in with them but instead she was probably expected to go home with her parents. Dad was still in no fit state, so mum would have to drive and in that case she’d be pleased she would be in the back of the car, although she’d really prefer to be in the boot so that she couldn’t see what was happening at all. 

It really wasn’t fair. She’d done everything right. She’d behaved herself. She hadn’t got out of line even with Harry’s continual encouragement and she hadn’t even had much too much to drink in stark contrast to her father who missed most of the evening by passing out before the party had even got into full swing. Or her mum who may not have been quite so bad but still managed to get so tangled up in her dress trying to take it off that Steve - yes Steve - had to go in and help her out of it to avoid her strangling herself. Not that she’d heard either of them complaining! Daniella’s only complaint on that point was that Steve hadn’t felt obliged to help her out of her dress!

“And what excitement have we got planned for this evening” she asked with only the slightest hint of malice “Any neighbours to invade?” 

“Oh I don’t think so. I don’t think your dad would be up to it”         

She glared at her mum. So I have to suffer. Because you two can’t behave. I should just have got ratted. Neither of you would have noticed. And Steve and Eloise wouldn’t have minded or even said anything. Maybe I’ll just remember this for next time. 

“Maybe I should stay here while you and dad go home and sleep off yesterday’s excesses. Then later I could go to the Wilshiers’ party with Holly” 

She didn’t really expect this to work. It was really just to make a point. 

“I don’t think so, darling. I think we’ve imposed enough on Steve and Eloise already” 

We have? You mean you have. Me. I’m no trouble at all. 

“Oh I wouldn’t say that” responded Eloise “Daniella is no trouble at all” 

Oh! Well said. My sentiment exactly! No mention of you two being no trouble, is there? 

But she could see that her mum was thinking about it. 

“Oh well. At least it will give me a chance to listen to that Box of Frogs CD that Holly gave me” 

She watched the remaining colour fade from her mums face. She knew she wasn’t so keen on modern music, especially loud hard rock. 

Cue – Strange Land by Box of Frogs

“I suppose you were well behaved last night. And a quiet evening would be good for Marvin before work tomorrow” 

“Ooh. Thanks mum” she intercepted without waiting for the invitation to crystallise as she glanced over at Steve. Yes, he'd clocked the plan. 

Daniella stood beside her as Eloise checked with Sarah that another guest would be acceptable but ran off to find Holly when the conversation moved on to discuss whether Eloise should donate her extra tray of sausage rolls to the buffet table. 

The afternoon drifted on and talk eventually turned to what to wear. Daniella was not spoilt for choice, but for some reason felt that she shouldn't wear the same dress as yesterday and was considering raiding Holly’s sewing room.

“Actually, I think you should” said Steve eventually breaking his silence from the settee. Daniella turned her head to one side inviting an explanation 

“You see, there'll be quite a few people there tonight that were here last night. They may not have been specifically introduced to you, or, given the circumstances, they may have forgotten. However, if you wear the same as you did, then that will reinforce your identity and they're more likely to recognise you”.

The cold air was a shock to everyone’s system as they walked out from under the trees all the way down to number 14 which was about the same distance from their gate as the gate was from their house. And unanimously decided that was quite far enough as they rang the doorbell. 

Eloise disappeared immediately to unload her sausage roll contribution as the other girls dallied by the door hanging up their coats. Sarah was keen to meet Daniella as her extra guest, but not before Geneviève had let out a squeak from a high pitched gasp and scurried along the short hall “Graham!” 

They fell together into an unexpectedly public hug 

“I take it those two know each other?” commented Steve 

“Yes, they met at Sabrina's party” 

“How come you’re here?” asked Graham

“I live here. No not exactly here, but the Wilshiers are neighbours of ours”

“How close do you live then?”
 “Only about ten minutes’ walk” 

“Wow! Me too! Maybe we could see a bit more of each other” he gasped in anticipation hardly acknowledging that Holly and Daniella had arrived

“Which bit in particular was it you wanted to see more of?” asked Holly

Sarah had now circulated that far and stopped to talk to Daniella commenting on her dress

“I love it” replied Daniella “Its so unusual. I’m not exactly an extrovert, but I think I like to be a little bit different” as Geneviève and Graham drifted off 

“Presumably to see more bits of each other” commented Holly taking Sarah somewhat aback

“I’m sure you were at Eloise’s last night, but we weren’t introduced” said Sarah

“No, Holly’s my best friend. We met playing hockey last year and I’ve stayed with her a few times. My parents have had to take a number of trips to Yorkshire to sort out my nan, but its great fun with Holly. And now this year we all go to school together which is great too”

“So which school is it you all go to?”
 “We’re all at St Lukes”

“St Lukes! Oh my. A friend of mine is a director there. She said she’d pop in but she can’t stay long. She’s due somewhere else as well. But I can’t imagine you have much, if anything at all, to do with the directors”

“Not really. Its as much as we can do to stay off the radar of the senior teachers without worrying about the directors as well. Generally, they’re not involved in the educational side”

They were interrupted by the doorbell and all turned to see who had just arrived.

“Oh my!” gasped Sarah “there she is now! I’m so glad you could make it. Daniella. May I introduce you to who we were just talking about, Lady Merton–Dunster”

Danni’s eyes nearly popped out. She was sure she’d seen her around school, but hadn’t registered before that she had a specific title. Daniella curtseyed quickly not knowing how else to react to meeting a lady with a capital L. Holly however was at the opposite end of the spectrum 

“Hi Vanessa” she called peeking round Danni

“You know Lady Merton-Dunster?”

“Yes. I made her dress”

“Oh, hello Holly. Fancy meeting you here. Yes, Sarah. Holly makes all my clothes for special occasions”

Daniella turned towards her with her mouth agape in awe “You do? Oh my goodness”

She knew Holly had the ambition to be a designer, but hadn’t realised she’d actually got this far already.

“Daniella, you go to St Lukes do you not? I’m sure I’ve seen you there, so how is it that you know Holly?”

“We met at hockey. But Holly’s at St Lukes as well now. Starting this term”

“Oh Excellent! Well, if you need my help on anything, you know where to find me”

She excused herself to mingle with the other guests but Danni was taking some time to recover. She knew Sabrina’s parents were related to some titles in some way and Tamara uncle was Sir something, but for her friend from Long Meadow to be on first name terms with a lady with a capital L on her own account! Oh my!

 They finally staggered back to the Briers at gone midnight. Danni wasn’t due to get up early and no arrangement had been made for Angela or Marvin to pick her up. And with these two parameters added to her perceived injustice over the previous evening, Danni was requiring significant assistance just to make progress in the right direction. A straight line was completely out of the question. She missed breakfast and then spent the late morning trying to extract from Holly or Geneviève exactly what she’d managed to get up to with Harry.

But it was Friday, it was the 2^nd of January and despite the excesses of the previous few days, Steve was in his office by 8. Ruth was in close behind him and kissed him with a cheery “Happy New Year” 

He folded his arms around her “It will be if it carries on like that!”

“Might do!” she twinkled returning the cuddle “We all need to try to make it better than last year. To be fair, it couldn't get much worse”

“You're right Ruth, we've got so much to look forward to. We just need to get it right. But last year wasn’t all bad. We recovered, and I got to work with you” 

“Oh! Thankyou Steve. And I get to work with you again this year! But you've got Adam starting today”

They let go of each other as he continued “Yes, that should be a laugh. I can't wait to see....” 

“I'm not sure who else will be laughing, Steve. Does he actually know you work here?” 

He puzzled this last question as Ruth answered the phone that interrupted them. 

“Sally says, are you expecting Olivia this morning..... “

New People, New Places

Olivia

No, but Steve crossed back to reception and stole a New Year peck on the cheek from the more reserved Sales secretary who was covering reception till Penny arrived, and ushered newcomer Olivia outside.

“You’re starting today, are you?”
 “I was really meant to start next Monday, but my uncle said that if I came in today there might be someone who could show me round and it won’t be quite so scary on Monday when I have to learn everything all at once”

“Ok. Good thinking. Ok, Olivia. Let’s have a look around. It’s important not to underestimate the importance of being a receptionist. So take a good look at the site”

The sky was dark and threatening, but the buildings were looking renewed following their recent cleaning and the grass verges were a fresh green with the roads and pavements neat and tidy. She managed to peek beyond the corner of the café to the wooden arched bridge across the river which made it all look like a well-kept garden.

“You see Olivia, or do friends call you Oli?”
 “Friends call me Livy”

“Can I call you Livy? And I get called many things on the site but ‘Steve’ will usually get my attention”

“Ok Steve”

“You see” he started again “If a visitor comes into the site they can see all this and that makes a certain impression on them. If they just phone up, their only impression of us will be from you. So you have to be the sound of all that this looks like”

She looked up at him trying to take all that in and carelessly tripped off the pavement. Steve made a grab for her arm and caught her hand pulling her back and out of the way of the approaching car, not that it was going very fast. She looked down at that hand thinking she ought to shake it off like she always did with Sam Gower when he’d tried to hold her hand in class, but for some reason was less inclined to. And now holding her hand, he decided to not let go as he guided her towards the R&D building

“You need to know the layout of the site. Its not just so that you can direct people to the right place because we try not to let visitors wander around on their own and almost all visitors will be accompanied. Its so that you can put all the people into context of where they work and who they work with. Ok its not raining just now, and that makes it a good time to walk round. I’ll introduce you to people we meet along the way but we’ve got over a hundred on site so don’t expect to know them all on day one” 

They’d migrated as far as the café and he introduced her to Alice as they stopped for a drink

“The reason I was a little startled in reception is that seeing you there all ready to start your first job reminded me that you’re only a year older than my daughter. And the thought of her starting work and earning her own living suddenly made me feel quite old”

Olivia nodded “My dad felt that way last year when my sister had her baby. That made him a grandad”

Steve drooped. He guessed that Livy’s sister would only be two or three years older than her and that now made him feel seriously old. He sighed and moved on to describe the rest of the site pointing out the different areas from the window as another drizzly squall blew in before settling back to talk about the co-operative behaviour that was expected from everyone. 

Another break in the rain saw them head for the Old Building and then back via HR to Production and the Reception office next to the gatehouse

“What happened to the previous receptionist…” she asked fearfully “…she didn’t get the sack did she?”

“You’ll have to ask her” replied Steve as they bundled in to escape a fresh downpour.

“Ask her?” queried Penny, not knowing if the comment was coming her way “Ask who? What”

“If she got the sack” said Steve

“If who got the sack?”

“The previous receptionist” 

Penny’s face fell 

“Previous receptionist? What’s going on, Steve! Got the sack! What for?”

Steve turned back towards Livy “Now look at the consternation you’re causing. And you’ve only been here a couple of hours”.

Livy looked as though she might burst into tears any second 

“Olivia, meet Penny. She’s the previous receptionist, but no, she hasn’t got the sack. At least not yet”

Penny gasped “What d’you mean ‘not yet’?”

“Only that I don’t know what you're likely to get up to anytime soon”

Penny looked over to Olivia “Sometimes, its hard to tell when Steve is being serious”

“No its not! You just have to think about it. Now, Olivia was going to join us on Monday but surprised us by coming in today to get a head start on everything she’ll need to know. So today and Monday I want you two to sit together here and you can show Olivia how it all works”

“Ok” said Olivia “But what’s happening to Penny?”
 “A fate worse than death I’m afraid. But I can’t tell you because Penny herself doesn’t know yet”

“Is that him not being serious again?” she asked

“No...” gasped Penny “I’m hoping he is being serious. And I really don’t know. But Steve, you can’t not tell me now that you’ve said all that”

“Oh I think I can. It would almost certainly be against some HR procedure to announce something like that before you had a proper discussion about it. But it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out you might not be staying on reception now that HR have hired your replacement. I’m surprised they didn’t involve you”

“So you are going to give me my chance! Is it in Finance?”
 “Maybe. And maybe not. We need to discuss it before a final decision is made”
 Penny’s eyes widened and the elation was visibly creeping across her face from the chin upwards

“Really!” she gasped jumping up throwing her arms around his neck “Really? When?”

“Just as soon as we sort out the best option for everyone involved. But the announcements will all be on Thursday”

The phone interrupted them and Penny crashed back to earth to answer it - “I’ll just check if he’s in…”

“I’ll leave you with Penny” he said to Olivia “But don’t expect to learn everything on day one. Names, jobs, who else is in that section that a caller might speak to instead, buildings, extension numbers. You’ll have to go round the loop a number of times, so don’t be disappointed when you don’t remember everything you hear today. And pay attention when Penny takes you to get your security badge because you’ll be taking the next person that needs one”

Back in his office he mulled over the other personnel moves he needed. Getting the right people in the right jobs was key to this year and his target was to get it all done in week one. He gazed in contemplation out across the site. 

Ruth was crossing towards the cafe when she veered off sharply towards the maintenance building. She seemed to be headed for Adam who seemed to be headed for her and they looked like maybe they'd met before as Ruth's question came back to bug him. 

Adam

“…Yes. He was in the Boar on New Year's Eve” she said in answer to Steve's direct question “I thought I'd seen him on site here with Gerry, but couldn't quite fit the bits together. But he doesn't know you work here” 

“But I phoned him up. I talked to him for half an hour, then he came down for an interview. I asked Gerry to take that because I needed a second opinion and because I thought I might be biased” 

“But did you say it was you on the phone. Steve, he assumes he spoke to some agent who then sent him for interview with Gerry” 

“I don't quite see the issue?” 

“Its like this, Steve, Adam decided to leave his company several months ago. So he made some effort to track you down and see where you were working because that's what he thought would be his best move. I probably shouldn't tell you what he said to me...” 

“... But you will anyway…” 

“…Then you phoned him about this job. He was getting quite upset about it because he sees this as being such a great opportunity. Except that he also feels like this should be a longer term commitment and if he managed to track you down then he wouldn't be able to move to wherever you were. What he said Steve, is that he was so upset when you left that the other guys in the team suspected maybe he was gay” 

“And is he?” 

“No! And no I don't have any personal proof of that before you ask! Although that Nightwish you gave me could easily have played its part on New Years Eve. IF I was that kind of girl!” 

“Well you'd better go and haul him in here and we'll get the introductions over with. Friday is such a good day for January 2^nd. You can do all the happy new year stuff and then on Monday everyone can get on with some real work” 

Adam was heaving a desk around, repositioning everything in his area to the way he'd already decided he wanted it when Ruth edged in

“Sorry for the interruption, but Steve would like a word, if you're not too busy” 

“Steve?” 

“CEO. That’s Gerry’s boss” 

“Oh, wow! Better not keep him waiting. What's he like? Is he approachable or a bit fierce?” 

“I'm not the best person to ask” 

“But you must know him? You’ve been here some time haven’t you?” 

“Yes, but you might get a less biased opinion from Sally in Sales or Cassie in Production”

She walked with him as he headed for reception

“Steve’s in the Old Building” hinted Ruth

“Yes, but I was hoping to do some research to be better prepared”

They’d got to the gatehouse now as Ruth continued “We should go straight up there. His office overlooks this whole area so he’s probably watching us right now”

“Penny, what’s the CEO like. Is he ok, a bit aggressive or what”

“Steve? Oh Adam, I think he’s just adorable. But maybe I’m not the best person to ask” 
 “Oh dear! So who is the best person to ask?”

“Ruth would be best. She works closest to him”

“I just asked Ruth. She said the same as you!”
 “I know you’re biased, Ruth. Same as me. But you should know best. Lucky you! Working with him every day”

Adam looked perplexed

“She’s his PA” Penny continued “Ruth, did you not tell Adam that?”

“Good grief! I didn't realise you were the aristocracy of admin when you said you were a secretary” 

She hurried him back to the top of the stairs in the Old Building now oddly embarrassed as if she’d been holding out on him

“That's my office there, and this is Steve’s” 

“You never told me anything about him...” 

“I don't have to. You probably know him better than me... Steve, Adam Lawson to see you” 

Steve got up from his desk and Adam stopped dead 

“Adam! Great to see you again” 

“Good grief! If it isn't Steve Bergstrom” 

“If it isn't I don't know who it is. It was last time I checked” 

They sat down at the coffee table as Ruth strained her ears trying to listen to the conversation. She'd left her connecting door open for exactly this purpose and mostly it was working 

“Whatever happened to that girl you were with? Miranda wasn't it?” 

“Yeah, we'd stayed together. But she never got serious. Like I phoned her twice after I accepted the job here but she didn't have time on either occasion to meet up even though I said I needed to discuss something important. We weren't even scheduled to go to the same New Year’s party. So I just stuck a ‘Dear John' through her letter box and got in the car. Must admit, I hardly miss her even though we were together all those years. Well, I was. Not sure she was. But it's all over now. What about you? You must still be with that lovely wife of yours? Veronica? Did I remember that right? And that little girl of yours - Beth was it?”

“Veronique” he corrected “And no” 

“No! Whyever not?” 

“No, Adam. Veronique was killed in a train wreck which is why little Tabitha started using her middle name instead. She's known as Geneviève now. But we're doing all right. We're getting a new little family together now so that'll be a whole new life.” 

Ruth was mortified. She'd never asked about his ex-wife although she’d assumed he had one and now she wished she had. She knew she'd turned down the chance because of Geneviève, and now she wondered if it ever would have worked. Eloise was lovely and Steve would be happy with her, but she still found the whole Adam - Steve reunion unexpectedly sad, not just for Steve but for herself as well and she felt suddenly hollow despite knowing that they were all itching to get started in their new year.

Cue The Reign by Tarja

Central Site

But that was just the start of the changes. Again he stood looking out across the apron. Being able to see all the different departments from this new office helped him think about the company as a whole – now that he thought he had time to think. And what he started to think about was Components. 

He had no details yet but Jed might be delayed again and that meant that maybe a chat to Emma was now overdue.

Components production was in a stable state. Quality was acceptable, external sales were beginning to pick up. Big Ned Armstrong had organised a small team to start making a copy of an old Cave Brothers design that Lucy had been asked for many times by people just phoning up. With output of the new unit filling the shelves in the warehouse Lucy had contacted these companies and now had repeat orders coming through on a weekly basis. The volume was small but Steve treated it with huge significance after Lucy had included it in her weekly report. This action by the shop floor guys was a wonderful endorsement of the business model and boosted everyone’s confidence that it would indeed succeed. Even if it was all on unscheduled overtime.

“Yeah” big Ned had said when Steve mentioned it “We make them outside hours getting extra pay. Lucy sells them for extra company income and we all win….”

Keith was drawing up plans to recruit a sales team to supplement the orders that came in over the phone. That increased revenue stream also provided additional opportunities for Field Service and he was also thinking about some kind of reward for everyone involved. But he’d been told that it must be something that wouldn’t distract them too much from their primary activity, even if he did consider sales to be more important.

But changes were imminent. Lisa had always been there as a temporary measure until Steve was confident enough to invest in a General Manager. Without an alternative, she’d simply continued to run the operation during the delay before he she or it arrived, in addition to producing the detailed forward financial projection. But now she was moving on and almost in the background, Finance had struggled along till the end of the year with Cheryl holding the fort like it was Custer’s Last Stand.

But despite all that, Emma was not expecting the invitation from Ruth.

“No” said Emma slowly that evening “Its just that I’ve not had much to do with Steve since the early days. Lisa talks to him almost daily. My contact has been less and less as everything started to run more smoothly. Except, its not more smoothly. There are just as many issues as there ever were, its that they don’t blow up like they used to”

“Maybe everyone’s becoming more tolerant?” suggested her husband “or maybe you're sorting them out more quickly”

“I suppose so. But Steve - he’d see through that kind of smokescreen”

“Except…” she continued later in the kitchen clearing away the tea. It was one of those times that interruption from the children was minimal as they kept well out of the way in case they were given something useful to do. 

“….at Cave Brothers before it closed I was just sorting out whatever needed sorting for Giles Cave and Joe McCauley. Then when Steve came up with his plan I just got swept up into working with Lisa on anything and everything that bounced in. Usually I just think of a solution and just do it because Lisa is too busy even to discuss it. But at Caves I was in HR and I’ve heard that HR might be merged with the Riverside site, so I don’t know where that leaves me”

“From the little I’ve spoken to him about it, I thought Steve wanted to completely forget about Caves and start fresh. Anyway, what did he say?”
 “I haven’t talked to him yet. His PA phoned me. She asked me when I’d be available to have lunch with him”
 “Well, that sounds ok”
 “Well, not really. I asked who else was going and Ruth said just me. My last meeting with him didn’t go exactly brilliantly”

“No?”

“No, it ended with me agreeing to jump in the river!”

“What! What sort of meeting was that!”

“Yes, at the fun day that’s planned for the summer. I’m supposed to be the pirate that has to walk the plank”

Jim shook his head “That place you work is nothing if not entertaining”

“I’m not so sure”

“But that means you’re safe till summer, doesn’t it? Otherwise Steve will be short of his pirate”

Monday morning. And the schedule was set. So long as there weren’t too many unexpected interruptions, Steve was confident that he would be able to get through all the personnel meetings and everything would be in place for the Thursday meeting. 

The plan fell at the first hurdle. Juliette was in his office waiting for him. He acknowledged her but moved straight to the newly brewed coffee pot.

He listened patiently intrigued as to what could be so important that warranted waiting for him. But Steve’s decision was made almost instantly, verified by a quick phone call to Gerry and she was on her way back to her HR office, job done. That, she thought, was how she expected Steve to make decisions. Some might say it was rash, others may say it was decisive but he’d sounded confident and she took the decision as final.

Lucy

Lucy arrived just on twenty past ten and glanced quizzically at the new girl sitting next to Penny behind the desk

“Lucy, this is the new receptionist, Livy”

“So what’s happened to you! Not got the sack have you?”

Livy gasped “That’s what that other fella said!”
 “No, but Steve wants to see you”
 “I know, 10.30. But he spoke to me at the Christmas party and said there was nothing to worry about”
 “So you’d better get on up there or you’ll be late”
 “What! now? I thought that it was…”
 “NO, you’re meant to go there straight away before you go talking to anyone else”

“So who’s that she’s got to see? Is that someone in HR?”
 “No, its Steve”

Livy looked blank

“You know Steve”
 “Do I?”

“Yes. He’s the guy who introduced us. He showed you round. Remember?”

“Oh, I remember! Yes, he did say his name was Steve. I know him” she continued dreamily “He’s really nice. Gentle. Considerate. He spent so much time with me to make sure I understood”

“Yes Livy, and far too old for you”
 “Hmmm… But just the way he held my hand and he bought me a hot chocolate”

Penny looked blankly at her “Livy! You cannot go falling for a guy because of a mug of hot chocolate!” 

Or maybe she was already a hopeless case

“So where does he work?” she asked again “he seems to know his way round” 

“So he should Livy! He’s the boss. The gaffer. Top man. The Chief Executive”

She felt the blood drain from her face “Chief Exec….” she whispered 

Up on the first floor of the Old Building, Lucy tapped on the door. The last time she’d seen him at work was with Annabelle at the Components site, but his focus had been on the person he was trying to recruit. She hadn’t heard how that had gone, but the time she’d spent with her all seemed to be encouraging. Unconventional, but encouraging. 

“Come in – Hey Lucy. How are you?”

He waved his arm towards the coffee table and she remembered the last time she was in this office as she sat down. Last time she had been nervous, almost shaking, and increasingly despondent. This time she was more excited than nervous even though she’d not had her official review yet. But he’d already given her huge encouragement at the party, so …

He snapped open a Fanta for her and poured more coffee for himself.

At his invitation she told him about her Christmas and New Year celebrations, and then about how Lisa was no less stressed than the previous week, as if things may have been expected to change with the calendar. Steve nodded 

“That specific issue is about to cure itself” he said hiding the underlying mystery “How’s Emma?”

“She’s ok. Actually, I think she’s a bit nervous about the future with the new site manager coming in”

Steve nodded “Ok. Hopefully it will all become clearer on Thursday at the Blue Boar. But first we need to talk about you. Have you had a chance to think where you’d like to work? Remember, HR is still out, in case you were thinking about that”

“Yes Steve. I’ve been thinking, but I’m so grateful for you giving me a second chance. I don’t want to appear greedy. Staying at Components would be fine. But you said there might be other possibilities?”

“Yes. So Lets have a look at the options? If you want to stay in general admin at Components, then you can. That would be doing the same sort of stuff as you do now although I’d like to think that the issues would become less repetitive over time. That division will be coming under Gerry Salisbury on this site, but that’s not public knowledge yet. And its likely that the admin staff at Components would actually report to Cassie, so that would include you.”

Lucy nodded, mulling it over. So there would be changes no matter what. She liked Cassie but that wasn’t the same as liking working for her

“Alternatively, if you really wanted to, you could move to reception and I will deploy Livy elsewhere” 

Lucy was shaking her head 

“Gerry needs another admin person in Production alongside Cassie, so that’s open as well. And sales will be expanding, but not for a few months. However, if you wanted to, I’d move that forward for you and you would help Sally set it up”

She sat looking at him, weighing up each of these possibilities

“There’s also a possibility in R&D, but I don’t want to place anyone there just now. Not till Adam gets established. He’s the new research lead and only started last Friday, but again, that could be changed if you were really enthusiastic. If you wanted that, I’d keep you in Components till that gets a bit farther forward, maybe a month or six weeks.

Then there’s a new post in Facilities which is looking after cleaning toilets and grounds maintenance, that kind of thing. And very shortly I’ll be looking for someone quite special for a new venture. It would mainly be Sales focussed, but I’m not sure you’d be the best person for that. I just mention for minor consideration”

She paused, confused. She had no idea there would be so much variety. 

“You don’t know, do you” mused Steve “What bit of Components don’t you like?” 

“Components is good. Its new, there’s a load of stuff to sort out. But then that same stuff comes around the next week. And I’m not sure how to sort that. And Lisa! She’s great, but she’s in a manic panic all the time and, Steve, its contagious!” 

She paused, but not for long “Ok, so now you’ve got me so confused with choice I’m going to have to look to you for some help. Oh Steve, what do you want me to do? Because you look at these things and know what I’d be good at. You put me down at Components when I wouldn’t have even thought about it and that worked well. Didn’t it?”

“I thought you’d never ask!
 “Oh You! You’ve got me lined up for something all along!

“No, I want it to be your choice”
 “So which one is it you want me to choose!” 
 “Which one do you like least?” he teased

“Reception” she said quietly “Although I will if you want me to”

“Don’t underestimate the value of the receptionist. She’s the first contact with many of our customers. And the value of having clean toilets on site should not be underestimated. That’s an important contribution as well”
 “Cleaning Steve? Marjory does that. I think she does rather a good job”

“Ok. I’ll revert that to a possibility but not first choice. But, Lucy, you spent some time in the Horse and Jockey with Annabelle last week. How did it go?”
 “Very well as far as I could tell. Oh my! She can’t half pack it away! But we got on really well especially as I prompted her with some answers when she phoned Lisa. And we went through the figures that I was worried about and she pointed out a few things and some of them were the things I’d found, so I was right. I just don’t know how to break this to Lisa. But Annabelle found these things straight away! She’s so sharp even after four or was it five rounds. Then we talked about the company. She asked me about R&D, but I couldn’t help her there because I thought it all got canned when Trevor left. Anyway she still seemed really keen to join us”

“So you got on well with her?”

“Yeah! We just seemed to click in straight away”

“Ok. Lucy. In addition to all the vacancies I just mentioned, there’s another one that I think you might like to consider”
 “Another! As if I wasn’t spoilt for choice already!” 

“What I think you’d like, and what I think you’d be good at is working in Finance for Annabelle”

Lucy’s face lit up “The new Finance department? And Annabelle is joining us?”

“Yes. And Lisa is leaving us. So there’s even more scope for contributing to the shape of that department. It will have to operate across both sites and you already have some experience at both sites. Annabelle will also have a huge additional responsibility in R&D, which would be coming your way as well”

“Oh Wow! But what does Cherry say about this?”

“Cherry isn’t with us any more”
 “Oh dear. Although I knew she wanted to move. She never really recovered from the Event”

“No, don’t be sad about it. Cherry has got her dream job. She’s working in the town centre, gets ten per cent staff discount off almost everything and isn’t under pressure to progress through her accountancy levels. She’s started today at Simpson and Green’s. Annabelle doesn’t start here till Thursday because she’s showing Cheryl her old job. She’s not a direct replacement for Cheryl because the company will be quite a different place by Friday”

She gazed over at him “I don’t know what to say. I guess ‘thankyou’ would be a good start. But I want you to know how much this means to me. It’s a whole new start for me. Steve. I’ve been quite a different person these last four months. At first I thought it was just an act, you know, a face I was putting on. But more recently I’ve thought no its not. It’s a changed me…. Oh, sorry. I think I’ve said too much” 

“No Lucy. A number of people have noticed the change, and one of them is me. So would you like to move to Finance?”

She hardly hesitated, but immediately felt that maybe she should have.

“Good. But, two things Lucy. Don’t go talking about this. Its all part of the new structure and organisation announcements on Thursday. And you do remember how the switchboard works, don’t you”

“I think so”

“Would you mind keeping an eye on Olivia for half an hour while I talk to Penny”.
 

Penny

“Its your turn now” she said as she bundled into the reception area still oozing with excitement. Steve’s asked me to cover with Olivia”

“Ok! But you look as excited as I feel! Steve told me last Friday that I was moving. He even did it by accident by introducing Livy as the new receptionist. Lucy, it means he’s giving me my chance. How epic is that! But I take it you’re staying?”
 “Yes. And I’m so looking forward to it. Go on, off you go. He’s waiting for you”

“I wish he was waiting for me” said Livy quietly

Penny tapped nervously on his door and tried not to listen to his phone call as he motioned her to sit down at the coffee table.

“How are you feeling?” he asked as Ruth put the coffee and biscuits on the table

“Nervous. Actually, I feel a bit in, you know, limbo. A bit homeless. Livy’s already here and I haven’t gone yet. But I’m so excited. I hardly slept at all last night” 

“Yes. But one thing you have to remember is that you can’t move upwards unless you’ve got a replacement lined up to do your job. Anyway, way back in August you asked for a meeting with me to discuss your career“
 “Yes. A bit of a cheek I know. But I had to try something. I had to make some effort”

“And do you remember the outcome of that meeting – apart from you coming to the conclusion that I’m dafter than HR”

“Oh Steve. I can’t believe you remembered that! I asked you if you would think about giving me a chance based on my experience despite not having any exams. And then last Friday you introduced Livy as the new receptionist and you can’t believe how excited I am”

Steve retained a complete lack of excitement as he continued 

“At the meeting in August you mentioned two things...”
 She looked puzzled. Two? I thought I’d asked to be considered for a move to the finance team

“…..You suggested that you’d like to be given the opportunity to start on the accountancy ladder. And you mentioned that your ambition was to get into management. So what’s your current view of where you want to go and how you think you can get there?”

“Emmm. The Finance department hasn’t been resolved yet, so I’m thinking there still may be something there. You did say it wouldn’t be for a while…”

“Ok, but my question is – do you want to be an accountant, or do you just see that as a route to management?”

She took a long pause trying to disguise it with a long sip from her coffee.

“I have thought about this. What I want is some responsibility and I want to make things happen and get things done and be able to see the difference that I personally make. And I know I could apply that to a stack of filing, but… I want to feel I’ve achieved something at the end of each day. I mean, more than I managed to put all the calls through to the right extensions”

“Ok. But surely you get that from keeping the car fleet on the road?”

“Yes, and I’ll miss that when I move”

“So you enjoy looking after the car fleet?”

“Yes. I feel I’m achieving something there and its my responsibility”

“More than you do on reception?”
 “Yes. I’m sure I’m capable of so much more than that”

“So what about other facilities?”
 “Other facilities?”

“Yes, the support services that everyone relies on without thinking about them and if they’re done properly, no-one needs to think about them. Have you ever thought much about cleaning toilets?” 

“Cleaning…” she gasped incredulously

“Hmm. There’s a certain responsibility and achievement involved in that”

“I… I don’t think that was quite what I had in mind. Marjory does a good job of that. She’s not leaving is she?”

“Not so far as I know. But toilets are a facility. And I think you’d do a really good job”

 “Steve – I’m not sure I’m sharing this. You know I want to start moving up the ladder if I can. I don’t think being the cleaner is moving in the right direction!” 

“But you just told me that Marjory was doing such a good job. Surely that’s what you want people to say about you to prove you’re making a personal difference”

She took a big gulp of her drink and looked forlornly over towards him. She’d built up this meeting with Steve as her big chance at a real career opportunity like they had discussed and now…. Now she wasn’t so sure. 

“Ok Penny. So am I right in thinking that moving to the finance team is simply a vehicle to get you started and you don’t really want to be an accountant?”

She thought carefully. She’d asked to be given the chance and Steve was clearly taking this seriously. 

“Steve, I just thought that there would be so much opportunity in Finance because you’d have to reorganise it almost from scratch and that’s what I’ve been dreaming about since you said you’d think about it”

“I can imagine that this is what you’ve been looking forward to for so long. It was a good plan using the Finance department to get on an upward ladder, but my question is on how much you really want to count beans and how much you see that as just a vehicle for your ambition towards management?”

“Steve, I just saw the Finance department reorganisation as an opportunity to get in on something new where I could make a real difference” 

“So ‘The Finance Team’ is really just a label for this move to make it more tangible, because we didn’t discuss what you might actually do in Finance”

Penny felt him looking at her as she considered this and rather than meet his gaze she looked down at the coffee cup that she was clutching with both hands

“I suppose so. I wanted to be specific at our meeting in August. I thought that would be more positive than just ‘I want to do something’. I thought I was being adventurous just asking for that never mind being greedy and asking what else might come up”

“Ok. Penny. The finance team is about to emerge from the black hole it disappeared into after the Event and there’ll be some announcements about that on Thursday”

“Yes, because Cheryl’s left as well so something has to happen soon. Except it sounds like it might not include me”

She sounded more downbeat than she had intended and paused before lifting herself back up “But you must have something in mind because you’ve already replaced me in my old job. I hope…. Maybe?”

“Penny, Lisa is also leaving us. What that means is that putting a complete novice such as you into the team is really not a good idea right now. I’m sorry if that’s a disappointment, because I know that's what you asked for and I now know that’s what you’ve been looking forward to. I just wanted to make sure that your ambition was to make a personal difference by taking personal responsibility and not necessarily to become a bean counter. And I understand why you concentrated on Finance as your specific example”
 “I see. I didn’t know about Lisa. Oh well!”

“But Penny, I’ve got something else in mind so listen carefully. What I want to do is to create a new job in the company. I want someone to look after Facilities”

“Is that another name for ‘cleaning toilets’?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes. Because toilets are a facility”
 She paused with her head spinning not knowing what to think. Her job at reception had already gone and she was so elated and excited and now she wasn’t going to Finance either. But Steve had obviously been thinking about it and….

“You see, Penny, we’ve got a number of individual contracts to get stuff done. One of them is the company car fleet. But there’s also the grounds maintenance, the building renovation at Components and non-production plant maintenance, office supplies and equipment and of course .... cleaning, including toilets. So what we need is someone who can get a handle on all these things and make them happen quietly and seamlessly in the background without causing trauma or drama”

She looked up trying to take in this new perspective 

“So I thought that with the door unexpectedly closing in Finance and with your experience with the company cars…….” 

“Me?” she breathed incredulously, not quite believing as she met his eyes looking at her rather too directly even as he nodded

“Me! Oh my goodness. Oh wow!”

“As we discussed before, you’re a bit short of paper qualifications so this is based purely on experience and is something of an experiment. However, following your success with the fleet, it seemed like a logical extension because you told me you wanted the chance to take more responsibility, move towards management and be seen to be making a personal difference. The job title would be Facilities Co-ordinator and it reports directly to me. It also includes looking after reception, without actually operating the switchboard, so Olivia would report to you which will give you some personnel management experience as well”
 “Oh! Oh my goodness. I’ll try ever so hard. I’m doing all right with the car fleet, so…”

“But one last thing Penny. This all runs completely contrary to all Jacqui’s HR guidelines, so you and me will have to work quite closely together at least for the first few weeks to make sure this works. And I’m relying on you to prove I’m right”

She gasped as it dawned on her that Steve was going out on a limb for this and that made her think that this was even scarier than moving to Finance

“Steve” she breathed nervously “you are being serious aren’t you? You can’t take me to this high and just drop me like hot rock? Can you?”
 “Of course I can Penny! But not on this occasion”

“But this sounds fantastic. I don’t think I could ever have even thought of a job like that. When do you want me to start?”
 “Thursday, after the announcements at the Blue Boar. I want you to have Olivia proficient by then. Except that you’ll be taking all the calls for Components as well, but I’m sure you can figure that out. Their number will be diverted later today, so tomorrow you’re live on that permanently, not just when Lucy diverts it for her own convenience”

“Steve, it sounds fabulous”

“And you’re not too disappointed about Finance?”

“Oh my goodness no. Not with this opportunity instead!”

 “Good. I knew you would really”

Tasmin

So far so good. Tasmin was the next piece in the puzzle and that meant going to Components.

It was almost half past four before he got there and bustled through to the logistics office. He watched Tasmin from the door as she carefully finished updating the lists on her desk and put her pen back in the drawer. The others had either gone already or were in the warehouse and the room seemed ghostly quiet

“Tasmin” he called gently, but not gently enough to prevent her spinning round in a panic

“Oh Mr Bergstrom! You startled me”

“Sorry”

“Oh, but Larry and Rowena are both in the warehouse. I’ll get them for you. I could tell them you’re here”

“Thankyou Tasmin. But its you I came to see”
 “Oh no! You came all the way over here to see me. Why? What’ve I done wrong?”

“Nothing at all. And I see that lovely blue dress of yours has survived”

“I cant believe you remembered that”

“Tasmin. There’s a couple of things I need to talk to you about. Now, would you prefer to talk here in the office or in the Kings Head, which is only a few minutes walk at the end of the lane?”

“Oh my goodness! Em, you choose. The Kings Head‘s a nice pub…. If you like”

“Now, there’s a few changes going to be announced on Thursday. The company is changing shape and quite a few people are moving….”

“Oh, Mr Bergstrom! You don’t want to get rid of me do you, Oh I do hope not”

“No, Tasmin. Not at all”

She sat down at a table in something of a panic while Steve went to the bar. He placed a long glass in front of her as he put his pint down

“Now Tasmin, that may look like a coke, but its also got a Bacardi in it to help you calm down. But be careful, I know you’re still only seventeen”

She took a long swig and an even deeper breathe “Thankyou. I’m just so surprised”

“Ok. I can understand that. So if that doesn’t calm you down enough, I’ll get you another. But that’s it. Only two or we’ll all land up in trouble”

“Ok”

“Do you like working with us?”

“Yes” she replied more nervously than she would have wanted

“And what about the warehouse?”

“Its ok. Some of it’s a bit repetitive. Like if we’ve got two hundred of something and it needs updating. But, oh my, Mr Bergstrom, I’m not complaining”

“No. But how would you like to take over Lucy’s job instead”

“Lucy?” 

“All the changes in the company are confidential at the moment, so I don’t want you talking about this. That’s one reason I came to see you rather than just talk on the phone. I need to make all the announcements at the same time, but you need to know about some of them because that might make a difference to what you want to do. Lucy will be leaving soon because I want her to take on more responsibility elsewhere in the company. So I was wondering if you would like to take on more responsibility by taking over the wider admin role that Lucy was doing”

“Oh my! Like a promotion?”
 “Yes, in a way. It would certainly involve an increase in your salary. Have a think about it and let me know tomorrow. Oh, but you might also like to know that Lisa has already left Components”

Tasmin had a surprising number of questions, which was good but lasted well into the second Bacardi. It meant she was thinking about this, but Steve had little doubt that she’d accept. What it did mean is that he was later than he’d expected back at the Riverside office and preparation for the rest of his changes would have to wait till his evening settee time with Eloise.

Next day, the ‘Tuesday after New Year’ had crept up on Holly ever so suddenly, and now it was new-school day. She tried not to get over excited as she got dressed in her brand new uniform and was extra careful not to spill her breakfast down it.

There seemed to be a deputation waiting for them as Steve pulled up outside the main entrance but he left them with the welcoming committee and headed for the office to make sure they had all the right paperwork and details. Holly chatted excitedly with Daniella and Tamara and several others from the hockey team. Geneviève listened politely, but somewhat in the background before she was surprised by a tap on her arm. At first she thought she’d been nudged like maybe she was standing in the way, but she turned to see a nervous smile watching her. Rochelle introduced herself and invited her to go and register with Matron. 

“I volunteered to buddy with you to help you find your way around” she said “but, if you don't like me, Matron will find someone else” 

Geneviève was taken aback. She'd assumed that all the girls would be super confident and they all certainly looked the part. But then, that was the purpose of the school uniform and in this case it was doing its job only too effectively 

“I'd love you to buddy me. I can't imagine why I wouldn't like you. You’ve already been really kind just volunteering” 

Rochelle's face lit up “it's just that I'm not very exciting. I don't get up to all the pranks and tricks like Tamara and Sabrina” 

“That suits me fine! I don't consider myself an extrovert. I do hope you don't find me too quiet and reserved” 

“I'm sure I won't” replied Rochelle “but the regime here expects us all to have an opinion and be more forceful” 

“Oh! I always have an opinion. It's just that often I don't express it. I don't want to impress my view on everyone else. I don't think I'm cut out to be an evangelist or a politician” 

“Nor me! We're in form together. I think we're in most classes together too. I hope you're not sick of the sight of me by lunchtime” 

“I can’t imagine so, and I’ll try not to be too much trouble” 

Daniella however had failed to remember to get Holly to register, being distracted by Tamara's latest outrage for which she was trying to recruit accomplices. And while Holly was being hauled out of her Maths class by Matron who by then was thinking she hadn't turned up, Geneviève was revelling in the more academic atmosphere and taking hints from Rochelle on the good the bad and the ugly of both the students and the staff. 

Emma

Meanwhile, at the Central site Lisa’s discussion with Emma had been largely one sided. They’d been friends for years but now Emma was annoyed that she wasn’t being trusted with the full story. Lisa had apologised for not being able to say too much but quickly moved on to say she now only had less than three months to set up the new Finance department that Steve had expected from her.

She’d hardly been seen at the Components site for several days now and although she’d submitted most of what she’d been working on to Steve, she’d left Emma to cope with the day to day production issues.

Emma was finding this a two edged sword. For sure the contagious frantic atmosphere had subsided, but it meant she had to do so much more herself. 

And what was this lunch with Steve about?

She’d been watching for his car to appear in the courtyard that she could just see from her window, but clearly had missed it. He appeared in her office from the other side, having been into Production for something, but the intro was upbeat 

“You must have remembered we were taking lunch together today. You’ve got that lovely cuddly jumper on”

Generally, personal comments like that from the guys on the shop floor were vigorously discouraged by Lisa, but this was Steve, not the production guys and Lisa wasn’t there, and this at least would get the meeting off on the right foot, unlike last time. Plus she’d never been to lunch with him before, at least not since the company was formed as the phoenix. And even then not just the two of them.

“How are you looking forward to life without Lisa?” he asked after the usual pleasantries as they drove out towards the Old Farmers Arms.

She thought for a few moments trying to figure out what answer Steve wanted

“She’s great. She gets through so much work. That plan of hers looks very detailed although she’s been over at Riverside the last few days…”

“But…” Steve said hoping to encourage her to say something more controversial.

“But.. .. She’s so frenetic, and its infectious. And sometimes…” she stopped short and Steve glanced over at her in a failed attempt to get her to continue

“Do you have a view on Lucy’s replacement? Or is Lisa handling that? I haven’t heard anything. Is Juliette involved?”

“I wouldn’t be disappointed if Tasmin moved over, I think she’s a bit bored in the warehouse and that would give her a wider experience of the company, but that would leave a hole in the warehouse which is just moving the problem”

“Maybe the warehouse would survive without her?” he said with a strangely self-satisfied smile.

But they’d reached the pub now and the conversation turned to lunch

“What would you like to drink?” as he asked the barman for a pint of Odd Fellows

“Oh, just a coke please”

“Is that with vodka or Bacardi?”

“Oh! Go on then, Bacardi”

Lunch was lovely. She hadn’t been to Old Farmers since it opened its new conservatory restaurant and moved up market a couple of years ago. Steve turned the conversation to her husband Jim and his taxi business. Steve had encouraged him to make the additional security applications to the police and local authority so that he could specialise in the transport of unaccompanied children which Steve had identified from his own experience as a gap in the market and he was interested to know how that was working out. But talking about that, Emma realised that now the large proportion of Jim’s income was from this type of work. This was down to Steve putting in a recommendation with St Lukes College as well as running his own personal account and this extra pressure was only partially offset by the alcohol.

“Where do you see your career going?” he asked rather directly as she agreed to skip desert in favour of another drink.

“Well, with Lisa moving back into Finance, Jed will need some help in continuity in Components, so I was hoping I might be staying there for a while”
 “Do you like your job there – sorting out all the production issues, or are the problems more in supply chain or HR?”

“I think I’m getting on well with everyone – even the guys I disagree with most of the time and that helps in finding solutions. And Lucy’s been a huge help in buttoning things down so that the same issue doesn’t come round again. At least, not exactly the same”

“How would you describe your job? I mean if it had a more appropriate job title, what would it be?”

“Oh, I don’t know …. Trouble-shooter maybe, or trouble maker! Depending on which side you’re on”

“Ok, so ok, what about Lisa – before she moves on?”
 “I think she’s effectively Site Manager which will be Jed’s title I believe”
 “So that would make you deputy Site Manager”

“I suppose so”

“Do you think you can handle that?”
 She glared over at his innocently incredulous dead pan face

“Actually, I think I’ve been doing rather a good job over the last six months and I’ve sorted all the major issues these last few days with Lisa over at Riverside”

“And you think you’d be ok working for Jed?”
 She’d gasped internally at the directness of her own last comment and was equally relieved that Steve seemed to be letting it pass. But it persuaded her that she should forego any offer of more alcohol. 

“I’ve not met him. I wasn’t involved in the recruitment. But the little I’ve heard of him he seems ok. It’s a matter of being professional” 

She paused considering her next statement but found herself speaking before she’d fully deliberated. Oh, this drinking at lunchtime didn’t suit her “Although….” she’d already continued “….I’d be disappointed to be treated like just his secretary. Even Lucy does a lot more than that….”

Steve dropped her at the gate to the works without her having much clue of what the outcome was. What was that all about? Except to confirm that Lisa had already moved on. Was everything just the same as it was until Jed came in as substitute? But it all sounded fairly positive, unless she ended up as admin assistant to the whole works. That would be disappointing – in spades.

Steve still had serious reservations about the management of that plant. It was working and that in itself was a level of success, but it just wasn’t right. The structure was fragile, the guys on the production floor were supportive, but they could easily revert to their previous form if they didn’t continue to see the benefits of working this way. He couldn’t run it himself. Maybe he could get Jack to do a bit more. Or Big Ned Armstrong. But it needed a light touch. Any seasoned heavyweight who weighed in with too many changes or an aggressive attitude could easily sink the whole thing. Or was he just being too sensitive?

Over in Ruth’s office, organisation seemed to have disappeared, closely tailgated by the New Year. Where had it gone already? It seemed no time at all and now she was concerned about Thursday’s meeting. She’d been to lots of meetings, and she’d organised the Christmas party, she co-ordinated the Management and Board meetings and had even chaired various others. But somehow this was different. She’d be behind the mic controlling the agenda again and everyone on site who wasn’t directly on the production line would be there and that was at least 45 people. 

Not helped now by Steve’s announcement to her that they would also be revealing the integration of Components with the main business, not, he’d dismissed, that it would make any significant difference to anyone closely involved. So that would mean another 10 or a dozen people from Central.

Next morning, Ruth was even less confident. In theory, everyone who was moving department already knew about it, but she wasn’t entirely sure that Lucy or Penny were fully aware of what they’d let themselves in for. Not just that, but she was acutely aware that she’d done virtually no preparation for this.

Adam popped up to preview his presentation with Steve and that brought some light relief and an invitation to meet up in the Boar later. 

But then it all kicked off. Gerry dropped in with a few slides for her to collate into the deck and then Matt and finally Steve. This was more like it. This was beginning to look like a company organisation meeting rather than Steve hosting a pre-lunch chat. Ok, before, it had looked like it wouldn’t take very long, but now with Matt and Gerry’s input it looked a whole lot more than just Steve talking.

She phoned the Blue Boar to check that everything was being set up. Being a member, she already knew most of the staff having spent several evenings a week there for a number of years, but this was the first time she’d set up a business meeting there.

Considering the chaos that seemed to be endemic in the evenings, everything now sounded strangely under control. So, next it was a walk round to see Penny and then phone Lucy to clear up that nervousness. She just didn’t want to be compere when either or both of them created some disturbance if they’ve now taken on something they didn’t expect. This had probably all been sorted by Steve but following Adam’s introduction she wasn’t prepared to take the chance.

In the meantime, Steve was answering her phone

“Livy? Are you all right?”

“I don’t know. I’ve got someone here who’s reporting for her assignment as receptionist, and I don’t know..”

Steve took a walk over and greeted the confused visitor

“I’m so sorry. Our receptionist here has only been in the job a couple of days and there’s so much going on that some communication has been dropped somewhere. Now, are you familiar with his model of switchboard?”

She moved behind the desk to take a closer look 

“Oh yes. I’ve seen a few of those for sure”
 “Ok, so how much handover do you need?”
 “To be honest, if I’ve got a personnel extension list I’ll be fine. I often get called in at zero notice when someone’s sick and then there’s no handover at all”

“Ok. I’ll get that annotated with everyone who’s out. Which is almost everyone not on the production line, so mainly you’ll be taking messages”

Steve introduced her to Penny who had just finished her chat with Ruth 

“This is our temp for tomorrow. I asked for her to come in today as well if possible to make sure she knew what she was doing on our kit. The fewer mistakes that get made the better for our corporate image. Can you stay with her for a few minutes while I have a chat to Livy?”

Up in Steve’s office Livy had never felt less like the big grown up wage earner that she thought she was supposed to be. But here she was in the CEOs office and he was pouring coffee for her.

“Maybe Penny forgot to mention that none of us is on site tomorrow morning. And that includes you”

“Oh my! Have I done something wrong?”
 “No, not at all. There’s a lot of changes going on in the company and rather than just let the rumour mill handle it, or me having to tell 50 people individually, we’re all having a meeting at the Blue Boar so that everyone can be told at the same time”
 “The Blue Boar? That’s a nightclub isn’t it – I might not get in if I get ID-ed!”

“Oh yes you will. Its only a club in the evenings. We’ve got one of their rooms booked for the morning, so you’ll have to be there at half past ten and you don’t need to come in here first. But how are you getting on after three days?”

She nodded positively “Its good. I like it”

“Good. Its great when people are doing jobs they like. Ok. D’you know who you're working for? That is, who your line manager is, you know, your boss?” 

But Livy continued to look puzzled. “If I’ve got a question, I usually ask Penny. But if she’s not around then I ask Heidi or maybe one of the others like Sally if she’s passing”

“Ok, but who would you ask if you wanted to take a day off?”

“Emmm. I heard that Penny was working for Cheryl, but she’s not here now so… You?”

“Ok. To be fair, that would probably work. But after tomorrow you’ll be working for the Facilities Co-ordinator”

“Who’s that? I don’t think I’ve put any calls through to them”

“No. It’s a new job, so you need to listen out for that tomorrow so that you know who it is. Ok. During the meeting tomorrow, everyone will be asked to introduce themselves, just so that everyone else knows who they are. How do you feel about that? There’ll be about 50 maybe 60 people there”

“Oh no! I won’t know what to say…”
 “Which is why we’re here. To make sure you know about this and go through what you might want to say so that you don’t just freeze up and be embarrassed when its your turn. Have a think while I walk back to Reception with you”

“Oh! I see. So its really about how I introduce me!”

“Yes. Like what name to use? Livy or maybe Olivia?”
 “Hmm, yes I need to think about that too” muttered Amelia largely to herself as she was passing on her way through to Production. Steve was sympathetic to Livy, but less so with his R&D specialist who was proving his point that growing up was an education not a number as her 22 years often seemed so much younger than Livy’s 16.

“Amelia, you can introduce yourself as anything you like. You can call yourself the third empress of the fifth dynasty if you want to. All you have to remember is that whatever it is will be what you are known as to everyone else on site.”

She bowed her head sheepishly as Olivia stifled a giggle. The CEO taking the mickey out of her was equivalent to being told off for being stupid until he continued “Amy, have you talked to Adam yet? He started last Friday as head of R&D but I appreciate you’ve been away till today”

“No. But that sounds encouraging”
 “Ok – so I think you should head over there right now, introduce yourself and ask him directly which part of the new product line he wants you to be responsible for. He’s too new to know exactly how he wants to operate so this is your opportunity to help shape that whole department”

She looked up with a broadening smile. That was encouraging too. Maybe he was on her side after all. He even knew this was her first day back!

“Go on, third empress. And remember to let me know how it goes”

Ruth

Now, thought Ruth, its all looking as if its under control, even if the year is still intent on vanishing in such a desperate hurry!

Steve too felt that he was getting things under control. One by one the pieces were being placed and connected to each other. And next it was Ruth time. He ran through the agenda for the Blue Boar and then went through the update meetings he needed with everyone for her to organise onto the calendar.

“One thing we need more than anything is enough time for us. I got the impression that quite a few things got done last year because we both came to the same conclusion independently and that’s a risk we don’t need. So I think we should start by you taking me to lunch”

“Sure!” she said with obvious delight “But I didn’t see your car here”

“No” he said evasively “Let’s see what Penny has lying around, if anything. Otherwise we’ll hijack something. Bound to be a salesman in who doesn’t need his car for an hour or two”

He handed her the keys as they left Penny’s office “I remember last time you took me to lunch”
 “Steve, I knew you’d bring all that back up again!”
 “Sorry, but it really was very funny. This is Gerry’s car we’re taking, although it seems uncommonly tidy” 

But lunch was delightfully civilised. Steve talked a bit about the plans for his wedding, which largely served to inform him how little planning he’d done and minimised talk about Adam instead steering the conversation to be about her. His diplomatic avoidance of subjects that he knew would be sensitive to her raised some suspicion that something may be amiss or maybe he was leading up to something big. But Ruth comprehensively failed to discover what it was – if anything!

Gerry had the only convertible in the company fleet and Ruth dropped the roof as they set off for the return trip. This was such a lovely car.  

“It’s a pity its such a short journey” she said 

“Take a longer way back if you like” said Steve “But that’s not an indication that we should stop off somewhere”

“Oh really!” she responded feigning disbelief

“No, the back seat is nowhere big enough, and its freezing outside”

But it was as beautiful to drive as she’d expect from a 3 series. And it wasn’t that cold with the heater on full blast even with the roof down. At least not until she pulled over on a deserted hillside overlooking the valley below. He looked over at her slightly puzzled as she turned in her seat and moved ever closer to him across the car

Cue New Year’s Resolution – Camera Obscura

“Steve, thank you so much for lunch. But there’s something still left over from the Christmas Party ….” as she put her arms round his neck and kissed him. A long lingering passionate kiss that Steve thought he ought to feel embarrassed about before it ended but instead hugged her into continuing it. 

“That says… “ she whispered as they broke apart “thankyou for everything last year. It says I’m looking forward so much to this year and whatever it throws at me because I know you want me to work in your office and that’s my safety net for everything else in my life”

Back at Production she parked beside a brand new Mercedes with her hair everywhere and her exhilaration nearly as obvious as her hairstyle. 

“Who’s is that? I don’t think I’ve seen it before”

“I’d hazard a guess, but I don’t remember signing it off ”. 

They took the short detour to drop the keys with Penny.

“Ice blue convertible?” Steve opened as Penny looked up from her new desk

“Oh. Oh yes. I meant to talk to you about that”
 “Really” he said flatly “I guess that’s in place of the C220?”

She nodded nervously

“I’ll be interested in hearing that story. But not right now. Ok, it means you won’t be needing these. He took the keys that Ruth was about to drop on Penny’s desk and dropped them in her coat pocket instead. She looked to him for an explanation as they headed back across the site to the Old Building 

“That’s Gerry’s new car you parked next to. This one has only a couple of months left on the lease, so with his promotion, I said he should have his new car early, which is why you could take his car today and also explains why he’s cleared all the junk out and why Penny had the keys. But the main point is that this 3 series isn’t doing anything. So you can use it.”

She hardly knew what to say except thankyou and grabbed his arm suddenly remembering that any other kind of action could be misconstrued and smiled to herself re-affirming that her recent activity overlooking the river had been the right decision, especially now that she knew Sally had a habit of watching out of her window.

“Are you sure, Steve” she asked as they reached their offices

“Yes” he said slowly “And if you like it, we can talk about swapping it for your bonus in February. But it needs a good hoovering”

For Ruth, this was going to be a year of consolidation. Annabelle would be working on site with her. Maybe she and Adam would make some progress and of course working with Steve would still be a roller-coaster. Except that now she was confident that he’d look after her if things got rough. Of course there would be surprises but she knew she’d be able to handle them.

Emma - again

Emma was still pondering her own position and how she was meant to handle the many surprises at the Central site when she picked up the phone

“Oh! Hello Steve”

“I know you're really busy” 

“Steve, it's so hard. I'm trying not to set anything in stone before Jed gets here. He'll want to do things his way and it'll just be so much more work to undo everything and if it causes confusion it could destabilise production. In the meantime I'm trying….” 

“Emma! I appreciate all that, but I do need to talk to you directly about something. It is important. Can you make it up to the Riverside for two o'clock?” 

“Steve! Is that really necess…” she broke off in exasperation “Oh, all right! I’ll see if Jim is free to bring me over” 

“Emma, Penny organised a car for Jed. Its in the yard somewhere. The keys should be in Lisa's drawer. I'd use that if I were you”

Come five to two and still reluctant, Emma found herself signing in to the Riverside site. Gerry had just flashed past in a hurry. He seemed to be en-route from the warehouse to the HR building, but didn't have more time than to apologise and say “Steve's handling your side of things. I’ll catch you later” as if that was meant to mean something to her. The car was convenient. Nice too, but then it was new, so it would be, wouldn’t it. But it was something of a red rag. She’d done most of the work, Lisa had created the forward plans and schedules and targets and then this Jed guy would rock in and…..

She found herself getting increasingly irate as she made her way across the apron and up the stairs towards Steve’s office. Was he really expecting her to work with one arm tied behind her back by trying to retain maximum flexibility for her new boss - when he eventually turned up - while at the same time providing an acceptable solution to the problem for the guys in production, and now with the other arm tied up in meetings with the CEO. 

Ruth waved her to go straight through, but she stopped at the door hearing voices 

“It's the right solution” Steve was saying “we can’t afford to have too many levels of management, either financially or for speed of decisions. Something would have had to go anyway. Its just sooner rather than later” 

“So does that mean we don't want to do Ned Armstrong's promotion?” 

“No. Juliette. We need to do that. That really just confirms the authority he’s already assumed and it demonstrates to production that we’re listening and acting on it. The big change is Emma. And she'll be here any minute anyway” 

Emma froze. Too many layers? Promote Ned? And all that sounded like there was no room left for her. Oh my! Is that what her lunchtime meeting was all about? A sort of decision informing interview? She tapped and walked in, slowly, like to a funeral. 

“Do you want me to stay?” asked Juliette as she made to leave. 

Oh my! Another pointer. But Steve had nodded to her and she smiled a happy ‘hi’ which only served to confuse her as they both sat down

“Emma! Hi, come in. Coffee” 

“No thanks” she heard herself snap 

“No major issues down at Central?”

“No, its all under control” she said only slightly less sharply “but not great. I just feel I'm going round in circles. For every issue that comes up I’m trying to retain the options, but I still need an answer that the guys will accept. Sometimes I feel I’m being pushed into a decision that deliberately restricts Jed’s opportunity to change things” 

“And you think you'll have to do this till Jed joins us?” 

“Yes. And the longer it takes the more stressed I’m going to get....” 

She stopped suddenly realising that she was moaning and getting even more agitated and critical and that wasn't going to help her case. Steve sensed her frustration before she spoke again 

“Steve, this won’t take long will it? I’m expected to announce some decisions to the guys later. The guys are expecting….”

“Ok, Emma. I’m glad you’ve got that scheduled already. Now, calm down and we’ll be as quick as we can. Lets make some progress, will we?”

She was conscientious and he knew she'd want to get back as quickly as possible, but this needed a face to face meeting. Except Emma was too wound up right now. It could have been an occasion to tell her to go to the cafe, have a cup of coffee and come back in a more amenable frame of mind in twenty minutes, but that wouldn’t be Steve’s way. He sat down opposite her and leaned out towards the table. 

Juliette was nervous. Emma was always such a stable person but on this occasion she was clearly on edge and Juliette knew Steve needed a more controlled, quieter more sensible conversation to end up with the result he wanted. But it was Steve’s meeting and Juliette decided to stay quiet until she identified a cue.

“The big question is, Emma : are you still on for being the pirate that walks the plank at the family fun day?” 

“What!” 

Juliette gasped as fire sparked from Emma’s eyes.

“Pirate, Emma. Are you still up for being the pirate?” 

Juliette stopped breathing. What sort of game was this?

“Pirates? What! Yes! Steve! I did say I would! But surely you haven't brought me all this way across town to ask me that! You haven’t. Have you?” 

“Why? Don't you think it's important?” 

“In the scheme of things at the moment, no!” 

“Oh. Pity. I was hoping we might get some practice in this afternoon” 

“Practice! I don't think so, Steve, it freezing out there. There’s probably ice on the river! And anyway, I don't have my bikini” 

“Even better!” 

She fell backwards rebounding off the back of the settee and gazed wide eyed at him with a widening, disbelieving smile. Juliette’s mind was racing. Should she intervene in comments like that?

“You’d be ok. And I'd bring a towel and help you get dry” he continued to complete the terminal distraction.

Emma pushed back again in her seat. This was all surely contrary to one or other of her previous HR rules, but conversely, she found herself completely distracted by this diversion. 

She let out a big sign “Steve, you are impossible. Sometimes I...” 

“Ruth told me that once as well” 

“Well she's right. Steve, you’re not serious are you?” 

“There’s a recurring theme here somehow. I told Penny only a few days ago when she made a similar comment that I’m always serious. Its just that sometimes people don’t realise it”

But the tensions had slipped away somewhere. Getting wound up with Steve was a futile exercise and she took another long drink from the coffee that Steve had poured for her that she’d said she didn't want.

Juliette too felt that the tension had been defused.

“It should be great fun” said Juliette to compound Emma’s air of defeat “Steve, who’s setting that up?”

“I’m intending to ask Penny to do a lot of it, but I expect Ruth will want to get involved. And Annabelle is our master of mayhem so she’ll have to be there somewhere too. I just need to make sure that the various things that I’ve already set up are still going to happen. You don’t want to be second pirate do you Juliette? To accompany Emma?”

This was the unconventional Steve that she had come to beware, but now seeing it in action again it was really quite powerful. Emma had arrived annoyed, flustered and nervous. Now she had calmed down through exasperation even if she had no idea what to expect next. Steve smiled over at her as she released another big sigh and relieved Juliette of the pressure to reply

“Emma…”

He paused and she nervously bit her bottom lip

“…Steve…” she managed to reply but with a much reduced annoyance before he continued 

“Emma, we need to make some changes at the Central site because Jed won't be joining us” 

She felt her eyes open really wide in disbelief

“No, he's suffered another medical setback and will be unable to work for at least six months” 

“Oh dear! Oh poor Jed” 

“Its unfortunate, but in the circumstances we can't be without a production manager for that long and we simply can’t absorb any more delays. We're still trying to stabilise the whole operation onto an even keel and we need the management control on a day by day basis” 

“So will Lisa be moving back?” 

“No. Lisa’s career direction is irreversible. The plan was always to move Lisa out. In fact I think its that hope that has kept her going for the last couple of months. But even if it wasn’t, her frenetic pace may have resulted in some errors along the way, and we can't afford any errors at Components. Lucy has already picked up some anomalies. We’re committed to an open regime and if there were any variations in the financial predictions then we’d have to try to cover that up to retain credibility and that is just too risky. I’ve asked Annabelle to do a quick review to see if a full analysis is necessary”

“Oh, I see” said Emma, now breathing almost normally “So we’ll carry on as we are for a while?” 

“No. Emma, its time we did something more permanent. The solution I see is that you promote Big Ned to production supervisor where he would keep an eye on process, throughput and quality. That’s not so much that he can put the hammer down, its more that we get the fastest laps by smoothing out the bends and not scrubbing off speed by over reacting. But there’s also the plan to merge certain functions across the two sites which we can bring forward. Terry will cover logistics so Larry and Rowena would report to him. HR, Finance and IT would also be covered from here at Riverside, which is really just like when we set it up with Terry and Juliette on site”
“Oh, I see. So it becomes much more integrated. Its really a…..” she stopped short “Sorry Steve. You said I should promote Ned?” she said flitting her gaze between him and Juliette franticly looking for clues

“Yes. Don’t you think we should formalise his current activity and recognise it with a suitable salary? I think that would send a very positive message to the guys on the floor”

“Well, yes. I think it’s a great idea. I was thinking the same myself, but everything like that was on hold till Jed got here”

“As I’d expect”

“Sorry Steve, But what confused me is that you said ‘I’ should promote him. Not just that he should be promoted and you’re usually nothing if not precise”

“Absolutely. You see, with that sort of support structure, and as an integrated division of TRE rather than a separate independent company you might like to accept the promotion to Production Manager” 

“What?”

“Yes. You’ve already said that you have been assisting Lisa in running the site for over six months and that you’re already doing the job in her absence. And if anyone knows how that site is supposed to operate then its you. You are ideally placed to bring the necessary level of continuity and with Ned working directly between you and the line foremen it simplifies communications and decisions and keeps you in better contact with the workforce. It means he can keep consistency across the streams and product lines while you look after the wider issues. That also means that you don't have to retain the options in everything you do which should actually reduce the pressure as well.”

Watching her eyes widen, Steve decided to continue as maybe she wasn’t quite convinced yet “Obviously, you'd report directly to Gerry. You'd also be on the management coordination team specifically representing Components”

Emma looked over towards him with an increasing smile. Wow! Ned as production supervisor. Senior Management member!

“Oh, but Emma. Just to compound the downside, you’ll need to be at the Organisation meeting tomorrow morning at the Blue Boar. 10.30, to introduce yourself in your new role. So at your scheduled meeting this afternoon, you can make an announcement to the guys. That way they’ll be included ahead of everyone up here. And if you’re coming over tomorrow, would you please bring Tasmin with you because she needs to be there as well”

“Tammy?”

“Yes, she’s taking over Lucy’s position”

“Is she?”

“I thought that’s what you said you wanted?”

How would the world ever get any better she reflected as she floated down to see Penny about that company car she’d just been driving. And Juliette was in the meeting so she’ll already be making the updates to the official records.

Juliette heaved a sigh of relief. How could Steve accuse poor Annabelle of being master of mayhem when he himself behaves like this.

Steve was also happier with his new solution at Components. Gerry had hired Jed and it seemed a good choice, but they were all learning. None of them had done this before and like so many times last year, they did the best they could, based on what they knew at the time. Steve had specifically kept Components completely independent and isolated to save any Union contamination spreading into Riverside. When Jed was interviewed his expected job was as manager with full financial control across the whole site. But integrating common functions, which was everything except production and the canteen, created savings through shared expertise, purchasing and transport. And with that structure he now felt that Emma was the right solution. It felt like it was the last piece of that particular puzzle.

A Few Changes

Thursday. And it was Re-org Meeting day, although Ruth was glad that it was Juliette and not her that would have to create the new org chart. And her best friend’s first day at the site and another date with Adam that evening.

She collected an excited Annabelle from reception and crossed to the gatehouse to get her badge made up and guide her up to be welcomed by Steve.

“Hi Steve. I’m over the moon to be here!” she opened as he poured coffee for her

“And I am both delighted and relieved that you're here. And you’re all set to get started?”

“Yes. I can’t wait, but there’s so many unknowns and there’s a re-org meeting as well, Ruth tells me”

“I’m glad Ruth’s been bringing you up to date. But the world has moved on a little since we last talked. I’ve made a couple of changes to what we discussed but I don’t think they’ll give you an issue because its largely to make things easier for you.

“Do you want me to leave?” asked Ruth 

“Why? What are you expecting Annabelle to get up to?”

Both girls heaved a huge sigh. Oh my! Start as you mean to go on, won’t you!

“No, I want you to take Annabelle over to the R&D building in a minute. Then you probably need to get down to the Blue Boar”

“It’s a bit early for that – even for Ruth!” declared Annabelle but Steve let it pass

“Annabelle, you already know Adam, I think?”
 “Yes he’s been in the Boar a few times”

“Ok, he’s leading R & D and that’s where I need you to focus half your time. But you won’t be working for him because you need to be able to challenge his direction and solution on financial grounds. So you’ll be reporting directly to me for the time being”

“Oh wow!”

“But that’s not the main change. In our original discussion you’d be reporting to Lisa who was due to move from components to Head of Finance…”

“Was?”

“…but is, unfortunately, leaving the company” 

“Is that why I’m reporting to you?”

“Yes. And that also means that I’d like you to give the financial update as a guest at the board meeting, although we’d go through that first. Ok? You were also supposed to be getting someone who wanted to start accountancy from the ground upwards. However, in these revised circumstances I think it’s too much for you. You’ve got a new company to get to grips with, a new department which does not have consistent processes, and no financial line manager so I’ve found a different exciting challenge for that person because I really don’t want to drop that on you as well”

“Oh. Ok”

“That doesn’t give you a problem does it?”

“No, not at all. I tried to drop all my preconceived ideas before I got here. I really had no idea what the major issues would be. At least its becoming a little clearer” 
 “Good. So to try to help you as much as I can I’m moving Lucy from Components to Finance. She’s got a lot of potential and she already knows her way around Riverside as well as Central. And she knows Emma who will be running the Central site. So if she can take all the financial admin off your hands you’ll have much more time for real work. Lucy will be able to help and support you from day one”

“Really? Lucy. Wow, that’s a bonus. What did she say when you told her?”
 “Only a little short of ecstatic. This was her favourite move although we discussed a number of possibilities including cleaning toilets”
 Both girls burst out laughing, looking at each other and then at Steve

“Steve” broke in Ruth “you can’t do that to her. Have you any idea how hard she’s been trying!”

At the Blue Boar people started to arrive and an excited buzz rumbled round the room matched by a sense of suspicious foreboding from one or two. Steve opened the meeting, thanking everyone for coming and re-iterating what an exciting time everyone should be looking forward to in the coming year.

“I don’t want anyone to forget last year even though that may seem tempting. There were a lot of good things came out of it, even if we don’t need a full action replay. But now its time for the future! And the future looks different. Of course the world moves on, but one of the big differences is that we are integrating the new facility that we established recently near the town centre, Three Rivers Components. Our site here at Riverside will share a number of services with Central, like logistics, Finance and HR and these changes will be emphasised in the next part of our meeting today. So to make the most of it, to be most efficient, we all need to know who everyone else is and where they fit in so that you can communicate to anyone that you think may benefit from knowing what you’re doing. So I’d like everyone to introduce themselves. Just who you are and what contribution you make to our company. Many of you have very different roles to what you did yesterday, so its important to make those changes clear for the benefit of everyone who needs to know. I hope that no-one has forgotten who they are, but some of the others may have. We don’t just want your job title but what you actually do that contributes to our collective success. Please stand up when its your turn. Just for a bit of fun, can we do this is alphabetical order. We also have a number of new colleagues here as well to act as wildcards in the sequence. Please. Abigail, can you start please. We do have an Aaron in the company but he’s on production line 4 so isn’t here.”

Adam guessed correctly that he was next. He introduced himself as head of R&D and gave his short presentation including some personal background and the new structure but very little on what the new products would be. Steve asked him a number of questions on how the department would be linked in to everyone else especially Sales and Production and the timescales for the first of the new machines. 

“That” Steve added “gives the timescale for our recruitment into Production, Sales and Field Service, for anyone thinking about a career move in that direction”

So, thought Annabelle, if anyone misses anything out, Steve will just ask them a question without inferring it’s a correction. Ok relax.

Amelia bounced up excitedly after Alice and was about to speak as Allanah timidly interrupted.

“I think I’m next. I’m Allanah with two Ls”

Amelia apologised turning red as Allanah made her introduction “I’m a chef in the kitchen. I’m often on the early shift so if you're in really early or left over from night working, its probably me cooking breakfast for you. And its me that bakes the fresh rolls for lunch….”

But Amelia was mortified. Yet another public mistake in front of Steve and it set her back about being quite so enthusiastic about joining Adams team, or anything else.

This was an embarrassment for Amy but its exactly what Steve was hoping for to lighten the atmosphere and make everyone pay a little more attention.

Annabelle was next and Olivia was relieved that Annabelle seemed to be as nervous as she was. Annabelle revealed that Steve had organised a job exchange for her and Cheryl, and while this might sound like something out of the 18^th century slave trade, it was actually to everyone’s benefit. She outlined what Cheryl would be doing and how it was very much her choice, and then her own new role in R&D as well as Components and Finance. She thought she’d included everything and turned to Steve expecting a short thankyou so that she could sit down, but no such luck

“Annabelle…”

Oh well, the others have had a question of clarification from Steve, why not me too? 

“… your first interview on site here showed that you have a certain aptitude for creating consternation and mayhem. Did we remember to write that function into your job description?”

Annabelle swallowed hard while everyone else burst out laughing. What! What sort of question was that!

“I’m sorry Steve! I think we must have left it out”

“I was wondering about that as well” piped up Sally

“Hmm. But it is expected that everyone does certain things over and above what is in their prescribed job just by way of being helpful to everyone else on site. So the scope is still there. But, Sally, I’m sure you and Annabelle can take that off-line” 

And now Annabelle finally managed to sit down. What sort of introduction was that! There she was trying her very best to introduce just a little humour while still making a serious start in her executive role and now what! Her mind buzzed round thinking of ways to re-establish credibility with Sally…

The next few candidates were significantly more circumspect in claiming the next slot with some unexpected discussions about the sequence of the alphabet. But it all went rather well with everyone jumping up and occasionally sitting back down quickly when they realised they’d been ‘Allanah-ed’. Emma was nowhere near as nervous as she had expected to be, but that was due to her dress rehearsal at Central the previous afternoon. 

Annabelle’s spirits rose as Lucy gushed about her new role in Finance and how she was looking forward to working with her.

Olivia listened attentively for the mention of the Facilities Co-coordinator and nearly jumped out of her seat when she realised it was her turn. She’d been sitting petrified between two people she now should have learned the names of, listening intently for her cue. Steve had said she’d have to introduce herself and had already given her a clue as to what to say but none of that reduced her trepidation. 

Oh no. Now. Now it must be me! She stood up and introduced herself as Olivia and that she was the new receptionist and switchboard operator, but it didn’t end there. Before she could sit down Steve started to speak to her

“Olivia, can you tell us why the Receptionist is such an important role in the company?”

Oh wow! I know the answer to that! That’s what that rehearsal was all about yesterday with Steve 

“Because” she started slowly realising that the room had gone abnormally silent “…  if someone visits us, they can see what a wonderfully impressive site we work at, but if they only phone up then its up to me to give them the same feeling”

A murmur bubbled round the room from people who had never thought of it that way before, but it was time for her to sit down. She’d survived and watched Penny get up slowly and nervously looking over at Patricia wondering if she would be next or if she would pop up later as Tricia. 

“Oh!” gasped Livy “What was that job title….?”

And her head was still buzzing when Vic finished the jack in the box show.

Matt was on next to give an update on how Field Service operated with revised information on locations and numbers of engineers which had changed slightly to rebalance the responsibilities across the supervisors. 

Gerry looked across at Steve “I didn’t know about all that” he whispered

“Nor me. Maybe that’s why he decided to come down here and tell everyone. After all, that’s what I pay him to get right”

“And moving straight on, I’d like to hand over to Gerry, our Production Director”

Ruth glanced over at Steve. She’d picked up that information the previous day, but strangely no-one else seemed to have noticed that promotion. Gerry, however, was less intent on taking up a short slot. Yes, he said that’s right, he was now Production Director being responsible for all production including Components and he was also taking responsibility for Logistics, Transport and the much heralded R&D department, explaining in some detail how he expected these functions to work across both sites.

Ruth moved to take the mic so that she could close the meeting.

“There’s just one more thing” interrupted Steve “I want everyone to start the New Year with the best possible opportunity to make this year the best ever, personally for each of you and also for the company. Ok! I know that none of you will be expecting an additional incentive to help you do that, but I want to do everything I can to make sure everyone starts the year in as positive a frame of mind as possible. So what sort of incentive would make everyone make that extra effort?”

He listened to a few ideas shouted from around the room

“No, I’m not going to make the café free and that’s because it would encourage changes to people’s home life and when they eat with their families. And I don’t want to do that. Yes, we are looking at a summer social event…”

The mood of the meeting had risen a notch or two and Steve continued to encourage the excitement.  

”So listen up! In order to make this happen I have asked Juliette to go through the entire personnel register and, irrespective of any other deals bonuses and pending discussions, increase everyone’s base wages or salary by five per cent. That should just make sure we start the year with a buzz and now! Now its up to everyone here to make sure we deserve it”

Applause and noise broke out all around. Ruth swallowed hard. Wow. Even I wasn’t expecting that! but she took over on cue only just managing to maintain sufficient decorum to declare the meeting closed and the buffet open above the continuing outbreak of surprise.

And that, thought Ruth, would mean a relatively calm afternoon of planning.

Cassie

But Steve had a different loose end to weave in.

He wandered slowly across to the Production building to find Cassie, only to see her slumped forlornly behind the switchboard. 

“Have you talked to Gerry yet?” he asked between calls.

“Yes” she said quietly and sadly “I talked to him before he went on holiday”

Steve could see Livy returning across the apron and put a hold on his next question until she got there

“You ok?”

“Yeah!” she squeaked with more enthusiasm that he had expected as she beamed a huge smile towards him

“Oi!” she squeaked again as he ruffled her hair just as he guided Cassie outside and towards the café 

 “And” he continued his previous conversation “has he already shared his new plan with you?” 

“New plan?”
 “Yes, I’m sure he was expecting you to take the senior job so if you haven’t he’ll need a new plan”

She sighed deeply as they sat down at a table

“Oh look!” Steve said “Alice has got her speciality ice creams back on the menu. No doubt that’ll be because its so cold outside they won’t need any freezer space”

He ordered two on the pretext that he intended to have one anyway and didn’t want her to feel left out. He knew this used to be her favourite but that she had difficulty justifying either the cost or the calories.

“I was still thinking about it. But yesterday was the deadline before the announcements today. But now…” she dropped her voice to a whisper “… I feel as though I’ve missed out even more with that extra rise this morning. I know its my own fault. Penny told me its not such a big deal. Its only really 5 per cent of any increase I would have got. And I get it on my current salary, so thankyou for that”

“Penny’s only trying to cheer you up although her calculation doesn’t include the disappointment”

“Yes!” she snapped “And its one more thing that shows me how stupid I am” 
 She slumped farther down into her chair

“But Cassie, I did tell you that Gerry wanted you to take that job. And I took time out yesterday to tell you that it was in your own best interests to finalise. Ok, why didn’t you?”

Cassie felt like she was being told off. This criticism was unlike Steve. Whatever else, he was always really supportive. Except for now. Surely he knew she was already crumbling inside for not being more positive and decisive
 “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just not very good at making decisions”
 “Cassie, you’ve made hundreds of good decisions”
 “Thankyou. Maybe I just don’t think I can do the job”

“Gerry thinks you can”
 “And what about you. What do you think?”

“I think something’s hit your confidence. This job is what you always wanted when I was in Production and all the better now working for Gerry instead of me”

“Yes… But you don’t think I can do it!”

“I didn’t say that. But what I will do is give you all the support I can in whatever decision you make. I just don’t understand what you were waiting for. It was promotion. It was more money, whatever admin team we put down at Components would be working for you as part of Gerry’s new portfolio, at least until they get established. And as Senior secretary you would lose all that assorted admin that you do for the team leaders. I remember that’s what you were dreaming of. And you already know that Gerry’s got an additional vacancy about to be advertised to handle that stuff. She’d be working for you too. But now the simple solution is that you do all that and Gerry hires someone else to do the senior work. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nicola or Kayleigh from Call Despatch applied”

“Oh stop it! You’re just rubbing it in now!”

She closed her eyes and heaved a sigh of impending Armageddon.

She’d known Steve since he had joined the company. She did a lot of his secretarial support work when he was Production Manager. She’d always got on all right with him, but it was just ‘all right’. He was too spontaneous for her, too left field, too impetuous. She didn’t like the way he bypassed established procedures and found herself frequently getting annoyed at his flagrant disregard for rules and regulations. But now, he’d clearly been trying to help her and now she felt like she’d let him down.

“Sorry”

“Oh Cassie, don’t be sorry. Its you that’s missing out, not me” 

“I know. And you’re right. I’m just a bit short on confidence right now”

“Ok. Career progression isn’t everybody’s main objective”

“I guess I’ll get over it. I expect its temporary”

“That’s good… You mean its just bad timing. Any particular reason? Of course you don’t need to tell me”
 She looked over at him. He wasn’t her friend. She wasn’t that close to him. She didn’t even work with him any more. But. But, he was her CEO and he was taking time out with her, and buying her ice cream and…

“Kurt’s not sure we should be buying a house together” she said finally

“But he’s not broken off the engagement has he?”
 “No. That is, not yet. But it’s a good indication”

“I’m so sorry about that Cassie. But that could mean you need to establish more confidence at work”
 “I guess…” 

She felt better now that she had told someone. Up till then she hadn’t shared this fear with anyone 

“... and I would have liked that job. Especially looking after the Components admin. I didn’t know that was definite. And getting rid of that dross typing! And proving I could do it. Steve, whatever you threw at me I always tried to prove I could do it. But I’ve missed my chance now. Ohhh! Oh whatever! Maybe I wouldn’t’ve been able to do it anyway”

“And maybe you could. And there are some people around here that believe you could, and would be prepared to take that risk. And believe in you and would be prepared to take some time out to make sure you succeed”

“Like?”
 “Like Gerry. And me” 

“Thankyou. But its too late now and I don’t know what’s next. I guess I’ll be working for whoever gets that job. Oh gosh! I hope its not Kayleigh! Oh! Surely not! I hadn’t thought about that”
 “Every new job has its difficulties. But sometimes there are people around who can help. And just knowing they’re there can help you get your confidence back. Like a safety net. Emma’s good for bouncing ideas off. Ruth would always help you. And Sally. And that’s only if you don’t want to ask me or Gerry.”

“Thanks Steve, but….”

“Sounds like your confidence just took a knock at exactly the wrong time. When did you have that discussion with Kurt?”

She looked up at him. That was a very personal question! But no matter.

“Last Sunday“

“Yes. That must have been a serious disappointment. And you didn’t manage to recover enough before the deadline”

“Yes” she whispered, disappointed in herself while Steve was just rubbing more salt in the wound “Oh well. Maybe I can get someone to nominate me when it goes up on the vacancy board”

“Good thinking. I could do that for you, if you were to ask me. You did want that job, didn’t you. And we both know you could do it”

“Yes. I’ll just have to wait and see what’s next”

This hurt. This wasn’t Steve. Steve was the last person she expected to torture her like this. She felt like she should just get up and march out of this meeting, probably in tears. She looked up at Steve, who was looking all too directly at her

“What’s next? What’s next Cassie is that we walk over to HR”

She looked at him with a face of resignation. Or maybe Steve’s penchant for bending the rules would persuade Juliette that this should be an exception or…. Or maybe something completely different. 

She tagged along. After all, it was a kind invitation but she also knew that Juliette was quite strict on her cut off times because that was one of their procedures that HR could impose on Steve. She continued to look dejected as Juliette looked up from her desk as they approached

“Cassie’s file? Its on my desk, right here” she said as if she expected Steve to know that. 

“I just finished updating it. I was so busy yesterday ahead of the meeting. Although I thought you’d include it anyway. Oh my! Its not because I hadn’t finished the updates is it! Is that why you didn’t announce it? I’m so sorry Cassie! Is that why you’ve come to check?”

“No Juliette. I left it out for a completely different reason and I think you’ve done brilliantly with all these changes suddenly dumped on you. Ok. There you are Cassie. Look here. Senior Secretary in the Production department. Responsible for all those different exciting aspects that we just talked about. And what date is on that move, Juliette?”
 “Steve, you know that! Its what kept me late after you caught me at gone six o’clock last night to get in just ahead of the deadline”

Juliette frowned suspiciously at Steve

Cassie beamed at him in disbelief as he hustled her out of Juliette’s office

“You did what!?”

Steve just shrugged like he often did when his bending the rules had paid off to everyone’s advantage

“So I’d get my 5 per cent as well! Steve!”

“You just make sure you agree your new salary with Gerry before you talk about that, Cassie. Because this promotion was yesterday and the 5 per cent is today. You are going to gain so much confidence in this new job that you’ll get that house back on the agenda in no time”

But this was going to be a very different year for Steve. Now that he’d delegated most of the day to day operational work. He’d have time to concentrate on strategy and the future. This would raise a whole new series of issues and he was looking forward to it being less manic. And if that wasn’t enough, there was no-one in the whole world that he’d rather be working with than Ruth.

There was still R&D to get off the ground, Finance to collate into a department and Components to stabilise. There were temps all over the place that should be replaced by permanent staff. There was investment to prioritise and financial cross checks to implement to make sure a repeat of last year became impossible and a family picnic day by the river to organise.

First Friday at St Lukes

The week had flown past no less quickly at St Lukes. Music was only one period per week and it crept up on Geneviève rather unexpectedly. Rochelle had guided her as usual, but now there were eleven girls in the music room with a rather nice Steinway in the corner and an impressive array of instruments all around. Again, there were new people to be introduced to and again Geneviève found herself the centre of attraction for the first few minutes. 

“Do you play anything?” someone was asking her as she seemed to be drawn to the piano 

“Yes” she said. “A bit” she modified. There was some speculation about where the teacher was, as someone else was goading her “what do you play Geneviève? I think you should play something for us” 

This was hard to resist. Saying no would sideline her into her own shell, saying yes was a bit more risky. But Gordon Oliphant had been impressed so maybe, why not…? 

“I don't think so” she said meekly 

“What do you play?” asked Rochelle 

“Piano” 

“Excellent!” said Mrs Brunswick bundling into the room like a typhoon

“Maybe next week we can see what level you're on. You must be Geneviève. Welcome to St Luke's. But this week we’re doing brass instruments. Karina, you play the trumpet do you not?” 

“Hardly, Mrs Brunswick, I can get a few notes out of it” 

“Oh, come now. Such false modesty” 

Karina gave a passable rendering and the lesson moved on to the trumpet’s position in the orchestra and the other brass instruments that would normally surround it. This led the conversation on to who, if anyone, would like to learn and who, if anyone, played apart from Karina.

Tentatively Geneviève picked up the French horn. 

“Do you like the horn?” asked Mrs Brunswick 

“Yes, I think it can be so beautiful. Especially if it's teamed up with a cello and piano like a number of modern French composers do” 

“Well, maybe you would like to learn?” she asked brightening up considerably at the prospect of progress. 

But all eyes in the class were now on her and she glanced around furtively. Then she raised the horn and turned out a more than passable rendition of the horn solo from Tchaikovsky’s sinfonia.

She was pleased with the outcome. She'd shown her true colours. Quiet, introvert, but quietly confident as well. She hadn't been brash. She didn't think she’d been showing off, and she believed she'd earned a certain respect. 

“I thought you said that piano was your instrument?” quizzed Mrs Brunswick suspiciously

“Yes it is. That Tchaikovsky is the only piece I can play on the horn”

The class dissolved into laughter. This new girl could easily turn out to be a bit more interesting than her initial impression.

Geneviève herself felt she had settled in and that was in no small way attributed to Rochelle.

Three Up Two Down

But being outside town, it was more difficult for Geneviève to get to the library. Instead, she was taking the school minibus to Red Post and walking the half mile from there and that meant that she had more time at home for everything she wanted to do including playing her piano. 

It was Sunday afternoon. She had just finished her piece and was swapping the music for something more complex. The new sheet stood nervously on the stand but she was now thinking that she might be better just playing something that she already knew and she'd get right, rather than dive into something tortuous. She needed this difficult new piece for her exam but she also needed the confidence she got from playing faultlessly.

The phone made the decision for her as she ambled through to the hall to answer it. She knew that Eloise was in the kitchen, but that meant she'd be up to her elbows in chicken or dough or washing or... 

A weak voice bleated down the phoneline and she strained to hear “Geneviève! Help me!” 

“Rochelle! What's up? Where are you?” 

“Please, help me” 

“Rochelle, where are you” 

“The Park Royal”

“Hotel?” 

“Yes. The foyer” 

Hearing the concerned tone, Eloise had appeared covered in flour and sticky dough 

“Mummy! We've got to get to the Royal. Like, right now!” 

Without waiting for an explanation, Eloise quickly washed the dough off her hands and headed for the front door where Geneviève was already holding her coat.

She dived from the car almost before it had stopped and in through the revolving door franticly finding Rochelle sitting largely hidden in a corner of the large reception area 

“Yes please. Coffee and cake” she said to the accompanying waiter 

“For two?” he asked looking at Rochelle as she nodded subconsciously 

“For three” completed Geneviève “My mum’s here as well. She’s just parking the car” 

But Rochelle simply sat there staring into the middle distance with unblinking eyes and a deranged expression.

Eloise shared Geneviève’s concern as soon as she saw her, and silence prevailed until cake arrived. Rochelle glanced down from the middle distance to the cake and then back again. Finally taking a sip from her cup. 

“Can you tell us what happened” asked Eloise putting on her best sympathetic mummy voice, but Rochelle shook her head quickly in what really amounted to no more than a twitch. 

Geneviève moved round the coffee table to sit on the settee beside her but she seemed to sit back pressing the settee against the wall.

Now with a little movement and another sip, she slipped her arm round Rochelle's shoulders and pulled her in towards her

“You looked after me so well at school, now maybe it's my turn?” 

That relieved some of the tension and Rochelle started to calm down. Now with support, or maybe it was defence, she tried a small piece of cake. 

But leaning forward like that let her coat fall open. Geneviève reached across and touched the torn material of her blouse, ripped from shoulder to below the arm. There were bruises coming up all round that area and she seemed to have misplaced the strap from that side of her fruit basket.

Rochelle looked over plaintively and spoke very quietly. Eloise leaned as far as she could over the table to hear and Rochelle started again. 

“Daniella phoned me. She invited me to tea. But she wasn't there” 

“So who was!” 

But she only twitched her head as if the memory had frozen her again. They reassured her that she was now safe and that seemed to be accepted, but Rochelle was still hardly speaking 

“Maybe you'd like to come back to our house” suggested Eloise 

“How long is your pass for?” countered Geneviève suddenly "We'll have to get you back if it's 5 o'clock.”

Now there was a nod, albeit faint. 

“Be dinner time soon” said Geneviève trying to move upbeat despite the negative twitch 

“Although maybe you're not hungry if that chocolate cake is anything to go by” 

“You'll be safe in the dorm. And I'll get into school early tomorrow to make sure you're ready” 

This supportive encouragement extracted a more positive nod, although neither Geneviève nor Eloise were very happy leaving her even after they'd escorted her all the way to her room. 

 Holly was with her when she knocked at Rochelle's door before school started. She seemed a bit better and moved more positively, although the vacant disbelieving look remained 

“Did you get dinner. No? Did you speak to anyone during the evening?”

“Tamara” 

“What did she want?” 

“I don't know. Maybe I wasn't listening. It wasn't a conversation. It was about the menu. Nut roast, or maybe I'd like the meat and two veg. It didn't make sense, but that might just have been me. I didn't make it to dinner” 

Geneviève kept half an eye on her all morning, but managed to catch up with Holly at break 

“Nutroast, Holly? It wasn't on the menu yesterday” 

“No Geneviève. But both of those are terms for, you know, a boys bits” 

The teachers had also noticed the depression and Miss Coben held her back after last period 

“I think you ought to see Matron if it's not something I can help with” she said gently after failing to extract enough information to work on.

But that evening Rochelle missed dinner again and next day she was hardly any better. 

“Maybe you could talk to your mum about it. No? Maybe we should” 

It was the 'we' that frightened her. She didn't want to cause a fuss, but she seemed somehow unable to get a grip of herself. 

“I really think you should phone your mum. Just to say you're ok - just in case Matron phones her.”

Geneviève crowded with her into the phone box in the entrance lobby, and strained to hear what her mum would say 

“I'm all right” Rochelle was saying 

“You don't sound all right. Are you eating properly? Don't you like the food?” 

“No, mum. I'm ok really “ 

“Why wouldn't you be?” 

“Because... Because” 

“Shelley! You really don't sound well. What's up darling?” 

But Rochelle had collapsed into tears as Geneviève picked up the phone 

“Hello. Mrs Bailey. I'm Geneviève. Rochelle was kind enough to buddy me when I started here at the beginning of term” 

“Yes, she mentioned you. But she's not all right, is she?” 

“No, Mrs Bailey, she's not. Somethings happened. but I haven't found out what it is yet. She's very keen not to be a nuisance to you” 

“Well yes, but can't the school help?” 

“Miss Coben has been very supportive, but Rochelle isn't saying much at all to anyone” 

“Oh dear. Clive and I are supposed to be flying on Friday. I think I should come down. It will worry me half to death if I'm four thousand miles away and something’s already not right. Now. How to organise this. I must make the briefing tomorrow morning, but after that I will drive down. I should be able to be there by 4. Oh! I should be saying this to Shelley” 

“Rochelle, can you talk to your mum again?” 

But all she managed to say was an apology for being such a nuisance and seeing her shaking and about to break down again Geneviève took the phone back 

“Mrs Bailey. If you're coming down here, maybe you could meet us at school and we'll go back to my house. It might be easier to talk there and we could have dinner as well” 

Geneviève was still trying to put the pieces together later that afternoon when Daniella caught up with her

“I had a strange conversation with Matron yesterday. She thanked me for being so kind as to invite Rochelle to tea. I said, that's ok and let it drop. But Rochelle seems so unwound she's all over the place. I was going to have a right go at her but she seems too fragile” 

“Have a go? Why” 

“Because I didn't invite her and if she wants to use me as a cover for whoever she's meeting off piste it would be only polite to tell me so that at least I can give the right answer and keep myself out of trouble. You know what will happen if dad finds out I've got into trouble” 

But Daniella wasn’t the only one in town who was worried about staying out of trouble

Eloise

Eloise’s new year was also leading her down a very different route. She’d popped in unannounced to Pierre’s office. The pretext was to ask him about any changes to the financial reporting format, but it was really about making sure he had an opportunity to raise any issues before the full board meeting.

But Pierre was on his best behaviour. It occurred to Eloise that the management shakeup had shaken him up too and in the meetings she’d been in with him the cards had fallen her way and he might even be feeling a bit insecure. Whatever the reason, he seemed a lot more amiable, approachable even. But then she’d let him crash her Christmas party even if she had wound him up at the official meetings. 

She’d said thankyou for his time and was about to leave

“One more thing, Eloise. At the next Board meeting we will discuss the extraordinary budget for the year. If you want funding for any project or anything else that costs money, then it would be useful to get it onto that list for discussion. Talk to Julia about that list”

He smiled briefly as he continued “Actually, I’m looking forward to his year. I think it could be a whole lot more interesting than last year”

This was very exciting and ideas buzzed around her head. This would be the opportunity for her to propose her up-market boutique. 

But picking up some overlooked text books for Geneviève and Holly raised something far more adventurous so long as she managed to find enough time to think it through. Hopefully her other distractions would subside enough.

Peter had reluctantly accepted the reduced role on the sales floor and had gingerly appeared and reported to Eloise as she had requested in the middle of the previous week. Gio’s announcement of the management and Board structure had been posted on the staff noticeboard and raised rumours and mutterings that were only partially dispelled by Eloise’s own announcement. She’d stopped short of telling the whole story and had curtailed it to simply state that Peter was on sick leave and would be re-joining the team under her management

Peter was subdued, but the others were polite enough to avoid the Spanish Inquisition and the year got off to a good start with Eloise’s new stock from India. She’d explained to the team where it had come from and Don at least was impressed by the quality which clearly matched and in some respects exceeded their previous German supplier.

But now, only two days into week two, Charlene was first to notice. Don was serving and there were a few browsers rummaging around the racks, but Peter looked decidedly unsteady on his feet. She watched as he seemed to stumble catching hold of random objects as he made his way across the menswear floor. 

She took hold of his arm to steady him and noticed the unmistakeable smell of alcohol. Booze! It was only half past nine in the morning! No one started drinking that early. Did they? Except maybe on Christmas Day. Charlene made her way back through to Ladies-wear but Brenda picked up a strange vibe. Charlene seemed to be singing a sea shanty! She tapped her ear as she passed Judy who was rearranging the perfume shelves and she listened too

“What's with the humming?” she'd demanded as Charlene smirked through the department finally breaking into song with slightly altered lyrics

“What shall we do with the drunken tailor

What shall we do with the drunken tailor

What shall we do with the drunken tailor

This early in the morning”

“Oh my! I do hope not!” exclaimed Eloise thinking it could only be one thing.

She remembered sending him to his room in India like a naughty school boy and this was equally concerning as she peeked nervously round the shirt display into Menswear.

Now in the staff room, she managed to get him to understand that he had to go home and sober up and be in bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow at 8.30.

That evening she phoned his house and Sandra immediately offered to get him for her. 

“No, but thankyou. It's you I wanted a quick word with, if you don't mind” 

She remembered back to when Sandra turned up in her office at the store looking for a confrontation with her... 

“Sandra”, she started slowly “you remember when you came to see me in the store after we got back from the trip to India, and you and I agreed that we should give Peter every chance to recover, and put the incident behind him” 

“Yes, and I have to thank you for that. It can’t have been easy persuading Mr Grenasius to take him back” 

“No, and it was all going ok here” 

There was a noticeable hesitation at the other end of the line

“What do you mean - was?” 

“Sandra, this morning I had to send him home. It was only ten o’clock and he reeked of whisky and could hardly stand”

“Oh my days! Well he hadn’t had a drink before he left the house. So where would he get hold of a bottle at that time in the morning?” 

“It's not so much where Sandra as why. I can't keep this a secret from Gio for very long. I'll see how he is tomorrow. But anything you can do to help me will be hugely appreciated” 

“Well I'll guarantee that he’ll leave the house sober” 

Eloise phoned Sandra again next evening 

“I know we both agreed to do what we could to get him back on the straight and narrow, but Sandra, he won't help himself. I can't afford to keep him around. Its not fair on the other staff. And I'll have Gio on my case soon. I've tried, Sandra. But he's taking the rind” 

“I suppose you're right. I guess you have to do what you have to do. But thanks for trying, Eloise. I appreciate it even if he doesn't” 

Next morning Eloise walked up to the bus stop at the top of the high street. That's where Peter would get off. She figured he couldn't be drinking before he got on the bus. So maybe he waited till he was off it and if she caught up with him at the bus stop, she might just prevent him being ratted yet again. 

But to no avail. He'd already swigged more than half of his half bottle of Haig which came conveniently in a flattish bottle shaped like a hip flask. That's how Sandra hadn't noticed it. But he had clearly drunk a fair bit of it on the bus and now, seeing her, he broke into song. Almost recognisable chart hits but desperately out of tune and with rude words in place of what the band had originally intended. She diverted him across the top of the high street and down through the park as she walked and he staggered until she found a bench. 

This wasn’t just a matter of sending him home to sober up. This was a matter of getting him to understand a few choice words 

“Peter, you can not come to work like that. You can stay here in the park, or you can go home, but you cannot come in to the store. I've tried Peter. I've given you the benefit of the doubt on more than enough occasions. And if you turn up drunk tomorrow you're fired. Got it? Sacked”

She was annoyed, but mainly with herself for being so tolerant. But she'd issued her warning, she'd told Sandra, and now she had a department to run.

The meeting with Gio the next afternoon was unexpectedly tense. He’d listened attentively to the story so far, nodding as she came to the end.

“So, Eloise. We gave him the opportunity and he was unable to meet the challenge. We have retained the moral high ground, which you were keen to do…”

“Yes…” she interrupted “… and it may be important if gossip starts going the wrong way”

“Are you expecting that?”
 “No, but we have that ace to play if it does”

He nodded again in silent agreement

“So now you need to decide if your moral high ground will be best served by recruiting a novice and giving a young person a chance to enter the industry, or taking on an experienced man and easing one family’s strain in these difficult times”

“I’m not sure about the ethics, Gio, but I know which way I would prefer if only to minimise training costs and reduce the risk of lost sales and even reputation by using raw recruits. Its not always possible or even desirable to keep an eagle eye on inexperience” 

Not perfect, breathed Eloise to herself, but the world just keeps turning and the year was already quickly disappearing. The pre-emptive meeting with Pierre had gone well. Gio clearly thought highly of her. The rest of the board had been impressed, Eric Simpson had called her a genius. And now she’d have to live up to it while Pierre would simply have to live with it. 

But then, it couldn't be that hard. She wasn't critical, she was a team player, and wasn't even that competitive. She wanted to do well, but not at someone else's expense, so on that basis he'd be better with her as an ally rather than an opponent. Gio was insisting that the team would work together, and what that meant was that if you didn't you'd soon be playing in a different park. And maybe that was why he’d been amiable to the point of being proactively helpful in her previous meeting. And she’d checked with Julia that both her entries were still on ‘that list’, as Pierre called it. 

Jacqui

That Wednesday at Riverside, Jacqui was on time. Ruth had replenished the coffee and Steve was looking forward to another amicable battle in the war of get stuff done versus follow the procedures. 

But if it was a battle, the opposition was already looking defeated. It was a downbeat, disheartened almost depressed Jacqui that sat down uninvited choosing the more formal working table.

Something was up and Steve decided that humour could wait on this occasion. Maybe he was in trouble for something serious this time. His look encouraged her to start the meeting, after all, she'd requested it. 

“Steve, I'll come straight to the point because I know you will listen in the spirit that this is meant and not necessarily in the tone that it is said” 

She took a deep breath and hesitated. Steve waited in anticipation with alarm bells ringing all round his head like tinnitus. This was so out of character 

“Steve, I would like to request that I move to part time working which would be mornings only, 5 days a week.” 

Steve managed to suppress the visibility of all emotions and consider this for a moment 

“Would you like to expand on that, although you don’t have to” 

“I am unfortunately plunged into some serious issues with respect to one of my children. I have some ideas on how to try to address the situation, but it will require a significant amount of time. Part time working would give me the afternoons and especially the after school times for my family problems” 

“And when would you like this to commence?” 

“As soon as possible. Unfortunately, my situation is immediate” 

Steve considered for only a few moments 

“There are some circumstances, such as road accidents or medical emergencies that make staff immediately unavailable and the company concerned manages to survive. Our staff have an enviable record of simply stepping up to fill any gaps as they appear. Its quite remarkable. So what I suggest as an immediate implementation is that you take no more than half an hour to write down the headings of what you would be working on in the next couple of weeks and let me have that. That will enable me to help you prioritise your reduced availability. Then take the rest of today off. For planning purposes, assume that afternoons would be available to you as requested. Tomorrow morning, or the next day if that is preferable, we should meet to confirm the arrangement. This would give you some time to consider this, although I suspect you've already thought it through, but also gives me time to react, which will include discussing the corporate solution but not the issue with Juliette” 

Jacqui broke into a weak relieved smile 

“Rest assured, Jacqui that the company will push the boundaries to support you” 

“Thankyou. Yes, you never were one for rules and procedures”

“And that’s not always a bad thing!” 

“No. But I don’t want you bending any rules for me! All the same, I’m so glad I can count on you”

He walked with her to the top of the stairs

“Good luck. And Jacqui. I’m always here to listen”

He returned through Ruth’s office 

“Can you set up a meeting with Juliette this afternoon, please.”

“Steve, your diary is already full, I’m afraid”
 “Ok, something will have to move. I’ll only need fifteen minutes max”

Juliette 

Juliette made it nervously up to Ruth’s office on time but was now being held as Steve finished off a phone call.

 “If I knew I’d tell you” Ruth insisted “You’re only 30 seconds away from finding out anyway”

Juliette knocked once and pushed at the open door. This was completely unexpected and also immediate with almost no time to prepare or panic. She was concerned, verging on worried and opted for formality

“You wanted to see me, sir?”

“Yes. Thankyou for sparing me the time. Please sit down” he invited waving his arm towards the low table “Coffee?”

“Ruth didn’t give me any indication of the specific case you wanted to discuss when she asked me to come over, but I brought the most significant files anyway. I figured it must be important because otherwise it would wait till Jacqui’s back in tomorrow”

“Good thinking Juliette. But I wanted to take advantage of Jacqui being out to talk to you directly”

This was unusual. Steve always dealt directly with Jacqui unless it was something very obvious like finding someone’s file but at least the location for this discussion was the coffee table. She’d heard that that was a good sign. More formal meetings with detailed papers and discussion would have been at his work table and short sharp meetings that were expecting a negative outcome would be at his desk. And if notes of the meeting were needed, Ruth would be there as well and she wasn’t.

“Ok, Juliette. Thankyou for bringing the files, but could we talk about you for a few minutes?”

She looked up and over towards him, surprised into silence. Was she in trouble for something?

“You’re probably one of the longest serving members of staff here. Is there anything specific that keeps you here?” 

“Yes, I’ve been here over 12 years now”

“Ok, you must know everyone on site”

“I’d like to think so, except for all the temps that keep springing up. Like in Logistics”

“You sound like that gives you a problem?”
 “Only that I’m looking at career progression across the board and some of the temps in more senior positions are blurring the picture”

That was a remarkably pointed answer. But Steve had little experience of meetings with her so why would he be surprised?

“Ok, but I guess you must like it here?”

“Well, yes. I like the balance between stability and progress. Its nice to see people moving on in their career – Like Ruth, for instance. And Gerry. And young Tasmin is positively fizzing with excitement on her promotion”

Oh my! So this is about me after all!

“Tell me, what’s your opinion of job sharing?” 

Juliette was caught a little off guard. Shouldn’t have been because if it wasn’t a specific case meeting, then it must be general. 

“Its an increasingly popular option where its being made available, particularly for mums with school age children”
 “How much more expensive do you think it is?”

“More expensive?”
 “Yes. I seems to me that two people doing one job will achieve less than one person because they will gain less expertise over a given period and need more communication time”

“I suppose so. And more manager time having two people to look after”

“What about if one person was covering two jobs but they were different grades?”

“I think that would be a lot more complicated. I doubt if it would be practical. I mean, if you ran up some expenses you could just wait till you were in the more senior position to sign them off”

To Steve, that sounded like it killed that idea dead, not that he’d thought it was feasible in the first place, but it provided a good excuse to pause the conversation and just watch her for a moment. He knew she was 43 which was a little older than him. And she was married but had no children. She was one of the people that he was quite careful about, like Sally, the Sales secretary. Juliette had been in HR for twenty years and worked hard. She was good at her job and very much took it seriously. Like dressing the part, looking smart and attractive. He’d never thought of her as sexy, but that was more to do with her body language than her choice of clothes. She was pretty, but looked like maybe she was particularly adept at differentiating work and fun

“Ok. What about your own career progression. 12 years is a long time to stay in one place?”

“Oh! Well! Its not that I’m not ambitious. Its.. Its just that I like it here. There’s a great variety of work and things don’t stand still so you don’t get bored”
 “Yes, things can change very quickly – just look at what has happened in the last 9 months”

“Yesss” she said rather hesitantly and Steve decided not to pursue that line of conversation

“What keeps you busy outside work?”

She sat up. Was this some kind of interview?

“I’ve got 11 nieces and nephews. That makes me something of a full time auntie”

“But none of your own, yet?”

“No” she said sadly

Steve was sure she was about to say something else like ‘you’re not meant to ask questions like that’. 

He smiled disarmingly in sympathy but also because she hadn’t actually said that. Yes, she wouldn’t stay away from her rules and procedures for very long. Just like Jacqui. 

“What else keeps you busy?”

“Actually, I’m very into Egyptology. We’ve been to Egypt every year for over ten years now to do more research….”

She talked for some time with the occasional encouragement from Steve about her current investigation into the fundamentally different religions followed by the Pharaohs with names ending in Amen such as Tutankhamen, and Aten such as Akhenaten and how their year numbering was very different which has caused serious disagreement and confusion to historians ever since especially when trying to relate and connect events from the Egyptian scrolls to other ancient texts such as the Old Testament and Sumerian tablets.

This was different and he felt as though his brain had been assaulted by her depth of knowledge, but one thing he had established was yes, he would be able to work successfully with her. It was too soon to announce any plan. That would have to be after his meeting with Jacqui, but he already knew what the plan was. Which was way more than Juliette did.

Eloise’s Second Board Meeting

Board Meeting day arrived and Eloise was up early with the aim of getting an early start. Except Steve took this as an opportunity to share the shower with her and that resulted in a delayed but much more chilled out, glowing Eloise that made it in to her little office only a few minutes later than usual. She'd updated her script and made some final changes to her presentation, even though she wasn’t sure what the format normally was. But with due consideration she’d decided that this was the best way to present her suggestion.

She scanned down Julia’s finalised list. All the items were under 10 thousand pounds - well under 10 thousand pounds. Except hers. 

Capital expenditure was third on the agenda, although the first two items disappeared so quickly that she found that she hadn’t had a chance to contribute at all. 

“Before we get engrossed in Capital Expenditure…” Pierre interrupted “…Eloise. What is the answer to that last riddle that you posted in your corner display window?”

“I’ve missed that” said Myrtle who represented the minor external investors “Does it change? I hadn’t noticed. Perhaps, Pierre, you could remind us”

“It says. Miss Grabble ‘What is the connection between fishing, gardening and flirting”

Gio looked up with the hint of a smile on his usually morose face. This was the sort of interlude that would make these meetings different this year – even if Eloise said nothing else

My corner window? Oh my, is that another promotion? or just another monkey on my back…

“Pierre, its this…. “ she opened with a smile so much more confident than she was expecting “….With all of them you are attempting to find what you know is hidden below the surface and expose its visibility above the surface”

Eric nodded approval. He too was looking forward to Mrs Beresford’s contribution.

There were nine elements excluding hers. She managed to make a number of comments on the other projects like resurfacing the car park, and found some supportive words on Grant’s request to update the display shelving in Homewares and buy a new forklift truck in the warehouse as the old one was now fully amortised.

Her first entry on the list was for an increased rolling float. This would purchase a more expensive range of Ladies wear so that she could establish a separate more up-market section. This in turn would attract new customers and increase both turnover and percentage margin. She was pleased that there was no active resistance. This, it was said around the table, was the sort of business expansion that they should be encouraging. 

“But” Grant had said “I don’t mean to be negative, but you don’t have the display space for your current stock, never mind a new range as well”

“It’s a matter of balance” she replied “But its also connected to my other entry on this agenda”

“So why are they not combined?” barked Pierre

“Because I want to do this even if my other request is rejected”

Now it was Gio’s turn to nod. He was beginning to get the measure of her, and if his guess was right, it would all contribute to a much improved year

“I suggest we approve this” he interrupted “We must at least try or we will never progress and if anyone can make this work, then Mrs Beresford will”

Oh dear. Nothing like setting the bar high!

Her second item was last on the agenda. Gio turned to Julia 

“I'd like to assume that this 154 thousand in a mistyping of 15 thousand four hundred. 

“No! I’m sorry Gio, but the draft I was given clearly stated 154000” she denied, indignant that Gio would accuse her of such an error and in a mild panic looked over to Eloise for confirmation. 

Rather than answer the question, Eloise got up from her chair leaving Julia and the rest of the meeting in limbo and moved to the front turning on the projector. “No, I'm afraid not. Julia has got the number exactly right” 

She glanced around the table and could see the interest had now risen. The expectation in the room was tangible. No-one else had made a presentation. No one else had used anything more than words. No one else had asked for anywhere near ten percent of this value and Gio now had his head slightly on one side watching intently in anticipation knowing now not to interrupt too early.

The first slide came into focus on the screen as the projector reached working temperature. It showed a photograph of the front of the store complete with the smaller shop next to it. 

“Thankyou” she began “I'd like to describe to you something that I think is a wonderful opportunity. You may be aware that the bookshop next door has been for sale for some time as Mr Iromski who owns it is retiring......” 

“I don't think business expansion into books is really the right direction for us” interrupted Myrtle “I also understand that he has been suffering a downturn in business as there are now not one but two national chain book stores in town” 

“I'm inclined to agree” added Grant “books are really in the decline. Young people seem to be spending money on music - if you can call it that - CDs and tapes or watching TV instead” 

“Although, he does stock the specialist text books that St Eustace and the Conservatoire require, and maybe St Luke's as well” 

Eloise watched the conversation bounce around the room. Eric was keeping quiet, waiting. There must be more than this, he was sure. Gio was looking a little lost, still not wanting to interrupt without any real reason and convinced that there would be more to this than was apparent.. Surely there was more to Eloise’s proposition than to open a book department and a short pause was enough for Eloise to retake control 

“It is correct that his turnover was falling. The nationals were undercutting him on price and people only tended to go to him when they were looking for advice or recommendations. A new buyer is unlikely to be able to do that and certainly wouldn’t have the reputation...” 

“....so it's a lost cause” interrupted Myrtle with a self-satisfied smirk sitting back in her chair

“I’m so pleased that we’ve started by all agreeing on something” Eloise said focussing on Gio to calm her nerves as she moved to slide two 

“Which is why Mr Iromski has decided instead to close down completely and sell the property. Now this slide shows the plan view. You can see that the sales area is larger than it may appear if you were to go into the shop because of all the rows of high shelving. This is the first floor here and the ground floor is a similar size. However,…” she continued moving to the next slide “…this property also owns this sizeable plot that stretches all the way back to Park Lane and this row of outbuildings which project from the rear of the building. Currently it is a wasteland of weeds, but what I propose is this. We purchase the property. We open a route into our car park from Park Lane making accessibility hugely easier. We use the rest of the outdoor space and these outbuildings to expand our business into outdoor living. Essentially this would be a garden centre with the emphasis on garden furniture, tools and seasonal plants. This sort of retail outlet does not exist in the area. However, we already have some senior management experience of this market sector, do we not, Pierre? I understand that you were financial controller of a chain of garden centres before moving here”

He was nodding in agreement as she looked over towards him and seemed to be showing more interest than she originally expected. All that gave an unexpected boost to her confidence as she continued hoping that that confidence would be apparent as she moved through the rest of her deck

“The first floor of the building would be used to extend homewares which is crying out for more display space and the second floor could rehouse the back office functions meaning we could convert the existing finance office into retail space, perhaps an extension to the café or possibly for haberdashery. The ground floor space would be suitable as a dedicated space for extending the fashion range into a more up-market boutique as I described earlier”

Eric was now sitting forward on his chair. Gio was leaning forward intently and Myrtle looked like she was looking for a hole in the floor to swallow her. Eloise’s pause was long enough for Pierre to open the discussion

“Presumably this 154 of yours includes the cost of the building...” 

“Yes, Pierre. And that is unlikely to reduce in value in the foreseeable future. I've also put in a number for the initial stock so that the issue isn't missed and for building alterations such as access from the existing departments to integrate this into their current space”

“Have you looked at the payback?” 

“Not in detail. I'm not sure how an accountant would work this out. But using my simple logic it looks like this. We take out the cost of the building which will be retained as an asset rather than depreciate and treat that like an investment. That leaves the cost of the stock, the legal fees and the building work. And it's only the fees and the work that need to be covered by the additional mark up on the stock. On that basis I would expect to break even this year and turn in a profit next year, which I think is a very good payback period” 

She looked over to Eric hoping for some encouragement

“Of course the numbers need to be verified and confirmed through quotations, but some may go down rather than up. For instance, I have a line in here for extra shelving and fittings for homeware but if Grant gets his line on this agenda we might be able to take it out of this proposal, or at least we don’t want to count it twice” 

“So what’s missing from your proposed numbers?”

“The creation of the Garden Centre is not included. I think that may require a longer discussion because there are other options that we may want to consider for that part of the property, perhaps an extension to Furniture”

“So what are you expecting this Board to agree to, Mrs Beresford?”

“The building next door will not come up for sale again any time soon. Its ideal for business expansion and buying it prevents a potential competitor moving in. What I am suggesting is that we immediately purchase the property. At the same time we set up a team to verify the figures over the next two or three days and take a realistic view of the return. Then with verified costs we reconvene to decide whether to proceed as I described, or proceed with an altered plan, or to re-sell, rent or lease the premises, but limited to a non-competitor”

She let the discussion bounce round the room trying to figure out who was in favour and who was against. Julia looked over with a lost, pleading look - ‘was I meant to be writing anything down?’ her eyes asked and Eloise shook her head. “not yet”

Gio looked at his watch “We should take a vote. The proposition is that we move forward with the purchase and establish a study group. If it all looks immediately unfeasible we can always withdraw before contracts are exchanged. Those in favour should raise a hand” 

She looked around the room as hands went up. Grant was first, then Pierre and the others including Gio himself. And finally Eric, who pushed back in his chair, nodding again.

“Carried unanimously. Julia, action me on that last item”

Eloise sat down, but almost immediately Gio closed the meeting

“Mrs Beresford” Eric said as they made their way down the corridor “if you are starting as you mean to go on, this will be one hell of a year” 

Eloise had no intention of disagreeing. It already was. And sometimes it was all so different it was scary. 

Denise at the Briers

Also scared was Rochelle. Her mum, Denise, was just ahead of her in the St Lukes main entrance hall. She had driven down from London to find out what the problem was and Rochelle was now in imminent danger of having to explain it to her.

 As a boarder, Rochelle had to be signed out and her mum had already done that before the girls arrived from class.

Rochelle stayed very quiet as Geneviève navigated from the back seat but managed some light conversation.  

“Its very kind of you to invite us. But your house, its not one of those big new detached ones behind the Cider Press Inn is it?”

“No. Its beyond those. Its more on its own which makes it wonderfully calm, which is good if you need to think about something or just concentrate. There’s always something going on, like cake baking or sewing, but there’s plenty of space to be yourself, if you want to”

“I liked Sabrina's house….” Rochelle managed to say but seemed to get nervous again and tail off, perhaps remembering some unspoken memory as they turned into Primrose Lane. Maybe just as they drove slowly past the big new detached houses. 

“Not one of these?” 

“No but it's not far now” 

“Straight on?” questioned Denise at they reached the end of the tarmac road, and the answer seemed to have a positive effect on Rochelle 

“Yes. The gate is just after the third tree on the right. We’ll have to stop to open it”

Rochelle looked at it with her eyes drifting ever skywards till she saw the top. This wasn’t so much a garden gate as the entrance to a fortress.

And she took several steps back just to look at the house when they stopped at the front door.

“Geneviève it's huge” 

“Oh but its also lovely and peaceful”

She showed them into the living room where tea and cake went down well this time while Holly made a start on the dinner. 

Eloise was back early but having checked that Holly was not in need of rescuing she joined the others in the living room. Now offended by this injustice, Holly invited Rochelle to help her which made it much easier for the others to talk about her. Except there wasn't much to say. Rochelle had said hardly anything and Geneviève hadn't gleaned much either. 

Denise explained that her husband Clive was a diplomat at the Foreign Office and they were due to fly out to the Middle East on Friday to chair, or as Clive later described it, referee, the peace talks. It was the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that actually paid the fees at St Luke's so that Rochelle could switch to boarding if her parents were posted abroad at short notice. Until that time she was a day girl like Geneviève. 

“This has never happened before” Denise was saying 

“No. But in previous years she wouldn't have been old enough to sign her own pass, so she wouldn't have been able to leave the school grounds” 

Geneviève played her piano for Denise and Rochelle as Eloise finished cooking with Holly ready to serve when Steve got home and as hoped the convivial family atmosphere had another positive effect on Rochelle. She’d skipped most of her meals in the last two days but Holly was ever so pleased that Rochelle now devoured the one she’d cooked. 

“It must be someone at school that played this trick” concluded Denise 

“Yes, but it wasn't Daniella. I talked to her today” 

“But we can't let it happen again” 

“No, I'll be worried sick and your dad won't be able to concentrate on the negotiations if he's worried about you” 

“I know! That’s why I was trying to avoid being such a nuisance” 

Steve pushed his plate away from the edge of the table 

“What I suggest is that Geneviève sticks to Rochelle like a limpet during the school day, and Rochelle stays with us here instead of boarding in the dorm. Rochelle?” 

Rochelle's eyes widened with something approaching a smile 

“But that's a huge imposition!” declared Denise 

“On the contrary, Denise. She'll be a delightful addition. And you said your initial trip is for only a few days to confirm the format for the real talks in another few weeks time” 

“Yes it is. But in Clive's line of business there are no guarantees. There's every chance that events will conspire to keep us there beyond next week” 

“All the more reason for Rochelle to be in a family atmosphere. What does Rochelle think?” 

Rochelle was very much in favour of this. Geneviève’s house was amazing. Of course living with this family would be different to living at home, but living in the dorm was different anyway 

Despite being reluctant to be such a burden, Denise agreed, but then stated that she'd have to provide written authority to the school and that meant she'd have to stay over and go in to see the Matron the following morning. 

“Oh my!” she sighed “it's already been a day and a half” 

“In which case, you should stay here tonight. But right now we need to get Rochelle back to school before her pass expires. I'll do that with Geneviève and you stay here with Eloise and Holly. Tomorrow you can inform St Luke's of the developments and Rochelle will move her case over here until you get back next week”

The plan started to take effect almost immediately. Rochelle was quiet on the way back to school as they cut off onto a narrow lane 

“Oh! Is this the way you came back through that blizzard with Danni?” asked Geneviève “it's the cross country route” 

“Yes, it should be quicker at his time of night. We don't take it in the morning because of all the traffic coming the other way. I'm hoping there won't be any now” 

“Were you not there?” 

“No, it was last year, before we started at St Luke's” 

“So there was just your dad and Daniella?” she asked with some astonishment “what would have happened if you'd got stuck” 

“We didn't get stuck” he said avoiding the question and any other inferences about him being in the car alone with Danni and Steve had already decided that any innuendo would on this occasion be misplaced. 

But that also was a new concept for her. She'd never consider going anywhere just her and her friend’s dad, although now that she started to think about it she wasn't sure why that was. 

Next morning, Geneviève was in class with her. They went to lunch together as well and Geneviève steered her covertly away from the other girls to find Miss Coben. She had paid special attention to Rochelle during her lesson and Geneviève had noticed. Now it was time to say thankyou and tell her what was happening because she showed such personal concern. 

The introduction into Geneviève’s world was another all new revelation. Geneviève had kept the conversation away from last Sunday’s Event or SE as Rochelle had euphemised it. 

“I don't know how we're going to get this big case onto the minibus” 

“Hmmm “considered Geneviève mischievously “or carry it the half mile from Red Post” 

Rochelle's face fell. It was raining heavily outside and there was now a serious prospect of getting soaked. 

“Don't worry” she rescued “Jim is taking us back” 

“Jim?” 

“Yes, in his taxi”

Rochelle was nervous about this as well. Ok so there were two of them, but they were alone in a taxi and that was considered very risky in the places where she had previously lived. 

But Jim was as friendly as ever and Rochelle got to thinking that if Geneviève was ok with this then it was probably ok

“Does he know the way” she asked in something approaching a whisper, conscious that Geneviève hadn’t given him any instruction or even an address 

“Oh yes” he replied “I've lost count of the times I've been to the Briers. If it's not young Geneviève here going home from piano lesson or college class it's young Holly with another roll of material from Mercer’s Warehouse in town. O course, it was Geneviève’s dad that set me onto this. There's no safe taxis registered for taking kids on their own, he told me. So I filled in all the forms and passed all the checks and now almost all my business is taking young folks like you to and from one place or another” 

The big green gate was as intriguing as before as Geneviève got out to press the big green button. And again, Rochelle took a step backwards after getting out of the car just to look at the house despite the rain pouring down the back of her neck. They hung their coats up in the wet porch and dripped into the main hall. 

“Come on. Let's get you to your room and get dried up quickly. Then we can decide what’s next.”  

Rochelle hauled the large case to the foot of the stairs and looked despondently at the task as though maybe they were going to hoist it up the North Face of the Eiger. Geneviève stood by with a widening mischievous smile, then quietly shook her head

“I suppose we could take everything out of it” suggested Rochelle

“OR” grinned Geneviève “we could take the lift” as she pushed it a little farther along the hall and onto the glass sided platform that wafted silently up to the first floor landing

“There!” she announced flinging open the door “Your en-suite is that door in the corner. There's plenty of towels there. Then we'll get a snack and maybe go down to the woods. I'll show you what I'm trying to do there. My room is in that far corner, but if not there I'll be in the kitchen looking for cake” 

A much recovered Rochelle appeared after half an hour. She'd taken a peek along the corridor to the higher level of the conservatory before checking Geneviève’s bedroom and then headed downstairs looking for the kitchen. Cake and lemonade made another improvement in Rochelle's spirits, countered to some extent by being overwhelmed by the house 

“It's huge! I guess the gardens huge as well?” 

“Oh no, the garden’s not just huge. It's maybe 10 or even twenty times bigger than humongous” 

“Are you still thinking of going to the woods. It's still pouring down” 

“Yes, but only if you'd like to. We’ll try not to get very wet. I’ve only just dried out” 

She wasn't sure how that was going to work until Geneviève left her in the porch looking at the rain, while she ran over to the workshop and brought her ancient Land Rover pickup to a stop just outside. This was another first. She'd never been driven anywhere by one of her friends, it had always been an adult, but Geneviève didn't seem the least bit nervous and certainly seemed to know what she was doing. The rain lashed at the windscreen as they drove round the great lawn and across the cattle grid into the forest. But it was wet, it was muddy and Geneviève decided that the grand tour would have to wait in favour of keeping dry. Maybe tomorrow. 

Back at the house it was dinner time and Holly announced that she'd invited Daniella on Saturday. She wanted to test her new designs on someone, and that someone was Danni. Steve glanced over to Rochelle looking for a reaction but Holly for once and maybe for the first time had got there first 

“She'll be fine, Rochelle. It wasn't Danni that phoned you. It was someone else pretending to be Danni.” 

“Are you sure?” she asked tentatively 

“Sure I'm sure. Listen. Danni’s my best friend and Geneviève is my sister and you're Geneviève’s best friend so Danni couldn't possibly have done this to you” 

Steve wasn't going to question the logic. It would be too complicated. And although Saturday would tell, Steve reckoned that Holly was actually right.

Second Friday at St Lukes

Friday again at St Lukes and with everything being so different, term time was already disappearing into the rear view mirror. 

Week two had disappeared unexpectedly quickly and Geneviève was in the music room again. As before Mrs Brunswick was late.

“You could play us that piece on the French horn like you did last week…” suggested Sabrina with an undercurrent of mischief “…to keep us entertained while we're waiting” 

This received some general support, but Geneviève had other ideas. She wouldn’t mind getting a reputation as something of a dark horse, so why not! 

She pulled out the stool by the Steinway and lifted the lid 

“Geneviève!” warned Rochelle excitedly “I don't think you should. Mrs Brunswick is very particular about who is allowed to play the Steinway. She reserves it as a special treat for exceptional progress. There's plenty of practise pianos dotted around the common rooms” 

But Geneviève had already decided 

“Rock and roll anybody” 

She tore into a medley of Chuck Berry and Fats Domino and gave that top E a good hammering the way Little Richard did and a full five minutes later it continued to resound down the corridor.

The girls loved it, but Mrs Brunswick was less enthusiastic 

“Rochelle! Are you or are you not supposed to be looking after Geneviève? You’re supposed to be keeping her out of mischief and you know the rules about my Steinway” 

Rochelle was mortified but Geneviève was unphased 

“Sorry, Mrs Brunswick. Maybe it's more suited to Clara Schumann” 

She started playing Piano Trio in G minor instead and calmness descended on the room as a mesmerised silence overtook the girls. 

“Oh my goodness that is so delightful!” enthused Mrs Brunswick 

“Maybe I should play Shostakovich piano concerto number two as a penance” she offered to Mrs Brunswick as she broke into the first movement. 

“That's the orchestral introduction, is it not?” 

“Yes, but I never seem to have an orchestra on hand, so I had to transpose it. Sorry” she apologised, stopping suddenly mid bar “I shouldn't monopolise the lesson” 

The girls broke into impulsive applause as Geneviève slid off the stool

“So what level are you at? I’m guessing you’re taking your grades?” asked someone close to her left elbow. “I mean, I don’t play. So I don’t know how complicated that was, although it sounded great”

“I good question Dreanna” said Mrs Brunswick, “I’d be interested to hear how to explain that too”

“Do you know anyone who plays?” asked Geneviève “because if you did and you knew which grade they were on I could relate to that?”

“My brother was on grade 3 before he went off to Uni”

Geneviève explained the pieces and their complexity for grade 3, then 4 5 6 7 and 8, playing a short example for each of them and all the time glancing at Mrs Brunswick by inference asking permission to continue. Mrs B, however, was frozen in shock as the complexity and the grade numbers increased without any apparent nervousness from the musician

“…And after that, you can take an exam call NP. That’s Novice Professional. If you pass that you’re automatically added to the piano teachers register and officially allowed to play in concert halls. That exam takes two days. It starts at 8 in the morning and you have to play a dozen or more pieces throughout the day till about 4 or 5 in the afternoon. And then the next day too” 

She paused, then suddenly realised she hadn’t actually answered the question “Oh, sorry, That NP. That’s the exam I’m taking next month. I wasn’t going to tell anyone in case I fail. But I suppose now, I’d just better pass it!”

“I think you have every chance of success” commented the teacher “That recital was truly impressive. In fact I can’t ever remember having anyone of this standard at St Lukes”

“Yes” said Dreanna “and that Chuck Berry was pretty impressive too”

“Yes, it was” conceded Mrs Brunswick “I saw Fats Domino live in Las Vegas one time and you certainly reminded me of that. But could you possibly reserve my Steinway for the classics?”

Frost at the Briers

As predicted, the atmosphere at the Briers that weekend acquired a touch of frost when Danni arrived, but Geneviève managed to get everyone to migrate to the music room and explained her theory of how the trick was played. 

“But Rochelle” Danni said eventually “I have so much got to stay out of trouble. Dads looking for any excuse to pull me out of St Luke's. Whatever would happen to me then?” 

That evening there seemed to be a lot more than four of them. Wherever Steve went there seemed to be two of them. If it wasn't Holly and Rochelle in the TV lounge it was Danni and Holly in the sewing room or Geneviève and Rochelle in the music room. 

He was on the settee with Eloise when Danni drifted into the living room. She looked rather furtive and was probably looking for alcohol followed at a distance by Rochelle who was already looking guilty 

“Do you mind if I get a drink, Steve” she asked as politely as she always was 

“I think you ought to be careful. You know what your dad thinks about you drinking. And you don't want to get me into trouble do you” 

“That shouldn't be a problem. I'll be ok by tomorrow” 

“Ok. So you're staying tonight?” 

“I had thought so” she replied suddenly nervous “did Holly not say?” 

“No. But it's always a delight having you staying with us. But you ought to just stick to a small one even if you're not being picked up tonight” 

“Do you stay here a lot?” asked Rochelle 

“Quite a lot. It's so nice. And so peaceful even when there's so much activity. In our house there's usually just a tense sense of impending Armageddon.” 

They'd moved to the bar now and Danni was reaching for the Cointreau bottle 

“What do you like best about being here?” Rochelle asked nodding acceptance of the offer of a glass of the unknown clear liquid.

Danni thought a moment while concentrating on pouring 

“One of the best things is quiet time”

Rochelle’s questioning look persuaded Danni to continue

“That’s when Steve comes into my room after I've gone to bed....” 

“What!!” 

Eloise completely failed to stifle a loud giggle as Danni turned red with embarrassment 

“Not like that! Steeeve..” she pleaded to rescue her “does Rochelle not get quiet time? Maybe she doesn’t get towel time either?” 

“Danni, pour a couple more and bring them over here” 

Now with drinks all round they sat round the coffee table 

“Rochelle, what happens with Geneviève and Holly and Danni as well when she's here is that at the end of the day they get ready for bed” 

“And Steve comes in and sits on the edge of your bed and you can have a quiet sensible discussion on anything that's bothering you, or you might be worried about for the next day, or anytime. Or if you just want to ask a question. I find it good for things I wouldn't dare ask about at home. Towel time is if you have to get up early like maybe you have a hockey match, Steve or Eloise will wake you up and bring you a warm towel for your shower. Mmmm warm soft towels are lovely” 

“But I didn't suggest any of that to you Rochelle because I thought you'd be too nervous.” 

She nodded “I guess I'd be ok now. If that's what happens here?” 

“Ok. Let's try that tonight. That will mean you’re being treated the same as one of the family and that's all part of being here.” 

Cue Changes by Praying Mantis 

That night Steve tapped on her door. There was hardly enough room on the edge of her bed to perch on, but Steve didn't want any complications. 

She'd tensed up and looked scared and as far as he could see she hadn't undressed at all. 

“This is all about calming down. Its about making sure that you know that someone is here to listen to you. To your opinions or questions or just comments on life, the universe or anything else. I’m not a judge and I’m not a jury. But I might have an opinion and that might support or maybe contradict your view. Its just an opportunity to talk about anything that’s worrying you or upsetting you, or anything that's going on tomorrow that you're nervous about. Because once we have a solution or if we’ve put the problem into perspective you'll sleep a whole lot better” 

“And this is what you do with Daniella? As well as Geneviève and Holly?”

“Yes. It’s a reminder to them, every night that someone cares about them”

“Even when you’re really cross with them?”
 “Yes. Although I don’t get cross with Geneviève and I try not to get cross with Holly or Daniella. Sometimes they do things which are not what I might have done in the circumstances, but they can only decide what to do based on their information and experience so far. Growing up is all about making better decisions as you gain more experience. Now, you’ve had a bit of an upset and we all need to help you feel better again. I think the best way to do that is for you to join in as much as you think you can and we’ll all try to include you in whatever is going on. It will be different from your house and from the dorm, but different isn’t necessarily bad” 

“Thankyou. I'm just, oh I don't know what” 

“Lost?” guessed Steve 

She nodded timidly as Steve remembered back to the first day Daniella stayed 

“Ok. I think I know how you're feeling. I know you don't want to be a nuisance, nobody does. But sometimes things happen that you can't foresee. You can't plan for them and sometimes these things upset you. Have your mum and dad been away like this before?” 

She nodded. Not the frantic twitch nod powered by terror, but a more considered nod 

“Ok, you were all right then, but I guess that on that occasion you didn't have a bad experience as soon as you started. But that's when your friends can help you. Friends like Geneviève, and Holly and Eloise and .... me. I’m sure there are others at school as well. You seem to be getting on much better with Danni. Oh, and I expect that Matron looked at you sternly and told you to pull yourself together like maybe you were a pair of curtains! Sometimes that's the right thing to do if someone is over reacting. But what we'll do is simply slip a soft arm around you for protection and say we're all here for you to talk to and to listen and maybe make the odd suggestion or two.

Maybe the things Geneviève and Holly do are not what you'd normally do at home or in school. I can't see Matron being too pleased if she found a chainsaw in the dorm, but they'll be only too pleased if you join in and enjoy something new and we'll all join in with you if there's something you especially want to do. And for all the wrong reasons we haven't been through all the introductions like where everything is and that Geneviève’s mum is called Eloise and where to put your laundry so that by magic it comes back clean, but we'll do that tomorrow and you'll start feeling more like Geneviève’s sister. Eloise and me are probably not much like your mum and dad, but we can be quite good fun too if you treat us like a couple of older friends that just happen to hang out here. Now you just try to get some sleep and tomorrow we'll make sure you're not on your own and that will help all these nerves subside. Does that sound like a plan?” 

She survived towel time with only a minor heart attack and made it as far as the sweet aroma of sizzling breakfast from the dining room. The table was filling up quickly as a human chain worked like a conveyor belt supplying cereal and milk and eggs and mushrooms and sausage and bacon. Eloise was in the kitchen passing everything to Danni who relayed it through the hatch to Geneviève in the dining room to Holly who positioned it on the table. 

“This is all for you Rochelle” said Steve as she drifted in “Eloise will be making ours in a minute or two” 

She stopped shocked, but found herself breaking into a smile “No it's not!”

“Daddy you're not teasing Shelly already are you” 

But Steve was happy that progress was being made.  

After breakfast, Geneviève took her back to the woods as a replay of the previous attempt. It was difficult not to be overwhelmed by the scale of everything. Not just the physical aspects like the lawn the size of a park and the forest that demanded the use of a Land Rover just to get to where Geneviève was working. And she watched Geneviève’s demonstration of stacking felled timber using levers and a Land Rover with a measure of disbelief. But it was also the lifestyle that fascinated Rochelle as she wandered from room to room. The piano that sounded even better than Mrs B’s Steinway, and the free flow of alcohol, although, as Danni later explained

“It teaches you to take responsibility for yourself. Its up to you and if you don’t you get into all sorts of trouble from your mum and dad like I did. And it gets Steve into trouble as well. You have to learn to think about it. Steve might explain it to you, but what it really means is that you need to act responsibly. If you want to retain freedom you have to impose your own restrictions” 

She reappeared in the hall in time to see Danni standing three steps up the stairs with what appeared to be half a dozen pieces of material pinned on to her, barely covering the expected essentials. Holly was frowning up towards her 

“Shhh” whispered Geneviève loudly “if we're quiet we'll be able to hear Holly thinking

“Holly’s hoping to get an order from Simpson and Greens for their Spring collection. She's got a meeting with their buyer next Saturday and she's trying to turn her designs into reality so that her samples are ready” 

But Shelly looked completely blank until Danni explained “Holly has started her own fashion company. She's already sold quite a few to bespoke clients and she’s still got some Nightwishes to supply to S and G. No, she's not working for anyone else, yes, she does all the work herself including the design, no she's not even 15 yet, yes she is still intending to go to school as well”

“But” cut in Holly eventually “I was thinking. Maybe all you guys could help me next Saturday” 

“Are you sure it's not help during the week that you need” 

“No. I'm ok on the sewing. I was thinking more about the presentation” 

“Oh wow! You mean a fashion show. Like you and me did with daddy to persuade mum to set that show up at S an’ G's”

“Does that mean we all have to look like pin cushions like Danni?” asked Rochelle as a rare indication that she might join in a bit more 

“Hmm. Holly frowned”

“No. Shelly, Danni looks like that because Holly is fitting the pieces together to get the size right” 

“Will we all look like that while she gets it to the right size?” 

Holly screwed up her face and turned to her 

“I guess when you put it like that, then yes. But I'd expect to sew it all together properly before we present it” 

“Oh, so you’re not intending to supply it in kit form for everyone to finish at home?” teased Geneviève 

“Danni, I think you look gorgeous” joined Steve en-route to the kitchen “you'll just have to watch out no one gives you a big hug” 

Perturbed but undaunted, Holly finished Danni’s fitting and moved on to Rochelle. Geneviève would wait till Monday evening.

Throughout the day Geneviève had tried to involve her, sometimes with success but sometimes Rochelle would just like to sit on her own. Uninvited, Eloise took her a cup of tea and a biscuit and sat with her for a while alone in the TV room. She said she would be baking a cake soon and Rochelle would be welcome to join in if she wanted to after she'd finished her tea 

“The most important thing about cake” Holly said as she grabbed a piece from the fridge and headed back to her sewing room “is eating it” 

Rochelle admitted to knowing very little about baking or even cooking, but she followed Eloise's instruction and soon had something that looked the right consistency, tasted yummy and even proved itself a success later that evening.

And while Steve had had a wonderful weekend with now 5 delightful girls over the weekend, Monday morning sailed into view over a horizon of trepidation. 

Jacqui had phoned Ruth to set up the meeting Steve had requested and despite suffering various moans and dissensions had rearranged his diary to accommodate Jacqui’s request for an off-site location. This was unexpected as Jacqui was very much one for keeping work within the boundaries of the site perimeter fence. But then, this wasn’t work, at least not all of it, and some of it even went as Steve expected.

She was already at the Old Farmers Arms looking downbeat but not stressed when Steve got there, and already had a beer on the table for him. Steve avoided business conversation except to sneak in a question about Jacqui’s opinion of Juliette.

Lunch arrived and talk moved on the main subject. She said that her personal issues were causing disappointment rather than frantic activity and then looked up decisively putting her glass onto the table,

“You see Steve, Angus has got into some trouble. It would be easy to say he’s just got in with the wrong crowd, but that’s just an excuse and doesn’t solve anything. Its certainly not what I expected by sending him to the Conservatoire. I don’t know yet if any charges will be brought and maybe the longer it goes on the less likely that is. From what I can gather, it seems, Steve, as you might expect from a boy of that age, its something to do with girls, or maybe just a girl except he can’t or won’t tell anyone anything about it and won’t venture out of his room. I’m guessing that it must be one of the girls that was coming round sometimes with a couple of his school friends. Maybe it was all some sort of prank but Angus is refusing to go back to school, and I’m reluctant to make a complaint to the headmaster for fear of escalating the whole issue. So for now, I’m trying to teach him at home and maybe he’ll decide to tell us at some stage”

But she smiled sweetly as she agreed almost too quickly with Steve’s revised plan.

Steve was happier with this solution. It meant that she could focus on the problem. But it also meant that work at Riverside would not suffer from these distractions. 

It was nearly 3.30 when Steve finally found time to finalise the Jacqui situation and headed for the HR building

“Oh Steve” Juliette pleaded “I really need to get the early bus. It's only today!” 

“In that case I’ll walk to the bus stop with you. This’ll only take a minute” 

He'd appeared just as she'd got to the door. So many times she'd stayed late and so many times she'd got in early and now on this one occasion when she was slipping off, Steve shows up right on cue to spoil everything. Except now they were walking to the bus stop together!

“It's my niece’s birthday party. My sisters a nurse and doesn’t get off shift early enough, so I'm setting it all up for her” 

“Is that a hobby of yours?” 

“I suppose so, with the number I tend to do”

“Yes, I think you said you had eleven nieces and nephews”

She turned to look more directly at him, stunned that he’d remembered that

“Yes. So I tend to volunteer for one every couple of months” 

She started to hurry as they approached the stop and a distinctive green country bus appeared round the corner

“Your bus?”    

“Yes. I’m afraid so”

“Juliette, I’d like you to take a temporary promotion on a three month fixed term secondment” he said quickly as the bus stopped and she stepped on “Think about it”

 “Yes… “ as the door closed on her words.

But birthday parties for 7 year olds were always full-on affairs and she had no time at all to reflect on what tragedy this all might be the reflection of. And considering how bizarre their meeting with Emma was, this could be almost anything. So many strange things. And all bumping into each other in her head as she crashed out exhausted that night.

Her next call from Ruth was strange as well. Ruth was one of the least aggressive people she knew, but…

“Sorry, Juliette. But this is a Board meeting and you need to be there” 

Ruth was becoming unusually assertive, and she didn’t want Steve on her case. He’d said no more about this weird secondment, but Jacqui wasn’t in and that was strange as well. Or no? Maybe it wasn’t. A temporary promotion for 3 months? But there’s only one position in the company that she could sensibly be promoted to and that was Head of HR. So Jacqui was going to be out for a while. Oh dear! And I was already up to my neck in it!

She rescheduled her meeting with Terry about all his temps, much to Terry’s relief, and tried to logically consider what was really going on. 

That afternoon she sat down nervously in the boardroom opposite Matt. She’d not been in the board room very often. Sometimes she’d deputised for Jacqui as chair of the senior management committee but this was Steve’s top meeting. This was the Board meeting and she’d never been to one of these before.

Annabelle was there as a guest and ran through the financial summary, which in itself was a revelation. How did people manage to talk in such huge sums of money without quivering? Keith ran through the sales forecast and again the numbers were just as huge. Maybe she’d just not been listening at the Christmas party. Gerry confirmed the schedule for the replacement production line equipment and confirmed the production schedule both at Riverside and at the Components central site down to some considerable level of detail in both technical specification and cost. And then he moved on to personnel. He had placed his advert for an additional secretary. He thanked Steve for his intervention in Cassie’s problems and confirmed that it indeed seemed to be the best solution. 

Intervention? Surely it was Gerry’s issue. But Gerry was continuing on that theme .Yes, he conceded, it was his responsibility, but also that Steve had an enviable track record of success with that kind of thing – and in the spirit of teamwork would he also take the interview with Heidi, considering the impact of her probably losing one of her staff to internal moves and the impending increases in product range and geography which would have a significant impact on her Call Despatch team. 

Juliette gasped quietly. She’d assumed that Steve did all these admin interviews because he wanted to be popular with all the attractive young girls but she hadn’t realised he was actually invited to do this in the interests of corporate success!

Ned Armstrong had been promoted to Production Supervisor, Jed Brown was no longer going to join the company, and instead Emma had been promoted to Production Manager. Oh wow! At least I knew about some of this stuff.

“That’s what you should’ve done in the first place” pointed out Matt “what we don’t need is someone new coming in and upsetting the applecart. Its fragile enough as it is”

Juliette held her breath. Was this the norm?

“I agree” said Steve almost jovially “But it wasn’t practical before. The initial plan was to keep it as an independent PnL and that would be too much for Emma. However, as an integrated sub division of Gerry’s empire it makes sense, like you said. If we’d all been convinced from the outset that it would succeed, we could have done this to start with. However, there are a number of more serious issues down at Components now. Lucy has found some anomalies in the figures late last year and that’s going to come back and bite us shortly. Annabelle is on the case, but that’s detracting from her R&D work and leaves Finance in even more trouble. Its actually fortuitous that Lucy is now working for Annabelle in Finance so they can look at this issue together. A matter of priorities really”
 “Steve, you’re just plain short of accountants” replied Matt leaning across the table.

“I know. I underestimated the amount of counting beans seem to need. But I’m about to get Juliette on the case”

She looked up astonished at the mention of her name. It would normally be Jacqui that initiated that sort of activity.

“Why not Lisa?”

“Because she’s leaving. Actually she’s already left. Her husband has taken a senior directorship of an international conglomerate in Leeds and she’s going with him. She’s completed the detailed financial projection and production plan already and was intending to start on the Finance department which is why Emma is already running the site. That’s why she’s not been around for a few days. She’s on 3 months’ notice but there’s no point in her joining Finance for such a short time. She’d be as well to leave immediately and let me and Annabelle get on with it - The structure and recruitment that is” he added superfluously “But no worries, she’ll be back to buy us all a drink before her final farewell”

“Well I’ll be….. so why not get Jacqui on the case? From where I sit, Juliette looks up to her neck already…”

Oh my goodness! Gerry actually noticed that. And Steve has already mentioned it. I never realised that the top team were that switched on to the state of us mere mortals…

“That’s not this item on the agenda. That’s next” joked Steve, but Matt looked displaced. Attempting to wind Steve up just wasn’t working. Maybe next time.

Steve moved on to ask round the table how their preparations for international expansion were progressing as Juliette sat frozen to the chair. She’d never even heard of this and it would be her turn next.

“Juliette, forgive me if I’m wrong, but I doubt if you know anything about this? So we’ll pick this up separately after this meeting”

Wow! Rescued again. 

Ruth replenished the coffee cups as Matt leaned back in his chair replacing his frown with a conciliatory smile. He was getting used to the style and seemed to be so much less stressed than he had been when he came in to the site for Jamie’s meetings. 

Ruth loved her job. This bit was playing hostess until some important action needed to be noted but in the meantime she could just watch as the frantic pace since the last meeting was put into a sensible perspective and the good, the bad and the ugly points of progress were extracted.

“Calm down, Matt” Steve was continuing “Haven’t you realised yet that this place only works properly when its either in crisis or completely out of control”

“Yes, Steve. I had noticed that was the case. But I do keep anticipating that you will change it”

“Ok. Annabelle, thankyou for your contribution. We’ll pick up on Finance personnel in a separate meeting once you decide what we ought to do.”

Me? I decide what to do? – well of course, I mean, who else would….!

He waited till Annabelle had closed the door. 

“Ruth, can you schedule that please. Ok. Lets talk about Jacqui – since it’s a popular subject. Last Tuesday Jacqui came to see me. Very briefly. Jacqui has some serious family issues…..”

 Juliette looked more intensely towards him, perhaps hoping that he might beam a full explanation in her direction. She was stunned. And disappointed. Surely she would have recognised the signs if her boss was having personal trouble, but no. It had all escaped her and she immediately questioned her own emotional awareness.

“She requested a move to part time working, but following a chat with Juliette I suggested an alternative. While her request was for time, I’m predicting that she will also need patience and energy. Her plan includes home schooling for one of her sons for the time being. So what I have proposed is that she take a three month leave of absence and concentrate full time on sorting that out without any distractions from us. And in the meantime Juliette will be seconded in as Head of HR fixed term for that period which is why she is invited to this meeting. Ok, Juliette, if you could also meet with Annabelle and pick up on the recruitment for Finance please, and Ruth, can you schedule that for them so that its after my meeting with Annabelle. And put an update meeting in my diary and put this on the next SMT agenda. I’ll let Heather know but she can pick up the detail from the SMT. And Juliette, I expect you’ll need some additional support in HR particularly to pick up the implications of the international plan as well as replacing all of Terry’s temps on top of the other issues that we have already talked about. If I were you, I’d raise the paperwork in your current position and then sign it all off in your role as Head of HR” 

She put her hand to her head in a gesture of exasperation “I thought we agreed that shouldn’t work?”

“Yes. I think we agreed that the process shouldn’t work. That’s not to say that in practice it wouldn’t”

She smiled in defeat. Oh my! And Ruth worked on this rollercoaster every day! But now thinking that the meeting might be about to finish she continued “Steve. Which procedure are we going to use to confirm Jacquie’s extraordinary leave?”

Keith perked up. He was happy to leave asking Steve about HR processes to someone braver than him.

“Juliette. I have absolutely no idea. I’ve defined the objective. How you get there as Head of HR is entirely up to you and I expect you’ll be pleased to know that I won’t be interfering in that particular aspect”

Steve was unconventional, sometimes outrageous. But the solutions were in place and that - at least in Steve's book - is what really mattered. The end simply justified the means. 

Now with that out of the way, it was quiet in Steve’s office. Heather popped in for an expected few minutes to make sure she had all the correct details for her information newsletter. Steve made sure Cassie was added to the list and then sat her down to discuss what eulogy they should print for Lisa, and then a short statement on Jacqui and some encouraging message about Juliette. Heather sat with increasing dismay as Steve went on to describe these changes. Initially she thought that maybe she’d forgotten or missed them, but Steve consoled her that they were all new since the re-org meeting at the Blue Boar and that there was no way she could have known about them. Not that she could admit to anyway because if she had, she should have told him. 

“And we need something on the integration of Components. Maybe just something short and then next month a full interview with Emma”

To Steve this was all progress. Now hopefully he could replicate the situation at home.  

One Way to Recover

It was quiet time at the Briers, and Steve was sitting on the edge of Rochelle’s bed. This time she looked like she'd changed into her nightie and didn't shrink away so much. She’d been improving all week and now on Wednesday she had fully recovered her voice and her smile and had ramped up towards the activity level that Geneviève operated at. 

It was exhausting, she’d said earlier that evening “I don't know how she keeps the pace!” 

“Practice” 

Now most of the tension had gone. She was still nervous but he was happy that good progress had also been made.

“Steve” she opened as he’d sat down on the edge of her bed “I think one of my main problems is that I don't understand what happened” 

“Ok. And that means you wouldn't be able to recognise the signs to prevent it happening again?” 

“Yes. I know some things. I remember what happened at the hotel, I still suffer vivid flashbacks, but I don’t understand how I got there although Geneviève has some sort of theory. I've got a study period tomorrow and I'm going to write a script that we can perform as a short play. I'm going to make up the bits I don't know from what everyone else thinks might have happened, and then see if it all fits together and if the audience thinks it's feasible. There are some key points to work from” 

“Are you sure about this? Running a replay may bring back all the bad memories!”

“But I'd understand it and that would mean I could come to terms with it. But Steve, you will help me with it, won't you” 

“Me?” 

“Yes. You're the only male around here and the script has to be for one male and one female” 

“Shelly, we hardly know each other. This could go all horribly wrong” 

“But it's only a play. If it was on a real stage I might never have met the leading man before” 

“Ok. But we need to be careful about the script” 

“But it won't be real without you, and you're the only one I trust” 

Steve took the script with him to work on Friday. The hotel bedroom scene was graphically detailed and deeply concerning. This was not just tumbling around a little like a play fight with Holly. This was the sort of stuff you get arrested for if anyone finds out. But it was written as a play and it looked like it was written as a play and there was nothing to suggest that Steve was the leading character or that it was based on personal experience. He just had to find a way of persuading Rochelle not to act it out the next day without disappointing her too much.

Not content with Holly’s fashion show and now Rochelle’s play, the weekend was about to get even busier. Clive and Denise were back from Yemen and Eloise had invited them for dinner on Saturday. 

In the meantime, Danni had phoned Steve. Ruth put the call through saying she didn’t think it was either Holly or Geneviève and it reminded him so much of that call from Holly so very long ago last year.

But Danni sounded up beat, if a bit nervous 

“Steve. I know you’re busy so I’ll try to be quick. Dad and mum have got the idea from somewhere that I’m responsible for all the trouble Rochelle’s in. I did say to Geneviève that this might happen. Listen Steve, I was thinking you could invite them round and they could see Rochelle’s play and that would explain the situation. Because otherwise he’s for sure going to pull me out of St Lukes never mind what other retribution he’d take like maybe cutting both my ears off”

Steve was thinking maybe he ought to say that Marvin wasn’t that bad, but Danni lived there and she might actually know better.

“Ok. Sounds like a plan. Holly has her fashion presentation anyway and I think she’s expecting you to help her with that”

“Yes, and Rochelle and Geneviève are involved as well, It should be fun and Holly’s worked so hard on getting everything ready. I just hope Eloise likes them”

“Ok, Danni. I’ll call your mum and see if I can persuade her to come to the show”

That evening, the scale of Saturday’s event emerged over dinner. Holly’s enthusiasm for the wider audience overshadowed everything else, but Steve could see that Rochelle might be having second thoughts. Quiet time was not the time to discuss this. It could easily play on her mind all night and that would set everything back.

But with Holly franticly sewing, Geneviève on piano and Eloise getting a head start on the menu, Steve saw Rochelle was in a contemplative pose in the TV lounge. It was smaller than the main living room and she seemed to like sitting there to collect her thoughts. He poured her a small glass of Amaretto along with his Scotch and water and waited for her to notice he was there. 

“Can I sit down?”

She smiled at him “Of course you can”

“Beside you?”

“Ok”

He handed her the glass

“Sip it. Its not as powerful as Cointreau, but its not water either”

“Did you read my script? What d’you think?”

“Yes. Its scary stuff”

“Yes, but I think I’m ok now. Actually, just writing it seemed to help me. I just need to check out my guess about what led up to it”

Steve maintained a serious expression. It would be so easy to say, yes, its all over now, but…

“Rochelle, I think we need a change of plan if your parents and Danni’s parents are going to be here as well….”

“I was thinking that. But I don’t know what”

“But there’s something else Rochelle, now that I’ve read the script, I want to ask you a more personal question, and I don’t want you get upset”

“Oh, I’ll try not to! What’s the problem?”

He turned to look at her trying to summon up his gentlest smile
 “Shelly. Is there any chance that you might be pregnant?”

“Nooo!. No way!”

“Shelly, is that ‘don’t dare to think about it’ or is that ’there’s no way that happened’. Because if it did, the sooner we do something about it the better so that you don’t write off the rest of your life”

She gasped in air several times before being able to answer

“No. Not at all” she said eventually “It never got that far. Everything was in the script”

She sat quietly sipping her drink, embarrassed and amazed that that conversation even took place. Like Danni before her, she wasn’t used to drinking liqueurs but every so often she would look up at Steve who was simply sitting there with her. He’d been talking sporadically about the food preparation for Saturday, but she hadn’t been listening and the rest of the time she was just pleased that he was there, quietly taking time with her.

“Shelly, I don’t know if you still want to do your play with the larger audience, but if you do I think we need to revise the script. I know its only a play, but I don’t think…”

“I think you’re right. Can’t see my dad being best pleased at you jumping on top of me. Or ripping off my underwear. But it all loses impact if we don’t do those bits. And mum and dad won’t understand and they’ll think I was just making a big fuss about nothing if we tone it down too much”

“I agree. It’s a dilemma. If we make it too graphic some people will for sure get upset, like your mum and dad and probably Danni’s dad too because he’s a bit Victorian in his outlook and maybe Eloise as well”

It was quiet time and she wriggled across her bed the way Danni did to make more room for him to sit down.

“Your question earlier. Steve…”

“Oh Shelly, I didn’t mean to upset you. But its important and I’d have asked that question of Geneviève or Holly. Or Danni for that matter”

“Its ok, Steve. I think its sweet of you to care enough to ask. But I’m ok. It just showed me how much worse it could have been. And it wasn’t, so that makes it not so bad. But I’m still trying to think of a way to do my play so that I understand how it all happened and so that everyone understands why I was so upset”
 “Ok. I’ve got an idea for you to think about if you want. We tone down the script but not too much. But we also change the actors. What you do is play the part of a narrator, setting the scene and introducing the characters and what’s happening. I still play the villain, but Eloise plays the part of Rochelle”

She thought about this silently. It appeared to be her way, to think in silence

“Yes. Yes, that solves the issues I think. And it would let me watch as well and that would help”

“And if we use the same dress, that would make it more realistic for you. We’ll get Holly to put a couple of loose stitches in it so that it falls apart more easily and we’ll hide a pair of torn panties up the skirt as well to fake that bit”

Holly spent all day sewing on Saturday leaving Geneviève to entertain both Shelly and Danni, but by late afternoon everything was done. Holly had intended to open the show, but had now delegated the opening outfit to Danni so that she could play hostess to everyone. 

She made sure that everyone had a drink in their hand and was comfortably positioned in the living room. But the art of being in two places at once was eluding her and Geneviève, not yet dressed for her turn on the catwalk, was subpoenaed to give the introduction

“I’m sure that Denise and Clive have no idea what its all about. And its likely that Angie and Marv don’t either”

Geneviève gave an unrehearsed introduction to Holly’s company and some background on the S and G fashion show and Holly’s bespoke clients. She explained that Eloise was the head fashion buyer at S and G and now things started falling into place after the basic concept had sunk in.

With everything ready, Holly reappeared making no secret of topping up her glass at the bar before thanking Geneviève for her introduction and the show was on the road. It was like the very first impromptu fashion show that Steve did for Eloise to prove that it didn't need to be complex or expensive, but on this occasion there were 5 entries not just two and Holly was compère rather than Steve. 

Danni was first on because she had a second outfit and had to fit in a quick change. Being most nervous, Shelly was next, then Geneviève, Danni again for her second round, and finally Holly herself, introduced by Geneviève. They all watched with appreciation as none of the designs was something they’d seen before. Each had its little twist or idiosyncrasy. Marvin watched his little girl behaving so much like a grown up model and Steve had noticed him trying to refocus as Rochelle appeared at the doorway in her allocated design. All too soon it was over! She’d been working on this for a month and working frantically all week. And now it was over in a fifteen minute crescendo! She thanked everyone for watching and adjourned for dinner. 

Rochelle bounced into the dining room with Geneviève to finish setting the table and bring everything in. This was so much more fun than boarding. And a whole lot safer! And this activity did not go unnoticed by Clive and Denise.

“What does everyone think” asked Holly looking particularly at Steve as the remnants of the main course disappeared and Geneviève went to fetch dessert.

“Holly. It's not up to me. It's purely mummy's decision on what’s going to sell in the store” 

“But you must have an opinion as well” contested Eloise 

“Yes, but you shouldn't pay too much attention to it” 

“Well maybe not and I’ve got my notes, but I’d still like to hear everyone’s opinion” 

The discussion was a lot more lively than anyone expected with views coming in from all corners.

“Certainly” Denise said “if it was available, that gown that Geneviève was wearing would be ideal for these formal evening dinners in Aden. Its modern and unusual without being too risqué for the Middle Eastern protocols”

“She does take commissions” hinted Danni

“Really?”

“What I think you might like to consider” added Steve “is that the supplier in question has a limited manufacturing capacity so I think it would be prudent to limit the acceptance to ensure that delivery can be achieved”

“So which one would you choose?”

“Ok which ones. Danni number 1 to me looked very old fashioned. It's ok making retro stuff, but this looked straight out of the sixties and this is meant to be fashion, not fancy dress” 

Holly frowned, Rochelle was disappointed on her behalf, and Denise took a sharp intake of breath thinking that was a bit harsh.

“I liked it” said Clive “It would be nice to bring that sort of thing back, but maybe that’s too ambitious”

“I think that’s right. But one rack of dresses isn’t going to instigate a fashion revival. I think you’d need several designs from the same period and preferably backed up by a retro hit movie”

“Ok. Now Geneviève” continued Steve “Long flowing satin. I like it a lot and it's the kind of thing that really suits her, so good choice of model Holly. However, it may be more suited to summer prom or Christmas party season rather than Spring collection. Taking into account your production capacity it may be worth saving that until a later season and in the meantime take a commission from Denise”

“Can we talk about that later, Holly. I really do like it” 

“Your one Holly, is great. It makes you look even more sexy than ever. I can see you selling out of these in ten minutes if you set up a stall outside the Blue Boar on a Saturday night, and I can easily see Danni number two being worn around my site by quite a number of the girls there.” 

Rochelle was looking disappointed that maybe she'd been missed out even though she was on the chair beside him as he turned towards her 

“Holly, I think that Rochelle’s one was just a fraction on the short side for everyday use, but Rochelle, if you’re going to wear something like that you can sit next to me anytime....” 

Danni burst out laughing. Telling his daughter she looked sexy was off the wall. This was the next level – it was the sort of thing she’d expect him to say to her just to wind up her dad especially as Steve continued “I think it's probably unsuitable for most girls without adding 10 or 15 centimetres to the hemline. However, I'd like to commission one right now for Eloise” 

Clive burst out laughing, but the humour seemed to have evaded Marvin. Eloise smiled a contented smile with a sparkle in her eyes as she looked over towards him. Just thinking about what he’d do to her if she was dressed like that just made her tingle all over. She felt wonderful and didn’t care who, at least around this table, noticed. But the last word was from Denise

“I’m afraid I agree with Steve on that. I think its just the wrong side of risqué, considering some of the boys I know at St Eustace”

Eloise largely agreed with him on his critique of the fashions. She'd fully consider it all again when she was in her office on Monday but would almost certainly be placing an order. 

“Holly, I hope you’re not too disappointed” she said

“No way! Like daddy said, I wouldn't be able to supply all five anyway” 

“Ok” Steve concluded “You should consider just what capacity you have and don’t take orders if you can’t deliver. This includes thinking about the likelihood of another commission, maybe from Vanessa”

“Yes” agreed Danni “And Sarah Wilshier may well go ahead with her one too. Her event was at Lady Merton-Dunster’s invitation, but isn’t till next month”

But the pudding needed to be eaten and the conversation lapsed 

“Once we clear everything away, will we still have time for our little play?” asked Rochelle 

“Oh my! A fashion show and a play. We are in for an unexpected treat”

“Unexpected – certainly. Treat – only maybe” cautioned Steve

The plan had always been to have the fashion show before dinner and to have Rochelle's play afterwards and everyone was looking forward to it, with the possible exception of Steve. 

Coffee was served and Rochelle stood back from the table turning to face everyone

 “The reason for the play is to replay the events to create a clearer picture for me and everyone else so that we can understand what happened that has caused so much grief. I wrote the script to clarify it for myself. It also includes a possible scenario of the events leading up to the incident itself, but this is just one possibility because right now we just don’t know.”

This was proving to be rather hard for her and she looked around everyone for inspiration or support as her eyes rested on Steve.

He got up from his chair and slipped his arm around Rochelle’s shoulders taking the cue

“Rochelle’s original plan was that she would play herself and I would play the villain but I’m not so sure that’s the best plan. There haven’t been any rehearsals because we don’t want her to go through this more often than necessary, so the scripts will largely be read. I also think it would be more effective if she could see what was going on, even if there is of necessity some improvisation. Also, due to the nature of the incident, the script is rather risqué, some might say graphic. However, you must appreciate that I have already toned down Rochelle’s original so that I was in less danger of being arrested and you should bear in mind that it is this less disturbing version that we will be enacting. The revised plan was that Rochelle acts as narrator. However to give her the best chance of seeing the whole story without distractions, I think Geneviève should take over that role and I’m looking for a co-star to shine with me in the bedroom scene”

“Is that going to be you, mum?” asked Geneviève accepting the script from Rochelle

“If no-one else volunteers I expect so. Except I might not be able to make it very realistic”

“Are you not an actress?” asked Clive

“I could do. But its because if Steve made any approach to me in a bedroom, I’d be more inclined to encourage him after about three seconds”

This defused the formality and everyone saw the humour except Marvin. He scowled disapprovingly while the laughter from the others almost drowned out Danni’s provocative “Hmm. That lets me out, then” that he immediately reproached. 

Denise did not look as though she was going to jump at the chance as Danni looked around the table

“What about you, mum? You used to be in the drama group back in your Uni days didn’t you?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Steve says it’s a bit rude”
 “Yes, but I would have thought that was an advantage although its not like its New Years Eve or anything”

Angela flashed a glare at her daughter as her memory was transported back only a few weeks and a rather vague recollection of being tangled up in her dress and someone rescuing her from almost certain strangulation. It also reminded her of Marvin’s condition that night as she noticed that he’d just poured another large Speyside which seemed to be distracting him from this important turn of events. It irritated her, rising quickly to annoyance

“And” Danni whispered to her mum just to fuel the fire “its not as if dad’s going to notice”

“Daniella!” said Steve trying and failing to sound cross “Maybe not, but I expect that Eloise will. And anyway, its only a play”

“More’s the pity else I’d be volunteering”
 “Daniella! How much have you had to drink?”

But Angela was now getting aggravated partly by Danni’s needling her but more by Marvin’s almost empty glass.

“Yes!. All right!” agreed Angela “But I might need another G and T first”

Eloise disappeared through to the bar to replenish the glasses while Danni started to clear the table

“To play the part you need to be in costume” said Rochelle “Its quite key, and Holly has sorted that out. And I’ll go through the key points with you”

They led Angela away to get changed and make a few quick alterations while everyone else finished clearing up and returned to the living room. 

With a whole lot more confidence than expected, Rochelle set the show moving with a melodramatic opening

 “If the fashion show gave you a glimpse of what the future looks like, this play will inform you about the past” 

“This is the play of what happened on Sunday two weeks ago” she started fearfully only now appreciating that the audience had grown to include Danni’s parents as well and the side comments she’d picked up on suggested that Danni’s dad at least was nowhere near as broad minded as Eloise and Steve. And she really had no idea what her own parents would make of it.

“We don't really know everything, so we've guessed the bits we're not sure of and adapted the rest. The idea is for you to watch and decide if that bit is feasible. But I also want you, mum and dad, to see what happened so that you understand and then I hope you’ll agree that I wasn’t just making a fuss about nothing”

Denise and Clive exchanged fearful glances as Geneviève took over the script

“The action starts the day before with a phone call from Unknown Person to Unknown Boy”

Rochelle handed out 4 scripts to Clive and Steve to read and for Denise and Angela.

Danni stretched her hand offering to help “Sorry, Danni, Its better if you don’t do this because someone in here is impersonating you and it might get confusing” as she motioned her dad to get the show on the road

“Hey dude, you remember that girl that you couldn't keep your eyes off at Sabrina's party 

“Yeah, what of it” 

“Well, I hear she's got this major crush on you and she'd be up for pretty much anything given half a chance” 

“Yeah? But I can't just invite her back to the dorm. We all share rooms remember?” 

“Yeah, well check out a room at the Park. They do like day rooms for business meetings for companies like Clarkes Meats. Just say you’re from them and take it for the afternoon. It should go on their account too. Then tell me what number it is and I'll get the word back to her to meet you there. Of course she's bound to play a little hard to get at first just to maintain her street cred, but believe me, you’re gonna be in for a surprise” 

“Hey Rochelle, it's Danni” 

“Danni! It's a really bad line” 

“Yes. Don't know why. It's only going across town. Anyway, now that you’ve moved in as a boarder I thought you might be at a loose end. Maybe you’d like to take afternoon tea tomorrow. 3.30. I've got a private room at the Park. Just come straight on up. Room 326” 

“The action now moves to the Park Royal hotel. The foyer is here in the hall and room 326 is upstairs”

“I’m so looking forward to this. There was I thinking I might be left out because I don’t board all the time and the other girls are all in their little groups and cliques. And an invitation from Danni! Wow!”

They followed Angela up to the bedroom as she tapped on the door and went in.

Steve was already sitting on the end of the bed and the audience spilled in hoping not to get in the way.

“Hey, how you doing. Fantastic that you could make it. Jeez! Am I looking forward to this. Hey, how are you anyway” 

“I'm ok” she said looking around “where is everyone?” 

“What d’you mean, everyone. There's just us two. Its not an exhibition. And take you coat off if you’re staying” 

“Where's the tea. Hasn't it arrived yet? And where’s Danni?” 

“We don't need tea. And its just you and me, that's all we need” 

Steve had moved over to her now and took hold of her looking for a kiss. She wriggled free trying not to drop her script

“I don't understand!” 

“Yes you to. You and me. As you wanted it” 

He took hold of her again and she tumbled over landing on the bed. 

“That’s better” as he landed on top of her, wrestling as Angela squirmed around trying to punch and pummel him as Steve tried as hard as he could to remain convincing. Denise let out a sharp yelp and grabbed Eloise’s arm as the torn remnants of underwear appeared while Angel used the commotion to whisper

“I don’t know what the next line is”.

“You break free at the edge of the bed and remember to slap me across the face, that’s key”

The others crowded around moving out of the way as they chased each other round the bedroom with the audience increasingly wondering just how real this was. She wriggled to the edge of the bed and rolled free as she fell to the floor. She scrabbled to her feet turning to grab her coat as Steve grabbed her shoulder. She landed a slap across his face that nearly knocked him off balance 

“Hey. I knew you were gonna play hard to get but that's a step too far!” 

He grabbed hold of her right shoulder now and ripped the sleeve of her dress that Holly had sewn with only a couple of tacking stitches revealing the wide gap and the already damaged bra strap as Holly had arranged. She screamed as they fell back onto the bed and gasped as she thought that maybe Steve was over-zealous in ripping the dress and that too much of her top had spilled out as she now tried to hide underneath him. She wriggled clear again, and this time grabbed her coat and fled out through the door onto the landing 

“Jeez. That wasn’t the plan. I'd best get out of here” and Steve also disappeared down stairs to the hall

A stunned silence overtook the motionless audience for several moments before exchanging shocked glances and following Steve back down to the hall where the script continued with the phone call for help and Geneviève completed the show by narrating the rest about missing dinner and hiding in her room. 

They all migrated to the living room where Holly played barmaid. Angela was last to arrive but was now back in her own clothes after the quickest of all changes in Holly’s sewing room

Spontaneously, Rochelle got up and threw both her arms around Steve in a big hug, before he took Angela’s hand for a synchronised end of performance bow

“The question is: do you think that's a feasible explanation” asked Rochelle “because I’m actually quite shocked again watching the replay”

There was a muted silence but not for long 

“I think so” said Geneviève “we don't know who made those first phone calls, but I think your version fits in with everything we do know” 

Danni nodded agreement “I think it's possible” 

“Doesn't explain Tamara’s comments before dinner though, does it” added Holly 

“No” agreed Rochelle “but she may just have heard about it from one of her accomplices, it doesn't mean it was her. What do you think Angela?” 

Angela was still suffering a level of shock, but at least now she was now properly dressed. Steve had warned everyone about the content, but that still hadn’t prepared her for the reality.

“I really don’t know. I’m in shock, I think”

“It wasn't a secret that you were starting boarding. I think that made you more vulnerable” added Eloise, rescuing Angela from having to say anything else
 “And the play was very realistic” said Denise “I’m glad I wasn’t playing the lead. I’d have been terrified even if it was all scripted. Eloise?”

“I think it explains why you were in such a state when we found you Rochelle. But the play. I think Angela may have been enjoying it a bit more than you did”

But the seductive smile on her face showed that she wasn't going to make an issue of it and the girls all burst out laughing. 

“There! Told you to volunteer mum”

“You don't think it was too realistic for you” Rochelle asked Daniella when they were unexpectedly alone 

“It's a play. It's supposed to be realistic. The more realistic it is the better it is. And yes, parts if it were very realistic” 

“Oh dear! I hope Steve doesn’t get into any trouble by going too far” 

“I doubt it. He was supposed to be playing lead villain” 

“Yes, but I wrote the script. Steve even toned it down a bit in case he got into trouble with Eloise. But I think your mum quite likes him. I mean, he is quite cute - you know, for an older guy” 

“Listen Rochelle. In the unlikely event that he creeps into my bed at midnight you won't find me escaping out the other side anytime soon” 

The play and it's discussion had taken most of the evening and with the guests staying overnight, Steve and Eloise's indiscreet time on the settee had disappeared. It had certainly made everyone think, but Denise and Clive had had a big day already, Angela was in danger of emotional meltdown with too many different thoughts while Marvin had simply had far too much to drink. For the girls, it was late and the excitement of the play had given them all, like Angela, something extra to think about. Supposing the trick had been played on Daniella? Or Holly? And what would she be saying if Marvin and Eloise had taken the lead roles? 

Denise and Clive were perturbed. Yes, their little girl was growing up and this incident was distressing. But while this replay was quite graphic, this unconventional approach to coming to terms with it seemed to be working. And if Rochelle accepted it as a lesson learnt then maybe no serious damage had been done.

Marvin was less pleased with the result, or at least what he’d seen of it. It now appeared that Daniella was innocent all along and that was another thing he didn’t have her over a barrel for. Angela was more upbeat. She’d enjoyed cavorting on the bed with Steve. What she came to realise on reflection is that what she would have preferred is that the audience had evaporated and Steve had continued to undress her. Like Eloise, she’d prefer just to give in – or even encourage the activity, where in reality he ended up fighting her off, not the intended other way round, to try to maintain the realism for Rochelle. 

Now at lights out time, Steve checked the 4 girls but they were all asleep or nearly asleep and quiet time was bypassed. The best he got was a murmured thankyou from Rochelle as he ventured to kiss her head like he did with the other three before heading for his own room. 

He expected Eloise to be in a similar state and was concerned that the realism might have upset her. But no, she was standing at the far side of the room looking out over the west lawn. She’d somehow shoehorned herself into the dress that Rochelle had been wearing for the fashion show. Steve had been right, it was far too short to go out in public. It was no longer than a long blouse and being a size larger than Rochelle, the skirt hardly even qualified as a peplum. But none of this was any reason not to wear it now. Especially as it wasn’t likely to stay on very long. 

She turned with a wonderfully twinkly smile even though she looked tired

“I don’t think Angela was trying very hard to fight you off, but in any event, its my turn now”

He held her gently “But despite all the risks and maybe the repercussions, it seems to have done the trick for Rochelle”

He grinned shaking his head. 

“And you! You are the most wonderful girl in the world. My biggest concern was that you’d be upset” 

She beamed over at him “Upset? No. Because of two things. One is I love you. The second is I trust you to love me too. Of course, what this does mean, is that you can't put your hand up my dress. There simply isn't enough of it” 

Which was true and the dress stayed on. There simply wasn't enough of it to get in the way

Breakfast was a wonderfully chaotic affair. Eloise was in charge of food supply, but hindered by almost everyone coming in to help and as a balance Holly declared that she had appointed herself as being in charge of eating. So far, the atmosphere was hopeful with no sign of fallout from the previous evening. 

The plan was that the guests would stay for lunch which was intended to give Marvin enough time to recover and Denise and Clive enough time to talk to Rochelle. 

And while Danni was expecting to be in trouble for some of her comments, it was Marvin that was getting the forked edge of Angela’s tongue. The ear-lashing extended out of their bedroom and down the stairs with Angela eventually apologising to Eloise who had appeared to find out what the commotion was in her otherwise wonderfully happy house. An embarrassed Angela collapsed down onto a chair in the living room tailgated by a furiously embarrassed daughter

“Mother! What on earth is going on? You…”

“That father of yours has gone too far this time” she said jumping up as if maybe she was going to return upstairs for round 2

“Well, at least he didn’t see what you were trying to do to Steve on that bed!”

“That was for Rochelle’s benefit” she defended as Steve came in to find out what all the fuss was 

“Yes” he said “and whatever effort it took, it seems to have done the trick. I think Rochelle will be ok now, and Denise isn’t worried sick anymore, so Angela, thankyou. But I’m sorry if its upset Marvin”

“No” snapped Angela “This is nothing to do with that” 

But Daniella wasn’t going to let it lie there

“So how is it I have to keep in line and be absolutely no trouble when he gets to disgrace himself and us as well?”

Angela welled up with tears forming in her eyes as Steve gave her a cuddle

“I don’t know what’s happened to him. Something’s flipped him. He’s just turned into an alcoholic?”

Angela turned to Steve for consolation as Eloise arrived as well.

“And” Daniella finished “you get hugs from Steve for being out of line and I’m no trouble at all and get nothing. Where’s the justice in that? Where’s the incentive?”

She spun round and disappeared to find Holly.

Eloise took over from Steve leading Angela into the kitchen for a cup of tea.

Steve went to check that the Baileys were staying for lunch. He also confirmed that peace had not evacuated the building completely and was alive and well in the tv room. Danni wasn’t difficult to find. She was sitting dejected in the corner of Holly’s sewing studio doing a minor imitation of a sulk.

“Hey daddy! Did you come to tell me it was cake time?”

“No, I think you’ve missed it – or is it another twenty minutes?” as he went over to Danni instead. She looked up with a faint smile “Sorry”

He held out his hand and pulled her out of the chair to stand up. Then reaching around her he lifted her clean off the floor in a huge bear hug

“Danni, that’s about as big a hug as I can give you without squeezing the life out of you”

He put her down and she returned the hug leaning her cheek into him as Holly looked on in a state of some resignation.

 “Danni” he continued as he held both of her hands “I know life in your house is very different from here. You just need to accept that things are different in different places because people are all different. But what you will often find is that people spend a lot of their time sorting out problems. And if you're not a problem you stand a good chance that no-one notices and you get left out. How many of your teachers know Rochelle? And how many know Tamara?”

“Well I think I’ll just have to cause some trouble to avoid being ignored”

“I think you may have already done that with your mum” .

Angela was still with Eloise in the kitchen as Steve poked his head round. the door. There was some serious coffee making going on, but it would have to wait as he slipped his arms around Eloise as she gasped in surprise.

Cue Fire and Ice by Within Temptation 

“I was just saying to Danni that if you don’t cause any trouble you often go unnoticed. I’m just making sure that doesn’t apply to you”

She turned with a contented gasp, kissed him quickly and thrust an assiette of sliced cake into his hands

“Living room please” 

Nine of them made it for cake and almost as many for coffee as Rochelle took the opportunity to thank everyone for helping her with her play. She was feeling so much more positive and confident now. It had let her look in from the outside and although it was a trauma at the time it all didn’t seem quite so bad now. It could have been so much worse and she was so sorry for causing such a scare and the added stress of how to explain it to her parents had also evaporated.

Marvin made it in as a latecomer. He was looking rough, sounding rougher and was only possibly heading in the direction of sober. As Danni had risked, he didn’t really know what had been going on, and was still very firmly in the doghouse which had the negative effect of diverting the attention from her. But not for long 

“Daddy, you missed the show”

Marvin scowled at her

“It was very realistic” said Clive with an emphasising shake of his head “Poor Rochelle must have been terrified”

 “Yes” agreed Denise “I was really scared at one point wondering how far it would all go, but now we understand and we all need to try to get over it. And no, darling, I don’t think you’ve been making a fuss about nothing”

“It was a very risky and ambitious thing to do” continued Clive “But sometimes risky and ambitious pays off. And all your idea, Shelly?”

“Yes”

“So well done. Not just for the idea, and for the script and not least for persuading Steve to go along with it. That was quite a risk for him too”

“Yes, but daddy, that’s what friends are for” agreed Rochelle flashing a satisfied smile at Steve “I’ve no intention of replaying this again, but I think I can go back to the dorm and stop being a nuisance. What do you think Danni?”

“What I think is it would have been more realistic if mum wasn’t enjoying herself so much” 

“So this was a very realistic depiction, was it” demanded Marvin staring venomously at Angela

“Oh yes” goaded Danni “It had to be to decide if it was a feasible sequence of events”

“But.... But, this was some sort of serious assault. And in a bedroom. And then a realistic replay! It can't have been very realistic, surely?”

“Oh, I think it was. Mum's Rochelle was definitely worth an Oscar” she stirred again with a widening grin “It had to be or Rochelle’s mum and dad wouldn’t understand why she was so upset”

“And that's what helped me see what happened, and now I can just accept it and how foolish I was to be taken in like this, and move on. And it won't happen again because I know now that I can discuss any weird invitations I get with everyone here”

“Well, if you do get into another situation like this and you decide to write a replay, can I volunteer to play you” smirked Danni continuing to bait her father

“Don’t hold your breath, Danni. But what it does mean is that I can go back to boarding without any concerns and that means, mum and dad, you can go to the Middle East and not worry about me”

Danni

With that resolved the sun was peeking out from Rochelle, but the weather was decidedly changeable moving round the lunch table. The breeze had dropped around Clive and Denise, while over at the other side fog seemed to have descended over Marvin, frost had overtaken Angela and Danni was all washed out like in the wake of a monsoon.

They’d gone to find out how guilty Daniella was and the answer was not at all. This should have been hailed as success, but Danni had picked up the vibes in a completely different way. Despite doing everything right. Despite learning quickly from her mistakes. Despite being a good girl, even if sometimes it was at the second attempt, her parents didn’t trust her. They thought the worst. She was guilty until proved innocent and she was missing out on attention all round because she had tried so hard to avoid problems rather than needing help recovering from them. Not that she was jealous of Rochelle. She wouldn’t have wanted to have been attacked like that either, but the incident had side-lined her for not being sufficiently troublesome and that was unforgivably unfair. Especially with her dad behaving like an cloth-eared ignoramus.

 “I think Shelly will be all right now. I’m confident” said Clive as they prepared to drive back to London that afternoon

“Me too” echoed Rochelle

“Over in Aden, both sides will be expecting us to demand an immediate ceasefire when the talks start, so there will be increased activity to kill a few dozen more of the opposition in the next few weeks. But with this priority sorted out, we can change the strategy to start the negotiations earlier, even as early as next Wednesday and catch both sides off guard”

Oh good, thought Danni. More winners in this sorry case. And so far only one loser. Me.

 “Your backstop” said Eloise turning to Rochelle “is that you can come back here. That means you're parents don’t need to be so concerned. And it gives you the safety net you need to re-establish your own confidence”

And my safety net? Rob a bank? Steal a car? Get pregnant? Might just attract some interest.

“Shelly, you let your parents get off as soon as they can. We’ll take you back to St Lukes later this afternoon and give you time to settle back in before class tomorrow”

And me? Travel home in a cool box with two icebergs, then hang out in a war zone that’s about to erupt from a ceasefire. She went to pack her case but was surprised by the tap on her door. Holly would just have come barging in, probably Geneviève or even Rochelle would as well. Mum or dad would have been a much more forceful knock, but instead Steve poked his nose round the door.

“Danni…”

“What” she snapped

“Now don’t you start getting upset or I’ll turn you upside down”

“You can’t do that. I’m wearing a flared dress”
 “Sounds like encouragement rather than a deterrent”

“Well don’t anyway. I’m in enough trouble all ready”

“I’m not so sure. But I do think you're feeling a bit isolated”

Isolated? Yes. 

“But Danni, your mum and dad are headed for a bit of a stormy patch. Everyone hits them sometimes in their lives, and they might need your support”

My support! They’re supposed to be looking after me! They’re parents for crying out loud!

“Steve” she pleaded “I don’t know what to do. I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. I’m getting into trouble by staying out of trouble”

“You phoned me to set this up to keep yourself at St Lukes, and I think it’s a success”

“I guess so” she said with a slightly less despondent sigh

“The other issues your parents have got must have been building up for some time. Its probably not connected with any of this”
 “Except maybe demolishing your 20 year old Speyside”

“I can get another bottle, but getting new parents is really quite hard”

She took the step towards him and put her arms round him

“So Danni, you know your dad is only looking for any excuse to pull you from St Lukes to save money. So don’t you go doing anything daft just to get back at them. It probably won’t work if they’re tied up in their own problems, and its you and your own life that would suffer most. Please don’t do anything stupid although I can understand why you might want to. You’ve got your friends like Holly and Geneviève and I think Rochelle will be your friend too. I’m your friend too, Danni. But I need to be careful not to be seen to be interfering. The important thing is that you have to live your own life. Please don’t write it off through being silly just to get noticed. Listen, next time you’re over here maybe we’ll all go to the Castle as a celebration of you being no trouble at all”

By now he’d folded her into his arms and she reached up and kissed him on the lips “Steve, I need a daddy like you”

This was all looking too much like a Holly replay. The main difference was that he didn’t actually like Angela very much. She was far too demanding and self-centred and nowhere near as pretty as Eloise. 

For Rochelle, the play had been a success, but for everyone else? Especially him! Despite her assurance he really had no idea how much damage the play had done and now everyone else would have to look after themselves for a while. Steve's concentration now had to be on Eloise.

But it was time for the exodus and peace prevailed at the Briers for the first time that weekend. Rochelle was still quite reserved, but joined them on the blue settee that evening. Holly was beside Eloise, then Geneviève in the middle, then Steve and finally Rochelle happily squashed up against the arm.

“If we weren’t all wedged in I could get some drinks” suggested Holly

“I can’t see that slowing you down for long” encouraged Geneviève as Holly wriggled and squirmed all the way to the bar.

There was no shortage of things to talk about. The highlights from the weekend. The play and Rochelle’s new view of the incident; the good the bad and the ugly of life in the dorm; and a commitment to try her very best to avoid needing to come back, even though she’d much rather stay there than live at school in the first place. 

But it was quiet time that evening before Holly had the opportunity to ask “Daddy, could you adopt Danni as well”

But while peace had broken out at the Briers and would probably breakout in the Middle-East the following Wednesday, war had erupted in the Hapgrove house.

Marvin had headed straight for the whisky bottle when he got in. Danni’s attempt at light-hearted intrusion with “Hey, save some for me!” was met with dismissive wrath and Angela tried to grab the bottle but only succeeded in knocking it and his glass off the table smashing on the tiled floor. Danni hid in her room as the underlying simmering discontent erupted from both sides like the anticipated pair of opposing volcanoes. 

In stark contrast, now with Rochelle safely back in her dorm, tranquillity returned remarkably quickly at the Briers with just the four of them. Eloise knew Steve was not keen on life getting into a rut but they were all relieved that a level of normality had returned. Holly poured a large Cointreau and disappeared into her sewing studio to start production. The quiet less adventurous tones of Chopin drifted out from the music room and the green settee welcomed back its absent friends. Eloise leaned back against him and felt the soft caress of the fingers on his right hand creeping reassuringly up inside her dress. Normality had returned.

Tuesday, and Eloise picked up a phone call from Angela. She’d just come back from a successful meeting with Gio. She’d explained why she wanted his sign off on the order for HB Fashion and Design and he had been impressed not only that her daughter had entered the business, but also that Eloise had thought to declare this as a possible conflict of interests. She wasn’t fully concentrating on the call and agreed before really considering the implications. Could they meet for a drink after work? Well, at least Marv and Angie hadn’t killed each other already as Holly had reported might soon be the case and Steve left work earlier than planned to look after the girls 

“What do you think will happen there?” asked Geneviève over dinner

“Its hard to say. Marvin seems to have taken to the bottle in a big way. I hope its only at weekends or his job will suffer soon. And Angela! I think she’s looking for more excitement than Marvin’s likely to give her”

“Daddy, I did say they were both far too stuffy”

“I guess we’ll find out when mummy gets back although I’m not keen on getting sucked into that domestic war. I can see only losers coming out of that” 

“Well that might suit Danni” said Holly “She sees herself as the only loser so far and that would give her some company”

Eloise eventually fell into Steve’s open arms at gone eleven o’clock with Holly already fast asleep although Geneviève’s light was still on.

Steve left her with a small G&T while he said goodnight to Geneviève and reassure her that Eloise was back safely.

Back in the living room she looked like she’d completely collapsed on the settee.

“Oh, please Steve, don’t let me do that again any time soon!”

“I assumed you’d been having such a good time you stayed out”

“Up to a point it was interesting. But good? Oh my! She’s a wreck, Steve, and about to turn into a nightmare. She’s already talking about how she’s not going to afford to live after the divorce”

“So, has she gone home now, or…”
 “No. At least, not when I left her. She was still talking to a group of Italians. Only one of them speaks good English and she doesn’t speak Italian, but they all speak quite good Spanish. But Steve, that was all going only one way. I had to leave. Just for self-preservation. I tried to persuade her to come too but she wouldn’t have it”

“Maybe she’s just intending to make some trouble so that she attracts some attention”
 “Well, she’s not short of attention from the Italians. I mean, they all seem like really nice guys. But they’re over here on business and are clearly off the leash”

“Eloise, you can try if you really want to. But I don’t see any winners coming out of that, and I’m certainly not volunteering to rescue Angela. I’d like to think we could do something for Danni without getting sucked into the rest of it. Its their private conflict and I don’t hold out too much hope for any of them” 

Cue Like a Rose on the Grave of Love – Xandria

Collectively they decided to try to avoid external excitement for a few days. Geneviève, Holly, Steve and Eloise all wanted a little quiet time with just each other’s company, while trying to appear not too selfish. ‘Stabilise’ was Steve’s watchword, and it seemed to be appropriate at work as well as at home.

The week for Steve was quickly disappearing through interruptions but now the priority was to sort out the Finance department. It had been a long time coming. He was nervous of appointing a Financial Director. Beans didn’t need to be counted by anyone that senior. An FD would have to be responsible for investments as well and to that end would have free reign over the company’s funds, and that was the source of the problem known as the Event last year. 

But running on temporary agency staff wasn’t the answer either. The bills were paid and invoices issued but it felt like it was disconnected from the rest of the company. Jasmine seemed to spend her time simply telling the ever changing cast how things were meant to work, and that seemed to suit her more than actually doing any work. He hadn’t brought Annabelle in to be head of department, and his conversations with her so far had indicated that she was more interested in R&D than in managerial admin. The priority was to recruit people to actually do the work, in Facilities, in Production, in Components. Ah! Components! Central site was much more fragile than Riverside and someone needed to have a day to day handle on the number of beans coming in and going out, and that should tally in a simple formula with what is actually in the bank. How hard can it be? 

Recruitment, Annabelle?

His meeting with Annabelle was going rather better than he had expected. She didn’t seem to be overly concerned about Lisa leaving and shared Steve’s perspective that Lisa running Finance would directly conflict with his views about an FD. Instead she suggested a distributed system where a number of accountants would each be responsible for a defined area such as Components, Riverside Production or Penny’s Random Contracts Department as she had christened it. Their figures could be simply collated by Jasmine into a company-wide view. And while Annabelle said that she expected to be in overall control, the individuals would be largely autonomous, leaving her enough time to concentrate on R&D.  

“Ok,” continued Steve picking up the thread “so then at the Board meeting we decide how much of the excess bank balance we can divert into investment”

“I guess so” she conceded “I’ve not considered every last detail”

He talked Annabelle through the recruitment process including the nomination process that he’d implemented the previous year
 “That’s good! It gives everyone the opportunity for alternative career progression”

”Yes, but at the risk of some internal disruption”

She nodded in a ‘no’ sort of way

“But Steve, we’re looking for experienced accountants here, level 2 maybe 3. Its not something that someone like a production-line guy could just bounce into”
 “I agree, but it retains consistency and gives everyone confidence that if a vacancy does come up they’ll be given the opportunity first”

“Oh, I see. From this nomination part of the process?”
 “Yes, and its important in this case because there’s a girl in Heidi’s team called Nicola. She had passed her level 2 before she took the job in Call Despatch. Ok, maybe she won’t want to move back into mainstream accountancy, I don’t know, but I’m sure she’d be really disappointed if she did want to and wasn’t given the chance.”

Annabelle’s next meeting was with Juliette. Juliette made it clear that she was expecting to do most of the initial work on the recruitment so long as Annabelle could tell her what the structure would look like and what levels she was looking for. She started to explain the process but Annabelle said that Steve had already done that. They moved on to talk about interviews and Annabelle’s mind flashed back to her own interview and Ruth’s revelation in the Blue Boar afterwards. Steve’s advice to her since then had been largely more open

“One of the reasons for the interview…” he’d said “… is so that you can find someone who will fit into your team and either replicate or compliment the skill set of your other team members… Juliette should be able to check out qualifications. But there’s so much more to it than that. Of course you need someone who is qualified to do the job, but do you want someone who is joining us because they see this as a medium term move or just a short term stepping stone to something better. 

And hobbies! Are they all individual like marathon running which would indicate that they’re not really a team player. Would they proactively help each other because if they’d just sit there and watch each other flounder into making mistakes then the resentment would spread around the office like a mould”

Meanwhile, Juliette was intent on making the most of her temporary promotion and that meant putting in extra effort. This new Finance department rising from the ashes of the Event was as high profile as anything was likely to get. And she was also keen for it not to turn into a competition for who would be credited with the success. She knew how much Steve preferred team players. And she still had to maintain her rules, regulations and good practice.

“The issue is, Annabelle, I’m quite restricted as to what stuff I can put in the job description so it needs to be found at the interview" 

“But that means we could get a load of applicants for interview that we find are eminently unsuitable in the first five minutes and everyone will be wasting their time. That cv is written by the candidate themselves. It may be all factual, or maybe not” 

“True”

 “And it certainly won't contain all the negatives or mistakes. Whyever would they put that in. I don't think anyone ever does”

"Yes, but those qualifications are easily checked"

 “And if it was just qualifications it would be easy, but there’s so much more to it than that. I need people that will gel together as a team, who can get on together. If I have to spend time refereeing a war I’ll never get anything done….”

She remembered back to that long, increasingly inebriated discussion with Steve at the Christmas party. Oh my! Was that just part of the interview too? 

“Oh gosh! Juliette, this is so much more complicated than I was expecting it to be”

And Juliette was only too well aware of Steve’s position on the rules and regulations on what you could and should not ask.  

‘Hobbies” Steve had said “does she go sailing every weekend, so you need to check the tide tables to see if she'll be late on Monday morning because she’s stuck on an off-shore sand bank or 'is she going to leave and have a baby just after you’ve invested two years training in her’

Oh Steve, we’re not supposed to ask questions like that because it could discriminate unfairly!

‘Interviews by definition are discriminatory! That’s their purpose. And its not unfair discrimination. It’s a perfectly reasonable way to protect the rest of your team from having to pick up the pieces. So, you need to ask these questions before you take the risky step of hiring someone. If they don't want to answer, they can say so - but then that tells you they may not the kind of open, sociable team player you want to hire in the first place’

Rock and hard place came to mind

“Juliette?...” Annabelle interrupted her thoughts “…are you ok?” 

“Sorry, I was thinking about Steve”

“Oh, I don’t think he’ll apply”

“What!”

“Oh Juliette, I just don’t know. And I’ve got to get it right!”

“We both need to get it right”

“I need to think about this. I think I’ll adjourn to the Blue Boar. Do you want to come?”

Now comfortably slouched on a settee in the Blue Boar, Ruth joined them with a tray of drinks. It was supposed to be just a quick one on her way home and was justified by wanting to impress Steve and justify his faith in her. The first round had crept its way down her throat, but the second slipped down far more easily and now it felt like she could quite happily stay here all evening as Annabelle moved the conversation back to her primary issue

“So, how does Nicola fit into this? I mean, do I have to take her on if she applies just because she already works here?”

 “Nicola? Nikki in Heidi’s team?”
 “Yes”

“But Annabelle, we’re looking for experienced accountants!”

“Yes. But she passed her level 2 in a previous life”

“Did she? I didn’t know you knew her”

“No, I don’t know her. Steve told me”

“Steve? How would he know that?”
 “I’ve no idea. He was using her as an example of why we have the internal process before we look outside”

“But surely he doesn’t know that level of detail about everyone. I mean, that wouldn’t be in her HR file, Juliette. Would it?”

“It might well be on her or original CV. That’ll be in there. But why would he be reading Nikki’s cv? It also makes me wonder. I had a chat with Steve a few weeks ago and then the following week he remembered some minor detail about me”

“So maybe he does”

“That’s what I wondered during my first interview.” Ruth conceded “Even before I realised that I was having an interview he’d remembered just the way I like my coffee. And that’s not in my HR file. Actually…” Ruth added “…I don’t think he ever forgets anything. But I’ll ask him and let you know.”

Research mission complete, Ruth returned to the Blue Boar the next evening 

“I asked Steve” she announced as Annabelle put the round on the table ”He told me that Nicola mentioned it in conversation they were having in a pub”

“He’s not going out with her, is he?”

“I can’t think so. He’s just got engaged! No, this was about two years ago”

But Nicola had phoned Annabelle that morning only a few minutes after Juliette had posted the internal notice

“I’m probably a little rusty, but I think I’m quite good really. I didn’t have any problems with the exams. Its just that the company went down and I managed to get the dispatcher job here just to pay the rent“

“Don’t you like it?”

“Yes I do, but there’s not much career opportunity. A move to Finance would give me a career path while staying in the company. That’s the best of both worlds”

This interview was going her way and Annabelle was on a high

“When do you think you’d be available?”

“I think I’d have to follow the internal transfer process and that could be a month’s delay”

“It’s a matter of priorities” Steve said to Juliette

“Yes, but I’m responsible for making sure that internal transfers are not too disruptive. But I’m also responsible for getting recruits into Finance as quickly as possible. So I’ll upset either Annabelle or Matt”

“Rock and hard place” replied Steve “But if you’re going to move forward you’d be better getting on with it. Remember Matt’s comments at the Board meeting. What you could do is raise the issue in your current position as the procedure says you should, and then overrule it in your capacity as head of HR”

How, she thought, can Steve say things like that and keep a straight face!

But there was no shortage of applicants for Nicola’s old job which meant that Steve’s override suggestion was perfectly valid.

And that was one more name in Annabelle’s Finance team. Just three more to go.

Except that Juliette was now becoming more careful about applying her procedures too rigidly. The comment about Nicola had knocked her off balance and that put his sometimes contrary contribution into perspective. It wasn’t a criticism, it was intended only to include some relevant information that she would otherwise not have known about. But she was going to be able to work ok with Annabelle. Similar to Steve, the challenges she made were non-judgemental. They were purely for clarification so that they could both achieve the best result. And that is what Annabelle would tell Steve about when he inevitably asked.  

Holly at Daniella’s

Saturday saw Holly over at Daniella’s for a sleepover. Marvin was going back North to sort out his mum and move her to a home. Apparently they’d had at least one phone call every night for the last few weeks. It was too much – that, combined with the imposition on her neighbours at all times of the day and night. 

Holly had expected Angela to be there as well. But no, she was shopping Saturday afternoon when Holly arrived and then went out around six leaving the girls to make their own tea and look after themselves for the evening 

“Going out mum!” 

“Yes, darling. I'm sure you two are old enough to look after yourselves for a few hours” 

“Where are you going? Can we come too? “ 

“No, I'm just meeting some friends at the E I” 

The English International was a new, rather trendy bar frequented mainly by foreign nationals - Aussies, Kiwis, Yanks and of course Europeans 

“Ah so! Beunos nochas amigo” teased Danni, although her mum failed to retaliate. 

“When the cats away...” warned Holly. 

But their evening went wonderfully well. Danni had somehow acquired a bottle of Cointreau and they sat in the living room all evening just talking about everything and sipping their way through about half of it. They already considered themselves best friends and this just went to improve that. 

But with Rochelle now back to normal, it was Danni that took over as the leading source of trauma. 

The girls had already gone to bed before Angela returned at what Holly thought was about half past two. “While the cat’s away” she commented again at breakfast and through the following week Danni would relate to Holly and sometimes Geneviève and Rochelle as well, the report from the front line of the escalating conflict at home. Danni even went as far as to suggest that she might take up residence in the guest room in Tamara's dorm and hope no one would notice, only going home when it got officially booked. 

But while Danni seemed to be heading for a cliff edge, Steve did not see her as being his problem. Last year, he’d looked after Holly with and without Eloise. But this was different. The world had moved on and his circumstances were different. Eloise was always thinking of ways to make him happy while Angela would think of ways he could make her happy. Eloise was perfect – pretty, sexy, intelligent, fun, self-deprecating and a bit battered and bruised to prove she was ultimately self-sufficient if she had to be. Conversely, Angela was isolated, protected, narcissist and ultimately self-serving. Eloise held no malice over what was now known as Rochelle’s bedroom scene. Goodness only knows what venom Angela would have been brewing if she’d been in Eloise’s position. And that meant that Danni’s predicament was her own problem to sort out with her own parents. 

It was Tuesday that Danni hustled Holly into a vacant study room in the Arts building.

She'd been looking edgy all morning and Holly was both expecting something like this and relieved that Danni had initiated it. 

“Holly, you are still my best friend aren't you?” 

“Course I am. Why wouldn't I be?” 

“No reason. It's just.... Holly…” 

She hesitated to swallow her embarrassment “….Holly…. You know… you know quiet time at your house. Well, your dad .... does he touch you at all?” 

“Touch? Well, yeah. Sure. Sometimes I need a hug or a cuddle. Like he always gives me a kiss. I thought he gave you a kiss too?” 

“Yes, yes he does. But no, I mean more than that” 

“Danni, daddy will always give me a hug and a cuddle when I need one no matter how cross he ought to be with me. Sometimes when I don’t need one too. He does that to you too, like in the sewing studio when your mum was in meltdown. I hadn't heard you complaining before” 

“I'm not complaining. I think it's lovely. Your dad is just adorable. No, I mean touch you where he shouldn't…” 

“Where he shouldn’t? What? No! Not at all!” Then suddenly horrified by her own thought “He doesn't do that to you, does he?” 

Holly calmed down as Danni shook her head and “No, Holly, not your dad. I wouldn't mind that anyway. I used to think I'd want him to, but he told me that trust and confidence were more important. So,.” 

“Yes, I think you said that at Rochelle’s play” she snapped flatly

“.... No, I mean my dad. Holly, he’s been coming into my room after I’ve gone to bed. I just wanted to know if it was like, normal. Like after you get to a certain age maybe?” 

“Danni, I can tell you for sure it’s not. Daddy talked about that kind of thing one time. He said in some parts of the world it is but not in our culture in our country“ 

“So why would he talk about it?” 

“It was way back when I hadn’t known him very long and I was getting into all sorts of trouble and it sort of came up as an option. But Danni you don’t want to know the details, really you don’t” 

Danni looked plaintively at her before hiding her face and sobbing quietly. Holly folded her arms around her the way she knew Steve would. This would have been so much easier if they’d been at home with Steve’s shirt for her to cry into and Steve or even Eloise pulling her in closer and holding her as tightly as ever while Geneviève poured her a Cointreau. Holly sat her fearfully onto a chair, dumbfounded. This was her best friend, and her whole world was just falling apart. Like Holly’s world when her father left, or when Andy Walker told her she was over her credit limit or when mum said she wasn't going out with Steve any more. But Danni hadn't suffered any of these tragedies in her life right up until now. It was like when angry beaver told her that her dad had been killed, except that was a false alarm, and this might not be. 

She sat in silence with her for a few minutes not knowing how to apply her own experiences to Danni’s situation. She’d thought that Danni’s problem was living in a war zone. She’d no idea that it was Danni that was under attack

“Danni. I don’t know how to help you…. Except to tell you you’ll always be my best friend. Or you could invite me over tonight. Maybe we could invent some homework we need to do together and you’d be ok if I was there as well”

Wedding planning

Over at Riverside, everything was significantly more calm and organised. Decisions had been made. Instead of thinking about all the options, Steve was able to spend time on the detail and each detail seemed to confirm his decision. The details that Lucy was feeding back about Components confirmed his faith in Emma as he had failed to tell Lucy to stop doing her weekly report for him. Progress on Finance recruitment confirmed his choice in Annabelle while the increased pace in HR to get temps replaced, international costs finalised, personnel interviews for Finance arranged, and the various vacancies across all the other departments filled or interviews scheduled, confirmed his confidence in Juliette.

He had scheduled the wedding for a date that Ruth was available, but somewhere in between everything else he’d found time to accept a cancellation slot at the Registry Office for April 4^th. That evening he tracked her down to the Blue Boar to make sure that the revised date was ok, while Geneviève increased the pace of her very covert work on the rest of the event. Eloise was involved in some of the decisions but Geneviève was intent on proving her ability at organisation. She had also indicated that there might be a few surprises, but gave no hint as to whether these would be deliberate or not. 

Steve had noticed Kyle talking to Ruth in her office but he had been busy on a train of concentration and decided that whatever it was would either interrupt or wait without his interference. He had no idea why Kyle would be there, or even at Riverside at all. Kyle was in Production at the Central site, but Steve had to assume that someone somewhere thought it was essential for him to make this visit.

Ruth plonked the heavy portfolio onto the working table and opened the front cover as Steve stood beside her just watching. She’d turned most of the pages before Kyle returned from the Warehouse which was his excuse for visiting the site.

“Hello” he said pushing the door slowly “Forgive me if I’m interfering, but I only found out yesterday and it might all be Chinese Whispers. I’m Kyle Brody. I ….”

“You’re on Production line 2 at the Central site. Right?”

“That’s exactly right. And impressive that you now so much about us boys on the shop floor”
 “Everyone is a vital part of this company. In fact, if you’re not vital, you might not be around too long. We’re all in this together”

“Yes, that’s been made clear down at Central many times…”
 “So, Kyle what can I help you with?”
 “Like I said, I only found out a few days ago that you're getting married in a few weeks when the boys were talking about it at the works. And then someone in the camera club yesterday said that the photographer that’s lined up has another wedding on before yours which is really quite risky cos you never can tell how long things will take, so I thought I’d drop my portfolio in and let you have a look. I’ve done quite a few over the years just for the cost of the materials, just for me mates at the works. So the boys all suggested I make the offer to you. Its like a thankyou for everything you’ve done for all of us. And the boys are havin’ a whip round for the materials. They was gonna buy you someit, but then they had a chat to Tristan when ‘e was down and they all reckoned there’s nothin’ you’d be needin’. And cos everyone’s in on it, its not like I’d be lookin’ for a favour or special treatment or anything”

“These are amazing” said Ruth flicking through the last few pages

“Yes. But Kyle, I’m afraid I know very little about the arrangements. You’d need to speak to Geneviève about it although personally, I’d be very happy for you to be involved and produce this sort of result”

“So where do I find this lucky lady?”

Steve glanced at his watch “She might even be home by now” 

He dialled and passed the phone to him

Steve listened to his end of the conversation, impressed that Kyle was this polite and not insistent and just offering his services because he’d figured there might be a risk.

“So that’s that sorted. If its all right with you I’d be bringing Rowena along as sheepdog”
 “Sheepdog?“ Ruth questioned “Yes, for rounding up the guests for the next shot. But Geneviève says she’s the luckiest girl in the world but isn’t actually the lucky lady!”
 “No, that sounds like Geneviève. She’s doing most of the organisation but she’s my daughter”

And that brought him straight back to thinking about his new little family that was already starting to behave like a forever established family. His little 14 year old, his wonderful Geneviève. Both would continue to grow up so fast and need less and less of his attention over as little as 3 or 4 years with a constantly changing lifestyle. 

And Eloise? Eloise was going to be there forever. He just needed to take a bit more time to make sure she knew that. 

Their new home with the four of them must surely still be fragile and he really couldn’t afford to make any assumptions or take any more risks. The priority was to glue it all together and to do that there was a summer holiday to organise for them. Oh, and a wedding for Eloise.

Cue Always With Me by Danny Bryant’s Redeye Band

Rescue Angela

The week had finished on a high at Riverside, but the Briers had developed an unusual sense of gloom. Angela had depressed herself into a panic again and Eloise had invited them for lunch. But the usual three was down to two as Marvin had returned to Harrogate, again, and Angela was now concerned he might be seeing someone up there

“Yes” stirred Danni “I expect she’s a young flirty Italian over here on business” as she slouched passively in Steve’s oversized armchair. Angela sat slumped on the blue settee opposite looking every bit like a target for some of her daughter’s caustic comments. Daniella would so much have preferred to be on the other side of this episode rather than right in the middle of it, whichever way it ended up, but in the meantime thought it best to use her not inconsiderable skill in unsolicited provocation.

“He's not just missing out in the bedroom is he?” 

“Maybe” she replied awkwardly, hardly thinking that this was the sort of question that her daughter should be asking “there's not been much activity there for a while, but there's not been the opportunity. It's all been so tense - like a Mexican standoff” 

“Yes but, mum” added Danni “he's been so, I don't know, unapproachable, that kind of thing just wouldn't come to mind. Its not as if it was, like, Steve” 

Daniella was surprised at being part of this conversation. It would be no surprise if it was just her and Holly's family but her mum talking like this was something new. And her not being evicted before it started was monumental and not being turfed out for stirring was even bigger.

“Yes, Danni” said her mum completely unexpectedly “but it's not Steve because he's not the problem. Its your dad” 

“Well, yes, I would hope so” said Eloise, now nervous about the continued expression of interest in her boyfriend “but surely that can't be the whole cause. Something must have started it and that would lead to everything else” 

The conversation lapsed as each of them wracked their brains on how to make any more progress investigating the problem. 

“Is it more fundamental?” asked Eloise eventually “like the lifestyle you lead? Maybe you're all not doing any of the things he would like to” 

“Like in the bedroom!” added Daniella enthusiastically sounding helpful while still trying to return the conversation to that subject for far more sinister personal reasons 

“No, I mean would he like to go hill walking, or motor racing. Or take more day trips out? Or maybe it's just that Danni isn't a little girl any longer and that changes the whole life pattern too?” 

Too true! thought Danni. If only you knew the other half of it.

Eloise had noticed that Danni had screwed her face up at this last suggestion as Angela leaned back in her chair. She'd never had a conversation like this in her whole life, and maybe that was because she'd never before had a friend like Eloise to have it with, even if it had been gate-crashed by her daughter

“Maybe it's money” she said after some visible thought “we're always worried about it. We're really not well off. My parents gave us most of the deposit on the house when we got married, and it's Marvin's mother who pays all Danni’s fees. We just pick up the incidentals” 

Ah Ha! That’s why the whole year only saves the cost of a holiday in Milan! But this was well back into familiar territory for Eloise. Was it less than a year! Oh my! Her mind drifted back to Morgan Terrace. The empty fridge, making a chicken last three whole meals. Telling Holly she'd have to turn down the school trip opportunities although she had managed to save enough to go with her to play at the schools’ inter county hockey tournament 

“I was there, once. Not having two beans to rub together. And if I had I'd be saving them for tomorrow's dinner. But I thought Marvin's mother wasn’t well and you’ve been sorting out a rest home for her….”  

Eloise eventually convinced her to go back to her own house to wait for Marvin coming back from Yorkshire and maybe have something ready for dinner. One of you has to break the impasse and you can’t rely on it being him

“Yes. And maybe Holly has a spare Nightwish that you could wear, or maybe that dress that Rochelle was wearing….”

Angela glared at her as Daniella continued “… and you could always just pretend it was Steve”

But Angela failed to respond. There was something caustically true about Daniella’s comments and without re-analysing her asides in detail, Angela also knew that her once precious little family was tearing itself apart. She knew she was floundering, but it wasn’t all up to her.

And while Angela was floundering, Eloise was buzzing. Kyle’s visit served as a catalyst, and as light relief from Angela’s woes, Geneviève was talking through the arrangements with her mum and dad. She held back on revealing anything about the honeymoon which was her surprise for them, but Steve was unconcerned about that. If that went pear shaped then he’d simply take off to some random place with Eloise anyway. Geneviève had been busily planning, or was it plotting, and now she was saying that everything was organised, with the exception of the weather. Now she was going to take a few days break from that and concentrate instead on a major event in her own life that would happen in nine days time. Practice was needed. Car mechanics, forests and weddings were side-lined and instead she spent every possible moment in the music room – except when sleeping. And eating. And going to school….. 

Everything seemed to be getting quieter at last. Not that the pace had slowed, only that everything now seemed to be under control. Another week had almost disappeared and if Danni had hit any more trouble, Geneviève had stayed blissfully unaware of it. 

What’s happened to Danni

But the truce would prove to be short-lived and while Holly had no reason to suspect that Danni’s situation had improved, farther trauma eluded her for the next three days. All the way through till Wednesday when Danni failed to appear at school. 

Holly phoned her house at break and finally got a reply. She commandeered Jim and his taxi at lunch break and with only minutes to spare transferred Danni to her house and made it back to St Lukes for the afternoon.

Now Danni was alone in the Briers and it was wonderfully peaceful. There was cake in the fridge and coffee in the jug. There were a few chocolates left in a dish on the bar in the living room - but not for long - and a comprehensive range of reference books in the study. She sat down in the tv room. Now she understood why Rochelle had liked it. Smaller, more personal than the living room. No bar though! But she had to be sensible. Steve was right. No point in throwing her own life away simply because other people couldn't look after themselves. She was sad about her dad. That was interesting! Sad had taken over from annoyed which had replaced furious. What was it that put him under so much pressure that he'd turned to drink and this behaviour? Surely not her. When she looked at the kind of situations that Sabrina and Tamara got into which meant Tamara’s dad had contributed most of the cost of the new home-economics suite in reparations for something she'd done, although she'd never found out what that crime was. 

Her mum wasn't being very supportive either. Too tied up in her own self-pity.

Angela had never before been in a panic like this. It was overdrive apoplexy when Eloise phoned her, but Steve’s unusually sharp words to Daniella strengthened her resolve as she took the receiver from Eloise.

“No, mum…. I’ve run away. Its just not safe….. No. Mum, he’s been coming into my room…. No its not. Rochelle fell for a cruel trick. But now she knows how dangerous that can be. This isn’t like that. This is my home. Its where we live. Surely I should be able to feel safe in my own home with my mummy and daddy!...”

Steve handed the phone to Eloise as Holly took Danni into the living room. 

Angela was crying as Eloise spoke gently to her 

“Let Danni stay here tonight, Angie. And when Marvin comes in, you need to talk to him. Better if you can keep calm, but Angie….”

“No, Eloise. She needs to come back tonight. But Eloise, I promise I’ll look after her”

“Angie, she’s really scared and rather than just be scared, she’s done something about it”

“But this is her home – she’s my daughter and I need to sort this out”
 “She has tried to tell you before, but I think it was just all too subtly disguised rather than being blunt like tonight”

“Please Ellie. Don’t let me fail as a mother as well as fail as a wife”

Eloise drew a deep breath. Not quite the same as when Nick had left her, but she appreciated the perspective. 

Holly brought Danni back into the hall, now with a half empty glass in her hand. She wasn’t happy with the suggestion, but the compromise was that Holly would stay with her in her room that night. 

Angela seemed to have recovered when they got there and smiled weakly at Danni.

“Daddy always says that Danni’s no trouble at all when she stays at our house. Not sure its going to work this other way round” warned Holly trying to inject a little humour.

“Oh, I don’t know” said Angela slowly “You see, we have an ace yet to play. The bedroom that Marvin has been using has a lock on the door, and I have the key. And he is about to learn that my little girl is going to be safe at home whatever it takes” 

She hugged Daniella, possibly for the first time in 5 years. But it was a change, and all improvements start with something changing. Maybe this was it.

Staying at Danni’s introduced an extra time pressure for Holly, but the advantage of that was that Danni could go to school with her and Eloise and evade the renewed battle until that evening. But she couldn’t go back to Holly’s house again and she’d just have to try to weather the storm – again.

Holly’s Solution

This half term was fast disappearing and Holly was scanning the notice board for the season’s league table results. She knew Long Meadow weren’t doing so well since the New Year and Alison had even called her looking for some tips. But while she was disappointed for her old team, her increased self-esteem suggested that it may be a reflection of her contribution. She scanned the board carefully looking for any post season friendly fixtures for St Lukes and scribbled a few dates into her notepad. Notepad! She’d never had carried one of these at Brooks Bridge or even Long Meadow. There’d be too many interfering nosey parkers ripping or vandalising or stealing it just to make a nuisance of themselves. But now she found it useful. She could quickly sketch whatever inspiration hit her for new designs, and she could write down the inspiration behind it as well because that was something she was often asked.

But there was another short notice in the top corner of the board that suddenly grabbed her attention.

“Geneviève..” she asked limiting herself to a very small glass of Cointreau that evening “..what’s a bursary?”

“That’s when the school or sometimes the government pays your school fees for you if you can’t afford them. But you usually need to pass a difficult exam to get one”

But that just confirmed to Holly that there may be a possibility here and she was still thinking that the next day as she headed for the Admin block at lunch break. It wasn’t exactly out of bounds to the students. Its just that they seldom had any need to go there and if they were found there, they all knew they’d need a good reason for it rather than just snooping around.

But Holly had seen Vanessa’s car in the car park and was now making her way up the first floor corridor. Strange, she thought, why didn’t Vanessa have an office at this end of the building instead of having to walk all the way along here every day? 

She knocked and waited for an invitation

“Holly! My goodness! Fancy seeing you here!”

“Hi. Can you spare me a few minutes please? You said at Sarah Wilshier’s party that if there was anything you could help me with…..”

“I am very busy, Holly. But you can have a few minutes of course”

“Thankyou. I was hoping you could tell me about bursaries. Like how do you apply?”

“Bursary, Holly. What would you want with one of them”
 “I just wanted to know. Does the school do them? And what do you need to do to get one and who do you give them to and do they cover everything”

“Oh my! That’s quite a big subject. And its quite surprising as I know your dad is still quite enthusiastic about sponsoring an Engineering Lab in the science block. It would certainly help me if I knew a bit more about what makes you ask this so that I can limit my answer to the relevant parts”

“Oh Vanessa, its not for me! Its for a friend of mine”

“So maybe you could tell me about your friend and I can tell you if she’d qualify”

The discussion took longer than either of them had anticipated and Holly finally realised that Vanessa’s window was far enough along the corridor to look out over the playing fields rather than the side of the science block and it may have been that lapse in concentration that made her late back. There was some nervousness in the class when she bundled in apologising with Daniella and Geneviève both looking worried at her disappearance

“And where have you been hiding?” demanded the teacher

“I’m sorry, Ma’am. I had to talk to Lady Merton-Dunster”

The mention of their directors name and Ma-am noticing that she had a sheaf of school headed papers sticking out of her textbook was enough to ensure her reprieve, even if it was probably temporary.

The second meeting with Vanessa was much more organised as Holly presented the completed forms. They weren’t particularly neat, but they gave the information that Vanessa needed.

“Holly, I appreciate what you're trying to do and its very considerate of you, but you do know that I can’t accept this as an application. It would need details of income and it would also need to be signed. And its not entirely up to me, it has to be considered by the committee”

“Oh Vanessa! I don’t want you to! I just wanted you to tell me if it’s a possibility and if its got a fighting chance. She’s really very upset and that’s why I’ve tried to go this far instead of just suggesting the idea to her. Its because I don’t want to raise any false hope”

“Holly, with friends like you I think she’ll be fine. With or without a bursary”

And it was Friday – again. Geneviève was still keeping a low profile. Holly was supportive and was doing what she could to keep Danni’s dilemma from becoming too public.

Geneviève was on her way out of the science block still trying to explain to Rochelle that there were many significant common threads between physics where they'd just left and music, where they were going next. 

As usual Mrs Brunswick wasn't there and idle chatter filled the room mingled with various speculation on how late she'd be. 

Are you going to play something? Sabrina asked although no one knew if this was because she was interested in hearing Geneviève’s music or if it was a veiled attempt to get someone else into trouble. 

"I wonder" speculated Geneviève "how far through Rachmaninov’s second concerto I can get before she shows up" 

"Gen, you're not going to play the Steinway uninvited" warned Rochelle "you'll get me into terrible trouble again" 

"No, I won't! I don’t think so, Rochelle. Mrs B clearly asked if could reserve the Steinway for the classics. And you don't get much more classical than this" 

She lifted the lid and set about the orchestral introduction that she'd modified for piano. Part 1 was nearly complete as one by one the girls dropped their side chat and listened, mesmerised. By the end of part two everyone seemed captivated and she charged into part 3 with added emotion. The pathos in the minor chords had reduced Dreanna to tears and Sabrina whispered that it reminded her of doing a very sad thing but she couldn't remember exactly what. 

It was twenty five minutes after the lesson was supposed to start and Mrs Brunswick appeared silently at the door. She slipped in and stood at the back while Geneviève continued. It was coming to the climax now and she'd been emphasising her minor chords to give the piece a slightly different balance and now finished off by attacking the last few bars and ending with a crescendo. She lifted her hands from the keys now breathless and gasping for air as pure silence prevailed around her as the last notes faded.

Mrs Brunswick was first to speak slowly and gently

"That. That was amazing. I have never ever heard anything like it. Girls, I don't know if Geneviève is planning to do any recitals, but I wanted you to hear this. I knew she'd take the opportunity if I wasn’t here and I don't think any of you are disappointed. The depth of emotion. The note perfect artistry, the slightly skewed chord emphasis. For the last half hour you have been listening to a genius. It is unlikely that you will experience anything like that so close up ever again and I trust from the silence that prevailed that you appreciated it" 

“Wow. I feel quite drained just watching!“

“I agree. And without music as well!“

“Geneviève, thankyou. This will be one of the highlights of my life” 

With that, she turned and left. And checking their watches, some of the girls were heading for the door 

“I'll tell you what” said Sabrina now finding her voice ”I think the rest of us should just give up right now” 

"There's five minutes left" smirked Geneviève "Fats Domino anyone?"

But while she had been making the very best impression on Mrs Brunswick, she was having something of the opposite effect on Alex Carlow.

“Not in!” he bellowed “what d'you mean you're not in? This practical work is extremely important to the course and its unlikely there'll be another opportunity” 

“I'm sorry, Mr Carlow, but I was only telling you so that you don't pair me up with anyone and then my partner would be disappointed at not being able to take part if she wasn't reassigned” 

“Very considerate I'm sure. But let me just finish by saying I am not happy about this. Not happy at all” 

Desolation fell on her as she smiled weakly at the others as they left the classroom. All except Rochelle who dallied behind fidgeting unnecessarily with her books checking that the room was empty before approaching him 

“Mr Carlow” she started meekly, but he was still wound up 

“Oh what is it, Rochelle” 

“Mr Carlow, I’m sorry to bother you, but do you know much about playing the piano?” 

“Piano? Rochelle? Talk to Mrs Brunswick about piano playing, for goodness sake” 

“That’s not what I meant, Mr Carlow. Do you know much about it?” 

“Me? Yes. Yes I do as a matter of fact. I took my level 4 which is quite advanced, if you must know. Actually, Rochelle, I played for a while in a skiffle band back in the day” 

“Oh wow! That's great!” and then more sadly “I don't play at all.” 

He looked at her, perplexed now not knowing where this was going until she quickly continued

“So you'll know that after level four, you can get to 5 and 6, 7 and 8.” 

“Yes Rochelle. I am aware of that. But very few people ever make it that far” 

“Yes, yes I know. But after that. After level 8 you can get to something called NP that's Novice Professional” 

“Yes, Rochelle. Which qualifies you de facto as a piano teacher. But Rochelle my next class is arriving. What has….” 

“Mr Carlow, it's her piano exam. Its her NP that Geneviève is taking on Monday. And Tuesday. And that's why she won't be in. It's not public knowledge, but I wanted to explain that to you so that maybe you won't be cross about it all weekend. I know the practical field trip is important. But this is important to Geneviève too and she doesn’t have a choice about the date” 

“NP Rochelle! Are you sure? Does Mrs B know about this?”

“Yes I'm sure. I was staying at her house for a few days earlier this term and when she plays, the whole rest of the world just stands still. And Mrs Brunswick was told right at the start of term, but she may have forgotten. Geneviève let it slip by accident and hasn't mentioned it since. Sorry, I'd better fly. I'll be late for Mrs Mallory” 

But Mrs Mallory was on the phone when Rochelle slipped in through the door. Because Mr Carlow was apologising for delaying her. 

It was a much subdued Angela that had sat down to dinner at the Briers that Saturday. Geneviève was actually quite grateful for this reprieve. She knew she needed to practice as much as she could, but she also wanted to catch up with the latest news of Danni’s war zone, and she also needed some time out to let her head recover from the concentration and assimilate the changes and corrections she’d been making.

Angela’s world had fallen to pieces and although it was to some extent of her own making it seemed to be that Daniella was suffering more. Eloise got the impression that Angela had been down before, but for Danni, the privileged life of a private-school girl was the only life she’d known. Holly was trying to help her and to some extent understood having been in that position herself, but she was also on the edge of losing patience. In that situation, Holly had looked at it realistically and discovered that that was the way things were and she should just make the most of it and do the best she could. Danni, however seemed ready to break down and maybe rob a bank or something to climb out of that particular pit, perhaps falling into something much worse.

She felt that her whole direction was about to change and that there was nothing she could do about it.

“Danni, everything changes sooner or later. Sometimes you just have to accept it, and other times you have to think hard about what you can do so that the circumstances result in an improvement”

She looked over at Steve with mounting incredulity

“Ok…” he continued “but nearly a year ago there was a major incident at my work. It changed the whole direction that me and Geneviève took and without all that we wouldn’t all be round this table now – although you could say that about every incident in your life”

“Well, it might be the last time we are” said Danni quietly and sadly

“Yes” agreed Angela “I very much doubt that I’ll be able to afford to keep Daniella at St Lukes…”

“…and you won’t want to be my friend any more if I get sent to Long Meadow”

Steve could see the hopelessness in Danni’s eyes. It would be oh so easy to say he’d pay for her, but he couldn’t. He knew that Eloise was nervous about Angela’s less than subtle interest in him and that would be something else she would want to pay him back for one way or another. And Danni herself hadn’t been exactly silent on that same subject.

They all thought Holly had got up to pour the coffee, but instead she disappeared out into the hall, returning moments later with her papers pushing Angela’s plate out of the way to make room for them. 

“There’s another way, Danni. There’s another way you can stay at St Lukes. You can apply for a bursary and that would pay your fees for you”

“Oh, Holly. I don’t think we qualify for that kind of thing”
 “Yes you do, Angela. Look, I’ve filled in most of the form for you. That’s as much as I know but now it needs more personal stuff before you sign it on page 4”

“Do you think there’s a chance it would be accepted?”
 “Oh yes. I’ve been through it all with Vanessa. And Danni, she remembers you from the New Year Party. Its not all down to her, but she says she’ll be supporting it at the committee so its in with a good shout”

“Oh my goodness!” gasped Angela “So you’ve already presented the case. Oh my! You little star!”

“Danni, its not definite, but I’ve done as much as I can. And even if you have to go to Long Meadow I’ll still be your best friend. I was at Long Meadow when you wanted to be my friend”

But it was Eloise who was crying.

Steve was choking up as well. Was this really his new little girl? The one he didn’t want to grow up too quickly. The one that was already running her own business. The one that was suddenly thinking for herself. The one that would just get on and do it, whatever it was. Just like his big girl had been doing for the last three years. He’d met Rochelle and Tamara and the boys Piers and Graham and Liam and they were all just big children. But Geneviève was a young version of an adult, Holly was catching up quickly – too quickly. And Danni wasn’t far behind. But this is what growing up was all about. They had to be ready to join the adult world, not join the adult world then get ready. It was like changing lanes on a motorway. Speed up first then pull out, not pull out and get in the way until you accelerate. They were now all making their own independent way and maybe they didn’t need so much of his attention. And maybe that meant there’d be more time for him and Eloise if ever they’d both slow down – work, children, young adults, their incident prone friends, the wedding. And Geneviève’s exam

Geneviève’s Exam

Geneviève was actually looking forward to this. She was quietly confident about the set pieces but it was a great excuse to spend 4 contiguous days continuously playing. She'd developed a schedule and a target for mistakes for each piece and wondered if her wrists would take the strain of playing so much and if maybe she'd be worn out before the exam was finished. Maybe it was an endurance test as well!

But Sunday afternoon soon dashed in. She'd finished her practice, she'd completed her schedule and had made more mistakes than she had expected. But it was time to go, to get up to London that evening. 

She leant back in the back of the car like she was being chauffeur driven and tried hard not to think too seriously about it. Holly had used this as an excuse to volunteer to stay with Daniella. This was to support her best friend as she wished she’d had a best friend when she’d hit some of her own problems. But now she realised just how much she’d changed and how she was now able to donate her excess stability and confidence. 

“I do hope Holly is ok with Danni” Steve had said

“She will be” replied Geneviève “I think she knows what to look out for. I don’t think Marvin will try anything with Holly there as well. And Rochelle is on standby if she needs rescued”

“Do you think Rochelle would be able to rescue her?”
 “Yes, after her experience I think she’ll keep cool and just act but its only two nights.”

“Did Rochelle ever find out how Tamara seemed to know all about that”
 “No, although in a roundabout way I’ve let Tammy know Rochelle thinks it was her that set it all up”

“Does she have any evidence?”
 “No, daddy. But Tammy doesn’t know that” 

The hotel was beautifully opulent and there was an enticing Mason grand acting as a boundary between the reception hall and the dining room, as well as looking decorative and being a musical instrument. 

She felt herself itching to play it. The problem was that if she asked, someone would inevitably say no. So the strategy was simple: order dinner with her mum and dad then sneak over and lift the lid. And if anyone got completely bent out of shape she would simply apologise. 

She crept up looking all around, furtively, lifted the cover and ran straight through the first section of the Rachmaninov that she was opening with the next day. There was short applause as she finished, and the waiter detoured to tell her food had arrived. After the main course she sneaked up again before pudding and tore into an increased tempo arrangement of the set piece by Chopin. It completely suited the reserved ambience of the dining room, but it was quite short and she headed back for her dessert. She was about to turn in a third episode when a sombre bean pole of a man in a penguin suit stepped out of the shadows, sat down and started to play as it transpired that this is what he was employed to do. 

The success of the impromptu recital had boosted her confidence again and by breakfast time she had already decided she would pass – so long as she kept her nerve. 

The day was tortuous. She arrived with confidence but the gravity of the situation, the sombre examination panel and the lousy acoustics of the empty hall all conspired to deplete it. She opened with her Rachmaninov and a huge grin spread across her face as she finished. Just ahead of realising that she’d also played her transposition of the orchestral introduction and realised that she had no idea if that would count for or against her. But she hardly had time to panic about it as the leader of the panel called for the next piece – and the next. 

Lunch break was a half hour respite but she was too wound up to eat and instead sat alone with a glass of water trying to maintain concentration for the afternoon sessions.

But this next piece was unexpected. She was handed the music and set it on the stand. She read the first few bars, relieved that, yes, she recognised it but under a different name. That’s why she wasn’t expecting it. She turned to the panel and was met by five dead pan faces like maybe they were playing poker and her piano playing was just background music and they gave absolutely nothing away. But Geneviève had a question and her instinct told her just to ask. She raised her head. She couldn’t address them by name because they hadn’t been introduced by name 

“When I play this piece” she started unusually timidly and decided on a restart, hopefully sounding more confident “When I play this, I always think that playing only the piano score makes you think something is missing. I would prefer to also play the violin score, simply so that it sounds more complete”

“You mean, as you did with the Rachmaninov this morning?”
 “Yes”

“As you wish, Miss Bergstrom. The panel will judge the piece on its merits either way”

My! Maybe those guys are a version of humanity after all! She ran through it, slightly faster than she had intended but on completion she felt it had more impact at that speed.

That evening, she bubbled excitedly about it to her mum and dad over dinner and only after dessert did her thoughts turn to the grand piano, strangely silent, over at the edge of the room. Maybe just a short piece. The short piece turned into something a bit longer with some excited improvisation. The day had gone almost perfectly, as far as she could tell and this might just complete it. But now there was an alternative source of music as a string quartet was tuning up at the other side of the room and Steve and Eloise were taking to the dance floor. She migrated alone to the bar with every intention of ordering a Cointreau or maybe two but instead noticed a round-headed, shortish, fattish, baldish gentleman possibly in his sixties who seemed to have his eyes fixed on her heading her way. 

Oh no, I do hope he doesn't ask me to dance. Oh, I do hope I don't need to be rude to get rid of him, but she smiled politely as he approached and stopped a respectable distance from her. 

“That was an impressive recital” he said breaking into a warm smile while his eyes remained severe “Are you aiming to take up playing professionally?” 

Oh dear! Maybe he works at the hotel here and is going to complain about me playing his piano uninvited

“No, but I'm hoping to qualify by the end of tomorrow afternoon” 

She was hoping that this slightly obtuse reply might confuse him and at least divert the conversation but he remained unphased

“Yes. And what, if anything at this late stage, do you think would help you tomorrow? Apart perhaps from sneaking in some additional practice. Not, you understand, that I am suggesting that you need it” 

This was different. Or maybe he'd seen her at the college earlier in the day and she wanted to find out.

“Some things are confusing. Like the set piece by Finzi is relatively straightforward. So why is that included, unless it's there to give the students a break or as some form of interlude. I just wish I knew what the examiners were looking for” 

“Ah! Yes! I can understand that. So you already know which pieces are set for tomorrow?” 

“Oh, not all, although some of them were announced before Christmas to enable sufficient time to practice” 

“I see. I was not aware of that. Perhaps it's changed this year. I could have helped you with that. It is always difficult to describe what the panel is looking for because each individual’s view of excellence varies so much, which was your question. However, think of it this way. Suppose you were at an interview for a job. The interviewer might ask you what experience you have doing this work and that is a fairly factual reply, if possibly skewed for the occasion. But they might also ask you a non work related question…” 

“You mean to see how I react?” 

“You could put it that way. So the question would not be 'do you ever wear bright green underwear' to which you could reasonably reply 'yes’ or ‘no'. Instead the question would be 'in what circumstances do you think that wearing bright green underwear would be appropriate'. In which case you need to consider circumstances that you would not necessarily encounter in your normal day to day business. Your answer could be 'never' which is non conversational, ill-considered and terminal. Or you could reply, 'if I was wearing a similarly bright green skating dress' or even 'only if wearing a bright red micro skirt to a Christmas party' ” 

She frowned, thinking about what he'd said. She found the choice of analogy somewhat concerning, but perhaps he was actually trying to be helpful. He gave the impression that he knew where she was going the next day, and she wanted to maintain the conversation until she'd worked out what he was hinting at. 

“So. You can’t predict interview questions like that and they’re designed to test your reaction, and in this case possibly even creativity” 

“Well! Wouldn't that be a coincidence” as he turned to leave “and good luck tomorrow”.

The conversation back at her table served to confirm her supposition, and Steve confirmed it again at quiet time that night 

“In the interview, they'd be looking for your reaction to the question as well as the answer that you invent. I think he may have been suggesting that a significant level of interpretation is advisable, but they’re not going to tell you till they ask you to play it” 

But he’d given her a clear forewarning and the next morning she woke with the piece spinning round in her mind and at breakfast she was looking for some support for her plan.

“I think what I’ll try to do is just realign the emphasis, the duration, maybe the tempo to give it more of an atmosphere rather than changing the piece from what was written. That would make it a bit different without being accused of changing the original. And then being marked down for not playing it correctly.” 

They weren't scheduled to stay the following evening. Steve wanted to get her back to school, make sure Holly didn’t think they’d deserted her and get into work not too late. But they'd have to eat somewhere and now with Geneviève not leaving the college until gone six o'clock, and the car still in the hotel underground car park, dinner at the hotel seemed as good an option as any. Driving back out of London after dinner would avoid the worst of the traffic and would probably get them back by 11.30. Late for a school night, but better than taking another day off, or leaving at four in the morning. 

They were finishing coffee, the car was packed and all that was left was to settle the additional bill. 

“Do you mind if I join you for a moment?” 

The shortish gentleman pulled over a chair without farther invitation. Geneviève recognised him not only from the previous evening but also from the panel that afternoon 

“An impressive display, today. In fact, as equally impressive as I was expecting. I particularly appreciated your interpretation of Finzi”

“Oh my. Thankyou”

“Although” he frowned “most of the panel were of the view that while the notes were as the composer had written, the arrangement was far from what he intended. But, it stimulated discussion and is that not what they were looking for from your interpretation - to stimulate discussion for all the right reasons which of course could also risk dividing the panel“ 

“Oh dear! Did I lose a lot of marks for that?” 

“Oh no! Quite the contrary. I told them that the whole point of the interpretation piece was to be different enough to stimulate discussion without losing the essence of the piece. By definition the interpreted version would not be an exact replica of the original. Preferably it would be an interpretation we had not heard before, which it was, but by design the more discussion it stimulated the more it must have hit the target” 

“Oh, wow! All is not lost then?” 

“On the contrary. It is fair to say that most of the panel thought that your interpretation was over dramatic. However, that piece was there to inspire discussion and debate, and it certainly did that. And that of course contributed to the overall result. In truth, your main issue was your opening Rachmaninov…”
 “….but I thought that was virtually faultless! Oh my goodness!” 

“Oh but Miss Bergstrom, it was. And the issue it created was that it set the bar really very high indeed, and everyone then expected far more than they had any right to. Which is why I wanted to give you some assistance yesterday evening without bending the rules too far. However, somehow you managed to maintain that standard all the way through, with a slight, but only slight, dip in your Grieg. But I also think that was because a number of the panel have a very inflexible view of how they like that piece to be played….”

Maybe, thought Geneviève, but maybe it was because it had suddenly reminded her of the time she was interrupted playing it in a shopping mall.

“…. The official communication will take several days to wend its way through the system to dispatch. However, as the result is already decided and committed and since I am fortunate enough to meet you here this evening I can inform you verbally that your efforts over the last two days have been a complete success. I am delighted to also inform you that you are the second youngest person to ever have achieved this. I do hope you continue to play, although I'm sure you have so many other interests entering your life at your age. And in the event that you schedule a recital I would be very interested in acquiring a ticket. I can be contacted at the college” as he pushed his business card across the table towards her “In the meantime I wish you every success. Good evening Miss Bergstrom”

He nodded politely to Eloise and Steve as a stunned Geneviève watched him disappear fittingly behind the Mason grand piano. It hadn't sunk in. She looked to her glass for at least a sip of celebration and Eloise poured half of hers into it. 

This was Geneviève’s dream and it had come true. She’d started playing so that the concentration helped her forget all the bad things that were happening to her, and then just to give her life a focus and then because she really enjoyed it and found that others liked to listen. No, she had no intention of stopping.

The chatter in the car drifted off around 10 as sleep took hold of Eloise, but Geneviève was too excited and Steve still had an hour and a half drive. Sitting behind her dad she could see Eloise leaning her head against the B pillar as a pillow and quietly falling asleep.

But this was the end of an era. This is what she'd been working for and dreaming of for years starting in Australia. Maybe it was fitting that it should come to a conclusion just as her new family was emerging. But she had no intention of leaving this behind. The new family was taking the good bits from before and building them into the future, and playing the piano was going to be one of these. And maybe she would organise a recital just to see if he did actually show up.

Hijack Rochelle

Back in school she was still buzzing and made some effort to avoid Daniella who she knew would ground her back to earth with a bump with her latest tale of woe.

But instead Danni hijacked Rochelle at lunch break and herded her to a table on their own. She knew Rochelle knew a bit about her home being a war zone and Steve had said that he was sure that Rochelle would be her friend if she wanted her to be. 

“Shelly…” she began using the pet name she reserved for outside school “…I don’t know what to do about my war zone. And I was hoping you might have some advice”

“Me! My mum and dad know about war zones. I try to stay out of it”
 “Yes, but you know about what’s going on. You must do. It all exploded into the open at Holly’s when you were there. And when you organised your little play, so that you were able to sort out your trauma”

“So are you thinking of doing a play for your mum and dad?”
 “I don’t think there’s enough of me to do that. Oh, Rochelle! I don't know. Maybe I’m just looking for ideas”

“Have you asked Geneviève? She was really supportive and sympathetic when I first phoned her. She came over straight away”

“All by herself? I wouldn’t be surprised”

“No, her mum was driving. Maybe you could ask her. Or Steve. You like Steve, and he’s really understanding too. Or don’t you want them to know what’s going on?”
 “No, they know - at least most of it. I went over there. Last week. The day I wasn’t in. I had to go somewhere and that was the only place I thought I’d be safe”

“Danni, I’d like to help, but I don’t have any ideas. Have you any ideas what started it? Was it maybe that you’re no longer a little girl and that makes him feel old? Or maybe he’s having an affair and this is just a distraction?”

“Hmm. But why make a complete idiot of yourself and an embarrassment to me and mum by getting so wasted at a dinner party. And why suddenly take this type of interest .. in me?”
 ”Danni, That’s got to be to do with your mum. It can’t….”

“What’s to do with your mum?” interrupted Holly having missed the whole of the conversation

“Dads interest in me” said Danni with weary resignation

“Yeah, I agree with Rochelle. He can’t just have woken up one day and suddenly noticed you were this particular age and shape”

Danni sighed. She wasn’t really making any progress at all.

Or maybe she was. Maybe it was Rochelle that had focussed her in towards a possibility.

Although still buzzing in euphoria, Geneviève was slowly drifting back down to the ground and was now wondering if she ought to take a special detour to apologise to Mr Carlow for missing the field trip. But before she had time to decide, she saw him headed her way from the entrance to the science block. 

“Did you pass?” he asked eagerly and not particularly quietly. 

Strange. How did he know? Maybe Mrs Brunswick hadn’t forgotten after all

“Oh Mr Carlow, I’m so sorry for missing your field work but thankyou for asking. The official result won’t be sent out till late this week, but I do have a verbal yes from a senior member of the panel”

“Oh Excellent! Very well done. Now, you will let me know when you get confirmation, won’t you”

“Certainly, Mr Carlow”

“And I wonder. Would you consider doing a recital at the Open Day. This sort of thing would be wonderful in attracting new girls to the school”

She continued to wonder how he’d found out all the way through till she finally caught up with Rochelle. She stayed late talking excitedly after school, missing the mini bus, and having to phone Jim to take her home.

Back at the Briers it was being treated like a major milestone and Geneviève wondered if maybe they’d be going to the Castle as a celebration. But no, it had been Steve’s turn to make dinner and now after the main course, even Holly was considering whether she had room for dessert. 

“Ok, I've got a question” said Steve rather evasively “a question for everyone except Geneviève”

“What's wrong with me! Humph. I'll go and get the pudding then!” 

It was nice that she would by default do something useful in response to an imagined slight but he continued as she disappeared into the kitchen 

“How would you like to go skiing? Have you ever been?” 

Holly got up from the table and peered out through the window 

“It's not snowing, daddy” 

“Oh I think it is. Just not here”

“What's not here?” asked Geneviève returning with something that looked incredibly yummy, gooey and fattening 

“Snow” said Holly 

“No, it wouldn't be, it's still ten degrees outside. There's not even any forecast. Maybe next year”

“Ok I think there is…” contradicted Steve “….just…. not here”

Eloise was trying not to become bemused. This sort of deviation in the conversation was normal, but it often led to somewhere that no one was expecting to go.

“I've not skied since I was a child” said Eloise “I can’t remember being very good even then” 

“Skiing! Wow daddy. Are we all going? When? Maybe we could go back to Val d’Isère again!”

“I've never been skiing. I doubt if I'd recognise one end of a ski from the other. I've never been water skiing either” 

“That, Holly, is because you’re still looking for a sloping lake!” 

“It was only an idea for half term. I was thinking of going to the Castle to celebrate Geneviève’s success, but then …” 

“I think it's a great idea. Daddy, we haven't been for two years. We didn't go anywhere last year. Holly, it's not that hard. You stand on two flat sticks and let gravity do the rest” 

Holly frowned “Yes, and when gravity has anything to do with me I usually land up in a heap on the floor” 

But this was all new for Holly. A holiday. A foreign holiday. A skiing holiday. With Steve, with Geneviève and with her mum. Oh wow! Can’t wait till Monday! Even if there was a hockey match before then. 

Danni’s dinner party

But Danni’s action day was Saturday. She dipped out of Hockey on the lame excuse that she had missed practice that week and instead took the bus over to Apple Grove. Geneviève would be over at Duncan Erdmann’s mansion playing with Toulouse on her piano and Steve was taking Holly to hockey. And that left Eloise…

As hoped and expected Eloise sat down with her. It was too early to raid the bar but the quiet ambience of The Briers helped her to overcome her nervousness. She knew Eloise had talked to her mum about all this and that some of that conversation had been after quite a few drinks, so maybe she had some new information.

“I know if it was just me, we could just sit down around your dinner table and talk through to a solution….”
 “So what possibilities have you explored?”
 “I don’t know Eloise. I don’t know why and I don’t know what to do. Shelly wrote her play and that helped her understand her problem. Maybe I could do that. Shelly could play me and Steve and me - or you – could play mum and dad and just stand and scream at each other for half an hour….”

But Eloise was looking less than enthusiastic.

“Have you any idea what started it?” 

But Danni was shaking her head

“I mean, you’ve made a few side comments about taking an interest in Steve. Maybe, being the same age, your dad thought ….”
 “Surely not! I’m his daughter. That’s not the same at all”
 “Ok, but do you remember when we were talking about schools he said he had gone to a boys school and felt he’d missed out?”
 “Oh yes! And now I’m…  But surely he’d be more interested in, like, Holly. Even Steve said she was more sexy than me!”

“But maybe you’d be less likely to say anything. Holly isn’t always the most discrete”

Danni felt she wasn’t making progress and going round in circles. Except that Eloise was taking the time, and coming up with ideas and being helpful and…

“Maybe Steve could adopt me the way he adopted Holly!”

“I don’t think so Danni. Maybe you don’t realise how desperate your mum is to find a solution to this?”
 “Well, yes. Maybe. She’s started giving me hugs when I get home and she hasn’t done that for years” 

But Danni was starting to get emotional as Eloise folded her up in her arms. Steve had done this before, but not Eloise. It was so comforting knowing that someone cared about her

“Danni, here at the Briers, we’d try to sit down, just the four of us and talk about a solution”
 “Yes. But we don’t do that. And there’s only three of us and we’ve never done that kind of thing”
 “So maybe there should be a first time. Weren’t you telling your dad that you're growing up to be a big girl now. Making decisions and getting things right. Not drinking too much at New Year. Nearly keeping out of trouble at Sabrina’s party”
 She gasped “How did you know about that!”

“And” Eloise continued avoiding the answer “you said Rochelle’s play helped her. Her dad said it was very brave and adventurous and sometimes that kind of thing is necessary. Which is why I couldn’t get cross with Steve for his part in her recovery”

“Yes! Eloise. Yes! I’m thinking of a plan, but you need to make sure I get the detail right. Its like this….”

Shopping was next on the agenda. Eloise helped her with the selection and also by paying for it much to Danni’s relief and that afternoon when Angela finally bundled in in a fluster with “I’ve no idea what we’re having for dinner!”, Danni just quietly announced “Mum. Its all under control. Now just you go sit down, I’ll get you a cup of tea and you can calm down”

Marvin wasn’t expected back from golf much before dinner time anyway and sure enough, Danni had the table set and everything ready to serve, largely courtesy of some very talented chefs working for a certain Mr Waitrose. She hadn’t actively asked for her mums help, but a little word here and some encouragement there made sure she wasn’t relying entirely on what Eloise had said.

Marvin slipped in quietly and headed for the whisky bottle in the living room. Danni had never before considered the open plan layout of their house to any extent. But now she realised how fortuitous it was as she added the final touches to the dining table.

“Sorry, dad. I finished it”

But immediately disappeared back to the kitchen before he could spin out of control at her

“Not till after dinner, anyway. And it will be ready in 5 minutes so if you need to wash your hands…”
 Angela appeared looking nervous but nowhere as confused as him

“Angie? What’s going on? What game is this?”
 “Its not a game Marvin. Its just Danni has decided to cook dinner for us. And it smells delicious, don’t you think?” 

Now at the table, Marvin looked with serious suspicion at the very nice bottle of Sancerre that Danni was pouring

“Where did that come from?”

“Waitrose” she replied politely but wasted no time before continuing with her rehearsed script

“Mum, Daddy. When you’re a child, you play games to try out different things and hopefully see what works and what doesn’t. As you grow up, you try different things to get different experiences that you can apply to new situations to help you make the right decisions. And when you start getting the answers consistently right then you can start to think you’re getting to be an adult. Tonight’s experiment is dinner. I’ve never cooked a whole dinner for you before, but I thought its about time I did”

The plan relied on her keeping very much under control. But she’d had quite a lot of practice at that in tense hockey matches no matter what the opposition threw at her. This was another occasion where being able to recognise where experience can be applied to a different situation. Like her practice at cooking at the Briers now came in to its own as she found she was able to control the table. And don’t drink any alcohol. Not till much later, she drilled into herself. 

She pushed the conversation towards her dad rather than her mum, asking about golf and who he’d been playing with and how hard the course was, even though she had no clue whatsoever about golf. But that, Eloise had said, is the best way, so that he would explain it to her because it was something he was interested in. And something Steve had told her - control the agenda not the conversation! That way you’ll learn rather than just tell people what you think.

Dinner was nearly finished. It had been the quietest meal they’d had for weeks. Not because there was no conversation - that had been continuous. But neither of her parents had lost it, found it or got drunk. The wine was nearly finished and Danni had avoided most of it with her glass still nearly half full. And maybe that was a first anyway, because wine at the Briers was normal. Here it was unheard of, especially for her.

She turned to the sideboard behind her and retrieved a small tray with three liqueur glasses of Cointreau. Marvin scowled at it 

“No whisky?”
 “No. I prefer Cointreau. And its my dinner party“ 

She handed them round noting that Angela now looked either suspicious or nervous or both 
 “And now that we’ve all had a lovely dinner together without squabbling, we can have a sensible conversation about our current situation”

“I don’t get it?” opened Marvin

“So what I want you to explain is why you have started coming into my room and misbehaving”
 “I…. Well I….”

“Its not good enough daddy. It has to stop. Not only has to stop, but already has stopped because its not going to happen again. Is it? I do love you daddy, but as a daughter not as a mistress”

Her rehearsed phrase went down as expected

“That’s all your fault” he shot back “You and your comments about Steve Bergstrom”
 “That’s not fair. I’m not related to him. So that’s very different. And he isn’t an alcoholic. And in any case, Steve wouldn’t do anything like that even if I begged him to”

“Yes, well he’s got Eloise, hasn’t he”
 “And you’ve got mummy!”

”What! Mrs fridge over there!” he barked sinking his liqueur “It would sooner melt the Arctic than raise the temperature of your mother”

“That’s not true” she shouted at him

“Calm down mother. This is an adults only conversation. So instead of getting wound up, maybe you could think about what your part in this reconciliation should be”

“So what business is it of yours to ask impertinent questions like this? And where’s the whisky!”

“No whisky. If you promise to sip it, I’ll pour another Cointreau. And on your other question. Its because we need a grown up conversation about me. Me. Daniella and my life and my home and my safety and why I’m no trouble at all and deserve two parents to look after me. And since I’m the only grown up here, its up to me to start this, and its up to me to keep calm until we find a solution. So no wimping out to wallow in alcohol. And mummy, daddy and you will be sleeping in the same bed tonight so have a think on how you're going to react. And you, father. You will not be coming in to my room. The door will be unlocked and I will be safe in there. Partly because you’ve got mummy in bed with you but not least because I will have a high heeled shoe under my pillow”  

The stunned silence ran round the table and back again. She felt maybe she’d said enough, but had rehearsed one more comment and now was the best time to play it

“Once upon a time…” she started, but the effort was catching up with her. Oh! where were any of her friends now? The ones that had got her this far that were all now so very far away in their own happy homes. 

She began again having pushed a few tears aside “Once upon a time, you two were so much in love that you created something very wonderful. Its such a shame that you both seem intent on destroying it for no given reason. And in case you hadn’t realised, that very wonderful thing was….. me”

She managed to get up and start clearing the table like she had so often with Holly. They were still both there when she returned for the rest of the plates. She knew she’d burst into tears at just the very slightest provocation but remembered Steve’s words about the scariest bit being nearest to the end

“You can both get down from the table” she risked mimicking her father’s strictness when she was little “There’s a small glass of wine left. Try to share it”

She finished clearing up and no, neither of them offered to help. 

“I hope you two are going to discuss how you’re going to get back together again so that I have a mummy and a daddy and that you can both look after me while I’m still a little girl. Because that may not last very long.”

It was still early but the previous many days she’d fled in fear to her room and now she decided that was a good place to read her book leaving the pair of them silent in the living room.

There was bound to be fallout from this. Marvin was unpredictable and likely to go ballistic. But if Eloise was to be believed, her mum might, just might, be on her side. She thought she heard some quiet voices downstairs but now there was a tap on her door. This act may have to go on for days and keeping control was fundamental

“Hello!” she managed to say cheerily. 

The door opened but no-one came in. Instead there was a forlorn figure standing there

“Daniella, where have you hidden the whisky”

“There isn’t any, daddy. And there isn’t going to be any either. You are unsafe after a drink”
 “But I don’t like Cointreau”
 “Exactly”

He closed the door and returned downstairs. Now she could hear voices again. Not shouting, but talking. Maybe brave and adventurous wasn’t going to work. But at least she’d tried and it had set a precedent for any other bold action that she might be persuaded to take. Next morning, she’d try to be up early and take them coffee in bed as she had at the Briers. That would reinforce that she was now taking over control, at least of herself. But she also knew that if either of the others wanted to, they could take it back and be welcome to it. This was all inside out, but for this evening, peace was prevailing and the effort was not in vain.

Sunday went almost to plan. Coffee, with the pair of them both still alive and still in bed together. There was almost no activity for the first half of the morning and then a surprising burst of gardening, not exactly working together, but at least working loosely towards the same objective with Daniella joining in asking what she could do to help although gardening had never been in the top ten on her agenda. But on this occasion it had got them all together and that at least sounded like progress. 

That afternoon, Marvin suggested that they go for a walk on the moor. This could easily be the last thing on Danni’s agenda. Steep hills, smelly animals and poo, scratchy heather and mud. But in the spirit of recovering her family, she slipped on welly boots and jeans and prepared for a short assault by Marvin on the county's drivers. 

But instead it was Angela driving. Oh my. How much worse could a Sunday afternoon get! It's a good job mum’s not a 17 year old boy because that driving absolutely scares the pants off me! 

But she’d survived before and she’d survive again. Hiding the look of sheer terror on her face was a miserable failure as was the huge sigh of relief as they stopped in the car park 

"There!” announced Angela with a self-congratulatory grin
 “Yes, we live to drive another day” replied Danni only then realising that comments like that would be unlikely to work in her favour 

"Well yes” conceded Angela “But there's always so much else going on as a distraction" 

"Sure! And if we survive another 2 and a bit years I can take over and you can watch the distractions. Maybe you could even give me a running commentary”

And… how fit does the distraction need to be to qualify for comment?

The walk went as well as could be expected and Marvin even held his arm out for Angela as she teetered across the stream, while Danni simply splashed through. The family frost had lifted a little, and by the end of dinner, Danni decided to quit while the quittin’ was good and retreated to her bedroom on the pretext of doing some homework.

Skiing

Over in Apple Grove the quiet weekend had suddenly turned into frantic activity. Val d’Isère was not on the itinerary. Steve had thought that the less crowded slopes in the Austrian Alps might be more suitable for Holly and Eloise. The higher more advanced skiing would be less easily accessible, but overall it was a good compromise. And he’d also found a hotel right on the edge of the piste. It was expensive, maybe that’s why it still had vacancies but….

Geneviève was in her element. The techniques all came flooding back to her as she attempted the more difficult runs. 

She stopped near the nursery slope as Holly was finishing her lesson. Now with Geneviève’s encouragement they made it down the rest of the piste all the way to the hotel’s back door instead of taking the cable car. It was just what she would have expected a big sister to do. Or a best friend. And now Holly was wondering if maybe Geneviève should do this twice because she was both of these - or maybe it should just be twice as effective. 

Eloise was making progress too, but the thing that was making most progress was their new little family. Without the interruptions from every day activities and external disasters like Rochelle and Angela, this time together was really making a difference.

Geneviève's confidence had built up quickly and following a few tumbles early in the week, she'd managed to stay upright even on the fastest black runs. 

It was late Thursday afternoon and Eloise was already back at the hotel thinking apre-ski rather than downhill ski and deciding that they could leave packing till the morning while Geneviève caught up with a mildly bruised Holly near the cable car as she too headed back.

“I was thinking....” 

“Not sure that's a good idea, sis”  

“I was thinking about what Daddy said to Danni” 

“What in particular? Daddy says quite a lot to Danni” 

“About not being noticed unless you get out of line. And I was thinking that maybe you don’t need to get out of line in a bad way like robbing a bank or something. You just need to do something unusual. Like you do bespoke dressmaking and that gets you a reputation in a certain circle. So I was thinking of doing something noticeable on the ski slope, just to prove the point” 

“So do you need help with this? You don’t want me to come with you, do you?”

“I don't think so. This involves me simply skiing down the main run. But I’ll need to go quite fast. If you wanted to help me you could get the camera and take some pictures from the first ridge as I come past. That would be the best view. Then, apart from me proving my point, we could maybe show them to Danni and then think of something similar for her to do without it being, like, illegal” 

“I'm not sure I'm best for this Gen. I can't hardly tell one person from another as they zoom past. Unless they're wearing something obvious like that stripey scarf daddy wears” 

“Yes, I will be. I don't think you'll have any trouble at all. But I need to get a wiggle on. The next cable car goes in about ten minutes. If you drop your skis and take a walk on up there. You should be able to see the cable car as it gets to the top so you’re not standing around getting cold for too long.” 

For once Geneviève felt completely out of place. She stood in line in the short queue with her skis in her hand and her Ray Bans on her forehead just ahead of her Alice band, but didn’t pick up any direct questions. She overheard some comments in French suggesting that any official who happened to see her might prevent her from skiing and based on that risk she ducked around the gate at first base and continued up to second hoping that Holly would have the sense to wait a few more minutes. 

The rough French voice next to her in the telecabin sounded more concerned for her health 

“You be careful, now” he said in her direction

“I’ll be fine, but I won’t be standing about for long”

“I should hope not - with wind chill it’ll be a good minus ten out there – if the Warden lets you on the piste at all dressed like that”

“Well! I've no intention of wearing much less!” she replied with her French accent now breaking through 

It wasn’t as busy as she had expected. She thought there would be more attempts to cram in an extra run even with the sun already dipping behind the peaks and the temperature dropping. But it played to her advantage as anyone official was already making tracks to go home as she mingled across to the piste smiling politely as the other skiers gave her a second and sometimes a third look.

But she had to concentrate and move a little quicker. It was cold. There was already serious wind chill as the breeze picked up. And if she did fall she’d be in real trouble. And she had to get back before her legs froze. But she was here now … and … Go

More astonished looks accompanied her as she barrelled down the high slope and took the short jump onto the lower part of the mountain. Jeez it was cold. But it was so much more exhilarating. She maintained concentration not daring to think about her appearance now, or even if frostbite was taking hold of both arms. The deed was done and the next stop was the hotel boot room. As predicted, Holly had no difficulty. With almost everyone wearing salopettes and four-seasons anoraks it was easy enough even for Holly to pick out the only girl on the slope in a short black cocktail dress silhouetted against the white background with her skirt flared out behind her like a fantail in the wind. 

The Polaroid camera had worked its magic yet again and Holly produced her pictures at dinner. Now Steve and Eloise started to understand why so many other residents that they didn’t know had been looking over in their direction as Holly explained it

“We wanted something to show Danni that you don’t need to do anything illegal to get noticed”
 “Ok, this was your idea and you put Geneviève up for it?”

 “No daddy. Geneviève had this planned already. She just suggested that I collect the evidence”

Back in school on Monday and lunch break was catch-up time with Holly after the holidays

“Did your mum tell you?”

“Tell me Danni? Tell me what?”

”Tell you that I went to see her”

“No. Did you? When? But mum would keep mum until she knew that I already knew”

“Saturday… Start of half term.”
 “Saturday! We won, but only just. The teams not the same without you”

“Yes, Holly, Saturday. Your mum and dad are so full of good advice”

She related the abridged version of Saturday evening and Holly listened with interest

“So what happened?”
 “Nothing. Well as far as I know. But mum was wearing thick cotton PJs buttoned right up to her neck so she wasn’t trying very hard”

Holly remembered back to her own efforts to get her mum back with Steve. She’d thought about lots of things that might have played their part and succeeded with getting her to wear a shorter dress but in the end the real success was only because they both wanted to

“Hmmm. Trouble is, there’s no helping people that don’t want help. She really needs to wear a see-through something”
 “I agree, But to be honest, dad’s really not very attractive. And even less when he’s ratted”

“Hmmm. We need to get advice from someone who runs the breeding program at a zoo”

“Maybe I should buy mummy a short nightie, as a hint”

“Or maybe suggest that its only the timing that’s wrong and if they just waited 3 years you’d be off at Uni and wouldn’t notice so much” 

“Or maybe, Danni, they just don’t want to”.

The next few days saw some improvement at the Hapgrove household, and at least, Danni reflected, nothing had got much worse. The whisky bottle had failed to reappear and Marvin had failed to reappear in her room as well and that was two moves in the right direction.

Half term was over for Steve as well but his main meeting on Monday was more social than business. 

His off-site meeting with Jacqui had gone well, but facts about the issue seemed few and far between

“Well, Steve it does seem to have been some sort of prank to do with a girl in some way, and a dubious note suggests she might not be very well. Some sort of infection I suppose. But it must be something to do with the boys at school because Angus is still refusing to go back there. But I now know it wasn’t at our house so some other friends of his must have been involved. Well, unless it was at her house. Oh Steve. I don’t know. And because I don’t know there’s very little I can do” 

She wasn’t sure just how many rules Steve was bending, but was quietly grateful in any case because she was now in agreement that his insistence that she would need reserves of energy as well as time had proved correct. She was also quietly grateful for Steve’s summary of Juliette’s performance in her absence. It was upbeat with the only minor negatives saying that the bar had been set so very high by her predecessor that she had a lot to live up to.

Chess club

Rochelle had now largely recovered, but the issue continued rumbling in other quarters. Hearing something in the lab after school, Geneviève looked up from her bench. It was her turn to run the demonstration and she was quietly setting up her experiment ready for the next day to be ahead of the game. She looked round expecting to see a sixth former or maybe the janitor on his rounds, but instead there was a confused looking  St Eustace uniform.

“I think you might be lost” she opened

“I think you might be right. I was looking for the chess club”

“You missed it”

“Really? I wasn’t yesterday, was it?”

“No. I mean its in the Old House and you’ve walked right passed that and landed up in Chemistry”

“Hmm. I quite like Chemistry, but that’s not what I’d planned”

“Come on, I’ll show you. I can do this later. You must be new, or is it just you’ve not been over here much?”
 “I only just started. I moved from the Conservatoire to be a boarder. But you seem to know your way around?” he added as they turned into the narrow shortcut at the side of the Science block.
 “Yes. Its not that big a place really. But I only started here after Christmas. I would have thought you’d come over with the others. There’s usually quite a few”

“No. I often find I get left behind. I get distracted by something interesting and everyone else moves on so I missed the minibus”

But there was only one person left in the room when they got there

“Where is everyone, Dreanna?”

“They’ve all gone back. The chess sets are all locked in a cupboard and no one knows who’s got the key. The usual key-holder wasn’t here today”

“Did you say you have a talent for getting left behind?”

“Yes. I guess I’ll just have to stay here until I can get a taxi”

“Well, the least I can do is get you a coffee or something. We’ve got a really nice café here”

The café was quiet and friendly as it usually was, as Art finally introduced himself.

“And what is it that you’re famous for in St Lukes?”

“Famous for, Art?”

“Yes. So far I’ve found that every girl seems to have something that they’re particularly known for. Like Sabrina specialises in parties and Tamara is renowned for pranks. Dreanna is a devil at chess. Piers tells me there’s also a girl here who makes bespoke dresses – like for the school directors. That’s impressive. So I was getting the impression you’d all have your own little specialities.”

Geneviève looked across at him with some disdain. This was arrogant – trying to set a high bar for her to live up to. She was being kind to him. And they’d only just met. There were so many things she did as specialities that none of the others would be interested in even if they knew. Like forestry and car restoration. But they were private. Part of her home life outside school.

“I play the piano” she said hesitantly

“Do you play it well?”

She nodded “Yes”

“Very well? Like grade excellent?”

Arrogant worm! She nodded again

“How about that. I play a bit as well. I mean more than just ‘Für Elise’ “

They’d finished their cake and she got up

“Are you going? So soon?”

“No. We’re just moving to the public common room. Sometimes I play more than ‘Für Elise’ as well”

The public common room was just that. It was open to girls and staff and visitors and was just next to the entrance hall in the Old House. She was verging on annoyed. This new guy was going to be easy to dislike. Maybe she should introduce him to Percy so that they could be bozos together. 

But there was a new baby grand in here that she’d not found the excuse to play – yet. And there was only one family group of 4 people, all talking quietly in the far corner so it shouldn’t disturb anyone too much. They glanced over as she lifted the lid, but they stopped talking to listen as she started the Grieg she’d played for her exam

“Wow!” he said as she finished “That’s something else”
 “Grieg’s piano concerto. I thought it was a set piece at the Conservatoire?”

“Yes. It used to be. But the last time I heard that …….”

But he broke off and stopped, turning a very light shade of pale

“Are you all right Art?”

“Yes. Maybe. But wait a minute. The last time I heard that played like that….” 

But he failed to complete the sentence for the second time

“I’ve played it lots of times. It was one of the set pieces for my last exam”

Geneviève led him over to the nearest settee and sat down, but not close to him

“Sorry if its spooked you. Maybe I should play some Rachmaninov to clear the memory”

“No! I mean yes. I’d love to hear you play something else” 

She moved back to the piano. That’s weird. From over confident annoyance to shapeless wreck in the turn of a key – in this case A minor.

But now watching her playing from a slight distance he decided he was right. It was her!

“The last time I heard that Grieg played that well…” he attempted for the third time “… was last year. I was in the mall in Edencombe, but on that occasion the pianist was interrupted”

“So you’re a friend of Phil Clark’s then” she shot at him accusingly

“No. Not at all. In fact, he’s the main reason my folks pulled me from the Conservatoire. But I was with him that day. I’d been to the dentist and he caught up with me as I reached the mall. We’re all in class together and all headed to the same place so we’d share the taxi. I’d been in a situation like that with him before. He’s a wholesale liability. I moved away when he started to cause trouble. I’d found before that it gave him a place to move to without looking like he was running away, plus I’d be less implicated if it got out of hand. I thought it would work again”

“I never really found out what that was all about. It shook me up quite a bit” 

“But. I couldn’t believe that you just floored him. Angus couldn’t either. He tended to just follow Clarkie around. But that time he was scared, but he never told me if he was more scared of you or of Clarkie going open loop”

Geneviève’s ears pricked up at the mention of Angus. Could there be more than one? 

“But that was then. Since then he’s gotten worse. He was unpredictable then, now he’s dangerous. Did you hear about how he stitched up Angus. And he was supposed to be his friend! He set him up in a room at the Park and then got Tamara to phone some chick to go down there for tea. Except that’s not what he’d told Angus, if you get my drift. And he’s been laughing about it ever since.” 

She jumped slightly. Wow, so her hunch was right all along

“So why would he do something like that?”

“He just picked on Angus. I think he despised him for being such a wimp and following him around everywhere. And he thought Gus was stupid enough to fall for it”

“So why did he pick on a particular girl, or just random?”

“Don’t know exactly. Not even sure he knew which girl it was. That was up to Tamara. Maybe she’d upset her. Maybe just someone gullible enough to fall for it. But putting the pieces together, I think he stitched Tammy up as well. I think it was the pair of them that did all that damage at Sabrina’s house during a party and he’d dob her in if she didn’t co-operate. But I still don’t know who that target was. That’s all gone very quiet and even Tammy’s not saying anything. What I heard is that she got pregnant and maybe Tammy’s scared of being found out…” 

He stopped suddenly looking round quickly at her. Oh my! Maybe it was her. That’s it! Revenge for the piano incident 

She was still looking at him slightly confused at his suddenly stopping mid sentence 

“….. but there’s no real evidence” he managed to continue “Even so, my parents have moved me to St Eustace on the back of all this. They don’t want me associating with guys like that. And even if its all just rumour they’re not taking the chance”
 “I don’t blame them. Tamara tends to keep quiet about her pranks. Part of her success, in her book, is retaining anonymity. So everyone can think it was her, and she’ll seldom deny it even if it wasn’t her so that either way its just speculation. So how come you know all this?”
 “I’m not sure I do. Y’see there’s not much hard evidence on any of it. Clarkie won’t dob Angus in because then the whole story would be out. But he’s moving away anyway. May have gone already. London I think with his folks”

“Who? Clarkie?”
 “No, Angus”

“So I guess you know Charles as well?” she said to break the pause and change the subject

“Chas? Yes. Do you know him?”

“We just had coffee together a couple of times. But after Phil Clarke attacked me I wasn’t back in Edencombe much”

“Oh, I see. Anyway, he’s gone too. Boarding somewhere near Bath or Bristol or something. I could find out for you if you like?”
 “No, its ok. I’ve moved on from that too. But there’ll not be anyone left with everyone bailing out?”
 He shrugged “Its not my problem. But I don’t think anyone liked it there. Strict! Wow, was it ever. But listen, I’d better be getting back before my pass expires. I’d better track down a taxi. Its great talking to you. Maybe see you….”

“My taxi’s due any minute. I’ll get Jim to detour past St Eustace if you like. Otherwise you’ll never make the deadline. 6 o’clock isn’t it on an afternoon pass? I’ll just phone my dad and let him know I’ll be late”

“So, who’s this special boy you had to take back to school then! Didn’t know you were staying late to meet someone!” teased Holly as Geneviève sat down and related most of the story over dinner

“But, I don’t think I’ll tell Shelly”
 “I think she’d be interested” said Holly

“Maybe. But it might be better just to let it slip into the background. At least until something else persuades it to resurface”

“But if it carries on, there’ll be no-one left”

“Except Phil Clarke”
 “And then he’d have to…….”  Geneviève face fell as Holly stopped mid-sentence realising what she was saying

“The Conservatoire was borderline before, being so specialist. It wouldn’t take much for it to become unviable, But there’s other schools, baby” added Steve

“Yes, daddy. And I’m sure they’re very good. But I like St Lukes. I don’t want to move again. But you’re right, I don’t want to be in the same place as Philip Clarke. I know I can handle him if he’s on his own. But he seldom is”

Rochelle’s Final Piece

This put a somewhat different perspective on the issue. Steve had done what he could to rescue Rochelle as well as support Jacqui and lend an ear to her problems. But there were so many issues floating around the works, even if individually they were minor, that external personal issues could be left to these specific external personnel. And until there was more evidence that Philip might move to St Eustace there were other priorities

That was until a routine call from a familiar customer introduced a slightly different perspective.

“Neville! How’s business?”

“Very good old boy, very good”

“So what can I help you with?”

“A couple of things really. I understand you’ve opened a Development Division. I was hoping you’d be able to inform me about that. As you know we’ve just installed our new production line and now I’m nervous that it will be obsolete when you’re new range appears in six months”
 “Understandable, Neville. But I can’t tell you very much about it. There are currently no completed designs and no product descriptions or release dates”
 “But you had an offsite meeting at the Blue Boar to discuss it – Ah, must ask you about that place too”

“We’ve made a number of internal moves in the company. I hadn’t really sorted it out since the Event last year, and we’ve brought on some new staff particularly in Finance, so it made sense to gather everyone together for the announcements. Part of that was the introduction of our new Development team”

“I see. And is that what Amy is part of?”

“Yes, but its very early stages and the current objective is to produce a completely new range of equipment that is less reliant on specialised components, but its in a very different sector of the market”

“So they wouldn’t replace the existing range?”
 “No, not at all. Now that we’ve stabilised the components supply chain, the need to revise the current product line has receded. Its far more focussed on business expansion. And when we get a bit farther along we’d be very interested in talking to you to see if you’d be interested in diversifying into this type of retail product to expand your business too. But you’re also interested in the Blue Boar?”
 “Yes. We’ve been using the Park Royal as an overflow for our meeting rooms capacity. However, an unfortunate incident a few weeks ago involving a booking on our account and what I can only assume was a lady of ill repute means that I’m looking for an alternative. So when I heard you used the Blue Boar…”

“I see. Sounds a bit bizarre. I guess you’ve fired whoever was responsible”
 “Oddly not. The finger was pointed at my son Philip. But he was with me that afternoon, so I’m none the wiser”

“Ok. The Boar? Yes no complaints. We don’t do a lot off-site, but if we were doing another one we’d go back there. It was well organised and the buffet was good too” 

“Thanks, old boy. Amy said it went smoothly, but I just thought I’d take your opinion”

It was a short twenty minutes later that Amy was led in by Ruth. Adam had offered to help when he picked up the call, but Steve had said that this was purely an Amy issue.

She knew that she had an unenviable record of faux pax but had no idea which of these had resulted in this invitation. Could Adam not sort it out? She felt that she was getting on well with him.

“Ah, Amy. Do come in, sit down. Coffee?”

Nervously she leaned forward across the coffee table to accept the cup.

“Does the name Neville Clarke mean anything to you?”

“Yes”

“And have you been talking to him recently?”
 “Yes”

This was in danger of becoming a long conversation

“Amy, are you aware that he is one of our biggest customers?”

“Yes”

Steve always claimed he liked girls that always said yes, but in this case he was considering making an exception.

“He placed a big order last year. Did he say much about its success?”

“No. He was asking me more about my work”

“Keith and his team and under strict instruction not to mention that, so I wondered where he might have got his information from. Did you talk much about our current product development?”

“No. Not really. He asked me how my work was going and I said it was much better now that we had a proper R&D division”

“So you’ve talked to him before?”
 “Well, yes. When he’s there, but he’s not really at home much”

“I see. I take it that you’re a regular visitor to his home?”

“Yes. I met Sebastian at Uni”

“Sebastian?”
 “Yes, Neville’s son”
 “I thought that was Philip?”
 “Yes. Phil is his youngest. Seb is his oldest. He only moved back home last November after finishing his Masters and I’ve been going out with him since before Christmas”

“Oh, I see. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry into your personal life”

“That’s ok. Its not as if its secret or anything. But I do try not to talk about work. We talked mostly about my cousin Angus. He’s friends with Phil, but apparently he’s not been seen at school or even out of his house for about six weeks. Its ever since an incident at the Park Royal that Neville is trying to get to the bottom of. But its all a mystery to me. I’ve tried to stay out of it”

“Excellent Amy. But if you do let slip anything about our development, can you make sure that Keith knows about it so that he and his guys can tell the same story. We don’t want anyone making too many guesses and then having some part confirmed because Keith thinks he already knows. It really is most important that the new products are kept out of the public eye until we are ready to release them”

“Is that it? So I’m not is serious trouble. I thought I might be? I’ve made so many mistakes”

”No Amy, you’re not in any trouble at all. And making mistakes isn’t an issue so long as you recognise them and take corrective action”

Well, Well. What would you know?

Lunchtime the next day at St Lukes, Geneviève was nowhere to be seen. Someone suggested that Mrs Brunswick had hijacked her for something, which Holly thought was perfectly feasible considering that the official result of her exam had finally arrived.

Rochelle stopped her as they were leaving the dining hall and edged her down a side corridor for more privacy

“Geneviève has been wanting to tell me something all morning, but there’s always been an interruption. I guess it must be quite private, but I don’t suppose you know what it is, do you?”

“Don’t know what its about, Shelly, but dad said this morning ‘ask her to phone me’. I thought it might be about Danni, but he wasn’t talking to me, he was talking to Gen. I can’t think who else it would be”

“Maybe Mrs Brunswick?”

“But if Gen’s been trying to catch you all morning, it would be you. Is there anything you need to talk to him about?”

“I can’t think so! What would I want to talk to your dad about?”

“I don’t know. Danni has no shortage whatsoever of things she wants to talk to dad about. Maybe we phone him anyway”

“I guess so. If it is me, I don’t want to upset him, and if its not, then its not much wasted”

Holly stood next to her as she dialled the number. 

“It's being transferred” Rochelle commentated before Ruth answered 

“I'm sorry, he's on another call. Who's calling please?” 

“It's Rochelle. He asked me to call him” 

“Can he call you back?” 

“Well, no, not really. I'm in the phone box in the hall and trying to get through to the dorm later would be almost impossible” 

But the next voice of the line was Steve’s 

“Ok Rochelle. Thanks for calling. Listen, I can't talk about it right now, but there's something that’s come up that you might like to consider doing” 

“Is it doing something for you?” 

“Not really. It's for someone else. And there's every chance you'll say no you don't want to, which is ok too. Unfortunately I'm stuck in my office. We've got an important deal going on right now and I need to stay right by this phone in case any instant decisions are needed. Are you busy after school today?” 

“Not especially. Like I don’t have a club or anything” 

“How would you like to come over to the Three Rivers site?” 

“I could...” she said nervously. “But I'm not keen on taxis. I'm just nervous about that” 

“Ok. How about I ask my PA to come and pick you up from the entrance hall. If that would change your mind” 

Rochelle thought she recognised the car but Ruth was a surprise. She found her infectious smile instantly likeable and any nerves had subsided well before she signed in to the site. She'd never had an official visitors badge before - from anywhere. And the manicured site was so non aggressive. Factories, she'd imagined, were spooky dark oppressive places with tall chimneys and sullen sooty workers, but now in Steve’s office it felt very strange. It was like being in an observation lounge. It wasn't an interview, it wasn’t a social event. It was... well maybe it was a social event

“Rochelle, thankyou so much for coming over” 

“That’s ok” she said as Ruth poured her Coke into a glass and pushed the biscuit plate in her direction “you said there was something you wanted me to do” 

“Nearly. I want to tell you something and then I want you to decide what, if anything, you want to do. Now are you ok talking about your SE?” 

“I should be. It's over, and I've been ok in the dorm since then, so I think I'm ok now” 

“Ok. But is it ok if I summarise your SE? Just to set the context“

“I should be ok”

“Ok. Six weeks ago, a young lady not far from here was tricked into going to a hotel room. She was there expecting afternoon tea, but the young man who was already there had some quite different ideas. However, he too had been tricked and the information he was given was incorrect. But he had worked himself up towards something of an emotional precipice goaded on by the perpetrators of this prank and we both know what happened next. It was immediately after the attack that it started to dawn on him that he'd been duped and he realised not only how very badly he'd behaved but also how very stupid he was in falling for this trick. All of that was on top of the betrayal because this had been set up by someone he thought was his friend. He also had a growing fear that was becoming monumental that if he was found out and identified he’d be arrested and locked up” 

“No less than he deserves” said Rochelle “but you're sounding as if you know who it was” 

“Yes, I think I do. But I'll continue if that's ok. After he got home to his parent’s house, he barricaded himself in his room in a panic and refused to come out for two days. It was only when his father destroyed the door that they were able to take any food or drink in to him. He cowered in the corner of the room and completely refused to go back to school. They called a doctor, but to no avail. Slowly, his dad managed to piece together some of the story. His mum has temporarily left her job so that she can look after him and she’s started teaching him at home. There was a slight improvement, but he still hasn't left the house after all this time and prefers the curtains to be kept closed. With you, we put together a reconstruction and that's what helped you”
 “Yes. And I’m so grateful for that, and keeping so busy with so many new things and quiet time and towel time and you and Eloise were so wonderful”
 “Well, that was the plan and it seems to have worked. But for him there was no such help. His mum and dad tried in their own way, but where you wanted us to help you face it and understand it, which you started by phoning Geneviève, he wanted to retreat into a shell of denial and maybe pretend it was something he saw someone else doing or just something he’d read in a book”

“Oh my goodness! Yes, our little play showed me it wasn't all that bad. Like it could have been so much worse and I just accept that I was stupid. I think mum and dad have accepted that I was just silly too. I can't see it happening again especially because I know I can talk to you. Without all that it could easily have destroyed me. But this sounds like that’s what’s happened to him!” 

“Yes, so far, it has. And if you think that's what he deserves, that's ok. I don't know if it's a prescribed medical condition, but he seems to be unable to reconcile this with who he thinks he is. He won't leave the house because he's afraid of getting arrested. He won't talk much about it except one time he broke down saying he was worried about what happened to the poor girl. Someone put a note through his door to say that she was now expecting a baby which will be her life for the rest of her life”

“But that’s not true! We went through that when you asked me! Steve!”
 “I know! Just calm down honey. I know that. And you know that, but he doesn’t know that….” 

Rochelle looked across at him

“So even though he was the villain its affected him worse than me. Its like just overwhelmed him. So can't you do something? I mean, if you know who he is. Or no! No. You want me to do something, don’t you Steve!”

“What I want is for you to consider it. You and me will be the same friends whatever you decide”

“Well, I don't want to meet him. Not without like an armed guard or something” 

“I can't defend his actions. And it's your decision. I guess he'll be ok in time” 

“Well, I'm not going to forget this and I'm not going to forgive him. But he shouldn't be giving up his whole life. That’s just so stupid” 

“Maybe you'd allow me to tell him that.” 

“If you like” 

“Rochelle, if you found out who he was would you want to press charges” 

“Charges Steve! No way! I don't want to relive that whole thing again. We did that with our play and I said then that was it! And there'd be people blaming me as well. Like how much was it my fault! No. I'm through with it. It was a sad nasty event that you recovered me from and it's over now. Except it's not over for him, is it? But I could phone him, if you want?” 

“What I want is of no consequence. Its only if you want to, now that you know the situation”

“Mr Winchester?” 

“Yes” 

“Mr Winchester, is it possible to speak to Angus, please?“

“It's unlikely that he'll come to the phone” 

“Oh that's a shame. I heard he was unwell and I hoped I might be able to make him feel better” 

“That’s kind of you, and I think it's unlikely. But I can ask him. Hold the line please. Angus! Phone for you. And considering the number of young ladies that call you I'd take this opportunity if I were you!” 

“Hello” 

“Hi, How are you feeling? I heard you aren't well.” 

“Yeah. I'm ....” 

“Does that come from that incident in the hotel six weeks ago. I heard you haven't been out since then so you won't know what's going on” 

“Yeah..” 

“I guess you must know who was behind the whole prank. A friend of yours maybe? or ex friend now I expect. But it may not be as bad as you think it is. Has he been keeping in touch?” 

“Yeah. It only gets worse”

“Someone told me you might think that the girl got pregnant…”
 “… Don’t say that! Don’t even think it… Clarkie told me. Now stop it! That’s so much worse. I don't know. I don't know....I…” 

“Now just calm down. I can tell you right now she's not. Never was” 

“She's not?” 

“No. And Philip Clarke. Did it occur to you that whoever booked that room would need to know the Clarke's Meat Products security code?” 

“No.. Never thought of that” 

“Ok, so that's one monkey off your back. Maybe that’s made you feel better. What's next?” 

“You know about this. If it's all public the fuzz will be round here soon. I'll run away. I could jump in the river…” 

“Don't be so daft! The police will only be involved if there's any complaints been made and there aren't. The hotel made a fuss to start with but Clarke's aren't making a noise any more and I wonder why!” 

“What? No charges?” 

“No and won't be for lots of reasons” 

“Like what?” 

“Like she doesn't want to go through it all again in a courtroom. She was pretty upset as well you know. It's not just you!” 

“Is she, like, ok now?” 

“Yes. She was in a terrible state for a few days. But some friends of hers all came to her rescue and she's fine now. A bit older and a bit wiser and a bit more suspicious of random invitations” 

“So! Right! No charges, she's not up the spout, and she's ok now?” 

“Look. You were stitched up the same way she was but there was still no excuse for going so open loop in that room. But then I heard you hadn't been outside your front door since then and you're in danger of writing off the rest of your whole life. That's seriously stupid. 

There’s a big difference between falling for a well-constructed prank and being plain dumb. You need to get back out. Get back to school. Get back to seeing people. And keep your brain in gear and work out who your friends are and who’s just laughing at you” 

“I don't think I can” 

“Well if you can't now, it's not going to get any easier the longer it goes on” 

“It's not safe” 

“ ‘Course it's safe. It always has been. It's only you that thinks it isn't. Look, she's never going to forget this. She's never going to forgive you. Its not been reported to the police and she's not out to hunt you down or get revenge or anything” 

“Oh yeah? And you'd know that, right?” 

“Yes, I do know that. Because although you left her traumatised for a week she still doesn't want you to abandon your life - you're only 16. And Angus the reason I know so much about all this and the reason you can believe me is because the girl in that room was me” 

She clicked off the call before he could respond and turned with an increasing gentle smile towards Steve. He folded his arms around her and she nestled in 

“I'm glad I did that. I think that’ll help him. He sounded a bit more upbeat towards the end. I'm glad you asked me to. Now I feel I've done what I could and that really is the end of it now.” 

She turned her face up towards him as if looking for a kiss and he responded with a little tap on her forehead just as Ruth came back through the door. 

“Rochelle are you ok going back with Steve, or do you need me to take you?” 

“I'll be fine with Steve thankyou. And I'll be ok with Jim in his taxi as well now”

She breathed out, long and slow. Something about that incident had never been finished off. She’d felt she might never be rid of it and it would play on her mind forever coming back to haunt her at random uninvited intervals. But now it was. The last piece was now in the puzzle and that itching gnawing part of it that had been left behind had now evaporated.

Cue Piano Concerto no 2 - Shostakovich

She moved to the window and gazed out across the site towards the lawn and the river

“Is this really where they make sausage machines?”

“Yes, and if you’ve got a spare twenty minutes I’ll show you round”

This was all new and really quite mystifying. Her experience of work places consisted of Foreign Office diplomats and the customer side of everything retail. This was a revelation as Steve explained the route that the raw materials took to produce the finished shiny product. This was amazing. Everyone was busy but they all took a few minutes out to explain what they were doing and how it fitted in. Everyone knew Steve and she felt very very special on this personal guided tour.

Now she really could put this whole episode behind her. Before she’d felt something was lingering on, but now she felt that that had gone as well. And she was chilled out enough the next lunch time to talk about it to Geneviève and Holly.

“So you found out who it was!”

“Yes. Your dad found out, and he told me. His names spelt a-n-g-u-s. But I think the G is silent”

And Geneviève kept quiet.

Steve’s Dinner Party

Steve hadn’t figured out yet what the repercussions of all this would be at work with Neville on one side and Jacqui on the other. But he was also concerned about what niggling doubts it may have introduced to Eloise. One of the original expectations of his new house was that it would be large enough to properly host dinner parties. So far, that had never drifted far enough up the agenda, continually being suppressed by more urgent, if not more important things.

Cue Until the End of Time – Edenbridge 

So now with the immediate external issues fading into the background he had decided that it was time to put that dining room to the test before some other distraction overtook them, with Eloise as hostess.

Ruth was away this weekend, but he’d arranged the wedding date around her diary. Rescheduling this as well could become suspicious.

Gerry and Keith had no problem with their instant acceptance. The invitation however was an interesting dilemma for Tristan and he was still pondering how to broach the issue with Freya as he elbowed his way through the crowd of drinkers in the Dark Horse. He wound the conversation round to the subject but it hardly went to plan. 

Tristan had only met her recently. That day had started with him meeting his dad for a day’s hiking as planned.

He saw his dad from half way down the hill leaning against his old grey Vauxhall. Tristan had been held up in the queue to get into the car park beside the Huntsman’s Rest and had decided at that early point to continue on. There was a little known forest car park another quarter mile up the hill which was seldom busy and not just that - it was free! That 5 minute walk seemed to justify saving the eighty pence parking charge, but conversely qualified as a dubious choice on the way back which was up hill. But it was easier and Tristan didn’t like sitting in traffic queues.

His dad was raring to go. They'd decided to try the 9 Brooks Trail which was a good 12 miles with a fair bit of up and down as well. Tristan's dad had just turned 73 and was hoping he'd still be able to make this walk, but with a view that one way or another he was unlikely to be making another attempt.

They set off at a pace chatting on the flat stretches where less effort and concentration was needed and making good progress especially on the downhill. The pace slowed coming up to lunch time and the two girls hiking towards them gave them a welcome reason to stop. They weren't exactly lost, just not sure of the next part of their route. Tristan explained it to them pointing out that it can be confusing as the streams tended to take U turns around the escarpments and they’d be crossing the watershed several times and downstream was not necessarily the right direction so they needed to check their compass. That, after all, is what made this part of the moor so challenging.

Sandwich time was the excuse for the next stop around one o'clock but by mid-afternoon the older man was feeling the strain and they sat for a while on a rock by the side of the seventh of the nine streams just taking in the afternoon sunshine. 

Tristan was in no hurry. This was him unwinding before yet another full on week at work. He liked his job, he liked the company he worked for. He particularly liked being recognised as a key player in its success and a member of the executive team. How many other small companies would recognise their IT guy that well? 

The pace had slowed now, rests were needed, but the end was in sight. The Huntsman pub was just beyond the copse in the distance and there was now no doubt that the older man would make it. 

But the time had caught up with them as well, and now with the prospect of sitting down at the wheel of his car in a well-worn comfy armchair, he declined Tristan's offer of coffee on a hard wooden bench and headed for home. 

Tristan too had felt the pressure. There was a certain stress in taking him on that kind of hike with a serious prospect of having to help him or even carry him the last mile, and he was relieved that it had all gone well. He could, however, use a cup of coffee and maybe even a cake before walking back up-hill to his car. 

The pub garden was busy. It seemed that every weekender with children had invaded and they all wanted to sit outside to make the most of the late sunshine. He looked around and wandered aimlessly between the tables now noticing what looked like one of the girls he'd given directions to was sitting at a far table on her own by the fence overlooking the meadows. He walked over noticing that she looked more slumped across the table than sitting at it 

“It's a bit busy today. Would you mind if I shared your table?” 

She raised a finger and attempted a hand as if she was past caring. 

“Are you all right?” he asked now becoming concerned “can I get you a coffee? Or tea…. Although you look like you could use a brandy!” 

She finally raised her face 

“Would you? Really? Oh, tea would be lovely” 

“This tea” he said placing it on the table in front of her “is rather wet. So to balance it out I got you cake as well which is somewhat dryer” 

She smiled a brief thankyou and sipped her drink. 

“Did you find that left turn by the standing stones all right” he asked after several moments of silence but there was a minimal response 

He drank his coffee, finished his cake and wondered where her partner had got to 

“Your partner? You've not left her out on the moor have you?” 

“No” she said slowly “and thankyou for the tea. I think I've just about recovered enough to speak” 

“But your partner is ok?” 

“Yes, she got her bus. Just hope she doesn't fall asleep and miss her stop“

“And you look completely shattered” 

“Yes, we just got back. Not long ago” 

“Really! I thought it would only take you two hours from there” 

“So did we. But we asked for directions again. The man we spoke to said if we weren't sure we should head for the high path and then we'd see where we were from the ridge” 

“He did what!” Tristan gasped incredulously before lowering his voice “Oh my goodness. No wonder you’re shattered. How far did you go before you realised?” 

“We got to the ridge, and from there we couldn’t see anything at all that we recognised. That’s when we started to suspect. So we headed South-West on our compass to the high rocks, but it was straight through the heather – no path and that was tough. We started at the other side of the moor at 8 this morning. We hadn’t intended to bag any peaks this afternoon never mind straight line orienteering”

“Oh! That is so dangerous. Do you think it was deliberate”
 “I’d like to think not. But….It took us an extra 3 hours! But then you must have been out that long too” 

“Yes, but we didn’t start that early and we knew where we were going, and dad needed a ten minute break every 10 minutes so I’m not quite so shattered. I'm Tristan” he introduced 

“Freya. And that was your dad you were walking with?” 

“Yes, he wanted to do the 9 Brooks again before he gets too old, so I was expecting it to take a while. But he's gone home now. He preferred the comfy seat in his car to the wooden bench out here. And your friend has taken her bus already?” 

“Yes she's ... Bus! What time is it? I need to get my bus!” 

“Ten to six” 

“Oh no! I don't believe it. If I catch up with that green anorak I'll....I’ll..” 

“Drop dead in front of him just to embarrass him” completed Tristan 

She raised a short laugh “thankyou for your confidence” 

“But there's another bus a five past” 

“I know. But that's no good. It's the connection that I've missed now. Maybe I need to take the town bus and catch a cab from the centre” 

“Or I could give you a lift” 

“Which way are you going?” 

“Any way you want me to!” 

“Don’t be silly, I live way over in Bishops Ford” 

“Look, it's no problem. If you take the bus you'll likely fall asleep and then you'll be spending the night in the depot” 

“Are you sure it's no trouble” 

“No trouble at all” 

She smiled her thankyou again and looked puzzled as he continued 

“My car is up in the forest car park. It's only at the top of the hill. I'll go and get it and bring it down here now that there's some space” 

The grockles had thinned out and an early dusk was dropping the temperature as Tristan returned, but he was delighted to see that she was exactly where he'd left her and now looking almost alert 

“Look, if you're not in too much of a rush, we could get something to eat here and head back after that. That might help your recovery rather than go home and then need to find food in the evening” 

“I'd love too but I might just keel over” 

“I think that about my nephew. I see him crawl into the kitchen dragging his near dead body and ten minutes later after stuffing his face he's off like a dervish all over again” 

“Yes, you're probably right. But you're not catching me at my best” 

“Well let's just see if food makes a difference, but I promise I'll take you home any time you want to go” 

Food revived her a little, offset largely by the glass of wine and true to his word, he drove her home mid evening. 

But despite her looking like she could fall asleep any minute, it hadn't been difficult to elicit not only her phone number but a date for Wednesday as well. 

They’d met up several times since then and now, three weeks on, they were sitting quietly in the Dark Horse

“Are we going for a walk on Sunday? I was thinking we might make it up to that stone circle above the tarn” Freya was saying enthusiastically

“Sounds good, but there's a complication. There's a dinner party on Saturday” 

“Friend of yours?” 

The invitation is actually from Eloise” 

“So you're going to dinner with this Eloise?” 

“Well, yes. Eloise will be there” 

“Oh, I see” she whispered despondently 

“It's work colleagues” 

“So a sort of get to know each other work session” 

“Sort of” 

“So do you work with his Eloise?” 

“No, she's my boss’s wife” 

“So you've got an invitation to dinner on Saturday, and it's from your boss's wife” 

“Yes, but it's the other side of town, way out at Apple Grove so there's an invitation to stay over and save driving back late” 

“Oh I see! The invitation is for you to have dinner with her and then stay the night. Now I see what the hesitation is in telling me” 

“No, I was going to ask you to come with me” 

“Tris, you're not suggesting ménage à trois are you?” 

“Freya! I really don't think it's going to be that sort of thing. But then, I've never been invited before....I think I'll go out to the car park, turn round and round a few times and then come back in and start again” 

“You do that! I'll get another round in and we'll figure out what's really happening on Saturday” 

Tristan sat down again and took a long swig from his new pint glass. 

“Freya” 

“Yes, Tristan” 

“I've been invited to dinner on Saturday” 

“Yes, you said” 

“It's with a number of work colleagues” 

“And it's ...” 

But Freya didn't get any farther as Tristan had pressed his thumb and forefinger across her lips rendering speech impossible 

“At the risk of making you look like a duck, I’m going to finish this question. I'd like you to come with me to this dinner party but there are two complications...” 

Freya tried to say something but was actually giggling too much for this duck impersonation to be effective. 

“Issue number one is that it's my works colleagues and their wives and you might not feel comfortable with meeting them this early - we've only known each other for a few weeks. The second issue is on the same basis and that is its at Steve's house in Apple Grove and the invitation is to stay over on Saturday night so that we don’t have to be so careful about having a drink. Except we'd only have one room and I expect we'd only have one bed”

 He let go of her lips and she was finally able to smile. 

“Maybe that needs a little more discussion. It all sounds rather clinical. Maybe it depends on whether you want us to keep seeing each other” 

“I suppose that’s got to be part of it”
 “What you’re really saying, Tris, is will I go to this dinner with your work colleagues which you see as being the sign of a longer term relationship, and then you want me to go to bed with you?”
 “Yes”

“Well, at least I know what to expect rather than just have a few too many in a remote pub somewhere and then take a time-out on the way back with neither of us really appreciating either each other or the significance”

Freya's Saturday afternoon meeting of the Moorland Conservation Society committee was dragging on. Usually they only took a couple of hours max and half of that was in the bar. But now when she was on a short timescale it was well into its third hour. Third hour! But I need to get back, and get ready and changed and showered - but not in that order. Oh my! I’m so late! She shuffled around in her chair hoping it would finish any second to save her from the ignominy of breaking up the meeting by leaving before the end. 

She interrupted at the next possible point and apologised that she really would have to go. 

“You're right! My! Is that the time. Yes, we should close the meeting now and pick these points up next time” 

But this was even worse because now all sorts of people wanted to have a private word with her even as she was putting on her coat and nearing the door.

Finally back at her flat Tristan would be picking her up in less than half an hour. Quickly she rushed to the shower, before realising that she had forgotten her towel. The warm cascade relieved her nerves and she rushed to catch up with getting ready. Right through until she heard the buzzer for the main door 

“Tristan, come on up” oh my! A good job this isn't video, as she hurried back to the bedroom. 

Tristan was no less surprised. He was expecting her to be at the door waiting for him ready to go, but instead he pushed at the open door and gingerly made his way inside. She must be there, she just spoke to me two minutes ago. 

“Freya?” 

He checked the living room, saw that she wasn’t in the bathroom then pushed fearfully at the bedroom door. 

Freya was standing by the wardrobe wearing her underwear, a long underskirt and a gold necklace. But she'd told him he should come up 

“Is this the new fashion for hiking as well?” he asked trying hard not to stare in disbelief 

“No. For hiking you need boots as well. Oh, Tristan, I'm so far behind” but without saying anything else she rushed into finishing her nails

“Is there anything I can do?” 

“Yes, get me the green dress from the wardrobe and there's a cardigan that goes with it in that cupboard.... 

He dried her hair as she sat still finishing her makeup and phoned Steve to say they'd be late. She was desperately disappointed. She’d wanted to look her best for this and now … and now it was all in a rush.

She led the conversation about her committee meeting on the way over there as he concentrated on the Saturday evening traffic, trying not to get wound up. But they both exchanged a disbelieving glance as the green gate rumbled open and another one as the house came in to view.

“Hi. Come on in.” welcomed the young lady without farther introduction.

She hung their coats on a peg and showed them where their room was. They both looked overwhelmed and maybe they were, the same as she had been herself the first time she’d been to the house

“I need to rush back to the kitchen I’m afraid. If you come and find me when you’re ready I’ll get you a drink. We’ll all be having Chinese takeaway if I don’t rescue that salmon” as she fled back down the stairs

 “Is everyone else here” asked Freya finally finding the kitchen by following the sweet aroma of food

“Kind of. They've all arrived, but they're not here. They've taken a walk up to the pond” 

“Is it a big pond?”

“Oh yes. its big. Like so much of the rest of the garden”

“Would you like me to get you a drink? Or would you rather go and catch up with the others” 

“Maybe we could just help you in there?” suggested Freya

“Oh thankyou. But I think it would be more appropriate for you to join the other guests rather than the kitchen slave” 

Geneviève poked her head out from arranging plates ready for serving

“They’ll all be up by the lake by now. I think I should drive you two up there”

“Could we just walk there?”

“You could, but you’d meet the others on their way back and you’d like the lake. Its really quite magical” 

“In that case I’ll just drive up”

Cue Devils Highway by Savoy Brown

Geneviève considered the possibility shaking her head

“Mmmm possibly. What kind of car have you got?” she asked speculatively

“Its an Austin Healey 3000, if you’ve ever heard of that. Its….”

“Oh my! How lovely. I’d like to take a look at that later if you wouldn’t mind. I’ve actually got a Lanchester. It’s a bit older than your car but they’re both classics all the same. But your Healey wouldn’t survive the forest track. It won’t have the ground clearance. No, we’ll take my land rover and then I can bring mummy back to check on the oven and you could join the others for the walk back down the hill. And I did clean it out just in case it was needed…” 

Then turning back to the kitchen  “…I think we should turn that oven up to 170 even though that’s not what the recipe says. Otherwise it will never be ready. And move that salmon to the other oven to slow down”

“Ok, because we don’t want it frazzled”

This was an added bonus. Tristan was sure he’d heard that Geneviève was 15, so maybe that was her in the kitchen. But this girl seemed perfectly confident driving her Land Rover pointing out the garden land marks and bouncing through the darkness under the trees.

Freya spotted the coloured lights first and it did indeed look as if maybe it was a mythical kingdom and following Eloise’s apology they unanimously agreed that the priority was making sure that dinner was neither undercooked nor incinerated.

It was another fifteen minutes before the guests returned to the house.

Danni met them in the Conservatory with a tray of champagne and quietly distributed it with a nervous smile. This was really quite a responsibility with these work colleagues of Steve’s. She wasn’t sure who they all were but she was sure that one of them was the Sales Director and he had to be important.

Drinks before dinner was wonderfully amiable. Freya was the centre of attention as Keith and Gerry had never heard Tristan talk about a girlfriend although neither of them could think of any reason to suspect that he shouldn’t have one. Fashion was another topic of conversation and Holly was in her element talking about her ambition and showing Carole and Freya around her studio, while Elaine was keen on talking to Steve about the potential International division. Danni continued to refresh the glasses until Eloise took over and she returned to the kitchen to serve the starter.

But now sitting round the table, Tristan and Freya were both confused. Holly introduced herself and he turned to Steve. 

“Is Geneviève missing out tonight Steve, now realising that there were three young girls rather than the two he was expecting?”

“No, I’m here”

He looked perplexed now. This could become embarrassing in front of Freya.

“So, who’s the delightful young lady with the drinks, and now serving dinner?”

Steve stopped her on her way out “Tristan wants to know who the delightful young lady is”

“Which one, Steve?”

“The one with the drinks, of course!”

“Oh! Me?. Hi I'm Daniella” 

Tristan looked sufficiently perplexed for her to continue “I’m only here to help out – butler, chef, waitress, slave, barmaid. I do hope you have a great evening” 

Dinner took much longer than expected due mainly to conversation, but the dessert was in the fridge anyway so the delay hardly mattered and Danni had caught up with most of the clearing up. She zipped through to the living room by cutting through the conservatory to be behind the bar before everyone arrived and now with the pace far more laid back she got to socialise a bit as well.

“And how is it you know Steve and Eloise?” Keith was asking her

“Oh, I’m Holly’s best friend. I’m in school with her and Geneviève”
 “You’ll be a bit late getting home, surely” he said looking at his watch

“That’s ok. I’m staying here tonight”

“Is that a special treat for you?”

“Yes, but I stay quite often. Its so wonderfully peaceful here despite the constant activity. Its just so much under control. And Steve’s so adorable”

“Hmm. The girls at work tend to think so too”

“Yes” she said not hiding the disappointment “except Eloise does as well”

But for Steve at least the evening was headed in the right direction.

It had brought the team closer together and next morning breakfast was a generally collective affair even if trying to get eleven people into the kitchen was something of a challenge.

By mid-morning the house was back to 5. Elaine and Gerry were on their way back to see what carnage their two boys had managed to create, aided and abetted by Gerry’s parents, Keith and Carole had a minor lunch appointment and Freya and Tristan were on their way to the Huntsmans Rest for a quick snack before heading for the remote tarn. 

Danni stayed behind. She hadn’t given her mum a specific time to pick her up and was more interested in staying there as long as possible. 

But she too was back at home late afternoon after Angela had come over speculatively looking for her.

That had been quite a different weekend. Preparing dinner most of Saturday and then the house party going on till long past midnight.

“If mum and dad do actually kill each other...” Danni had said while sipping a small Cointreau at only 3 in the afternoon “…I don’t think I’d mind being a modern day servant like that. Its hard work, but you get to meet such interesting people”
 “I’m not so sure” said Geneviève “A friend of mine is French and she’s over here as an au pair and hates it. Every minute of it. I’d like to find something to help her, but I guess there’s just too much else going on”

Geneviève’s Birthday

Geneviève’s relentless pace continued the following week. The wedding was still nearly a month away and largely under control. She just needed to think about it occasionally to try to discover something she’d missed out of the plan. But there was another event before then that had demanded some careful thought as well and Holly’s perseverance was continuing to be unsuccessful. No party. At least, not anything similar to Sabrina’s. It would be too divisive. She could have invited most of the girls from her class, and the usual circle of boys but she’d want to leave out Percy and some of the others that were equally childishly annoying – like Art, and that would cause problems and no doubt some retribution when they eventually bumped in to each other at some future event.

No, she’d rather just go to the Castle with Holly and daddy and mummy and maybe she’d invite one or even two others. She wondered how often Rochelle had been to a restaurant like this before, although it would not be unknown to her parents considering their international line of business. So would this be a treat for her? Or did it matter? It was the event, not the venue.

She’d managed to find out that Rochelle had nothing much planned for the weekend, and Holly had asked if she was inviting Danni as well. But Geneviève didn’t want to do that. She felt guilty about being selfish, but on this day she wanted to be the centre of attention without doing anything too eccentric, and Danni would detract from that, probably with some new tale of tragedy and despair. She used to be so much fun, but with the continuing war at home she had become preoccupied with demanding attention and sympathy under the guise of self-preservation. Geneviève felt sorry for her, but Danni would have to continue to face reality and operate her own plan and maybe next week they’d share their skiing photos and figure out how to get Danni back to being herself again. But for just this one day she’d have to cope with being excluded.

She caught up with Rochelle at lunch. They’d got to the dining hall rather late and almost everyone else had gone. But Rochelle commented that at least there was some food left and Geneviève seized on the introduction 

“Shelly. There’s a really lovely restaurant that we sometimes go to. Its got two Michelin stars and the food is so amazing that we reserve it for really special occasions”

“Really? Like what”

“Like when mum got her promotion. And when mum and dad got engaged”

“Gen! You mean your mum and dad aren’t married?”

“No, not yet. That’s not till April. I’m hoping I’ll be able to invite you but I’ve only recently finalised the essentials and it depends on some things that I’ve not sorted out yet on the guest list”

“So are you organising it?”
 “Mainly. I’ve done most of it but there’s still quite a few unknowns and loose ends. Eloise is my second mum. My first mum got killed in a train wreck”

Shelly’s face fell “Oh Gen, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know”

“No, not many people do. I don’t talk about it much. But Shelly, are you busy on Saturday. In the evening?” she asked quietly lowering her voice and avoiding excitement

“Evening? No. I’ll just be hanging out in the dorm as usual”

“We’re going to this special restaurant and I was hoping you’d come with us”

Rochelle jumped “I don’t think I’ve ever been to anywhere with a star. Oh wow. But I doubt if I can afford it. It would probably wipe out my allowance for the whole term!”
 “No, Shelly, it would be my treat”
 “What? Some special occasion?”
 “Yes, Its my birthday. Is actually quite a special birthday. I’ll be sixteen”

“Six-teen?”

“Yes. After my first mum died I spent some time in Australia and missed a year of school over here. But I don’t mind being a year behind. It has its advantages”

“Wow! Gen, I thought we were best friends, and there’s so much about you I don’t know!”

“I did tell you I was really quite quiet when we first met”
 “Yes, and since then you’ve done so much to disprove it here at school and outside school so much of everything has been all about me”

Geneviève just smiled. No comment was needed

“But you can come, can’t you?”
 “Yes, if you want me too. Who else is going?”

“My mum and dad, that’s Eloise and Steve, and Holly and me. And you”

“Is that all? Are you not having a big party?”

“No. Shelly, its a special milestone for me. There were a number of things I decided I wanted to do before I was sixteen, like my piano. And it was a kind of catchphrase for me in Australia. If I got something really wrong I’d say ‘give me a break guys, its not as if I’m sixteen’ and I’d rather celebrate it with really special friends rather than lots and lots of acquaintances”

Rochelle was stunned into silence as those words sank in as Geneviève continued

“Maybe you could stay with us afterwards instead of coming back here on your own. Don’t want you staggering around the dorm if we’ve had a drink or two and we might even recover enough to have some fun on Sunday. But I don’t need to know immediately. Its not as if I’m inviting someone else if you can’t come”

Tears formed in Rochelle’s eyes. This was really really special

“Geneviève! I’d love to come. And nothing is going to get in the way. If there’s anything else planned it’ll just have to reschedule itself. Oh my. Oh thankyou so much”

Geneviève arranged for Jim to pick her up from the school to meet them at the Castle. But that actually meant that Rochelle got there first.

It wasn’t a hotel, but the memories of the Park came flooding back as she made her way in on her own and was led into an anti-room. She jumped when the waiter returned with a glass of champagne for her while she waited. She accepted it, but noticing how nervous she looked, he sat down opposite her. He asked if she’d been there before and apologised for not remembering her if she had. He was friendly, he was taking time out for her, he seemed to be genuinely interested in calming her down and making sure that she was happy. And he was really enthusiastic about his restaurant as he talked quietly in a strong French accent. It all helped to set the scene, but she was relieved when the others arrived.

The chatter round the table bounced around between school work, a comparison with Long Meadow, some of the more annoying boys at St Useless and some personal background from Shelly.

She was sitting between Steve and Geneviève, who was next to Holly with Eloise completing the circle at the intimately round table. No-one was very far from anyone else and it was so much like being with 4 close friends. She wasn’t being extra polite. She wasn’t trying her hardest to be on her best behaviour. She was just calm and natural even in this new environment. And wasn’t that just what they’d all set out to do after her experience at the Park.

Steve looked around from one to the next at his only slightly extended family. Strange and sad, he thought, that their ‘next’ time at the castle should be without Danni who, after all, was no trouble at all. And instead they had Rochelle – quieter, more thoughtful, less impetuous and no less vulnerable. Holly- munching, chatting and pouring another drink all at once, Eloise – with a wedding to look forward to in only 3 weeks and Geneviève – not quite so quiet and reserved as usual. But 16. My! So soon!”

Brave and Adventurous

Sunday evening and with Rochelle back at her dorm, Eloise and Geneviève finally found the time to run through the timing plan for the wedding and that left Holly with Steve in the living room. And the subject of conversation was summer holidays.

It wasn’t difficult for Holly to start to get excited about this. They could go anywhere! and Holly was beginning to think about a safari with elephants and antelopes rather than lying on a freezing beach in Bournemouth.

And now that Holly was beginning to look forward to her summer holiday as part of her new more settled normal, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for Danni whose normal had been turning inside out. 

At her house, Danni’s thoughts returned to the last time she’d had dinner at the Briers. All the effort Holly had made – coming up with her bursary idea in the first place and then taking it all this way through to prove it was viable….wow! But with this now providing a last ditch solution, Danni started thinking about something more adventurous. Maybe she’d picked up some hints from the outrages that Tamara managed to get away with, or maybe it was pure desperation, but now she was thinking about something that would resolve the conflict rather than just accept it as inevitable. Children accepted everything as inevitable. Adults should be more in control of their own future. She wasn’t a little girl. Her father would have to accept that. And if either him or her mum wanted to be parents they’d better react quite quickly because she had no intention of being a child much longer. Was she really now in a position to push this along?

It may have been something that Danni had done, or it may have been instigated by something else entirely, or maybe a combination of everything that was happening. But progress had been made. Danni hadn’t remembered her parents ever having a dinner party. They hadn’t even invited Steve and Eloise over despite being invited to the Briers on four or was it five occasions. But now, the plan for next Saturday was to invite Marvin’s senior work colleagues to dinner. And their husbands. Ah-ha! That might be part of the problem. Danni knew there had been some changes at her dad’s work, but this was a feasible explanation. Working for a woman would not go down too well with this male supremist.

“Holly wouldn’t want very much to come over and be the domestic slave like I did for their dinner party?”
 “This is already costing enough. And anyway, we’ve got you!”

“I don’t think so. Daddy, I can’t think that women that have made it that far up the ladder in your company will be over impressed with you treating your daughter like a servant”

“So I suppose you’ve got a better idea”
 “What about you invite me too”

“That would unbalance the numbers”
 “In that case, I’ll bring someone along”

“So who’s going to do the cooking and serving and getting the drinks, then?”

“We can all help. Even the guests if they offer. At Steve’s, Carole, she’s the Sales Directors wife and Freya the IT Directors wife both offered to help in the kitchen and Gerry, he’s the Production Director, he helped Geneviève get the drinks. Everyone joined in. It made them feel it was more of a family friendly thing than a stuffy board meeting”

“Oh, all right. But we don’t need Holly”

You may not, but I do. And I need something else as well!

Lunchtime at school heard the phone at St Eustace being answered by a helpful female voice

“They’ll all be in the refectory I expect. I’ll put you through there”

One step at a time, thought Danni.

“I’m trying to get hold of Piers – or if not then Liam Brewster,...”
 “Lucky him. But I can’t see Liam I’m afraid.. Piers!” she heard the shout “Some girl trying to get hold of you”
 “Me! What for”

“I suggest you ask her”

“Hello. This is Piers”

“Piers. Its Daniella Hapgrove here”

“Wow! That’s a wonderful surprise”

“Thankyou. Well at least you remembered who I was”
 “Sure I did. From Sabrina’s party. I was so disappointed we didn’t get more time together. And to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?”
 “Two questions for you, although they’re linked. How do you get on in your drama class? And, would you be interested in doing me an absolutely enormous favour?”

”Drama Daniella? Not my best subject, but its ok. And do you a favour, I guess it depends on what it is, but actually, yes. Yes. Although I really need to know more about this before I can definitely commit. Its not one of Tamara’s outrages is it?”

“Hmmm. No, nothing to do with her. But this is really quite big. Maybe I should ask someone else. I was going to ask Liam, but really I think you’d be better”

“No, Danni. You just explain it a bit more. If it involves Drama you must be staging some sort of a play, yes? Who else is involved?”
 “It’s a kind of a play. Except everyone is playing themselves, or nearly”

“Ok. When’s it happening?”
 “Saturday evening”

“Ok Danni, but we need to meet up before that. I’m not so keen on just being handed a script and going straight on stage”

“Except there’s unlikely to be a script”

“So even more important. I’m intrigued. What about tomorrow, say 4.30. Starbucks in town maybe?” 

Sorted! Now find Holly

Cue Somebody Gotta Make a Move by Sonny Landreth

Holly was at a table on her own with her notebook just idly sketching some designs

“I like that…”
 “Hmmm. I need something a bit more daring for Vanessa”

She flipped through a few more pages of half completed sketches
 “I think that may be going a little too far. For her. You’re not making it up with that asymmetric skirt are you?”
 “I think that may be going too far. Top, or bottom, but that would be both!”

That evening Holly charged through the prototype. She already had a lot of practice doing her scarlet inserts that showed from certain angles, and she’d used the asymmetric skirt pattern before except never that extreme. But the top was something else. Maybe it was too much! More likely it was too little. Maybe it needed testing but that would have to wait and see what it really looks like when its complete.

Over in Starbucks, Piers was there first and had coffee and donut on the table when she arrived.

They talked about school for a while until Piers raised the question of the incident at the Park Royal and did Danni know much about what the trouble was and maybe even who the girl was

“Piers, I know a bit about it. But its really quite personal so I don’t want to talk about it. What she doesn’t need is people spreading rumours or asking her about it in public. Its over. Its finished”
 “Sounds like it can’t have been too serious then, if its all over already”
 “That not fair! Ok, I’ll tell you a little but only if you promise that it goes no farther. It was serious. But the way she recovered was that she wrote the script for what happened and some friends of hers replayed it. By watching it from the side-lines she understood it a whole lot better and came to terms with it”

“I see, And that’s where you got the idea of doing your own play? For whatever it is in your life?”
 “ Yes. And are you still willing to help me?”

“Sure. It can’t be all that dodgy. Certainly not compared to some of the stuff Tamara’s been getting up to”

“Oh Piers, I can’t go through the whole long history, but where we’re at is that my dad is having serious issues at work. This is having a bad effect on mum. And me. Anyway he’s arranged for two of his directors to come over for dinner on Saturday. They’re bringing their husbands and obviously mum and dad will be together”
 “So you just want a partner for the evening”
 “Nearly. Dad has a real problem admitting that he’s getting older which I remind him every day just by growing up. I think he’s stuck between being young enough to relate to the teenage girl in the house and wishing I was still 9 or 10. I need to prove that I’m not a little girl any more so that he can come to terms with who he is. If that conflict is out of the way, he’ll be able to concentrate better at work. He did have his own way of proving that, but I’m certainly not going in to all that. So I’ve got my invitation, and yes I do need a partner. Except I want you to pretend that we’ve been seeing each other for at least a year. This dinner party is very important to him to make the right impression. So I want to take full advantage of that because he won’t dare make a fuss in front of his directors. I want to make out its almost one down from a meet the parents, meet the boyfriend. And Piers, you’re really the only boy I know well enough to think that might play along”

Piers pressed back on his chair and finished the crumbs from his donut

“Wow! This sounds like a major issue and the stakes are high. Supposing it all goes wrong?”

“Wrong? How could it? We just need to back up whatever outlandish statements either of us makes. Or we just join in like two young adults asking questions and learning how to behave”

“Danni, I think you’re crazy. But you’re sounding like this is really important to you. Ok. Lets do it. It doesn’t sound like the sort of event you’d just drag some random acquaintance along to. That would be the work of a juvenile. And its that double bluff that makes it interesting. But we need to invent some history…”

Holly's ‘Creation’ 

The next day Holly stood back from her mannequin to survey the result

“Geneviève, how would you like to do me a favour”
 “Sure. What do you need help with?”

“Can you wear my new creation to dinner later. I want to see mum and dad’s reaction”
 She leant her head slightly to one side “Creation? Creation Holly? So its not a dress then?”

“I think daddy might say ‘that’s a matter of some conjecture’ ”

But there’ll only be the four of us, so why not, whatever it is, this ‘creation’. Sounds weird.

The debut of the creation was no less than historic. Holly had taken over Geneviève’s turn at setting the table and Steve looked at her suspiciously. Something was going on, but then, that was by no means unusual in this house. He asked casually if Geneviève was all right and sat down at the table, happy that no immediate action was needed as Eloise brought the tray in from the kitchen

“No Geneviève?”
 “I’ll give her a shout. She’ll be down right now”

But knowing something was about to happen was simply not enough to prepare them for the entrance

“Wow” he gasped in unison with Eloise

“Geneviève?”

She twirled just inside the doorway and stepped slowly towards the table, not daring to go any faster 

“What’s the verdict?” asked Holly as they finished the meal

“That has got to be the most stunning dress I’ve ever seen” said Eloise “But I’m not sure I’d dare stock it even in the boutique”

“I wasn’t thinking of putting it into production. Its more, one of a kind. Maybe its just a concept”

“I agree with mummy. But I think you just took ten years off my life. This is my little Geneviève aged 26”

“That works then!”

Marvin was playing golf all Saturday afternoon, Daniella beavered away helping her mum get everything ready. 

“Better this way” Angela had said “saves him getting in the way” 

This was good – spending time with her mum, learning a bit more about cooking and neither of her parents on her case, for once.

“You go and get changed, mum. I’ll keep an eye on everything here”

And that way, Danni would be getting changed last and that was the plan.

 She’d met Piers again on Thursday and explained that she didn’t want to invent too much, just a little embellishment here and a bit of innuendo there. Piers said he was much more comfortable with that approach, and suggested that it might even take less concentration if it was at least loosely based on fact, especially if they’d had a drink. He’d gone back through his diary and found a number of events where they could have met even if they hadn’t. He said he thought that he now understood what she was trying to do and they seemed to be getting onto the same wavelength. He’d phoned on Friday evening and clearly he was taking this seriously and had done his homework. And, reminded Danni, only one drink.

Marvin was back in good time and a close check by Angela confirmed that he was indeed booze free. Clearly he was taking this seriously too.

“Did we ever find out who Danni had invited?” he asked as Angela checked the table

“Not exactly. I expect its Holly, but she’s been getting quite friendly with Rochelle as well. She was…” but Angela decided not to complete that train of conversation. “Anyway, whoever it is, she said they’d been getting a lot more friendly over that last year or so”

“Sounds like Holly”

As instructed, Piers waited inconspicuously until the other guests had arrived. That way, Danni had said, any issues from her dad would be muted. 

He was nervous about this solo introduction and Danni hadn't explained why, but... Here goes! 

He rang the bell, answered by Angela

"Hi. You must be Angela. Delighted to meet you at last. I'm Piers. Danni invited me to dinner”

He paused briefly taking in her astonished look. 

"...she said the other guests would all have their partners with them so it was a natural choice so that she doesn’t feel left out" 

Now untying her tongue Angela was able to reply, inviting him in and introducing him to the other guests as simply, Daniella's boyfriend. 

Not least surprised was Marvin. He flashed glances furtively between Piers and Angela and his guests, realising that there was nothing he could say that wouldn't sound incompetent. Like maybe, ‘don't be silly, she's far too young to have a boyfriend’. Or ‘surely you two can't be that serious,’ or even. ‘Struth! I didn't know she had a boyfriend’. But the conversation had moved on and he didn't have the time to figure out that he might have been stitched up. 

Piers was the centre of attention with Marvin’s boss monopolising the questions as he talked about himself while the others listening intently. 

"Oh, yes! I'm a boarder at St Eustace college which is boys only, and Daniella is at St Luke's which is for girls. But there are quite a number of events that are jointly organised. Like the debating society and the chess club. But there's also a huge number of parties. A chap in my class called Luther invited about fifty people over to his dorm. Apparently the occasion was that it was Thursday and it was the 17th. Not all 17ths are Thursday's he said. So this one was special. And that's as good an excuse as you need to throw a party. The girls get to come as well. They can get their minibus to bring them over and then that’s how the school gets them back as a sensible time. Its good. It strikes something of a balance between freedom and control…." 

As Danni had predicted, there was no shortage of offers of help to pass round the pre-dinner drinks. And as expected, it turned the party into more of a family chat than a formal office meeting.

And that was Danni’s cue. She appeared just as Piers was beginning to think he was being besieged and she stopped the conversation dead. Steve had found this latest creation of Hollys stunning, but Marvin had some difficulty preventing his tongue from hanging out. And eight male eyes opened very wide indeed.

The skirt came down to just below the knee on her right side but with a full length open overlap that concealed the crimson lining except when she took a longer step or twirled. This slit ran all the way from the hem nearly to the waistband and would be over revealing if not handled with care. Being seriously asymmetric the left side was way above the knee with crimson lined pleats that bounced with each step. But extreme as the lower half was, the top half took the prize. It consisted entirely of two ribbons attached to the waistband at the front, widening out across the bust and then getting progressively narrower as they ran over her shoulders crossing over at the back to attach like two bootlaces to the back of the waistband. The whole creation was in an intense royal blue which contrasted so dramatically with the crimson lining when it became visible.

"Oh my!” Piers opened “Wow! You look even more gorgeous than I've ever seen you look before" 

Which was exactly the kind of truism that could be so easily misinterpreted that Danni was hoping for.

She stepped toward the table flashing the scarlet lining, replete with most of her right leg and mingled carefully with the others while Angela brought in the starter. The conversation over dinner was lively and good humoured and the nervous panic that Marvin had worked himself into had not materialised in the others, aided and abetted by more than enough wine and Daniella as a focus of attention. 

Not knowing much about her fathers work, she resorted to asking questions and the inside line on corporate auditing began to emerge from a haze of jargon. 

"It's really interesting" Piers was commenting “it starts to show me why both my parents go into something of a meltdown when the auditors are due....... Oh yes, they run a small electronics company..... Not really so small actually. Like if you've ever filled your car with petrol, there’s a good chance its one of our controllers inside that pump" 

Danni too made her contribution, mainly about her dress. It sounded so hugely impressive that she'd had it made especially for this occasion and yes, she'd known Piers for over a year now. ‘Yes’ Piers had added as Danni helped her mum get the dessert, but we've actually got to know each other a lot better since Sabrina's party. 

This was nowhere near what Marvin was expecting the evening to be like, but despite shredding his plan, it all seemed to be going rather well.

Piers was first to bail out. 

“I’m sorry I can’t stay right through to the end because I’m having such a fantastic time! And its so kind of you to invite me and so wonderful to meet you all, but as a boarder, there are fairly strict rules on when we have to get back. Of course some of the boys bend them or break them but that behaviour just gets you noticed and increases the scrutiny next time you want a late pass. That hassle is well worth avoiding”

Alone in the hall together she folded her arms round him not wanting to say too much, but she was distracted by a noise like someone else coming out of the living room as he leant over and planted a kiss on her surprised lips. 

"It's the meet the parents event" he whispered "of course we need a suitable kiss goodnight.. .. Listen, Danni. I know this was supposed to be just a single drama night, but hey, can we see each other again?" 

Taken aback, she looked blankly at him, or maybe it was the adrenalin wearing off and the alcohol taking over 

"Or maybe you could think about phoning me!”

"Piers, phones are so random. Expecting some passer-by to pick up and then go looking for you" 

"Exactly. So maybe Monday, we catch coffee again in town" 

She nodded "you mean, like a proper date" 

"Yes, a proper coffee date. This evening has been epic. If this is what a few coffee dates with you would have led up to, I want to go around all over again”

"Yes please. If only to say thankyou for everything" 

“I was hoping you might want to make this date for more reasons than that" 

"I do, Piers, I'm actually looking forward to it already" 

Marvin however was unimpressed, but stifled again as Piers’ taxi driver rang the doorbell. 

Not much clearing up was done that night. After the guests had left, a sudden tiredness descended on them and Danni was relieved to retreat to her room. Tomorrow would tell. What sort of fallout should she expect to rain down on her? And what sort of damage would it do. 

Cue The Gathering by Gathering of Kings

She waited until she heard voices downstairs the next morning before she joined them. Neither of her parents was looking particularly fragile and that was a refreshingly unusual state for Marvin. But the act had to be maintained, and that meant being upbeat, keeping her head and remaining cool.

“I think last night went rather well. What do you think dad?” she opened provocatively but there was no meaningful response

“I mean it was supposed to impress your work colleagues, and I think it did”

“Yes”

But that was it. No malice. No attack. No retribution and no retaliation as her mum almost rescued her

“Did Holly make that dress for you?”

“Holly actually calls it a creation rather than a dress, and having worn it I can see why”
 “Yes, I think we all could see why!”

“But Holly was making it for a client of hers. I need to get it back to her tomorrow so that she can make the final alterations. I need to give her a few pointers as well having actually tried it”

But Marvin had said next to nothing. That, thought Daniella, was in some ways worse. She was used to him going ape and she had a set response of listening politely till he’d finished then trying not to cry and sometimes succeeding and running away to hide in her room. But with nothing to hide from, she continued the conversation with her mum.

“Holly’s really getting under pressure. She’s still got the spring order for S & G to finish, and something for Vanessa and something for Sarah Willsheir down the road from her and her ‘creation’. But I don’t know who that’s for”

“So, who’s this Piers?” Marvin finally joined

“Piers? He’s at St Eustace”
 “Yes and…And you’ve known him about a year?” he interrupted

“More than that. But we’ve got to know each other better more recently. He’s been to all the parties, and he and Liam sometimes show up at hockey if they’re not playing rugby and the odd coffee as well”

“And what kind of family is he from, I hardly got to speak to him”
 “No, it was mainly your boss that was giving him the inquisition. But his mum and dad own an electronics company. They make circuit cards for things like petrol pumps”

“But they don’t live round here. Or he wouldn’t be boarding”

“No, Hertfordshire I think. He has mentioned it. But I’ve not been invited there, yet”
 “I should hope not!”

“So when are you seeing him again” interrupted Angela

“Monday. Just for coffee after school”

She arrived a whole 10 minutes late, nervous that maybe he had already gone assuming she wasn’t going to show.

But bundling in she broke out into a huge relieved smile just to see that her donut was already on the table 

“Love the dress” he opened “but not as much as last Saturdays” he teased “did you make it yourself? Can’t imagine they sell them like that. It was awesome”

They chatted excitedly stopping after a while to finish their donut and catch breath

“I found out a bit more about that Park Royal incident. And you can tell me a bit more about what you know, because I now know who the girl was”
 “You do?”

“Yes. It was your friend Geneviève, but the attack was by a boy called Angus. It was a revenge attack for some humiliation she’d caused last year in the mall in Edencombe”

Danni kept silent as he continued

“A new guy called Arthur joined the school after half term. Came from the Conservatoire. Anyway, apparently she finally tracked Angus down. He hadn’t been seen anywhere since it happened. Seems like he was holed up under fear of being arrested, probably because Clarkie kept feeding him duff gen, like the fuzz were out looking for him and that made the situation worse and worse. Anyway, it seems that she phoned him up to tell him to stop being such a pratt. I know she’s really nice, but that’s exceptional, wanting to do that for him after what he’d done to her. However. Having been put straight, Angus went back to school and one of the first things he did was catch up with Clarkie somewhere quiet. Of course Clarkie just thought he was back to be his puppet again, except that Angus waited till he was in distance then, well, then he let go with his right boot like making a dropped goal on the rugby field right into Clarkies nuts and just left him wriggling on the floor. He was taken to hospital but told them, and his dad, that he’d got in the way of a cricket ball at mid wicket”

Danni was stunned. And confused by the dilemma. Should she tell Piers the true story? No maybe not. Not yet.

Time ran away from them as they talked and it was only when Piers said he would have to go and find a taxi that she realised that she’d almost certainly be late for dinner.

“No worries. I’ll get my cab to drop by your place” which also gave them even more time for excited chatter.

On departure on Saturday he’d leant over to kiss her as part of their non-existent script, and now outside her house he leant over again. She quivered with trepidation. This was exactly as before, except then her dad had interrupted and in any case it was a stage act. This was real, except more exciting and way more scary. They touched, but instead of breaking away he pressed forward. She gasped for breath as they broke not really believing this had happened. 

“We could go round again on Thursday. I mean, if you wanted to?”

Again!, well yes he had hinted at that before. Another coffee, another donut. Oh, maybe another kiss. Her mouth had gone dry and she felt like she’d seized up as she looked across at him. Oh! Yes please…

“Ok” she managed to say ever so calmly, but there was no such concealment on his side as he smiled 

“I’m looking forward to it already”

Danni was still excited enough to tell Holly and Geneviève about it as they assembled for class the next day, and was even more pleased when they all sounded encouraging despite a serious comment from Geneviève

“Don’t get over excited now Danni. I think you’ll find that Life doesn’t come with any guarantees” which almost reduced Holly to tears. But Danni was thrilled that he wanted to see her again and now she was even more excited. Because she wanted to see him again too.

And the others were not just pleased but amazed that Danni was finally taking some responsibility for rescuing herself and in such an unconventional way. It was all headed in the right direction – until the next time.

It was later that day that they were listening half heartedly to the rumours that Sabrina was quietly spreading. Some recent events, she’d said, have made a number of students bail out from the Conservatoire and it sounded like Clarkie may be moving to St Eustace. It seemed that his father was very concerned about the safety of their cricket field and had made some initial inquiries.

Holly was stunned speechless. That is, until she spotted Vanessa heading for her office in the admin block and ran over to intercept her

“No Running Holly! Holly, you are not at hockey practice now, and you know the rules”

“Sorry Vanessa. But something terrible is about to happen”

Vanessa stopped walking and turned to face her. She seemed to have vestiges of tears in her eyes already

“So can we prevent it happening? This disaster of yours?”

“I doubt it. But everything will be so different”
 “Do you want to tell me about it?”

Vanessa listened sympathetically and she also understood why it was something that the teaching staff would be unable to handle. Holly was clearly upset, but then, there was a school-full of young girls any number of whom would be upset at any given time.

"But there’s no hard evidence, is there Holly? So it's all really just speculation. Even if it's all true, I can't really do anything based on rumour and gossip" 

Holly stayed silent. She had nothing else to add 

"Holly, maybe if you think about it you could separate out the fact from the rumour and see if it's really that bad" 

"But Vanessa, the fact is that St Eustace boys are free to come and go as they please in St Lukes, and that's usually good. But I can't see daddy keeping us here with the possibility of either of us meeting him unaccompanied. We'd all have to go around in groups just in case, and he won't want us to be frightened when we come to school. And Rochelle's parents would feel the same, I know they would, I've spoken to them about it. And Danni's father is looking for any excuse to pull her out. That's what caused the friction that nearly ended in divorce which is why I asked you all about bursaries”

Oh my, thought Vanessa. That could so easily be four down and that's just on rumours. 

“Oh, I'm sorry Vanessa. You're right. I'll go and have a proper think and stop wasting your time" 

But Vanessa was worried. And Holly was right. Even if it wasn’t true, the girls thought it was and that would be enough. She shouldn't underestimate the power of rumour to cause casualties and she couldn't afford to lose the fees from four girls. Not just that, but Steve was still considering sponsoring her technology lab. And she didn't see any way of specifically excluding an individual, especially without hard evidence. 

Her call to Steve gave her no cause for comfort either. He was firmly of the opinion that the accused individual was guilty and a continuing threat not only to Geneviève but to any and all girls. And with the way he'd treated Angus, boys as well. 

"But.. " he continued "..Geneviève defended herself successfully, even though Duncan Erdmann would have intervened if necessary”

Vanessa picked up on the name and also that Neville Clarke was a major customer of Steve’s, which gave Steve something of a dilemma although she was fairly sure she knew where his priority would be even if it was all only rumour.  

Her call to Duncan that evening simply confirmed the story so far 

"Miss Bergstrom? Certainly Vanessa. I am delighted to be able to count Geneviève as one of my friends. Never have I met anyone of that age who has impressed me more. And my little girl Toulouse thinks she’s the most wonderful piano teacher….”

This led her to expand the incident with the piano, and Duncan, to her dismay, confirmed that too, and Geneviève’s response. Yes, there had been a friend of his with him, possibly called Gus, but he simply watched impassively and uttered a few half-hearted words of dissuasion which were ignored.

Vanessa decided it was not going her way. At the very least, this character would so easily undermine St Eustace’ reputation and where would that leave the strategic partnership with St Lukes?

Duncan too was concerned. He phoned Geneviève to make sure she was all right and related his conversation with Vanessa 

"But what I don't understand, Geneviève, is why it has all surfaced now. All that was six months ago?” 

“No, Duncan. I’ve been staying out of the way. I’ve no real need to go to Edencombe town centre so we’re unlikely to bump into each other. This is the aftermath of something completely different, but it may be the downfall of the Conservatoire and that’s how he might end up at St Eustace which is partnered with us. She related some of Rochelle’s Event to him, making sure she was largely non specific, but saying that the finger was well and truly pointed and fixed at Phil Clarke as the mastermind behind it.

This was bad. Conflicts like this can so easily get in the way of business, and while he already had Neville’s contract to distribute his meat products, he was also looking for Steve’s contract to transport his food machines to his anticipated international division in Europe. 

But it did prompt him to call Neville in his office the next day, and that prompted Neville to phone Steve as the man who seemed to know most about it.

"Neville, sometimes facts are difficult to establish. I have one side of the story, but there is always more than one side and different people see the issue from different perspectives”

“In that case, old boy, we should meet for lunch and see if there is any commonality between the sides”

But Neville was not Steve’s friend. Not in the way that Duncan seemed to be friendly with him inviting him to his daughter’s birthday party. They were business colleagues and that was as far as it went. Maybe that’s all this was – a business meeting to explore common ground. After all, that’s what pre-sales meetings were, wasn’t it? And at least at lunch Steve would be able to judge the body language more accurately than using pure voice intonation on the phone.

Neville’s usual confident alertness had deserted him as he sat down. He listened passively as Steve explained the situation from his perspective including his sources of information and possible margin for error

“I never did understand why Duncan had called me to confirm that our invitation was only me and Judith, but that now figures. And also why Gus disappeared so suddenly, he was always showing up at our house. And then why the school didn’t phone me to apologise for the cricket accident – they’ve been so good at that sort of thing in the past. But I will suggest this as an explanation to Philip this evening”

Neville left looking contemplative, verging on depressed. 

The next morning, Steve called an emergency update meeting with Gerry, Matt and Keith. There was a silence as Steve finished his short summary by suggesting that it was possible that this conflict could spill over and affect business. 

Keith was doubtful “There’s more than just Neville in that decision making loop…”

“I’ll make sure the local engineer keeps his ear to the ground” added Matt

Back in his office, Ruth gave him a hug “Steve, that just shows what kind of support you’ve got from the team” 

“Thankyou Ruth. But it also means that I think it is unlikely that Jacqui will be returning to work here”

Neville was back on the phone that afternoon asking for some clarification on certain points

“I’m reluctant to be too definitive, Neville. I don’t want to make any accusations that can’t be substantiated. A number of these points are down to a level of speculation. Throughout all of this, misinformation has been spread deliberately and I don’t want to fall into that trap”
 “I agree, Steve, but you must have a view, and I’m sad to have to admit, you’ve been right so far” 

But now it was clear in Steve’s head as well as he explained it to Ruth

“Even if the culprit in the hotel trick was not Phil, it still leaves me with the mall incident, and I can’t take the risk of revenge for the humiliation at Gordon Oliphants shop. Yes, I would have to transfer them from St Luke's and that would be seriously unpopular, not just with the girls but with the school and with their friends as well. That would destroy the very continuity that I’ve been trying to ensure”

Ruth felt bad about it. It wasn’t her fault, or even anything to do with her, but she felt bad on Steve’s behalf anyway.

On a more positive note, contrary to the nervousness at Riverside, the issue was in danger of being resolved at St Lukes.

Geneviève was asking Mr Carlow if he still wanted her to do a recital at the open day. 

“Oh certainly, yes. If you’re still available”
 “I’ve been saving the day, But I would like an indication of what you might like me to play. What you think would be most suitable?”

“Well. Clearly you need to agree, but I was hoping to put your recital on the official programme as a timed event in the main Hall”
 She nodded enthusiasticly as he continued “But there are other points during the afternoon that additional music would be appropriate – particularly while waiting for events to start in the arena”

“Oh! Is that what they’re building the scaffolding for?”
 “Yes, that will be the grand stand – when its finished”

“I was thinking that if you were down in this corner of the field, possibly with a marquee to keep the rain off?”
 “But that would reduce visibility from above. And I don’t know how well the music would drift upwards to the grandstand without amplification”

The conversation concluded with her agreeing to take a look at the arena and consider what the opportunities might be, and then meet him in the public common room after school to continue the discussion.

All this had made her quite late and everyone else had already gone. She was considering the possibilities as she headed alone through the shortcut towards the dining Hall. The path was unusually narrow due to the boarding that enclosed the building site for the grandstand and only at the last moment did she notice someone coming towards her. She stopped suddenly, and gasped in horror 

“Mr Clarke!”

“Geneviève” he returned as almost a gasp  

They both stood still remembering the last time they met and nervous about a replay. 

“I would like to get past, please” she asked trying not to sound nervous

“Of course” 

But his voice contained a level of malice that she was not used to. He took another moment just looking at her, then took a step backwards and into the recess that led to the door through the boarding to the construction site

“Actually, I want to go through that door”

“Its out of bounds”

“No, nowhere in St Lukes is completely out of bounds. Its just that you have to have a sufficiently good reason for being there”

He moved back to the path and she continued, edging fearfully past him and opening the door.

Now inside she heard the door click shut behind her and looked round to make sure she hadn’t been followed. 

She looked up at the emerging structure. It wasn’t as big as she’d expected, but it was quite steep. And as she had suggested she couldn’t imagine being heard anywhere if the piano was at ground level, especially if it had a marquee over it. 

Later that afternoon she met Mr Carlow again. He’d never heard her play and was looking forward to selecting his choice of piece before Mrs B became too set on her own preference.

“We could have met in the music room” he opened “It would be more private” as he cast his eyes around the dozen or so people already in the Public Common Room.

“There’s a problem with that” she said pulling out the stool and sitting down “You see, Mrs B insists that the Steinway there is reserved for the classics, and that… “ she paused breaking into a fast medley of Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and Little Richard “…may not be all that is required”

Carlow had assumed that it would be exclusively classical music on the agenda, but this opening piece rendered him speechless, and the room fell quiet as well. She continued with the first few bars of Rachmaninov, looking over towards him for a clue regarding acceptability, then continued with an excerpt from Grieg’s piano Concerto and finally part of her Finzi exuding pathos like the interpretation at her exam. Eyes all round the room landed on her wondering if this would continue, and she quietly broke into Clara’s Trio while discussing it with Mr Carlow. 

“Mrs B has already got me doing 2 15 minute slots where I demonstrate the grades 1 to 8. Then I think Lady Merton-Dunster wants me to play during the Champagne reception before dinner for the invited guests”

But Mr Carlow was wanting a recital as an agenda item, maybe half an hour, plus incidental music between events at the arena and it looked like her afternoon was going to be very busy indeed.

It all served to take her mind off her meeting with Clarkie, but that event filtered back up through all her other thoughts later that evening.

“Dad, have you got Neville Clarkes home number?”

But the answer was no. Office number, but not home. No matter, Duncan did and Seb had answered the phone

“Phil! Phone for you”

“Who is it?”
 “Geneviève”

“Geneviève? You’re joking…. Phil here”

“Phil. Its Geneviève. I just wanted to give you a quick call. I know that the first time we met it was hardly amiable, but this afternoon you were polite and considerate to me.”

“that’s…that’s ok”

“I just wanted you to know that I noticed and that I appreciated it. See you around. Bye Phil”

He put the phone down, stunned into silence. Seb was still in the hallway watching and eavesdropping. But Phil had no idea what to make of it, but whatever else, it made him think

Steve’s office continued the theme the next day

“Its your friend Neville Clarke” Ruth heard herself saying as she passed through the call  

“Friend?”

“His words, not mine”

“Lunch Neville? That's tough. Twice in one week”

“I hardly think its excessive for a couple of friends”

But Neville was more upbeat this time round 

“I came to some conclusions yesterday and made some decisions”
 “Ah! That’s why you’re looking more upbeat. Decisions made. Now its just the runout”

“Not just that, old boy. I just wanted to say that I had another talk with Philip and as a result of that he will be starting as a boarder at Harrow after the summer. We’re giving him a chance at a new start and he’ll be registered under Judith’s maiden name of Melksham to reduce the possibility of all this following him there. Of course its up to him to take this opportunity and he might not, although that call from your daughter certainly seems to have had a surprising impact. But we’re giving him every support to reform. It certainly looks like no charges are being brought and everyone else in this sorry tale seems keen to let it drop and move on. And that’s mainly down to you. I appreciate that you consider us to be just business colleagues, but may I suggest to you that only a friend would have explained this without accusations or malice and purely in the interests of everyone concerned, especially me?”

And now to tie up the last loose end. And that was to phone Jacqui and see if she would confirm if she was indeed intending to move to London and if she was, if she was considering sending Angus to Harrow. And get Holly to phone Vanessa.

The only person now confused was Miss Coben who had picked up the call while she was in the office 

“No Vanessa. That was the whole message and I even read it back to her. She said ‘please let Lady Merton-Dunster know that Neville will not be sending his son to St Eustace college’ ”

That evening, at Geneviève’s suggestion, Danni explained the whole thing to Piers. Her coffee date with him was something of a revelation. She looked forward to it so much. She couldn’t remember looking forward to anything so much, possibly ever. Except maybe when it was time to drop her at her house and they’d share their goodbye kiss.

Piers was incredulous “I’m staggered, Danni. But Clarkie! He’s mad. The boy’s a sanity assassin. Like, he’s so far out of his box the box got lost. But I doubt I’ll ever try explaining this to anyone. I’d never get it all right”

“It probably doesn’t matter. Truth is only the version that the local majority believes”

“And your dad! I'm not so sure. What I think is that he has no intention of pulling you from St Luke's. I think his plan is to threaten to pull you, and in the meantime look for some trouble you've got into. Like if you had been responsible for the Rochelle incident, or something else with Tamara. Then he'll tell you he's pulling you out for misbehaving, unless you give in to him in the bedroom" 

Danni had put down her coffee cup as Piers was talking and now gazed blankly at him, completely stunned. It was scary that Piers had even thought of this explanation. And even scarier that it fitted all the facts.  

Steve was pleased about Danni. She’d decided to start looking after herself, setting her own direction and ploughing her own furrow. He was sure she’d still stay over sometimes and still ask questions at quiet time, but the world moved on and few people ever tried to interrupt it. His own world had moved on. He’d been in this new job for nearly a year now and most things were sorted out – until all the new issues rocked in. 

But there was one particular loose end that was evading resolution. The numbers simply didn’t add up. The company had been making substantial profits for several years, certainly in the years he’d been there and as far as he knew before that too. But the amount that Richard had transferred which led to the Event was less than twice what they’d made in this current year alone. There should have been maybe five times that amount accumulated over the previous years since the company had bought out all its shareholders. Where was all the rest? Why was that starting number so low?

Keith might know, or Matt. 

”Something was going on, but I stayed out of it so successfully Steve, that I know absolutely nothing about it” 

Which, Steve reflected was the kind of answer he’d expect from Keith.

Matt, however, had told him previously about some financial activity that may have been marginal on legality. 

“I emphasise that I don’t know, Steve. But I do have a theory that has almost no evidence behind it. What I think is that during the share buyback, offshore funds transfers became common place and they continued even after that deal was complete. When Jamie took over, he saw no reason for the system to stop. Maybe it was the lure of tens of millions transferring to his own account, or maybe he just didn’t know how to explain it if it stopped. He was never that popular in his first years and people liked to believe the rumours that he was on the fiddle. But the official line was that it was just another similar investment scheme and that, of course, meant it would be very secret. But eventually Richard sussed it and threatened to expose him. Jamie countered by saying Richard knew about it all along and was already implicated. So Richard set up his own fraud with Daisy, largely for the money but also to get back as Jamie. I guess that Jamie only found out when his own transfers started to get rejected causing suspicion from the banks. He threatened to expose Richard as the perpetrator of everything going back years, Richard lost patience and shot him”

Steve looked across the lunchtime bar-room table at Matt finishing his beer before continuing

“Steve, its only a theory. Me – I’ve got my job to do and so long as I still draw salary and there’s a decent bonus if the job’s done well, I’ll be keeping out of everyone else’s business. My theory may be right but if its wrong then there was something similar and financial shenanigans I can do without. That, Steve, is one reason I didn’t want your job”

Steve was glad he’d taken the time to drive over to Matts home territory in Hertford and now on the way home he had some time to think about this. There would be a lot more money available for new products and expansion than he had thought. And an explanation? The Event brought it all to a head. Everything before that wasn’t his problem, and in resolving the Event, maybe he had inadvertently resolved other on-going issues. Whichever way, the company’s results this year would be better than ever and if anyone else wanted to find out why, they were welcome to try. He himself had nothing to hide.

Dinner for Four

He decided to go straight home instead of calling in to the office. He’d talked to Ruth on the way and there was nothing new of imperative importance. 

Now back earlier than expected he joined in preparing the dinner. This was all four of them together, a bit like their very first day, but without the distinct teams. Eloise and Geneviève were discussing Holly’s latest creations but until she brought in the starter he had time to think. The house was settled now. A card in an envelope had turned up from Previn. There was no forwarding address and just a few words saying that following a couple of 8 figure deals, he was retiring to South America partly for relaxation and partly to avoid all known taxmen and thanking Steve for all his help. And on reflection, Steve had decided that this did not implicate him as an accessory after the fact on whatever dodgy business Previn had been up to. 

He looked around the dinner table with the meal now underway. It seemed somehow underpopulated with only four of them when so often there were some honorary members as well.

It was only a matter of a few days till the anniversary of the Event although it often returned to haunt him. It sent shivers down his spine to remember looking down the barrel of Richard’s gun and Holly’s face when she thought of what might have happened. Spontaneously he got up and caught hold of her as she approached with the main course and put his arms tightly around her as she broke out in a bemused smile. He gave Geneviève a squeeze too on his way back to his place, but Eloise was already passing plates around and Danni wasn’t here or else she’d be moaning that she seemed to have been missed out.

He watched Geneviève contemplating her food. She was happier now than ever before with their big house with all these new interests and this new family. She still remained quiet and reserved and maybe that was always going to be her way. Like just inviting Rochelle when she could have thrown the wildest of parties. For the first time in her life she had a best friend in Rochelle – apart from her new sister that is.

Holly - stuffing her face now determined to build her own security and future through her sewing. Her traumas from previous years seemed to have made her more resilient and more determined to succeed on her own. 

Eloise, equally as lovely as the first time he’d seen her and now with recognised respect which gave her security at her work. But she still lacked the confidence that her new, magical life would not come crashing down at any moment. His little family was still new, still fragile but the negative external influences were largely receding. Danni had a boyfriend now and he’d be her main influence. He felt sorry for Angie and even Marvin. They’d now lost their little girl, largely due to their own selfish in-fighting and worse than that, Danni had told them so in as many words. In contrast, he was hoping he might keep his two little girls a bit longer. And him? It was all change at work. Work would be continually changing. Lisa and Jacqui had moved on, Gerry was running nearly everything, Keith was about to retire this year or maybe next. Juliette would be trying to make her mark and Emma would be looking to maintain stability after her rollercoaster over the last 9 months. The future of the company was in Adam’s hands with his responsibility for new products. Annabelle would have to get all her beans counted correctly for all of Adam’s work to be of any value.

The big change was that he now had to trust the future to all these new people doing their best. Was this just the same as Danni putting her trust in Piers now? And him? Micromanagement was not on his agenda. He was there to point them all in the same direction, set the destination and periodically check that they were still on target for making the rendezvous. They would all need to justify his confidence in them, or there would have to be more changes. And then, when all that was done, maybe he’d expand his new product range and International.

And his new little family was really quite similar. They were all largely looking after themselves with him just giving the odd steer on direction, and it would all work just because everyone wanted it to.

And now Geneviève was 16. This could be the last year they’d go on holiday together. Maybe it should be something special, or maybe that could be delayed till next year. Yes, this was just proof of how short a fuse the girls were on and that, in Steve’s book, justified the unholy rush with Eloise. The summer holiday would be the 4 of them, but the wedding was really just for her.

Sailing

Eloise was quietly revelling in family life. Like, just putting the washing away. It wasn't a chore or even work. It was being helpful to Steve. And Geneviève. And Holly. She paused for a few moments just to gaze out of the window across the west lawn and hardly noticed Steve as he crossed the bedroom towards her slipping his hands around her waist. But it didn't make her jump even though she hadn't noticed his approach, in the same way as on the settee in the living room in the evening. 

Now she was expecting and even looking forward to a more intimate move but instead he just spoke softly 

“It's a lovely view, isn’t it” 

“Yes. It's almost perfect” 

“Ok, so try closing your eyes. Not completely, just a little. Now imagine that the lawn is changing colour, slowly now, it's becoming blue. Deeper blue. Is your imagination working? So there's a yacht in the middle of the blue” 

“A dingy?” 

“Yes, and there's one person in it. It's Geneviève, and she's skimming across the surface, now there's another yacht, it's going the same way and maybe it's catching up. It's got me at the helm. Now look, there's a third one. It's keeled over at a fearsome angle and going faster than everyone. I wonder if that might be Holly. Who do you think is in the fourth yacht.?”

She smiled and leant back onto him 

“Now they’ve all come together, and they’ve merged into one big yacht, it's got two cabins and a huge mast and a big white sail billowing in the light breeze. Geneviève is at the wheel, Holly is trying to haul in the gib line and you're lazing on the fore deck with a glass of something” 

“Stop it Steve, it looks absolutely fabulous” 

“So maybe that's what we should do for our summer holiday” 

“I thought we were going on honeymoon?” 

“Yes, but that's just you and me. This would be all four of us later in the summer” 

“Maybe the Adriatic,? Or even the Black Sea! Oh Steve, can we? It would be fabulous!” 

“I was thinking Lake Tanganyika, probably Zambia rather than Burundi. Maybe Tanzania. We could take time out to see if we can find an elephant or lion or something as well” 

“Oh, yes please!”

So there was something else to look forward to later in the year as she leant her head back against him. But by looking forward she had to make sure she wasn’t just wishing her life away. There was so much to look forward to, even if it was just next week’s load of washing.

Cue The Dream is Still Alive – Xandria

And that would be another milestone. There would always be milestones and new events - and disasters. But hopefully the disasters could be ones where he could help someone else rather than actually occur to him.

Events would continue to creep over the horizon and from being a distant dot on the radar would increasingly gain priority. Like the wedding. Of course it was important, but it hadn’t been immediate. Now, it was all arranged. Geneviève had everything under control. Apart from the weather, and the traffic. And if they did interfere with the plans Geneviève would quietly change the plan and continue as if nothing had happened. Then a week away from work. Last year that would have been unthinkable, but this year it all felt so much more under control. Any well organised company should be able to operate for six months without someone at the daily helm, But that…. Yes, that did include us. The important thing was to get the organisation of the fun day underway. An outline briefing was all that would be needed, just to share his current thoughts with Penny and Annabelle and see how far they got before he got back.

The work wasn’t all done. Far from it, but it was now a matter of keeping a close watch on approaching storms, a firm hand on the tiller and let the crew sail on into the future.

This had been Steve’s year, but whose year would it be next?

THE END

of Steve’s Year